How are people so offended about EWC just support your org and enjoy your game and please do not try be on a political high ground. Every country has been on the wrong side of history and especially US and UK. Like sideshow that Baldy is from uk and he is talking shit about human rights like calm down bro
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Then don't leave the country I am just saying you cant have a us flag and be on a high ground at the same time. If a guy from like south africa said about human rights or wars then people will listen to him but they won't listen to a guy from us about human rights when the literally do the opposite thing
This is the worst fucking argument I've seen, like for me, I didn't fucking choose to live in this shitty country. I despise my government, I've protested my government's actions and written to my representatives my thoughts on topic like the middle east, but there's only so much I as an individual can do. I still have to pay taxes, because I don't want to go to jail, and moving countries is an enormous commitment that I don't have the financial ability to do. Speaking out against something is impactful, and is sometimes the best thing somebody can reasonably do against something they disagree with. And just because someone is from a shitty country, that doesn't make their criticisms against another country any less valid
See I find this train of thought very interesting, because you don't believe this and neither do I, but you think I do believe this. Frankly, whether or not I watch Valorant is not going to change Tencent or the Chinese government's bottom line at all, and you can see that as me being morally inconsistent if you want, but personally I think there's a difference between watching Valorant for entertainment and taking millions and millions of dollars actively from a government who is trying to hide it's human rights abuses through things like the EWC, making Riot actively complicit with trying to hide these things. If the Chinese government was also using riot games to try to hide, for example the genocide against the Uyghur people, then I would understand where you're coming from, but they aren't, and honestly from all the LGBTQ+ stuff in Riot's games I would be very surprised if the Chinese government played an active role in what they do
But none of that matters, because even if I am a hypocrite morally, that doesn't invalidate any criticisms against the EWC, it's all just whataboutism
The difference between hosting tournaments in the US and UK versus the fact that the Saudi Regime themselves are hosting the EWC is the main sticking point. Sideshow posted a video on this previously, its about an hour long which might be too much for your attention span, and referenced how if the US government themselves hosted the tournament It'd be a totally different question.
You talk about others being privileged but this a country where women aren't even allowed to leave without consent from a male figure in their lives, its backwards and medieval, and you clearly speak from a point of privilege to close your eyes to these human rights abuses.
Fuck the US, they're sponsoring genocide in Israel, their president is a sick racist fuck, I have 0 sympathy. Fuck the British empire and the US puppet state (the UK) that followed, I have no love for these nation states, but they're not the tournament organiser, Riot is, where as in the EWC, its directly run and funded by the Saudi PIF, and that's just not okay.
That's like suggesting Riot hosting a tournament in Bangkok makes them a subsidiary of the Thai government?
This makes no sense whatsoever lmao.
The issue with it being funded by the Saudi government is that its active sports washing, its them using their oil money (which a lot of the people employed in this sector are on dodgy visas allowing the government to effectively hold them hostage in the country till they complete their work), to paint themselves as saints in the eyes of the world.
MBS knows that oil will eventually run out, and wants to diversify the economy, if he had ACTUALLY wanted to reform the country and build a bright new future, hell yeah, let the Saudis pump as much as they want into it, money for change is good! But thats not what happening, the Saudi regime has become more repressive, and is still executing 100s of people every year.
All this to say, the EWC formats fucking sucked last year, viewership was really low compared to other events in each game, and the overall formats were just really trashy, and incentivised teams to just sign as many mediocre rosters in as many games as possible. And oh yeah, Team Falcons, a team with previous ties to the Saudi PIF, were the overall winners.
That's like suggesting Riot hosting a tournament in Bangkok makes them a subsidiary of the Thai government?>
???
No, this is just me saying that the problem isn't the country directly financing the tournament, its that you have a problem with the country. It would not be adressed by having the danish Blast hold it in Saudi Arabia through a series incentives.
Ppl like Sideshow, that you mentioned, just use this argument to excuse themselves of facing the hypocrisy of saying that while working in the U.S. And when he refused to go to the Shanghai masters it was straight sinophobic imo.
Closest example I can give is CS, we are getting this year a IEM Major in Dallas, Intel get a shit ton of money/benefits from the US government, gonna host it in US Soil, and yet it would not get criticized, even if it was a Valorant tournament, because they hold the narrative, so they can't be accused of sportswashing.
ps: this not directly at you, as you demonstrated that you dont fuck with the us either
But us government do hold tournaments like fifa and Olympics and nobody bats an eye on that and like I said rito is under a chinese government company so you should not watch their games to begin with and then why is sideshow even a official caster getting paid by tencent and then saying masters shanghai was bad
FIFA is the one holding the tournament, and I think they're one of the most corrupt sporting bodies in the whole world no doubt, full agreement, you only have to look at the horrible conditions in Qatar (curious you don't reference this since it was one of the worst human rights violations in the sports history. And don't even get me started on how disgusting the fucking Olympics is.
Just because I think the Saudi regime is disgusting and abhorrent doesn't mean I don't think that other regimes get a free pass? These things arnt mutually exclusive.
Also sideshow is a freelance caster meaning he's hired to work the days he's paid. He's not a riot employee and is free to criticize the company as well as Tencent to his hearts content.
The entire study of ethics on how responsible on is for the actions of a company they work for is a whole other thing that has literally been debated for years on end now,
But the simple reality is there isn't any morally complete company out there you can work for and make a living wage. Your choices in capitalism are work or starve, not really much choice there. Sideshow is literally speaking out against riots decision making here and actively calls people to not watch the event, which in turn hurts riots bottom line.
To me it looks like someone who's doing all they can within their power.
Being self employed is a huge privilege not a choice you can just make. He has financial responsibilities where he can't just drop his career and bet it all on streaming. It takes a lot of effort and luck to become a self employed streamer, and he's talked about before how if he could he'd watch party every masters event with plat chat, as obviously, working from the comfort of your own home, surrounded by your friends and family is WAYY better. But he also followed that up with the obvious fact that plat chat doesn't bring in enough money to where he could make a living doing it full time all the time.
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