Without a doubt, it was global recognition and legitimacy on the world stage that Qatar sought to purchase with their ludicrous $229B splurge to host the World Cup. However, it is not their shiny new stadiums that have been the subject of international attention. Aside from the games themselves, the focus has been on Qatar’s human rights abuses, the scrutiny of which have the oil rich nation caught between Iraq and a hard place. For instance, their migrant indentured worker program, which essentially amounts to modern day slavery, has cost the lives of an untold number of people from countries like India, Nepal and Bangladesh during the hurried building of tournament-related infrastructure. The Sharia-law country is also a bit short on women’s rights as females need a male guardian’s permission before exercising basic freedoms. Homosexuality is also illegal with penalties including lengthy prison sentences and death.

Another World Cup team, Iran, expressed sympathy and support for the hundreds of their fellow citizens killed by security forces in recent weeks while protesting the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini who died during her arrest for a hijab infraction. The public outrage that followed has been called Iran’s “George Floyd moment,” but unlike Floyd, it’s doubtful Amini was a career criminal who committed armed robbery by pointing a gun at a pregnant woman’s stomach, or had a lethal amount of fentanyl in her system when she died. Unlike Floyd, the patron Saint of the Democrat party, Amini was no menace to society. She was a young woman who was beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for showing her hair.

Given the egregious nature of these abuses, one might wonder why the social justice activists in this country don’t prioritize shining a light on these travesties every day. Why do we only hear about these stories when the World Cup rolls around and puts them in our face? One might theorize that if stories of actual oppression were constantly making headlines, it would be far more difficult by comparison for people in this country to call themselves victims. Honestly, if it were widely known that gays and trans are routinely imprisoned and killed in other countries, how could our media convince our population that conservatives are evil for not wanting men in lingerie to read suggestive material to first graders? Also, who could take the vag hat-wearing Women’s March in DC seriously if stories involving FGM or women being killed for showing their skin were widely reported? Lastly, how could campus-dwelling leftists claim to be oppressed if they were forced to confront the fact that children younger than them are worked to death in other countries? We know what would happen. The left wing victimization narrative in this country would instantly crumble, so don’t expect these stories to stick around.

In America, our monolithically Democrat media and the elites they serve have solidified their position as our moral superiors by wearing rainbow armbands, changing their profile pics to the Ukranian flag and using a paper straws.  This cheaply bought standard of courage has served virtue signaling progressives just fine and they are not about to let it go. They aren’t looking for justice for the truly oppressed because that would involve far more effort and risk, not to mention minimalizing their own struggles which they constantly seek to magnify. The truth is, when social justice is driven by narcissism, as it so often is, the path of least resistance tends to suffice. Why fight modern slavery or Islamic female oppression if the same moral superiority badge can be earned by challenging faceless threats like climate change or the systemic racism of syrup bottles? The political left and their media in America just wants to convince onlookers that they’re the nice people and the mean people are the ones who watch Fox News. Imagine if the self-righteous, egocentric concerns of loud, placard-shaking sheep in this country were regularly compared to real-life human rights abominations around the world. Go ahead and read about South Africa and then tell me America is racist. Look at China’s working conditions, then discuss the evils of Capitalism. Talk to women in the Middle East and then show me your Handmaid’s Tale meme.

If our media called attention to substantiated human rights abuses around the world more often, Americans might feel more gratitude for the freedoms and standard of living of which we all take full advantage every day. Moreover, that coverage might help encourage change where it is needed most. However, because their objective is not positive change, but rather asserting moral authority and keeping their friends in power, our media are far more likely to continue to write about insufficient transgender bathrooms and voter ID being racist. It’s too bad this brief window into other cultures covered by the mainstream media will shut soon. A change in perspective is one of the best keys to gratitude, especially when you live in America.