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It's complicated
Thursday, August 27th, 2020 13:22Messi is leaving FC Barcelona. This is huge news. How huge?
New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN huge. News outlets that have almost no interest in fútbol/soccer/football/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, have all reported on it. Not just in the Sports section either.
To get a good understanding of why this is making all the major news outlets waste your precious time to tell you that a professional athlete is calling it quits with the club he plays at, you have to first understand that this sport (⚽) isn't just about the sport. It's politics.
( Politics behind the game )
The irony is that the battle that is being played out right now at FC Barcelona is one that we see played out everywhere in the world. A battle of the common masses who use their "common sense" to counter experts' advice, whether it's about global warming or a global pandemic. People simply do not want to be told that they don't know any better, that their "common sense" is objectively wrong. That you need expertise to have a worthwhile opinion.
And we see what happens when experts are ignored. Messi leaves FC Barcelona. COVID-19 kills 160,000+ people in the United States.
It all stems from the same moral core: to value "common sense" over expert knowledge.
New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN huge. News outlets that have almost no interest in fútbol/soccer/football/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, have all reported on it. Not just in the Sports section either.
To get a good understanding of why this is making all the major news outlets waste your precious time to tell you that a professional athlete is calling it quits with the club he plays at, you have to first understand that this sport (⚽) isn't just about the sport. It's politics.
( Politics behind the game )
The irony is that the battle that is being played out right now at FC Barcelona is one that we see played out everywhere in the world. A battle of the common masses who use their "common sense" to counter experts' advice, whether it's about global warming or a global pandemic. People simply do not want to be told that they don't know any better, that their "common sense" is objectively wrong. That you need expertise to have a worthwhile opinion.
And we see what happens when experts are ignored. Messi leaves FC Barcelona. COVID-19 kills 160,000+ people in the United States.
It all stems from the same moral core: to value "common sense" over expert knowledge.
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