Barcelona’s arsenal and propagandas’ victims: Facts and fakes

“Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.

As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience…” Wiki

Episode one,The art of creating Propaganda: Freedom of speech or losing the leash? 

This is not exclusively about Sports, but about the general impact of media in creating public opinion. It’s about how wrong it is to be less “media critical” and more reliable on whatever it tells. Public behavior toward press this summer was a good demonstration. Some of the public responds on media claims were extremely worrisome as they showed that we never learn our lessons. It also expressed how easy it is to mislead people through repetitively hitting the same nail day in day out or just claiming to do so. People bought it and believed it even though it was too shallow to pass. No wonder then that we fall victims to some more well-planned campaigns that we -worldwide- end up paying the price of our laziness to investigate first then decide how far the incoming news is reliable or meaningful. At the end of the day, journalists are no prophets. They are employees and if they do not generate profit through increasing readership they lose the job that feed their families. Truth gets overestimated when it's a matter of life or death.

Obviously, one of the main shows this summer in sport was Cesc's Circus and the “daily interviews” Barcelona players gave to the press. That’s a strong example of how fragile we are under the media impact. It will be interesting to create a report about all the daily “interviews” the players made with the media in the past few weeks. It would have been more believable if the players were training with the club during that period. You can assume that journalists were hiding behind a bush near the training field and the moment a player shows up, they throw themselves in his way screaming: “What is the best bullshit you can come up with about Arsenal today?” Then the player starts running out his mouth. Yet, all this mess happened and the players were having their vacations. If we can assume that every interview took two hours from setup to goodbye, it seems the players wasted their vacation time rambling on the streets begging for attention and searching for the journalists for an interview. Isn’t it also interesting that some of the “interviews” were just about one thing and sometimes ended up with one statement? I would have expected the players to talk shit about Arsenal, then hail the world cup victory, then shit about Arsenal, then joke about Puyol’s sheep, then shit about Arsenal, and so on…But it was more like a player inviting the media for an urgent press conference, scream: “Arsenal is a shit!” then slamming the door behind him and vanish. Few hours later and here we go again! 

I always thought that players try to disconnect themselves permanently from anything football related when they have their vacations, which is probably another reason why none of them commented on the rumors till late (Puyol for example twitted recently that he gave no Arsenal bashing interviews). I read interviews this week during preseason that some players even missed watching the world cup final because they were enjoying their vacations. Anything fishy?

The players who –supposedly- voices all the statements published were closer to Cesc during that period than they were to the club. They spent their vacations together. Now I am not completely sold on Cesc’s maturity but I strongly doubt that he was standing beside barca players while they were bashing Arsenal. Again, my same old question: If all the statements are true, then was it Barcelona who tapped Cesc using the players or Cesc tapped Barcelona to buy him using his friends (some of the most powerful players in Barcelona’s squad? That's if you buy all this circus. I don't.

You-dear reader- knew that such statements will make it more difficult for Arsenal to accept selling Cesc to Barcelona. Not only you, but all your friends knew it as well. All the bloggers you read. All the comments posted on the blogs you follow. I knew it as well, and all those I know knew it, same as all the people I know, know knew it! Hell!! How possible is it that ONLY Barcelona board were the junkyard ones who didn’t know and kept on planning such strategies to tap Cesc? We are talking about some of the most successful lawyers, businessmen and negotiators here. At least, you expect such entrepreneurs and business managers to know a bit more than uncle delusional, right?

You got pawned! Believe it or not, 90 % of what you read is based on lies and 90 % of the rest are manipulated. “Is that possible? Is it really happening to me?” You ask… welcome to the world where the certainties are exactly the issues that you need to doubt. If all the bluffing ended up with some angry comments on a blog here and a blog there, it will be all fine. Yet, till we start creating enough anti-bullshit immunity, we will keep being the victims of our own making.

Break in:  

Relevant demonstration. The art of creating propaganda.

You misunderstood, whatever you understood.

If you missed all the “fun”, worry not. You will catch the following train:

Not only that, but it’s so strange how versatile and moody propaganda can be and how far we are still welling to get sold on it. I picked such example just because it is related to the country having the strongest impact on world’s stability. No doubt you can bring similar prototypes from every inch across the globe. 

Break out/ Back to football

But was it all about fake press? We must not exclude the responsibility of Barcelona’s management, players, media, and fans for feeding that decline in likability we witnessed this summer. They were able to behave better, react smarter, and be more level headed. But how far is it the club’s faulted and how far was it a setup on bad intentions or at least naïve perceptions? Who carry the responsibility of all this mess that causes the circus of Chaos?

