Golf's Sportswashing of Saudi Arabia

[Nevilledog]

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LIV Golf is the latest entertainment play. Called Sportwashing to make people forget what actually goes on in KSA. The Nation compares the Saudi's raining money on LIV golf to the Nazi's use of the Olympics. Ouch.

thenation.com
Golf’s Sportswashing of Saudi Arabia
Not since the 1936 Berlin Olympics was used to cosmeticize Nazi Germany’s atrocities have sports and an otherwise despised government collaborated so blatantly.
4:13 AM · Sep 25, 2022

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/sportswashing-saudi-arabia-golf/

Here’s the big question in Jock Culture these days: Is the Kingdom of Golf being used to sportswash the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Or is it the other way around? After all, what other major sport could use a sandstorm of Middle Eastern murder and human rights abuses to obscure its own history of bigotry and greed? In fact, not since the 1936 Berlin Olympics was used to cosmeticize Nazi Germany’s atrocities and promote Aryan superiority have sports and an otherwise despised government collaborated so blatantly to enhance their joint international standings.

Will it work this time?

The jury has been out since the new Saudi-funded LIV Tour made an early August stop at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, N.J. (That “LIV” comes from the roman numerals for 54, the number of holes in one of its tourneys.) And I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that it was hosted by a former president so well known for flouting golf’s rules that he earned the title Commander in Cheat for what, in the grand scheme of things, may be the least of his sins.

That tournament featured 10 of the top 50 players in the world. They were poached by the Saudis from the reigning PGA Tour, reportedly for hundreds of millions of dollars in signing bonuses and prize money. It was a shocking display for a pastime that has traded on its image of honesty, not to mention an honor system that requires players to turn themselves in for any infraction of the rules, rare in other athletic events where sportsmanship is less admired.

No wonder our former president hailed the tour as “a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia. I think it’s going to be an incredible investment from that standpoint, and that’s more valuable than lots of other things because you can’t buy that—even with billions of dollars.”

*snip*

[brush]

1. It's not "golf" that's sportswashing. It's the Saudi's own LIV golf.

You do know that the PGA is against LIV golf, right?

[Nevilledog]

2. LIV is playing golf, correct? It's obviously talking about LIV.

[brush]

3. Saying "golf" though and not "LIV Golf" indicts the whole sport...

which is incorrect as the PGA and it's top players have come out publicly against the Saudi-sponsored LIV tour...Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and others. I'm a golfer, far from a pro, but me and all my golfing buddies are against what the Saudi's are doing. No blanket condemnation of the whole sport, pls. Let's be accurate.

It's easy to edit that headline.