Stop It Already Guys: Clearing Up The Hypocrisy Hype

Bleacher Report is one of the few places where Barcelona and Real Madrid fans co-exist. Note: I said co-exist. I did not, repeat, DID NOT say co-exist "peacefully".

Because wherever you have Barcelona and Real Madrid fans huddled together, you will have a warlike atmosphere. 

Over the past week, B/R has seen a war not unlike many others between two rival supporters. It started with a piece written by the Real Madrid community leader, Deepak Israni, on Barcelona's (supposed) hypocrisy when it came to transfer dealings and other matters. (Even here, I can't bring myself to admit the truth, if any, in his statements, hence the word "supposed")

Passionate Barcelona fan as I am, my blood naturally boiled on reading the article. However, it seems another fan, and Catalan to boot, Jose V. Rodrigues, took the attack even more personally.

Result: this little piece from him, defending the club he loved. 

Then, just yesterday, Deepak wrote a truly fantastic piece defending himself on his earlier stand. This is today's AOTD, and trust me, he deserved it. I would know, one of the POTD votes was my own!

The dust had barely settled when Jose came up with another one, defending Barcelona yet again.

I can understand both the writers' sentiments. However, I, like many others (probably), am thinking this is enough, and needs to stop. Because however objective we try to be, we cannot stop attacking each other personally in such articles (though Deepak did an admirable job of that, hence the AOTD).

Also, this way, we will never understand what they are actually trying to say, because it is natural to be more interested in defending one's own position on the pedestal. 

I would like to end this argument here, and now, by looking at what both tried to say, as objectively as possible.

Deepak's Viewpoint

In a nutshell - Barcelona spend almost as much as Real Madrid do. Hence, there is no need for Laporta's constant anti-Madrid comments over the course of the summer. Also, Laporta's comments about youth academies and transfer policy are unwarranted.

His logic - going by the net expenditure (note, net expenditure, not just players bought value), Barcelona's transfer dealings of the past two years are almost the same as that of Real Madrid in this year. Hence, Laporta has no right to criticize Real Madrid's spending spree over the summer. 

Laporta's statement of Barcelona making Ballon d'Or winners and not buying them was misinterpreted by Deepak as simply making players and not buying them. This resulted in quite a few purchases made by Barcelona being categorically criticized. (However, he admitted this as an error later, attributing it to Google's somewhat inaccurate Translate facility)

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?