Gangstas, Pornography (of the Sects), and Jews

The first three chapters of this story deal with the issues of nationalism: nationalism between rival nations, nationalism between religious groups, and the more popular issue of nationalism between the Jews and Germans. The author of this book, Franklin Foer, discusses that soccer and the many different teams are simply symbols of life-long struggles between power and dominance. He explains how the Serbs and Croatians would use soccer in order to show of their superiority to each other. They would also use this as an excuse to form gangs that would severely beat fans of the opposing nation in order to force their dominance on the other nation or nations. With interviews from gangs such as The Ultra Bad Boys, Franklin reveals to his audience that they are passionate about winning; many gangs like The Ultra Bad Boys feel that losing to the rival nation meant that they were the better nation in all aspects. As a result, they would resort to physical threats in order to ensure that a certain team, or team member, was unable to give the opposing team a victory.

As for the different religious groups, Protestants and Catholics stood behind certain soccer teams - such as the Celtics (Catholic) and the Rangers (Protestant). Neither group acts in a manner that would be pleasing to someone who was considering being a Protestant or Catholic, but the two groups do not realize that. They consider the numerous matches a battle between "Good and Evil". Like the Serbs and Croatians, the rivalry between Protestants and Catholics go back to times like the 1920s, when the Billy Boys - similar to the Ku Klux Klan - "rampaged against Glasgow's Catholics between the wars." On this occasion, Franklin actually attends a soccer game between the Celtics and Rangers; however, in order to ensure his safety at the game, he does his best to dress in clothes that would symbolize his neutrality.

In this final section of the first part of this book, Jewish people and their involvement in soccer are analyzed. Seemingly sports-challenged, not many people know that Jews had many different clubs in Europe - like Hakoah of Vienna, Hagibor, and Bar Kochba. A man named Max Nordau would explain that the Jewish people were suffering from a disease called Judendot, or "Jewish distress". Max believed that the reason for the Jews' shortcomings in sports were due to their mannerisms: they blinked nervously, lost the bass in their voices due to their fear of persecution, and forgot how to move joyfully. As a result, he created a doctrine known as Muskeljudentum, or muscular Judaism. This doctrine trained the Jews physically as opposed to spiritually. It gave them more pride in their country and also helped them improve on their skills in sports, specifically soccer. The Jews were beginning to improve on their skills incredibly, winning gold and silver at the Olympics and returning home as the first team to beat an English soccer team, which was a great accomplishment due to the fact that the English were the inventors of soccer. Unfortunately, Hitler and his ideas of Holocaust dealt a huge blow to the Jews' talents in soccer. Nazi Germany closed down and burned buildings and arenas that exhibited Jewish pride. After the devastating event, the Jewish nation hasn't been able to return to their previous glory.

Clarification: What is bourgeoisie and how is it pronounced?

Application: I have noticed that many nations, mostly Hispanic, continue to use soccer as a symbol of their superiority to other nations. Do you think that there are any other sports that produce similar results between nations?