There is no doubt Barcelona’s board failed many times to keep things under control. Last season, Laporta was so busy preparing for Barcelona’s election but also brainstorming his political future. His speeches reflected that. His behaviors were unacceptable to say the least. He created lot of enemies, especially within the Catalan community, powerful enemies with media arms. They started to bash him anyway possible, even if that meant punching the club he represents. The easiest thing in Spain is to create a story and publish it, and nothing the media across the world love more than quoting such stories and spice it to meet the taste of the readers. 

He also gave the green light for the wave that “Catalanized” every incident and every event. In Catalonia that’s always an exhibition that generate readership for the press. We all saw what happened during the Champions’ league game against Inter. That was one of the biggest damages for the image of the club, especially in the eyes of the fans who do not support Barcelona, but sympathize with the club and respect its model.

The “Catalanization” continued by launching the project to bring the Catalan boy back home. There is nothing wrong about showing interest in a player. But the fact that he knew we are not going to sign him –Lot of us knew it since day one- made this case a shameful attempt to mislead the Socis who were going to elect a new president. Mind you, Rosell was not better when he pointed out that signing Cesc will be an “easy operation”. Both knew they were bluffing. But that was the spark needed to start the fire. And there was no way back from there on…

Barcelona was no doubt the team that generated the highest return for tabloids, the highest readership for bloggers and the best revenue for pay-per-click ads. The team was constantly under the spotlights since two years when the club won everything possible taking the world by storm. This summer the Anti-Barca-flu hit the peak. Regardless of how valid the attacks were, those were completely expected and understandable. Nothing against Barcelona in specific but as they say in the small village of my childhood: “Stones are always thrown at fruitful trees” 

Barcelona can’t complain. They earned the blessing of that habit when they were on the rise. I remember after the domination of EPL clubs in the champions’ league how the fans of different clubs in Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and across the world were cheering and praying for Barcelona in 2009 for being the serious contenders to break that English dominance. People were not only sick of English teams outshining the European clubs in the Champions’ league but were also upset of the continuous claim that English premier league was the best in the world. 

English media in the other hand used to underrate the club quality. I remember dozens of “Barcelona is overrated” and “they look strong because Liga is weak” articles clinched on the homepages of journalism in England. So far it was about overlooking with sympathy more than hatred and envy. 

Then the club marched to win the liga, champions’, world cup for clubs (or whatever they call it!), European super cup, you name it. And they won it in Style. Every fan’s dream at any club. They achieved all that employing a team with a spine made at home and promoted from the youth academy. Every fan’s dream at any club. They introduced their club model as a club owned by its fans in the ra of acquisitions’ mess. Every fan’s dream at any club. Instead of earning money from betting sponsorships they paid UNISEF and used the shirts to promote the good causes and moral values insisting that the club colors are neither for rent nor for sale. Every fan’s dream at any club. Barcelona was the only club with a solid argument to claim being more than just a club. Every fan’s dream at any club. This progressed so rapidly that lot of football fans started to support their club and Barca. Even when the club failed to win the Champions league this season the players won the world cup where Barcelona earned most of the credit of providing the resources and style for the winners (regardless how far we agree on that). Success creates envy. Domination generates enemies.

Episode four, Barcelona’s catastrophic debts:

I already wrote about this issue here and here. Swiss Rambler's article about Barcelona's finance confirmed what I mentioned in a more eloquent way. I think the mentioned posts sum up the case well.
 

There is an image –especially outside Spain- that there are two empires in Spain: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. The first rule Catalonia and the second rule the rest of Spain. As for Barcelona, they have all the financial resources they have from the Catalan banks to defeat Real Madrid. Politics support them as well and the holly spirits. That’s not exactly true, though there is some truth in that without being conspiracy-inspiring by any means.

Banks of Catalonia- so as everywhere in the world- works for their own interest. Starting with a clear example, check the relation between Real Madrid and the Catalan bank, La Caixa. That bank contributed in financing Perez presidential campaign and his spending spree to strengthen Real Madrid’s squad. I won’t call that a favor to Barcelona.

Now is it true that Barcelona can get loans with low interest? Yes. Is that unfair? No. It’s a fair game. Is it something only Barcelona can get? No. I can even tell you how to do it! Become a Barcelona. Let the club fans of Manchester United own their club. Encourage them to open bank accounts and put their savings in a bank in Manchester so that a hundred thousand of the club fans become bank customers and then let your club request a loan from that bank. Tell me what you get. Not satisfied? Worry not! All the politicians of London will work under the table to guarantee you better conditions. No politician wastes the chance to win the hearts of hundred thousand voters or at least they avoid making them angry.  Even big companies there would work there nights and days to secure their customers are satisfied. Now imagine the impact of such dynamics in a community where the club really means more than just a club for the population.  It’s now a deep rooted mechanism that click without planning.
 

