Many netizens have left comments asking me to discuss the riot triggered by Messi’s trip to India. It is simply about Messi recently visiting Kolkata in India, where he unveiled his 21-meter-high statue and met fans at the Salt Lake Stadium. Because he only appeared for a dozen minutes or so, chaos broke out at the scene, with serious smashing of public facilities, throwing of debris and garbage, and even some people dismantling the plastic seats in the stadium. This is just an ordinary emotional outburst caused by the organizer defrauding fans, which could happen in any country. And to be honest, Messi always manages to find excuses, saying it is the organizer’s responsibility, but he has found similar organizers in many countries. In commercial events in Hong Kong and mainland China, he also caused fan protests and riots because his appearance time was insufficient or he even refused to appear. He should reflect on himself instead of always shifting the blame to others, even though he is the king of football.
The fundamental reason netizens are paying attention to India is that the degree of rioting by Indians is indeed quite severe, exceeding the limits of ordinary people’s imagination. Shouting slogans and throwing drink bottles is understandable, as staff will clean them up, but destroying infrastructure shows serious lack of intelligence. This is illegal behavior, and in rule-of-law countries, one must compensate for the stadium losses; if the amount is large, one might even face lawsuits and jail time. Moreover, destroying public facilities cannot cause any harm to Messi; once he leaves Kolkata, you become irrelevant to him, so why do these foolish things? As for people dismantling the stadium seats, I think it is very normal, because even if Messi did not come, some of them would still do such things. If you do not believe Indians’ obsession with assets, you can do a test: place an ordinary plastic chair on the streets of New Delhi, and it will disappear in less than 5 minutes. But I think many of you often watch videos under the China Travel topic, where many foreigners leave their laptops and bags on tables in public places, go to the restroom, and find everything intact when they return.
The reason many Indian fans are angry is that although Messi appeared, he was surrounded by too many VIP clients, and they spent 2 months of income on tickets but could not see Messi at all. To this, I want to say that expecting to see Messi with a $100 ordinary ticket is indeed somewhat unrealistic. In China, to observe and interact with Messi up close at his events, one needs to spend more than $1000, or even several thousand dollars on the best tickets, and that only provides an opportunity. Ordinary tickets around $100 are usually scalped by ticket touts to several times the price, and one can only watch and shout from afar. However, online rumors say that the people surrounding Messi were not high-paying ticket buyers, but local officials and politicians, who likely used their power to get close to Messi, giving paying ticket holders a strong sense of deprivation and thus triggering the riot. This puzzles me greatly: Indian society imposes the caste system on you, and when government officials and police exploit and oppress you, you still respectfully bribe them and call them Sir, like docile sheep, so how come you lose emotional control over such minor matters instead?
Furthermore, regarding being deceived, you got angry and had to express your emotions through barbaric destructive behavior, so you must really hate scammers, right? But do you know that Indians are frantically scamming people in other countries around the world? In English-speaking countries, receiving a phone call with a curry accent basically means it is a scam. Your scams targeting elderly and vulnerable Americans bring India tens of billions of dollars in revenue each year. Have you considered Americans’ feelings? How should Americans express their anger? Do you understand why Trump repeatedly humiliated Modi and India, imposed tariffs on India, restricted H1B visas, and spread everywhere that Pakistan shot down 8 Indian fighter jets? It is because many of his voters hate India; they are fed up with Indians littering in their communities and parks, fed up with their elderly family members being scammed by Indians, fed up with jobs being taken by Indians’ fake credentials, and fed up with their workplaces being dominated by Indians, where Indian bosses only hire and promote Indians. So you should not protest against US trade bullying and visa restrictions on India; according to your emotional response to scams, what the US does to India is just fitting.
To be honest, if this happened in other countries, I would mainly condemn the organizer’s fraudulent behavior, but since it happened in India, the world’s capital of scams, I think it is no surprise, and I do not believe the organizer has any particularly major fault. After all, honesty is a very scarce quality in Indian society. Not only that, Indians also frantically scam Chinese foreign trade merchants, tricking them into providing free samples, then refusing to pay the balance after receiving goods, and the whole company completely disappears. Some Indians even pretend to negotiate projects with Chinese companies just to scam free lunches or get them to provide overnight accommodation. In Guangdong and Zhejiang, the two major foreign trade provinces, local chambers of commerce have made preventing scams by Indians a mandatory course, reminding members to be cautious at exhibitions and various events. I can describe these phenomena lightly in videos, but behind these stories are many families going bankrupt and many people’s lives being completely destroyed. Do you Indians feel guilty?
Additionally, another important reason I do not condemn the organizer is that they have no way to stop local officials and politicians from using power to cut in line and take advantages from the audience. Because in India, openly corrupt use of power is very normal. Indians even openly ask about others’ bribe income, and the other party does not feel embarrassed, because it is a symbol of status and prestige, and in some circles, it is an honor. If the organizer does not comply with local politicians, they will have difficulty surviving and developing there in the future. As for why these politicians like taking advantages, I think the question is even somewhat superfluous: have you ever seen an Indian who does not love taking advantages? In the words of Jayant Bhandari, India is a morally collapsed society. People hurt each other, and even pull those who hope to change or are changing back into the abyss. I suggest viewers watch more of his conversation videos with Dr. David Oualaalou, and I believe you will understand India better.