Cheese?

Reading about the intersection of politics and chess. I've always known how deep the connect goes, but I never appreciated how absolutely vile it can be. I get why chess is seen as a feather in someone's cap. Esp countries that have a history of hardship always look for soft power at the world stage cuz for some reason intellect is tied to superiority in their mind and all too many people look at chess as intellectual superiority. But to read that Iluumzhinov was playing it with Gaddafi and Hussain like what even man?! Fuck. Sometimes I just hate the world. I hate it. Every part of my being wants to vomit when I realise how fucked up things can be and especially to go up the ladder the amount of shady things people end up doing. Maybe that's why I've never had any attachment for money in that sense nor have I defined success with getting to some top business position or such. And I've always hated goverment work. Mentioned to M that anna was an MLA lol. It's something I don't openly share. Anyway it was long back he had retired by the time I was born even. But still, I remember mum telling me so many stories about how people would just flock to him for favours and such. I'm sure he wasn't too good a politician though, considering he never made money the way the rest of them do. Lmao. The price of honesty is a modest income oops. But yeah, whenever I've seen people running after money and power, a part of me recoils because they are so ready to do the dirtiest of things. I'm truly lucky to be able to break away from everyone and be able to live my life my way. It was such a struggle as a kid to be able to define my own path, given how controlling my parenting was. But atleast I wasn't forced into something I hated. I understand something of the disillusionment that M might feel with his professional environment too. If consistently you are around such toxicity, there would never be a way to feel at peace. Even if you don't engage, someone engages with you and pushes you into a corner. I've met people like that so much and in my own way I've lived large parts of my life feeling like I have to defend myself at all times. So I get it. Plus in his line of work the only other option is to quit it altogether and do something else entirely which would be such a sad thing to do when you dedicate your life to it from when you were a child. Truly horrible. Oh well, it's okay he doesn't have to deal now as much so it's good for him. May he continue to carve his own niche. I'm a strong proponent of technology and finding solutions and I truly believe in this day and age you can always find a way to assert dominance in your own way and have a larger say over your life simply cuz that direct reach possibility exists. 

And I'm glad. I think even in chess there can be deep reforms and you don't actually need these dated orgs to do shit. But yeah, someone ambitious actually needs to take that charge and lead it the right way. I don't think most folks have that intuitive understanding of marketing + selling which is a huge difference maker when it comes to creating a valuable asset that hinges on visibility. And if all you do is cry on Twitter then nothing will get done either. Even chess com just has monopoly but it seems v flimsy to me. A good rival product can very easily eat them up if they play their cards right. Okay too many tangential thoughts lemme go back to the matches.