The old world – as we knew it, at least – has done an incredibly fine job of eclipsing itself with three events which now fasten new anchor points on the global grid, namely.
- The decision to go ahead with the highly disputed FIFA World Cup 2022 games in Quatar;
- A ground-breaking interview with former US President Barack Obama’s wife by the BBC on the launch of her latest book; and
- A description of European countries by FIFA President Gianni Infantino (small child; child of God) as “hypocrites’ ‘ for their attitude towards Quatar.
On the one hand, Michelle Obama was standing regally tall on the BBC screen to explain with painstaking sincerity and humility, the great work she and her husband had embarked upon to ensure their daughters’ lives were as normal as white USA-dominated first black residents at the White House.
On the other side of the world, football fans in Quatar are learning how to fully enjoy the explosive game of soccer without imploding in rage at the ban placed by the radical Muslim extremist government which has been accused of human rights violations against immigrant workers, to allow them not one last precious drop of beer to wet their dry throats in the hot sun.
And, as if intent on making bad matters worse, FIFA President Gianni Infantino spent part of his time telling a news conference about his experience as an immigrant in Switzerland when he was bullied as a child in school because of his red hair.
The irony of this revelation was that no viewer could now imagine the experience Infantino spoke about in view of his current bald pate that is as shiny as the Football he had on show.
‘I feel gay, disabled … like a woman too!’
This was the extent to which Infantino went to endear himself with Quatar supporters. Reporting on his bizarre attack on his western critics whom he broadly accused of hypocrisy and racism, Sean Ingle writing from Dohar on Saturday November 19, 2022 stated:
“The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has accused critics of Qatar’s human rights record of staggering hypocrisy and racism in a bizarre and incendiary attack on the eve of the 2022 World Cup finals.
In a 57-minute diatribe which frequently drew gasps of astonishment, Infantino claimed that western nations were in no position to give morality lessons to Qatar given their past and current behavior.
By Ahmed ElShamy & Emir Nader
BBC News Arabic
The Qatar ruling family bought two of the UK’s most expensive houses in a deal that allowed them to avoid £18.5m in stamp duty, leaked documents show.
The family bought the properties in central London via offshore companies for over £120m and applied to make them into a 17-bedroom “supermansion”.
“We have been told many, many lessons from some Europeans, from the western world,” he said. “I think for what we Europeans have been doing the last 3,000 years we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”
What can all these earth-shaking developments portend for a world that is already emblazoned with news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; China’s plan to control world food supply; and North Korea’s Kim revealing his daughter to the world for the first time?
What lessons can we learn here?
In this connection, we can take a cue from Brother Valentino – one of Trinidad and Tobago’s calypsonians- who sang:
Life is a stage, and we are the actors
And everybody has a part to play
Like a never ending movie
With so many different characters
Each man has a role to portray!
- Don’t criticize Qatar,’ Infantino tells press conference in Doha
- Fifa president accuses western critics of
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Fifa president Gianni Infantino defends Qatar World Cup in bizarre speech – video
