Why is the World Cup more exciting than world politics?

A succession of scandals generate headlines around the world, but the World Cup goes on triumphantly.

The World Cup is a drama in which the actors, the spectacle, and the spectators - present and absent - around the globe are all, in one passing moment, part of a fair, free, and common play. We become the world in one act of universal ritual that overwhelms and overshadows all the major world religions...

Take a look at the headlines. Iraq is on the verge of self-destruction. An international gang of mercenaries has just established a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria. Ukraine is in deep turmoil. In Egypt, a military coup has just staged a ridiculous election and jailed journalists to hide its atrocities. In Afghanistan, yet another presidential election is publicly challenged. In Palestine, Israelis are again out on a rampage, killing innocent people under their military occupation, while African immigrants to the Jewish state have appealed to the UN to save them from abuse. In the US, the memo justifying drone killing has been released, with the habitual legalese gobbledygook.
All these exceptionally important - and even world-historic - events happened at a time when people around the world were far more interested in the World Cup than in political news.


The World Cup is a drama in which the actors, the spectacle, and the spectators - present and absent - around the globe are all, in one passing moment, part of a fair, free, and common play. We become the world in one act of universal ritual that overwhelms and overshadows all the major world religions...