rsvman2 Do you drink Coca-Cola? Do you use golf clubs made in China? Do you now, or have you ever worn Nike shoes or clothing?
One could go on and on. Probably almost everybody in America is participating in blood money.
No doubt. But, one can be as selective as possible about WHO to support with your $$$. If I could
afford it, I buy Japanese forgings, etc. Own a Volvo, guess who the parent company is, etc.
Oh....forgot to mention that i've never bought anything Nike. 
Ok I’ll play whataboutism just this once. Yes I drink Coke (diet of course). Bought clubs assembled in China. Bought a Nike shirt. And let’s throw in I own an Apple phone.
Do I like the fact that companies chase cheap labor around the world? No. Do I like that companies ignore human rights in countries they operate in? No.
I also don’t like things our government does, but still choose to live here and exercise my right to protest. So given all that I’m supposed to give up my right to criticize what I find reprehensible?
Using your criteria with the global economy none of us can criticize anything these countries do because everything is so embedded with everything else you have to be an absolutist consumer.
That’s a heavy lift for the average person. Like many conscientious consumers I try and pick my battles. But getting back to your criteria, under your rules no one can criticize what another country does unless they’re pure as the driven snow in their consumerism.
Now it’s my turn to play. I’ll keep it simple. This was asked by a media person at the press conference in London.
Would you play in a golf tournament sponsored by Putin? And would you have played in South Africa back during apartheid? Where is your line?
I would not and would not sign a contract with LIV Golf. Yes boycotting everything made in a country with a brutal authoritarian regime would be ideal. But not realistic in a global economy.
But because that’s an impossible thing to achieve shouldn’t negate a person from voicing their opinion on important issues such a human rights.
Sneakylong You are quite a selective 'buyer'.
Where were your non-golf shirts made? Don't worry about phones, golf clubs, trivial things. Men do not sew.
Don't get me wrong, I get pissed every time I go to buy shirts. 10 different damn countries, but not the U.S., and they are either drug cartel, pirate, or little girl worker countries. Of course, I'm not going to pay $60 just to get 1 shirt, when I want 5, either. But, I probably should, no more often than I buy any clothes. And they may even fit.
Sneakylong So, essentially, you stole a candy bar from the corner drug store but it pisses you off that somebody else robbed a bank.
Sneakylong I’m not going to venture down a political rabbit hole; I’ll just say, the beliefs of the Saudis don’t match mine, but I buy products everyday from Countries I hate and nobody seems to give a shit that the NBA salaries are largely funded by Chinese profits. So you can be as righteous as you want to be and if you really want, I’ll show you how you are no better than the guys taking money from these assholes.
You never answered my question. Where is your line? Do you have one? Care to share it? I assume since China makes medical equipment you feel that you can’t criticize China’s human rights? 
Again, using your criteria no one can criticize anything unless they live like a monk. Sportswashing is nothing new. Hitler tried to do it in the 1936 Olympics.
It was legitimately and rightfully criticized then as is the criticism legit with the Saudi’s doing it now. But I assume in 1936 if you owned anything made in Germany you had to keep your mouth shut.
Sneakylong I don't know what my line is. Nobody is ever going to be dangling millions of dollars in my face to do anything, so I will never have to make that decision.
The only point I was trying to make is that it is almost impossible to live in the modern world without supporting horrible things in one way or the other. And that it strikes me as odd that people who never said anything about all that other stuff all of a sudden have a bee in their bonnet about this. That's all.
A lot of talk about 'sport washing.' Not sure that's what is happening here, per se. First, I'm not sure the Saudis are all that worried about how they are perceived in the world. They have been villains for a long time, and everybody knows it. Why are they suddenly interested in how they look? And if they were interested in that, why choose a sport like golf, which is not really a very popular sport for watching anywhere in the world. Why not a soccer league? Or a baseball league? Or an American football league, or a basketball league. All of these sports have far more followers than golf. So if the whole point was to distract the world from their atrocities, why not do it with a popular sport?
Spuzz I'm just trying to be a good boy and listen to those who know more about this than I do. I'm not sure who is right, and who is wrong. I'm pretty sure that there are only a small handful (probably be able to count them on one hand with a few fingers left over)of counties that have kept the human rights violations and other fucked up crap. No country is perfect, just as there is no perfect person.
However, I am content to sit here and eat popcorn and listen.
It must be the $54mil "bonus" changing some of these guys minds about playing for LIV!
I mentioned this possibility in one of my posts earlier. I had read an article about this. They did sign a strategic alliance last year with the PGA Tour, but they could possibly either fully merge or the PGA buy the DP World Tour.
https://golficity.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-dp-world-tour/
"New Title Sponsor
Dubai Port World, or DP World for short, is a Dubai based logistics company who are the leading provider of global smart end-to-end supply chain and logistics solutions — perfect for helping a golf tour traverse the globe."
The Saudi’s could easily afford to buy the DP Tour. They’re making $1 billion dollars a day in oil. If that happened that would be a huge disruption.
Paul McGinley said last night that one option he’s hearing from the business community is the PGA change it’s business model to a contract model. Where they sign the top players to big contracts and then they’d be contracted to play against the other top players more often.
If they did this they’d have to get rid of the Korn Ferry and Champions Tour and their charitable donations. That would be a drastic change. Hard to see that happening, but who knows.
It's a hot topic right now in golf circles with strong feelings on both sides. I'm just some guy yapping on a golf forum, but these guys put their money where their mouth is. @azgreg posted this tweet awhile back. Pumpkin Ridge is where the next LIV Golf event will take place. Tom Canzaro has some strong opinions in his article below.
https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-take-a-hard-pass-on-liv-golf?s=r
Sneakylong. I think you've changed the narrative a bit. There's absolutely nothing wrong with calling out the Saudis for human rights abuses. What I and I think others are saying is why criticize golfers for taking their money when we all do the same every day? I think rsvman2 's quote about " you stole a candy bar and your mad at the guy who robbed a bank" is spot on.
Sneakylong good for them, they actually did something rather than just post faux outrage on a golf forum.
garyt1957 This " sportswashing" thing is completely ridiculous to me
Maybe this will help you. But maybe not. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. 
"Sportswashing is the practice of an individual, group, corporation, or government using sport to improve their tarnished reputation, through hosting a sporting event, the purchase or sponsorship of sporting teams, or by participation in the sport itself. At the international level, sportswashing has been used to direct attention away from a poor human rights record and corruption scandals within a government. While at the individual or corporate level sportswashing is used to cover up and direct attention away from said person's or company's vices, crimes, or scandals. Sportswashing is an example of reputation laundering."
"Sportwashing has been used to describe events as far back as the 1936 Summer Olympics which were held in Berlin, Germany during Nazi rule and where used to spread Hitler's ideals of race and anti-Semitism, and the 1934 FIFA World Cup which where held in Italy during fascist rule. Sportwashing has described as part of a nation's Soft power."
Sneakylong Correct me if I'm wrong but the PGA Tour doesn't give anything to charities. Money is raised in the communities in conjunction a tournament but its not PGA money. Kind of like I go door to door to collect money for a charity but I'm not out any of my own money
Brooks Koepka was very careful in his remarks at the podium yesterday. I read between the lines that he's not burning any bridges with the LIV. Maybe he's waiting for a little better payday from the rival?
