Fiosfan Banned for his Personal Opinion

Yeah, I asked him what got him the ban and he says it's because the word "globalists" was ruled to be anti-semitic. That's absurd.

 

I was looking for the right spot to voice my own thoughts in regards to progressive pronouncements within the context of the beautiful game. This will do.

I enjoy sitting down to the late afternoon Saturday and Sunday games. Yesterday's experience, though, was far from gratifying. Portland's venue is intimate and quirky, wonderfully atmospheric. But the comic irony with which the fans wave scarves during the national anthem - get rid of the anthem(s), by the way - and overt politics of the "tifos" is a real turn off. I don't disagree with the essence of the message. But it was self-referential - even self-lauding - and inappropriate. And are things so bad in MLS that that games must be forums for political messaging, stadia sporting versions of Berkeley, Madison, and Amherst? Games are opportunities for distraction and even healing, the stadium a refuge.

By the way, I'm an environmentalist. But I want to see my team in its own colors. And I wouldn't want to wear a jersey made from recycled plastic bottles.

Anyway, after the first snide, taunting chant at the Portland game, I turned to a Downton Abbey rerun.

Watch it MLS. Watch it greater US soccer community. The preciousness is getting old.

Nice one, Bill.

 

I don't mind the different jerseys as a one-off. Parley, an ocean cleanup project, has a deal with adidas, which has a deal with MLS. So on Earth day we get the different jerseys. It's basically marketing for Parley and adidas.

I'm not holding my breath for MLS to support some cause that's mostly supported by the right. Even the Boy Scouts and Red Cross are controversial in the eyes of the left.

 

By the way, Bill, I wouldn't buy or drink Starbuck's coffee if you promised me a weekend with Sandra Bullock.

 

Forgive my ignorance: globalism is an antisemitic term?

I honestly had no idea.

 

MLS: News & Analysis.

 

All I've heard about this one is that the Red Cross rates poorly as a charity because of the amount spent on overhead vs. the amount spent on services.

But that's math, not politics.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...fensive/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.65c30ca64da7

 

No, it's not.

Globalist can be, in certain contexts.

Kite is not an anti-Semitic word. Kike is.

When I typed "globalist" in my address bar, this

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/pol...t-perpetuates-anti-semitism-article-1.3863732

was about #10 on the list.

Are y'all the same kind of people to tell Amerinds that "Redskins" isn't offensive? Should we tell @Mr. Warmth is "squ@w" isn't offensive?

This whole controversy is a great example of how, to people of privilege, equality feels like oppression.

Finally, let's be clear, because there are people lying about this.

HE WASN'T BANNED FOR HIS SIG. HE WAS BANNED FOR REFUSING TO CHANGE HIS SIG. That may seem like a distinction without a difference to some, but to me, it's not.

 

It was certainly noticeable. But soccer supporters groups with an explicit political character is certainly not something new or uniquely American. Timbers Army are Portland, warts and all. And for me they're an asset to MLS, warts and all.

Percentage of overhead is a wildly overrated metric for the efficacy of a charity.

It has some historical roots in the rhetoric of antisemitic groups in the US and in Europe of the early 20th century. Which, understandably, is a somewhat touchy subject.

Though it is also a very generic, banal description of a highly relevant, active fault line in modern political and cultural life, and as commonly used these days is genuinely not a dogwhistle meant to imply Jewishness in virtually all cases.

So I'd tend to agree with the OP.

 

I was content to just keep him on ignore forever. I felt like the page was improved dramatically sans fiosfan. After seeing the yellow he picked up a few weeks back he lost the benefit for the doubt with that type of rhetoric for me.

 

I thought it became an anti-Semitic slur because anti-Semites were using it as such.

When I searched for "globalist as an insult" this was the first hit.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/8/17096876/globalists-explained

It's Vox, so take it for what it's worth.

I'm at work, so I'm not going to risk it, but for those of y'all who aren't, go to stormfront and search for "globalist." My assumption, which may be wrong, is that the word is all over that site, and has been for years.

Oversimplifying a bit, but Steve Bannon has brought the term into the mainstream. And he's obviously anti-Semitic.

 

Maybe so. My point was I've never heard of the Red Cross being controversial in a left-right, Dem-GOP way EVER. The only controversy has to do with how they run the charity.

The Boy Scout reference I got and didn't question. I wonder what he was talking about WRT the Red Cross?

 

“I’m an environmentalist but...” you don’t like some particular change or inconvenience? Plastics are a huge problem, for the oceans, landfills. They never biodegrade. We should accept far more and drastic measures to protect life on earth. Thanks MLS and Adidas for recognizing Earth Day.

There is real anti-semitism and other insidious prejudice growing in our society and there is nothing wrong with calling it out. Bigsoccer has always been a moderated environment which I’m grateful for.

 

Should I be worried that my signature is a trigger for long standing oppressed people's of Anatolia? They may not have recovered from Roman subjugation.

 

Could well be. And there's no question the rise of Trump has unleashed some truly virulent antisemitism across the internet, which is bad and often horribly abusive to Jewish people working in the media.

So if there's a way to describe people who support American interaction with and leadership in the world with the enthusiasm for liberalized movement in goods and people that's part and parcel of that, without carrying the freight of racist Trumpy a-holes on the internet, I'm all for it. But letting those idiots stifle the discourse of actual thoughtful people strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Of course, whether BigSoccer is the place for any of this is a worthy question.

 

@bungadiri @dark knight @Ismitje

Can you move this to the customer service forum?

Thanks!

 

Re-opened in Customer Service, with a redirect from MLS:N&A for the next day.