Call it whatever you want but making the banks suck less blood and the politicians bow a bit more is a better model than selling the club for the highest bidder hoping he finance our dreams.  One of the strengths of this club model.

Episode six, Barcelona’s arrogance
 

It’s not easy for anyone within Barca’s orbit not to lose some of the modesty during this era of stunning success. And there were no doubt some out-of-order cases. But generally speaking this club with all its entities is still the modest club compared to success achieved. If you don’t agree name any. Yet, there are some who overreact toward some of the club’s cultural aspects. “More than a club” is one. Is it really a sign of arrogance? May be for those who started following the club recently. But Barcelona was always more than a club even when they were struggling in relegation zone. If you read the club’s history and bringing you can see that the mission of the club goes beyond football to promote some more precious values. So it is more about stating facts than showing up.
 

Even Lack of Commercial sponsorship on the shirts was considered as arrogance sometimes. Projects like UNICEF, Mes, etc…were also overlooked as “better than though” claims. Something I feel disgusted when I read. First, because it is actually making a difference. If it is something Barcelona is doing to show up then guess what: Do the same! Besides, this kind of projects is actually based on business approach in parallel with its charity values. I believe it worth pasting a comment I made on Barcelona football blog regarding Sponsorship:
 

If we try to rank the impact of media in European football, it’s easy to figure that English media has the strongest influence worldwide. There are three reasons for that:

1) Well…Because it is English. The global language of the world which by itself generate more readership and makes it easier for others to resource for “information and news” then quote it and republish it in different languages.

2) The success of the English premier league put the English press under the spotlight more than any other press.

3) English press operates in streams. Unlike the press in Spain for example, where you have Barca bias and Madrid bias and both are more focused on bashing each other, press in UK are relatively more English media than clubs’ media. They definitely put the interest of English football over anything else. That’s not exactly the case in Spain where the media is split between clubs then within every category there are parties supporting different sessions processing within the orbit of that club. Obviously that give English media a better chance to leave a bolder impact. 

There is the belief that Spanish press act as spokesmen for the clubs’ managements. There is nothing further than truth than that. In fact, the past few months provided enough examples that counter this idea. Rosell created his “Father of success” image throughout the media when his enemy –Laporta- was heading Barcelona’s board of directors. Catalan press did exactly the things that Barca’s board hates most: Increasing Sandro’s popularity. Two years before that, the same press gangs were riding the high horses of voting no confidence, aiming to throw Laporta out of his position. There is a misconception that anything quoted from Spanish media is reliable because “they have inside contacts”. Surprise surprise! They don’t. Last summer they officially signed Villa ten times before –to their surprise- Laporta made his trip to Milan shopping a Swed. This summer they bought each and every player plays in the Liga, beside Adriano who was the player we actually signed. They sold Ibra to Man City, loaned him to Milan, and released him for free for ten pancakes in return and a slice of bread. They signed Silva, Martinez, Senna, Ozil, Robinho, you name it (even if you picked the name of Cesc). 

Cesc episode gained an accelerated momentum because it had the materials needed to attract readership. Did the players –initially- respond to questions about him? You be

t. But there is absolutely nothing strange about it as it happens all the time everywhere. Admit it. The most helarrious thing happened in the past two days was Arsenal's official website taking off a post they publish where in an interview with sagna he praised a player (Spahic) saying that he is a great player who will fit in the club. Let’s not start googling similar statements for different players in different clubs–including Arsenal. Yet, such statements never inter the recycling process of Spiced quoting and quoting back. People read and skip. With Cesc, that’s not the case. People read and start shooting each other on the streets. When no more bullets available they go back to the blogs and tabloids and reload. Good business so let’s keep it going.

From there on, English media ride the campaign and seize the opportunity. A successful none English club is on target, shot at will. The “Barca is overrated” argument is no more a valid or convincing material. “Barca style is boring” received sarcastic and critical feedback even from English readers. The “classless Hymn” takes place. I am sure you heard about it before. The best way to damage the growing brand of an opponent.

When English media picks the song, press across the globe start shaking on that tempo. Without being aware of what is actually happening, you are gladly the propaganda’s feast.

Posted by Ramzi on 08:37. Filed under Arsenal, Articles, Barcelona, Fabregas, Football, Ramzi . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0