The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be remembered for many things, but the British government will remember it for being the first time in the history of football that they did not have to conduct diplomatic engagements with World Cup hosts over the arrest of their citizens. Not a single British citizen saw the inside of a Qatari prison between the first kick-off and Messi lifting the18-carat piece of metal. If you had to submit your best guess as to why Brits were well behaved this time you would have to start with the alcohol ban, right? The Brits love their pints almost as much as they love their football - mix the two and you risk a resurgence of classic anglo hooliganism.
In 2019, 48% of English citizens reported to drinking alcohol at least once a week. 8% reported to imbibe on a more regular basis, something like every day. This number rises to about 58% when you interview folks from Northern Ireland. By world standards, this level of drinking is on the high side. In fact, it’s the highest in the world depending on who you ask. They get black-out drunk 51 times over a 12-month period. Other nations report annual numbers closer to 33 times on average. Interestingly, the US, Canada and Australia are close runner-ups to the UK. What do they have in common? English! They speak English! Maybe there’s something about the language that makes it go well will substance abuse.
Britons have been forging their reputation of causing havoc during football matches internationally since the 1960s. In the period 1985 to 1990, teams from England were banned from European competitions due to the escalation of episodes of violence perpetuated by football fans with English passports. The 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus in Belgium is the case in point. Liverpool fans attacked the Italians verbally at first. They soon accepted failure in terms of penetrating the language barrier and started hurling stones together with the insults. When they were not satisfied with the efficacy of the stones, they stormed the actual physical barrier that was meant to keep the fanbases separated. It escalated quickly and turned into a disaster and that is not an exaggeration. A section of the Heysel Stadium crumbled under the force of English barbarianism. We lost 39 football fans that day. The football community had to take a decisive stand.
You may be wondering if we learned anything from the Heysel disaster. I’m afraid not. Hooliganism is alive and well to this day. Fans communicate over the internet and schedule pre-game and post-game fights! Some people are quite special in that they wake up in the morning and actively pursue disorder. The Brits have been exporting this disorder to EVERY SINGLE World Cup except for the one just concluded. It happens to be the only one where there were strict restrictions on the bevs to be enjoyed at the stadiums. Coincidence?
Epic Games fined $275 million!
Epic Games has been hit with an epic fine. The video game company behind the global sensation, Fortnight; the same game that your baby cousin prefers over doing their homework has programmed itself into some drama with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If you are not acquainted with the FTC, the word ‘Federal’ should be a clue that they mean business.
The FTC alleges that Epic violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting data on minors playing fortnight without obtaining consent from parents. Parents who attempted to have their children’s data deleted from the game were met with minimal cooperation. There’s also the issue that Fortnite defaults to enabling audio and chats on boot up. That does not sound like a BFD if you’ve never played a game online. I can witness here to you today that the people playing video games online are characters of the uncouth kind who have a lot to say about your mother and what she got up to last night. It is this kind of abuse against which regulators wish to protect our 13-year-old cousins.
Finally, the icing on Epic’s cake: Children were enabled to make in-game purchases without the card holder having to sanction transactions. In the game, you’re able to purchase wardrobe to raise the aesthetic profile of your playable character. In some games the armour your Avatar wears gives you certain abilities and advantages. Not with this kind! Fortnite skins are just for vibes. So these kids would be going nuts swiping one weird attire over another on dad’s card to impress their online counterparts. Dad would just wake up one morning to a transaction notification “purchased squid game costume, $2.00,” and be left wondering if he had had too much to drink. “Why does my drunken stupor send me straight to online shopping in weird sections of the internet?”
The regulator claims that the dark patterns used by Fortnite to harvest gamers’ monies were successful on adults as well. There were instances where grown folk found themselves making unintended in-game purchases. How many instances you ask? $245 million worth! The FTC has borrowed a page from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and has asked that Epic PAY BACK THE MONEY! The total financial outlay for this offence cacophony hence rises to over half a billion dollars for Epic.
The team at Epic Games has been in-and-out of the court more times than Serena and Venus. If you recall, they were scrapping with Apple not so long ago after they violated the terms and conditions of the Apple store. Apple took drastic action and removed Fortnite from their platform. Epic responded by crying foul to the authorities. They shouldn’t have done that because after deliberations, the authorities ruled that Epic was liable to pay damages for violating their agreements with Apple. It’s all fun and games there by Epic. I’m starting to think that for some institutions, it’s not a question of if they will offend but when!
What I’m Reading
I read a few titles over the many past Sundays where I have opted for other activities instead of posting on this here, the world’s most neglected blog. Let’s fly through all of them:
1. Stellenbosch Mafia
After reading Koos Bekker’s boring excuse of a biography by T.J Strydom, I got a taste for South African literature. So, I kinda hung around. Some would say I got stuck. I read Stellenbosch Mafia by Pieter du Toit - very good read this was. No, let me lather more praise; It’s actually amazing. Pieter describes a group that is most influential in South Africa’s world of business. They happen to be white… er… Afrikaner… hailing from the same bubble that lies to the east of Cape Town, Stellenbosch. These men are suspected to be operating in a coordinated fashion. The characteristics I describe above are not viewed as mere coincidence. They are actually requirements to be part of the group popularised as the… wait for it… Stellenbosch Mafia. All the individuals of this fraternity deny all of this of course, as you would. Pieter did a good job. You go read this one, okay? Great 👍🏾.
2. ANC Billionaires
So I had learned my lesson, do not just pick up any random South African author. Stick with Pieter. So I picked up ANC Billionaires, Pieter’s latest book, thinking that I would be in for a treat. Oh but no. Horror. I did not like it. 80% of the book was just Apartheid history. Useful but not what I was looking for in this one. The cover is a Mount Rushmore-esque collage of famous black billionaires that blossomed through the political upheaval of the 1990s. I thought this would be a 411 on… okay, I’ll say it; the level of corruption involved in these billions that were created to be exclusively enjoyed by ANC affiliates. I could not find anything of the sort. How does that saying about judging a book by the cover go again?
3. The Parasitic Mind
This one. I say this one. This one!!! Read!!! I wrote about it a little bit here.
4. Fooled by Randomness
I only understand 40% of Nassim texts. But it’s a delicious 40%. He tackles the role that luck plays in people’s success. He warns that some of the outcomes “experts” want you to believe are due to skill are based on dumb luck if you look under the hood. He is not a great writer but he is one hell of a thinker. His work is worth your time. There is a section in the book that speaks to well understood human biases as well. I do think your intellectual diet is not optimised until you appreciate the role of bias in ever day life. One additional thing that draws me to Nasssim as well is his erudition. He reads a lot. He references so many books and studies that after you finish with his work you have five or six other works that you note and throughly pursue. This brings us to the book I’m reading now.
5. The Trial
Nassim mentioned The Trial by Franz Kafka. Kafka is kind of a cult hero for Europeans and the intelligentsia. I’m 25% in and it’s not sparkling to be honest. The literary snobs are winning because I feel pressure to find out what this guy is about. I also know that I will have to read this title to the end. I doubt I’ll change my mind. It’s just okay. I cannot tell yet why he is celebrated so much. Kwekucala nje he was too timid to publish. He asked his friend to burn all his writings as his last testament. If he didn’t believe in himself, why should I?
Till next Sunday 👋🏾.
Comments