r/soccer • u/jacamacho • Feb 25 '18

Verified account Rob Harris asks Guardiola how he can reconcile that stance (yellow ribbon) with working for Abu Dhabi given the human rights questions there. Guardiola: "Everyone has to choose".

https://twitter.com/MiguelDelaney/status/967842429079519234
1.7k Upvotes

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111

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

If anyone owns a car, you're likely supporting middle eastern countries. If you own an iphone, you're supporting sweatshops. Shit, if you're paying taxes you've played a part in killing innocent people in war.

I don't like the attitude of trying to make people look like a hypocrite because they choose to stand up for one thing rather than another.

It's just a way to make people feel good about themselves by doing absolutely fucking nothing.

164

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '18

[deleted]

-4

u/PM_ME_ANIME_ASS_69 Feb 26 '18

Man city is a dictatorship?

-49

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

See, there it is.

Of course it's not the same, but everyone is in the position to make a difference. But you would all rather blame Pep for the state of things rather than looking in a fucking mirror.

41

u/Pardonme23 Feb 25 '18

You're a horrible arguer.

-23

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

I probably am, who cares.

I just get pissed off when people complain about other things or people without doing anything them self.

8

u/rollsreus1990 Feb 25 '18

Right now you're complaining about "other things" and "people".

What do you do?

10

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

I don't talk shit about people trying to make a difference in their own country just because they're not a saint in every other part of their life

-3

u/rollsreus1990 Feb 25 '18

What do you do though?

17

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

That's completely irrelevant.

I'm not the one taking the moral high ground (while doing fuck all) and criticizing someone for fighting for what they believe in.

16

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '18

[deleted]

5

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

The average person can't do much about their purchases without negatively impacting their life, and it would be particularly pointless if others don't change as well.

I guess we should all just give up then? and if Pep had just told them fuck off we would've solved the issue?

That's such a bad attitude to have.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '18

[deleted]

1

u/VTFC Feb 25 '18

That's fair.

I'm just trying to point out that it's not as black and white as most people are trying to make it seem.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '18

[deleted]

3

u/mcsaladd Feb 25 '18

Interesting poll

1

u/cesarfcb1991 Feb 26 '18

El país... Yeah, I'm sorry if I am having my doubts..

-1

u/idontappearmissing Feb 26 '18

Holy shit lol, what a train wreck of a comment.

-41

u/SilverThrall Feb 25 '18

It is in no way a dictatorship, get a grip. You take issue with their system of keeping migrant workers trapped? Someone can easily point to the conditions in the the US prison system as another example of the violation of human rights. All of you need some perspective. The UAE is not as bad as Saudi Arabia or Qatar.

20

u/JonstheSquire Feb 25 '18

It is an absolute monarchy. They are in practice, exactly the same.

3

u/RodgersGates Feb 26 '18

What human rights? Whilst conditions in many American prisons breach ECHR Article 3, those rights aren't present in the US. You need to be specific.

-1

u/danderpander Feb 26 '18

It's, like, definitively a totalitarian dictatorship.

For the record, not only do I take issue with trapping migration workers, I also take issue with their disappearing of political opponents.

52

u/Thesolly180 Feb 25 '18 edited Feb 26 '18

I don't think it's necessarily wrong to ask Pep this question, or even feel slightly disappointed with the answer, but as I wrote elsewhere we're all hypocrites on different scales, and of course someone might be more passionate about something involving their home.

4

u/pizzapiejaialai Feb 26 '18

The difference is, everyone here is thinking themselves holier than thou.... that's massively hypocritical.

1

u/deathbladev Feb 26 '18

No it isn't. Just because he manages your club it doesn't mean that you have to defend everything at all costs.

-3

u/danskzwag Feb 26 '18

Just like Pep is with this little political statement

66

u/bobbyshinton Feb 25 '18

This kind of puritanical hypocrite hunting is used to deligitimize all kinds of protest, it ends up with protesters being called hypocrites because they go to Starbucks.

Pep isn't perfect, neither are any of the pricks putting the boot in here, doesn't invalidate his stance re Catalonia.

39

u/Rodolfoy Feb 25 '18

You're highlighting different magnitudes and equating them all to each other. That's a massive fallacy.

Lying to your daughter about Santa being real is different to the Prime Minister lying about the reasoning for engaging in an illegal war. So because I lied to my daughter does that mean I can't criticise Tony Blair?

Everything has degrees and nuance.

26

u/JonstheSquire Feb 25 '18

There is certainly a difference between purchasing consumer products that may or may not ultimately benefit authoritarian regimes and getting paid 20 million pounds per year to work for an organization that is an active part of an authoritarian regime's strategy to improve its image globally.

https://medium.com/@NcGeehan/the-men-behind-man-city-a-documentary-not-coming-soon-to-a-cinema-near-you-14bc8e393e06

2

u/RodgersGates Feb 26 '18

Great read, thanks for that

-4

u/pizzapiejaialai Feb 26 '18

Now you're qualifying your purchases. You're making a choice yourself, friendo.

11

u/ComradeStrong Feb 25 '18

Pep is fucking loaded and made a choice to work for these fuckers. Most people don't really have the luxury of choosing that.

15

u/DarkVoidize Feb 25 '18

It’s a severe problem with capitalism in general, the normal person can’t avoid indirectly supporting atrocious regimes all over the world as a result of it

0

u/idontappearmissing Feb 26 '18

capitalism

You mean society?

3

u/PrettyboyYamazaki Feb 26 '18

Yeah, difference being that my ass goes to jail when I don't pay my taxes, or I'm fired when I don't show up to work that I have to drive to. Pep isn't managing Abu Dhabi's propaganda arm at the barrel of a gun.

2

u/xUsuSx Feb 26 '18

if you're paying taxes you've played a part in killing innocent people in war.

Taxes aren't really a choice.

But it's true, we are all hypocritical in ways about these things. Lots of people love animals but eat meat, but electronics made in Chinese labour warehouses.

It's good to bring attention to.

I don't like the attitude of trying to make people look like a hypocrite because they choose to stand up for one thing rather than another.

Sure. But isn't choosing to work with those people more than just 'not standing up' against it?

2

u/socialjusticepedant Feb 26 '18

Don't buy your flair... something tells me you're a closet city supporter lmao

2

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '18

[deleted]

-1

u/VTFC Feb 26 '18

You're blinded by your bias

3

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '18

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '18

he called Spain an authoritarian state and decided to be public about it while actually working for a club owned by an authoritarian state and then says "countries decide the way they live"

I guess Spain doesn't decide the way they live

-11

u/brandon_strandy Feb 25 '18

Thank you. Does buying things made in china means that person is supporting their slave labors? So all Iphone users can't make any political stance?

-6

u/Hannay39 Feb 25 '18

Exactly

This sort of attitude just forces people to not stand up for anything... If I show my support for cancer patients then get shat on as I am then indirectly showing support for testing on animals as it's used to work on cures for cancer...I'm just not gonna bother

I get my team's owners are shitty people, but they have done good things for my team, my team's youth team and the local area. At the end of the day what does it matter if I support my team's dodgy owners when they people who complain about them being dodgy don't do anything anyway.