'Has England ever been so foul with patriotism?'

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....mes-Royal-Family.html

Many on this site in the past have slated patriotism and the Royal Family and have also connected the flying of flags with the BNP or the EDL etc.

Do they now agree with Morrissey regarding the show of patriotism at the Olympics?

[Zeuhl]

Punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?

When in this charming car
This charming man


Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger seat ?


I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"

[ELVIS68]

I'd rather wave a flag than a bunch of flowers.

[anotheoldgit]

/// I expect we can all think of examples where a population becomes convinced that their nation, their people, their culture is superior to any
other ///

Isn't that what such competition such as the Olympics is all about, i.e. 'our country is more superior than your country'.

[Zeuhl]

Don't the Olympic medal winners receive (and wave about) a bunch of flowers?

Maybe that's why he's miffed.

[Zeuhl]

<'Isn't that what such competition such as the Olympics is all about, i.e. 'our country is more superior than your country'.

Obviously not.

It only demonstrates that a country's athletes are superior.

Or is your reading of the Medal Table that China and the USA are superior countries to our's?

[Zeuhl]

'Isn't that what such competition such as the Olympics is all about, i.e. 'our country is more superior than your country'.

I think that is the acid test Old Git.

Team GB does well and the average Brit is pleased for the individual athletes, proud that the nation produced the 'raw material' and provided the resources and support to help them and pleased that it reflects well on the nation.

The 1936 German team does well and the average Nazi sees it as confirmation that they should take over the world and exterminate other less worthy races.

[tamborine]

Team GB encompasses multi races (pun...ooops) u know wot I mean

[ludwig]

Flags shouldn't be allowed in the audience, people should just sit there and politely applaud the skill of all the athletes without patriotic bias.

There should be be no teams. Athletes should just be individuals representing themselves. They should all wear plain grey kit.

Anything else is a slippery slope to war and racist genocide.

Honestly, what a miserable t1t Morrisey is.

[Vicasso]

Well, he was miserable in 1984 and
Heaven knows he's miserable now :-)

[Snafu03]

maybe morrissey would care to comment on the jamaican flag waving brits as per Ano's thread in 'News' ;-)

[Gromit]

No.
Morrisey writes good songs (or did) but he now seems to be an attention seeking media w hore. He pops up with monotenous regularity trying to be controversial. He really should start writing decent songs again to remind us of who he is rather than pathetic stabs at his birthplace.

The fact is that sport is able to unite the country. We are all pleased when our athletes beat the world. And it has the added result that we are able to reclaim our flag back from the racist thugs who normally bring it into disrepute.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

remind us of who he is rather than pathetic stabs at his birthplace

'Pot calling the kettle black' springs to mind.

[bazwillrun]

But the olympics is all about one country being better than another, the opening ceremony always has to be better than the last country that had the games, and its always compared in scope and financial terms to the last host.

The next host will be looking at what we did and how can they top it.

[DTCwordfan]

Read the Mail and you get this tosh. All I can say is prat-ism of the highest order.

I order my oberlieutenantgruppenfuehrer's outfit this afternoon - it's the leather boots and unter-hosen I have a thing about. Jawohl,

[DTCwordfan]

"I must order" (one of my typos)!

[craft1948]

The Waitrose delivery man presented me with a bunch of flowers this morning...........I didn't even know I'd entered anything.

[Zeuhl]

<<But the olympics is all about one country being better than another, the opening ceremony always has to be better than the last country>>

Yes...

but Baz, how does presenting the best ever Opening Ceremony ever equal a 'country being better than another'?

Our excellent OC confirmed we are imaginative, creative and can put on a hell of a show. End of.

The Beijing OC was impressive - it didn't equate to 'China is a better country than mine'. It just demonstrated their ability to choreograph people on an epic scale.

Chinese and American athletes will dominate the medals table - it should affect how we view their sporting abilities but there's no reason why it should cause us to adjust our rating of them as countries.

[Kromovaracun]

"The fact is that sport is able to unite the country. We are all pleased when our athletes beat the world."

Sorry, Gromit, I don't feel any more united with the people around me as a result of some impressive athletic displays in London any more than I would if I'd just seen a circus (the skills of which take just as much time, skill and dedication as do sporting achievements).

I'm aware I'm of a minority opinion on this. But too often it seems like invoking national unity is a tactic for getting people not to talk about things, or to sell them an idea. As someone who doesn't particularly buy into national identity, it just feels like I'm being manipulated - like someone is attempting to influence me, just as they do in schools and churches. I don't like the feeling of being manipulated. And if others didn't, I think they'd feel like that too.

[emmie]

Morrissey
'It is lethal to witness. As London is suddenly promoted as a super-wealth brand, the England outside London shivers beneath cutbacks, tight circumstances and economic disasters


so London doesn't have poor people, or run down areas, or those in desperate need,
what an absolute Salads Chef, hated his music, and he should stay away.