ABOUT THE WORLD CUP AND A CARTOON WORLD OF 24/7 FAKE NEWS…

Now that the World Cup is over, those in Hong Kong who stayed up until early morning to watch the matches are going to go through withdrawal problems, but, at least, there was something to do and talk about. 

For Asia, there was nothing to cheer. Japan and Korea were knocked out early in the tournament and though BTS performed their now ubiquitous brand of K-Pop along with the rather strange group of artists cobbled together for the first ever World Cup Half Time show, there were only pockets of interest in World Cup 2026 in Hong Kong except for the Finals between Spain and Argentina. 

Though the Hong Kong Jockey Club and sponsor Lenovo had us believing that the entire tournament would “rock the city”, pebbles and sand must have been used to “rock” anything.

Some of us are still trying to understand the mashup branded as “Racing with Football” from the “Home Of Football” and the rather sad foreplay by an ensemble of adult males holding their balls before finally scoring with the “Eight To Glory” own goal.

Previous World Cup Finals, even during those masked up Covid years, had many of us in Hong Kong staying up late, making friendly office bets after studying the different Groups and players involved and using this time to get together with friends in any bar or restaurant showing the matches. 

Wyndham Street, Wanchai, SoHo and Lan Kwai Fong were alive and kicking and buzzing with kebabs, burgers, Feather Boa and plenty of beers and ole ole Ricky Martin songs. 

This World Cup year in Hong Kong was something like “What If They Gave A War And No One Came?”

Though there will be the usual hype about “millions spent in restaurants and bars”, we know bollocks when we read it. 

We KNOW what passes itself off as “nightlife” in Hong Kong when there’s nothing to give it even the perception of having a pulse.

Despite all this in Hong Kong, I believe that it was an outstanding World Cup played in two halves that showed people countries coming together and emphasising how we’re NOT divided by politics and the now dumbed down rhetoric of politicians and organisations lacking their moral compass. 

Maybe those who keep sending in the same old clowns with the same old words so many times don’t realise that we’re immune to what they have to say and with standards of objective journalism not that different to those years of television show like E! Entertainment or the online fodder of Perez Hilton and TMZ.

All the much needed positivity seen and created and celebrated by those loyal football fans and footballers has, of course, already been hijacked by the same old men who were very probably applauding themselves for being so much richer after this event.

They were also paying lip service and complimenting America’s moronic grifter-in-chief who crashed and photobombed Spain’s victory celebrations until FIFA’s own embarrassment that is Gianni Infantino had to quickly get his pal offstage- but not soon enough. 

As mentioned to a friend, the world as we knew it has changed forever, and we’re living in a cartoon world filled with soulless human cartoon characters.

It’s where, like when watching the Road Runner series or Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, the characters might shoot each other, detonate bridges, throw grenades etc, but this is okay because no one gets hurt and will be back for more. 

Same with what’s happening in the real world today and is tolerated- which is wrong. Because of either how it’s being reported or how immune we have become to bad news and wars and all kinds of shocking horrors, we have lost empathy, plus how to think for ourselves and okay to accept lies, lies and more lies.

Let’s not forget that World Cup 2026 was taking place while the war between Russia and the Ukraine rages on, Israeli and Palestinian forces engage in another war, Trump says one thing and does the other, because there’s no one to stop him.

Seemingly, this is okay, because there’s no end in sight, and as long as none of this bad stuff bothers us, let’s just play on, brothers, because maybe we’ve become just as hypocritical as those we criticise?

While the Beautiful Game gave us some glorious moments that showed respect and friendship and just how beautiful this world is, going on in what seems to be a separate parallel universe, another new Prime Minister was being sworn in at 10 Downing Street.

Elsewhere, two social media influencers had been arrested and extradited for a litany of sex crimes while we watched highlights from another variety show that included the debut of football now having a Super Bowl type Half Time show with a strange assortment of guests. 

It’s like we’re living what the brilliant movie “The Truman Show” was showing and warning us and now this happening in real time.

It is what it is and we are so hooked onto what we’re seeing that we cannot change channels, because we’ve become creatures of habit and worry that we might miss something so unimportant, and which we have helped to elevate to another level of stupidity.

We can’t have this happening, but we do, because- well, we don’t really know why.

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Dedicated to the memory of the legendary Kevin Keegan.

www.HansEbertisgardening.com