Original: Housha Source WeChat official account: Housha has been authorized to reprint
For a long time, many “liberal intellectuals” like to tell people that science and technology have no borders, journalists have no borders, environmental protection has no borders, art has no borders, and sports have no borders
It sounds like a very general situation, but Westerners themselves don’t believe these words because they are very political.
The United States has smashed the “science and technology without borders” signboard, and even the products of Chinese communication technology enterprises such as Huawei and ZTE cannot be imported by the government.
Reporters have no borders, which is even more funny. In Hong Kong, China, in 2019, unidentified people who came out in droves to harass the police with SLR cameras were hailed as brave “independent journalists” by the United States and the United Kingdom, threatening to punish the SAR government that “restricts the rights of journalists”. And Israeli military and police openly shot and killed Palestinian female journalist Xilin. Did the United States and Britain impose sanctions on Israel? Double standards everywhere, which is their “borderless”?
Environmental protection has no borders. Even Chinese people are guilty of eating meat. What more should we say?
Art also has its borders. In Israel, the work of the German music master Wagner has been banned from public performance and dissemination, because his opera “The Ring of Nibelungen” implied that the money and trade of the Jews led to the degeneration of Germany.
Hitler also liked Wagner very much, so Wagner’s art works were banned by Israel. The problem is, six years after Wagner’s death, Hitler was born in Austria. Where are you going to argue?
“Borderless” can only make some people have illusory self moving, but the essence of the problem is politics.
Like the East and the West, art is not only inseparable from politics, but also now inseparable from money. Why was the American “Kanye” banned? Because he was politically incorrect, commercial capital cut him off one after another and cancelled the advertising contract.
Isn’t the short, big and tight musician who shakes his head and blows that America licks India another example?
Let’s talk about the World Cup.
The World Cup, for many people, is a recorder of life stages. The older you are, the more past events will come to an end at this time. Those who love, study, and work… just have different degrees of involvement in watching football.
The World Cup is the most influential organized sports event in the world, with the highest commercial value, even exceeding the Olympic Games.
The predecessor of football originated from the ball game “Cuju” in Linzi, Shandong Province (today’s Zibo City) in ancient China, which was later spread to Europe by Arabs. In 2004, FIFA confirmed that the origin of football was Linzi, China.
Modern football originated in Britain. It can not be popularized in the world without the global influence of the sunset empire. Where the British sailors and merchant sailors went, they would take the football with them.
In terms of competition results, England has always been in a dominant position. Germany was abused by the British in various ways, and played 9 to 0. It was not until Hitler came to power that the situation improved.
In Europe in the last century, the flow of culture and sports was unidirectional, spreading from the middle class (the leisure class) to the society, and finally forming a sport that the public could watch and participate in. So did football.
The initial rules of football are often formulated by student sports groups in colleges and universities, which are generally called English football. The reason for this distinction is that there is another kind of football, American football.
Americans do not respect football (football is not among the top five in popularity in the United States, and the United States likes football, basketball, ice hockey, baseball, etc.).
Why does America reject football? There are many good explanations. Some say that Americans do not like a draw, and some say that Americans like a more intense confrontation.
In fact, the root cause is politics.
In the decades after independence, the United States has been criticizing the British colonists in public opinion. Thomas Paine wrote an anti British pamphlet “Common Sense” on January 10, 1776, which abused the British royal family and government completely, and even described the British king as a beast.
Common Sense is extremely popular in the United States, which is the need for the United States to defend its independence.
In this context, sports dominated by the British will naturally not be accepted by the Americans, let alone the Americans can not dominate football. Therefore, the United States has developed and popularized sports that it can lead.
The spread of sports dominated by the United States depends on the landing range of the United States Marine Corps. After World War II, the United States had hundreds of overseas military bases. Countries and regions with “close” ties to the United States had popularized sports that the United States was good at. For example, the Japanese were obsessed with baseball (the professional competition system was established in 1950). Then, Taiwan followed suit.
The popularity of football in Britain has played a great role, but this is not the only decisive factor.
Football is simple and practical. Any flat ground can be used to hold football matches. The reason why it is popular all over the world cannot be separated from this advantage. As long as there is a ball and a “goal”, it can be so simple that no auxiliary equipment is needed. For basketball, you must also have a basket with the right height, not to mention baseball and ice hockey.
How else can we say that equestrian is an aristocratic sport? Who can afford to keep racing horses? It cannot be popularized.
The first World Cup was held in 1930 (Uruguay won the championship), and football became a truly international sport.
Fascist Italy immediately realized its charm in Europe. In 1934, the Mussolini government took the game to a new level. With beautiful venues, perfect matches and exciting radio commentary, football entered thousands of households.
The Italian team became the best signboard of Mussolini’s fascist government.
After winning the championship, the whole Italy was boiling, and everyone sang fascist songs together.
In 1938, Italy won the World Cup in France again.
Similarly, the same is true of films. In 1931, the Venice Film Festival was successfully held under the promotion of Mussolini, and has become a feast for filmmakers. In order to fight against fascism politically, the French also held a film festival, namely the Cannes Film Festival (which was organized in 1938, and later France surrendered, and was postponed).
However, the Berlin Film Festival has the strongest political flavor. It is promoted by the Americans. It cannot be put in Munich. It must be Berlin, with politics first.
After World War II, the new FIFA decided to “purify” the World Cup and stay away from politics because of the involvement of politics in football.
However, after the French “Red May Storm” in Europe was launched in 1968, football was inevitably involved in the political vortex again. Fans and players want to show different political positions on the court, and teams are also divided into worker stage teams and asset stage teams.
For example, Liverpool represents the working class, and Bill Shankly, the godfather of Liverpool, is a fan of Mao Zedong. After Liverpool won the championship, Shankly said to the fans outside the city hall: “Even Chairman Mao has never seen the strength of our Red Army”.
In order to get rid of politics, in 1974, the newly elected President of FIFA, Joao Avelange, promoted the complete commercialization of football and invested capital in the World Cup.
However, it’s also good that you don’t have to be interfered by politics when you watch the game. FIFA is also making money every day.
However, Western politics has not spared the World Cup, which is extremely obvious.
Before the match between England and Iran, the team knelt down and said something to protest against racial discrimination.
The German team covered their mouths and said that they were protesting that FIFA would not let the players wear armbands supporting LGBT.
Even the flag of the Ukrainian neo Nazi organization “Yasu Camp” was brought into the stadium.
Interestingly, on the Chinese Internet, some people’s IQ is so low that they believe that CCTV’s handling of some scenes is due to the fear that fans will not wear masks in Qatar.
Didn’t all the fans’ pictures of last year’s European Cup be broadcast?
This is because there are too many political factors in this world. In addition to the banner of “Yasukuni Camp”, there are also “Taiwan Poison” and other “poison” flags on the stands.
What’s the meaning of wearing masks or not? Distortion means having ulterior motives.
Of course, it is better for sports to be pure, but the West will never miss the occasion to show their political intentions, especially in large-scale events.
Therefore, “art for art” and “sports for sports” are difficult to exist.
Chairman Mao’s Speech at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art has seen through everything. Art serves either this ideology or that ideology.
Decades later, the old man’s words still work.
In fact, it is not a question of whether sports can leave politics, but a question of political position.