It is, but it's also going all (reverse?) Chappelle where instead of going against white patriarchical (and suddenly judeo-christian when it suits societal debates) heteronormativity, they focus on another minority struggling for the same rights to freedom of expression in a place where they should already have it on paper.
Of course everybody is beautiful, I love myself and other friends who fall outside of the norm just as much, if not more, as the people who fall inside of it, but it also irks me to force a seemingly pious Muslim to pretend to agree with the rainbow flag pridefully and possibly being banished from many more communities than some of those supporters who can post a picture on instagram and think they did something to improve the world and then ignore their friends with special needs whenever it becomes inconvenient to their own lives.
So yeah, I didn't like to see it and I hope it also becomes safer for people in such and similar communities to openly discuss issues regarding LGBTQIA+ (and other should-be-basic human) rights, especially as many of the community's members (and neighbors from other communities) also fall under umbrellas that aren't unanimously accepted by the current society, let alone the abrahamic branches amongst it. But why push down an already marginalized community because they cannot share the same empty gestures as freely as you do? And it's not like a society will ever be in full agreement on everything, as long as the laws and such protect people's basic human rights and governments actually take such issues more seriously than company's rainbow banners on LinkedIn for a week, it should be a safe environment for everybody. It won't be perfect and you'll still have bigoted Abrahamic fanatics and other dangers to people's mental (and physical...) well-beings, but you also have plenty Christians (and Muslims) who practice in support of LGBT communities, while simultaneously not believing in the rainbow flag based on their personal/communal belief systems.
In the end it's about respect, and I'm not sure if forcing someone to disregard their beliefs and/or security - even if sometimes necessary for actual progress to take (big) risks - nor pushing someone else's rights down on your own way up is an endurable solution. Perhaps it would have been better for his reputation to support him in secret, but isn't it important that they can be honest, or at least comfortable about the associations they add to themselves?
Many of my friends don't understand my personal situation (not going to share here, also), and some don't believe in its actual existence, or don't take it seriously, but the reason they are my friends and I trust them is because they are there for me regardless, not because they pretend to understand or even agree with it. It starts with respect, and a respectful discussion is easier if you at least try to start at the same level. You won't ever fully understand another, let alone one with a different perspective, experience and belief system. But you can try to get closer, and try to respect another's needs and rights as much as possible.
Rights and ethics didn't suddenly become valid because "it's 2024", but because prior beliefs and systems were corrected and (hopefully) adjusted. I'm glad more information and acceptance is out there these days, but I hope that this will also be the case for people with a different experience of life and existence from my own.
Still pisses me off and it's good to say out loud you disagree, but ganging up on someone is different.
Attack the FIFA for ignoring any backbone when expressing core beliefs about human rights and even threatening punishments of players with way less influence than your organization if they still want to set the right example for their own followers. The rainbow armbands are a nice little gesture, but did it change the actual law? Did it improve rights and helped communities prosper? Did Dusan Tadic doing all he can to cover that armband destroy progress? I do hope that the shame factor is removed of such issues, but there's a reason one of the biggest slogans nowadays is "no one is free until all of us are free" - so unless you want to grow together I'm not really sure your growth will be stable in the long run. Don't let Infantino or Macron or whoever shift the responsibility of their own positions to anyone else and then have their token admissions that France doesn't have a clean past redeem them of any actual actions that should be linked to those redemptions.
It's not an either-or situation. Don't aim for homogeneity, aim for improvement of basic human rights, respect and dignity.
Mazraoui is a great player. He has performed terifically almost from his very first minute on. He is a football player and, because of his success and resulting exposure, quite the role model. I do hope he can use that to improve the situation, and helps spread awareness on apartheid and mass violence issues, though unfortunately in this case his own background doesn't help with people - as shown by several Bayern related people - taking his stance there seriously.
Yes, it would definitely have helped the case if he supported both the rights cause for gender/sexuality/romance minorities and his friend's freedom of expression, but in the end he voiced his support for his friend who was attacked left and right for his beliefs, and is not hiding his personal piety regarding his own beliefs. I don't think it's wrong to believe something else, am I wrong? Of course, people from the LGBT+ communities are in great mental health risks, due to the way they are treated by society, but you don't solve anything by giving those same risks to Aboukhlal, or Mazraoui by extension.
As long as he doesn't actively attack anyone verbally or physically, or otherwise hurt them, this doesn't seem like a huge crime to me. It won't make me like him, but it's not like a Mason situation as far as I know.
Feel free to disagree on any point or show me a thinking error I might have a blind spot for, though. - if this comment is actually allowed to stay around in a performance thread
but oh well, it was good to get my considerations out regarding this issue, regardless. Hopefully we get the chance to continue at a time my brain can process it well.------------------
But to get back on topic-topic:
Mazraoui is much better than I expected, actually. I did like him at Ajax, but he also seemed a bit clumsy, to the point that some of his great actions seemed like purple patches, luck or moments of overperformance. But some of his games for Morocco and Bayern - but especially now that I see it more commonly again - his composure looks to have increased a lot, and with that he looks so much more skilled and rapid, as well. And sharp! Seeing the replay for his assist last Thursday was amazing. Wonder how this will progress. As inverted fullback or now RCB with some midfield responsibilities, he really seemed to have found a role where his skills can shine more than as a regular fullback or center midfielder.
