Look, I know this is going to be a deeply controversial and unpopular statement to make, and it is based on my observations, rather than significant tangible "evidence", but...

You all know what has been going on in Australia. You know how shit it is. However I thought I would share a... Bit of an anecdote, to support that.

Yesterday I went to a national football (in this case, not the round ball type) finals match, in my home state. I don't want to give too many details, for obvious reasons, but this was in a fairly conservative regional city, so not somewhere I would consider overly "liberal", by Australian standards...

So, here's what went down: to get into the match, we had to "check in" on thr government app. No smartphone to "check in" - no entry. Simple as that. The app allows the government to track you, and to see wherever you have been, outside your house. It uses QR codes, and it's mandated, everywhere here. This is in addition to only allowing pre-purchased tickets. You couldn't buy any at the ground, and, of course, you have to supply your address and confact details when you buy those tix...

You then get patted down, security guards literally CHECK your phone screen to see that you checked in "properly", bags are checked, and then?

Well, we only THEN were told we had to wear a mask. In a state where there hasn't been a single case in the community in 15 months or so, and no deaths in near 18. In this state, there hasn't ever really been a mask mandate at all, and I literally went to the football a few months back, with the pandemic in full swing, with no one even recommended to wear masks, in the same fucking venue...

So yeah... Shit then spiralled from there, and I saw security guards bash a man, and then have the cops drag him out, for not wes Aring his mask, and for "cheering too loud"...

Lots of other bad shit happened, and I videoed some of it, but it warrants a separate post, to go into details...

Suffice to say, after the bashing of the man near me, I was then verbally abused by a cop myself, and decided to give as good as I got straight back. But I wasn't arrested, so there's that. However I did have security guards stand near me to "keep an eye on me" for the rest of the match... Beyond that, though, it scares me to have paid $70 for the privilege of this "bread and circuses" bullshit, only to find the crowd around me so scared of the authorities that they didn't even fucking stop to talk to one another, while standing up, lest they be warned by the police, because that was made illegal within the stadium...

Now, to Russia: this morning I watched the final of the Beach Soccer World Cup, on the TV, live from Moscow.

Now look, I know this is a fairly obscure sport (in the Anglosphere, at least), and a small sample size of sports fans, but... The atmosphere was quite literally the exact opposite of what I experienced the day before. Partying, cheering, Mexican waves, Viking claps, fireworks, (presumably) drinking, and almost NO ONE was wearing a mask. Even the official party weren't.

Families were there. There was music and dancing. People were HAVING FUN. And fans had come from fucking Japan (they were playing vs the hosts), Switzerland, Africa and elsewhere in the world, to watch.

Gianni Infantino (head of FIFA) even "man-hugged" some of the players, and had a photo with them. All smiles.

And you know what the biggest thing was, for me? Everyone there was fucking smiling, and laughing/crying with jubilitation, which is the polar opposite of how Russians are stereotyped, in our media. People looked genuinely happy, and genuinely glad for one another's company...

This is in direct contrast to what I saw, and experienced, in supposedly the currently most "free" state in Aus...

And look, I hate FIFA. I know Russia has its issues, and I know... Things will be different, in the reality outside that stadium. I don't want to go with the line that "Russia is right". But... Seeing all that, and experiencing what I have, it made me realise that, in many ways, at least in terms of COVID restrictions, Russia is more free than Australia. Which is... Bizzare to think of, and also rather scary, when you consider that the media down here goes out of its way to say the exact opposite, especially the so-called "trusted" or "legitimate" media outlets...