I am a bit disappointed.

Finland won the world Championships in what was a very drama-filled game, with a lot of strange calls, penalties and Finland going from 3-1 up with 2 minutes to go, to even at the end of regulation time, after Canada scored twice with a pulled goalie. This sent the game into overtime, where rather than a full set of skaters on the ice (5), it is 3 on 3 with a golden goal. After a hooking penalty, Finland was able to bring another player onto the ice for a 4 on 3 powerplay, on which they scored for the win.

So, why am I a bit disappointed?

There is a tradition in Finland where if they win the Championships, fans descend on the city to celebrate. The last time I was able to be part of it was when I lived in the city in 2011 and they won, but with the event taking place in my home city this year, it is going to be huge.

I have been looking forward to this event for a couple years already and I have been preparing to head into the city in the case of them winning on home ice, just to get some shots of the crowds and celebrations - not even to party. But I can't.

Fucking Corona.

I really, really wanted to, but my wife said, "How can you explain the pictures - you have to isolate."

Fucking wives.

So, these are the pictures I can get. Shots from the TV of the post-game team celebrations.

Lame.

It is funny though, as not only am I not Finnish, as an Australian, I also didn't grow up with ice hockey as a major sport in my life, but I am a fan of the world championships and I pay my taxes in Finland - so it is a no-brainer.

Sport is a bit of a no-brainer all up.

No offence intended to all the fans out there of the myriad sports, but it is kind of a useless pastime, isn't it? Obviously it is different when playing a sport, but just sitting and watching others do it is kind of strange, yet it is also something that we have been doing for thousands of years.

Maybe there is a primal instinct in there somewhere.

Just thinking about it right now, it could be because we like to see humans at their best and we want to be close to that excellence in a glory by association kind of way. National sports bring us even closer through identity, where we can say "we are both human and, we are both from the same country" - effectively doubling the connection. The more associations we add, the greater the bond.

But as said, I am not Finnish and no Finn will ever mistake me for being so or ever count me amongst their ranks. It doesn't really matter what I do here or don't do. It doesn't matter what I build, who I help or how much value I add - I will always be an outsider.

This is natural.

You might not think it still to be true today, but when push comes to shove the first ones under the bus and to get the blame, are the ones who have the weakest identity relationships. I have seen it many times throughout my life and it is why I am so disappointed that so much of society these days is built around identity. What ends up happening is that because we are endlessly divisible, we are endlessly going to be in conflict as the "groupings" become more fractional until we are completely isolated and do not have any interaction with anyone else.

This is counterintuitive for many people it seems, but look at the gay community, where in a few short years, it has fractured into a growing number of identities, where rather than the acceptance and development of the gay community, there is infighting and the drive for further division. The "woke" movement is the same, where there is never going to be a consensus, because what they are actually looking to do is enforce their own personal flavor of right.

Society built on this level of identity is a losing game for the members within, but there is a massive amount of value in it for those who benefit from division and conflict and, make money from keeping the sides at loggerheads.

We can see this illustrated simply through sport, where for example, the stands at tonight's game were filled with Finnish jerseys and colors - there is a lot of money to be made in merchandising. However, it is the same for all of these social movements too, where the "merchandise" is not so blatant, but it is there, where money is churning through the halls of politics as the narrative of social movements are used to drive political agendas.

Rather than us coming together as one to build something great where we are all able to benefit, we are drawn into fighting each other so that we can be more easily grouped, targeted and controlled - Divide and Conquer.

People don't seem to get this side of it either. Because we are dividing ourselves into ever smaller groups, yet simultaneously demanding we get treated like everyone else, what ends up happening is that we put a target on our back and, make it far easier to target us, because we are highlighting our minority status. With many of these groups, it is a super minority now, yet they drive so much of the public narrative and are over-represented in public discourse.

There is an irony in all of this. You can't demand to be treated equally and also demand to be treated as a unique individual who lives by a different set of rules. And, while it might seem unfair, equal doesn't exist in society, because we are all prejudiced, no matter what you might believe. However, equality does exist in nature, because nature doesn't give a fuck about what we think about ourselves - it does what it does, without malice or prejudice, without consciousness at all.

Identity politics is a powerplay driven by the powerful to maintain their stranglehold over us. And, we are buying into it every day, feeling like we are fighting the good fight. If you want to make a better world, make it for everyone. It isn't hard, you just have to leave identity out of it - work as if we are a whole.