Putin, Putah, Puto

World Cup hosts the woke campaign against free speech

Putin, first name Vladimir, is the KGB veteran who runs Russia. Putah is a creek that runs nears Davis, California, a good place to swim, fish or paddle a kayak. Puto is the Spanish term for male whore and Mexican soccer fans like to chant “puto” at the opposing team’s goalkeeper. That was going on in Mexico’s recent World Cup win over Chechia, and the chant has drawn fines from FIFA in the past.

Critics target puto as “a homophobic slur that is used against men in the LGBTQ+ community,” and an example of how machismo “creates harmful stereotypes against non-masculine men,” and so on. “Homophobic” is an incantation that dates from Sigmund Freud. As Paul Johnson noted in Modern Times, Freud was the first to regard his critics as mentally deficient. In similar style, anyone unwilling to suffer beheading by a jihadist is “Islamophobic,” so the whole tactic is bogus.

The woke regard the male-female biological reality as a social construct, but there’s a problem here. Bruce Bawer, author of A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society, notes that transgenderism and homosexuality are “two utterly different phenomena,” and queer “can mean anything.” The LGBTQ formulation is the true construct and, strictly speaking, there is no LGBTQ “community.” Should that be doubted, consider the prospect of a Lawyer, Gardner, Banker, Trucker, Quaker community. Woke journalists – stop saying “mainstream media” – are not good at reporting these realities.

Back in 2021 at Talladega Speedway, crowds chanted “F—- Joe Biden!” which a reporter translated as “Let’s go Brandon,” for driver Brandon Brown who had won a race. No word of NASCAR imposing any penalty. The Delaware Democrat knew what the deal was and sent Jill to a Philadelphia Eagles game, where she was mercilessly booed, with a few “FJB” chants in the background. No word of any penalty from the NFL. The true test for free speech is tolerating speech you don’t like. FIFA falls short of the standard, and as Steve says, a couple chasers here.

The best World Cup player is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, who played on three World Cup winners for Brazil. Pele’s favorite player was George Best of Northern Ireland, who never played in a World Cup. Best was also a bon vivant who confessed, “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”

Soccer stars Putin, Pele, Messi, and Best

Even with players like Best, Pele and now GOAT contender Lionel Messi, some find soccer a crushing bore. Those folks might check out the game between the German and Greek philosophers from the Monty Python troupe, with Nietzsche and Aristotle in the respective lineups and Archimedes a surprise starter for the Greeks. If you like that you probably won’t care if Mexicans chant “puto!” at opposing goalkeepers.