The beautiful game.

The World Cup.

I’d be lying if I said that my childhood dream wasn’t to become a footballer and to wear my nation’s colours with pride at the largest sporting event in the history of our species. (And as I turn 30 today, I’m starting to think that this may never happen.)

For as long as I remember, the World Cup has been featured prominently in my life. The matches are watched religiously. The car flags are displayed with pride. Maybe one day I’ll even get to fly the Canadian flag in support of our national selection — if they ever qualify during my lifetime. And I don’t need to look very far to see that I’m not the only one with World Cup fever. I’ve already seen pretty much every represented nation’s flag around town at least once. The beer’s in the fridge. The TV’s off right now, but it’ll be a part of millions tuning in at 16:00 EST today for the kickoff. Let the games begin.

Footbal. Soccer. Fudbal. Nogomet. Calcio. Fussball. The world’s game. Why does football enjoy such popularity among the masses? The answer’s quite simple actually: it’s cheap. To play football, all that’s needed is a $5 ball. You don’t need a fancy pitch — any alley is a ready substitute. No goals? No problem! Pretty much anything can be used as a goalpost. All you need is a bit of skill with your feet and motivation to succeed. This is why football is the saviour of many, many poor children and their families. It’s the only chance they are afforded to be lifted from poverty. And for those tuning in to the World Cup, they are offered with 90 minutes of freedom from their problems. It would seem that football isn’t that different from drugs.

Brazil has a proud history in this sport. The nation has produced some of the finest footballers ever, and has won the coveted trophy more than any other nation. Sometimes is seems that their primary export is footballers. Does this not seem like the perfect nation to host the Cup? Many Brazilians will disagree.

But what could possibly be more important to Brazilians than the World Cup? Surely it can’t be things like poverty, violence, education, and human rights? Because who the fuck cares about any of that? Remember how football is the saviour of many poor families? There are countless more that aren’t saved, and after the 90 minutes are up, the rattle of an empty stomach returns. Poverty is still rampant in Brazil, which fares quite poorly when it comes to income inequality and roughly one-third of of the population lives in povery. That’s approximately 100 million. And where’s poverty, there’s crime — Brazil has no shortage of it. It’s one of the most crime-laden places in the world. Homicide, abduction, gang violence, armed robbery, drug trafficking, police corruption — you’ll find no shortage of it in Brazil. And Brazil has its fair share of human rights violations, though I’m hearing exactly nothing about it. Where’s that level of moral outrage we saw over the Sochi Olympics just a few short months ago?

To be honest, I was a bit surprised to see these kind of images coming from Brazil:

I’m not hearing any calls to boycott the Cup, as was the case with the Sochi Olympics. Mind you, I don’t want to hear such calls (they do nothing to help). But I would mind seeing a bit of global outrage about the way things have been done. Isn’t that the western way?

I’m not an expert on the matter, but I’m pretty sure that expensive new stadia aren’t the answer to Brazil’s social problems. But hey, maybe the goverment can re-purpose them as “care centres” for the outspoken once they run out of tear gas and pepper spray.

It’s been nearly two millenia since Juvenal said “give them bread and circuses and they’ll never revolt.” Though 1/3 of Brazilians may be a bit short on the former, the World Cup and the upcoming Rio Olympics will ensure they get plenty of the latter. Maybe “Pão e Circo” should replace “Ordem e Progresso” on the Brazilian flag.