Sports Nov 25, 2022 at 5:40 pm

Just Something to Think About While You Watch Soccer This Weekend

"Get a life. It's just a costume." ClarkandCompany/gettyimages.com

Comments

1

I've worked on Islamist extremism and narrative, and English fans dressing up as crusaders also plays into extremist versions of religious war -- and they have been using these images to demonstrate how the (Christian) west is at war with Islam. "Crusader" is used in estremist communication to refer to western soldiers (and others and in other instances) to invoke the history that Charles is refering to, in an attempt to convert "middle ground" Muslims (those who neither support nor condemn extremism). It's effective. It's not, however, nationalism but rather religious chauvinism (or Islamophobia). It wasn't just England that participated in the Crusades, and it was Christianity that was the important motivator, not nation. It's a very stupid thing to dress up as (and I don't think they would do well walking around Qatar outside of the World Cup or elsewhere in that region. US soldiers who wore patches that said "pork eating Crusader" did more damage with that symbolism than any good they could have hoped to achieve. It's a fucking stupid thing to do.

2

Here, let me ruin the World Cup for you. I mean, international cooperation is at an all time high, so we can take the hit.

3

USA! USA!

4

I can’t help but point out that it’s been >400 years since the crusades. If you can’t see the silliness in dressing up as a crusader by now it’s a YOU problem. Few things annoy me more than the far left talking like the old bitties at the evangelical church i grew up in. They got worked up over dress up too.

I’d also note that if Charles is looking for an example of a pre-capitalist societal structure it’s hard to top Qatar. It’s a monarchy with a bloated aristocracy at the top and medieval serfs at the bottom.

5

the Christo-Fascists'
Manifest Destiny requires
Dominion in ALL things Earthly
and if the Planet loses a few off-
Whites to make it so well it's a Small*
Price for the Latter to pay to the Former.

*according
to those that
'Know' these things

6

But nobody is being offended, just woke media thinks that some might be offended.

7

Well, if it’s fair to go back to the Crusades for your historical lens, it’s fair to go back to the siege and conquest of Jerusalem from the Byzantines in 636/637. I mean, two wrongs don’t make a right, right?

Funny thing about the Crusaders: they very conspicuously lacked an ethnic or political identity. The 11th century Church transcended national, ethnic, local, even social class identities. Indeed, one could argue that the Church of the day even had some proto-liberal and meritocratic tendencies; it was surely better on that score than the secular rulers it coexisted alongside.

8

@4 I guess you haven't been reading the news much lately -- many in the West have been using the language of Christian holy war against Muslims in the last couple of decades: "This crusade... is going to take a while" (GW Bush). While armies have literally been putting on patches that say "Pork eating Crusader" and going to Muslim lands and killing people in droves (sometimes with weapons marked with Christian imagery), a couple of shitheads think it's funny to try to go to a predominantly Muslim land and wear that shit. Maybe the Christian right should knock off the 400+ year references first?

@6 Uh, some people were offended and that's why they weren't let in. I'm also guessing you stick to mostly English-language media, or perhaps one other European language? And that's why you haven't read much coverage of this?

@7 So what you're saying is, Arab football fans should dress up like Muslim solders from 1500 years ago when they go to games in Western countries? First -- they don't. Second -- msot westerners would probably be too simple to get it. Third, if they did, you can bet they would shit their pants and ban them entry.

9

My first reaction was, didn't the Crusaders ultimately lose?


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