Qatar, Alcohol & the Rainbow Flag 🌈

Qatar, alcohol, and the rainbow flag. There's been quite an uproar. I don't know if you've been seeing it about the World Cup in Qatar. There's been many footballers and presenters who've been publicly demonstrating against, um, the Qatari views on, um, LBGTQ+ is that correct? And alcohol. And it got me thinking, we're pretty fucking arrogant, aren't we, in the West? Like, we think we have the right to go over to the other side of the world and tell different people in different cultures how to run their life, and we think we have the right to bring our opinions and projections into another country and culture. And you wouldn't go into someone's house and go into their living room and rearrange the furniture and steal their dog and take the food out of their fridge and tell them how to arrange their house and tell them how to raise their kids. Yeah, footballers who should just be playing football are trying to make statements on how another culture and country should live their lives. I think we're arrogant. I really think the West are arrogant. I think the West think that their views are the only way to live. And, um, what happened to embracing all kinds of peoples and cultures? So maybe this isn't a popular view, and maybe I'm going to get some hate for it. Um, yeah, you know, I would say I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to your religion, your sexual orientation, the gender that you choose, whether it's one you're born with or one you've decided. Even if you criticize me here on my videos, I'm not going to ban you or hate on you. I'm pretty open-minded, but I don't think it's open-minded to go into someone else's culture and nation when they've invited us in and prepared entertainment for us, for us to then start questioning their own culture in their land. If they're going to come to our country and try and project their culture and religion and beliefs and views onto us, that's another thing. But we're going over to their country and culture, they're inviting us in and keeping us safe and protecting us. Really? Come on, people. And like I said, there's probably not the— it's not the left woke viewpoint, and probably I'm good, but someone's got to say it. And I've— I heard John Barnes speak up about this, and I thought, good on you, John, because Harry Kane, you know, wants to wear the rainbow flag, and then he, he wore a rainbow watch. He's a footballer, he's the captain of England. Fair enough if he's got accepting views of different people's orientations, but actually, just play football, mate. You didn't score yesterday, maybe you were a bit distracted. Just play football. Now, all the stuff about the inhumane working conditions of building the stadiums, That's probably a separate thing. And, um, I think that the World Cup was agreed in Qatar a decade ago. So why wasn't everyone on it then? When maybe you could have impacted change. What's the point in bitching and moaning and spending all the time on commentary? All the commentators talking about it all the time. They should be talking about football. And aren't football— isn't the sport of football a global culture? Shouldn't it be inclusive globally? And I don't see any Qataris coming over to national sporting events in England and campaigning against and telling us how to run our culture, our religion, and our faith. I don't, I don't see that. So yeah, look, seems a bit woke, seems a bit left, seems a bit extreme. And, and I do think the West is quite arrogant, I have to say. I mean, I imagine if we went and lived in Eastern culture or, you know, the other side of the world for a few years, we'd probably have a very different view of the West. I think there's a lot of propaganda here in the West that makes us believe that we are all-powerful and all-great and all-knowing. And the time to complain about the FA Cup in Qatar was 10 years ago, and now everyone's doing it. And on the note of alcohol, I mean, this is an interesting one because actually alcohol is poison. It is. Alcohol is a poison. So in some ways I really respect the, um, the fact that it's not, um, allowable in some cultures because it's basically a drug. So we are allowed this drug here in the West, and let's be honest, when footballers go to games and get absolutely hammered and fight with each other, and the hooliganism and the disruption that alcohol causes— I mean, I bet if you talk to the police, I bet if you talk to the police, they would love it if there was no alcohol at football. In fact, they probably have no work to do. They would probably love it. So look, I'm not against alcohol. I'm not— look, you do what you want in your house as far as I'm concerned. And we can even have an open topical debate about whether my beliefs are right and wrong and whether yours are right and wrong, and we can strive towards progress. But think about it logically. It's probably pretty fucking smart not to have alcohol at football games. I used to think, by the way, that, um, you know, not having alcohol in these stadiums was actually really bad for football in general. But actually, alcohol's a fucking poison. And, you know, one or two drinks keep your wits about you fine. A load and fight and cause rowdiness. I mean, imagine how much less we'd have to pay for the police force if there was no football hooliganism and rowdy drunkenness. And I can imagine the English fans are probably some of the notoriously worst. So let me know what you think about this, by the way. Now, Sonia has said it's wrong how they treat women, gay, and freedom of choice. It's their choice, Sonia. It's their country. If you don't agree with it, that's absolutely fine. You don't have to live by those culture values. I'm not saying I agree with it. But what gives us our right, our right to go into their country and campaign against it in their country when they're hosting us? And keeping us safe and secure and allowing— these footballers get paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a week. Shut the fuck up and play football in the country that they're hosting. You probably, by the way, they're probably paying and staying in 5-star hotels, being given the life. Just, just another viewpoint to think about. Anyway, let me know what you think, um, in this situation about Qatar and hosting the World Cup and if it's right or wrong. That should have all been discussed 10 years ago, by the way. You know, maybe there was some corruption, maybe they did buy it. I'm sure they weren't the— wouldn't be the first or last country that have ever, you know, used their influence to get a World Cup. But as far as I'm concerned, we go to their country, we adhere to respectfully and follow their rules, and the footballers should absolutely focus on the football and bring a great— I mean, the England-USA game yesterday was boring. We weren't aggressive, we didn't bring any flair, we didn't sell England well at that game. And we have a much more talented squad than the USA. So focus on the football, bring the spectacle. The best thing you can do to advertise our culture is to be— to play football in that way, with that passion and that desire and that hunger. So anyway, these are just some other things to think about. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for tuning in. But as far as I'm concerned, we should respect other people's cultures. We should be careful against Western propaganda and Western arrogance. And, um, let me know what you think. Thanks for tuning in, and remember, if you don't risk anything, you risk everything.