The Revenge of Winston Smith

I've spent a fair bit of time over the past week looking at right-wing American blogs for their reaction to the U.S. elections. Most of the ones I visit regularly are thankfully free of the smugness I expected (although the slightly patronising "Kerry did the right thing in the end" stuff is a bit irritating).

Looking at the comments to these posts however reveals something rather more unpleasant.

People who oppose Bush are "un-American" - presumably you have to be right-wing to be truly American. It's the American way. I myself, being a Brit, shouldn't even have an opinion on such matters. I obviously hate America, and It's entirely down to jealousy. That's right, I spend all my time looking at the U.S. with envy, mourning the loss of the British Empire while I dunk hot buttered crumpets into my warm beer. I also should be eternally grateful to these commenters - if it wasn't for them I'd be speaking German now (although I'm surprised that so many of these commenters were actually involved in WWII).

This sort of thing does nothing to alter my opinion that America is largely populated by dumb, fat, greedy, money obsessed, right-wing, bigoted, obsessively patriotic (i.e. xeonophobic) gun-toting religious fanatics - and presumably these are the people who voted for Bush.

I don't hate America. It could be a fantastic place - if about half* of the population disappeared.

*51% to be precise.

Although I've probably listened to and played more rock music in my time, I am, at least up to a point, a classically trained pianist. I like a lot of what is generally referred to as "classical" music.

I've enjoyed all the televised concerts in this year's BBC Proms season (which finished today). The Last Night of the Proms however always leaves me feeling a little, well, nauseous. All that jingoistic singing and flag waving ..... and I wouldn't exactly describe England as a "Land of hope and glory, mother to the free" anyway - any more than I'd say that America was a place where there was "liberty and justice for all". It's all just meaningless rhetorical bullshit.

The most irritating thing though is when the prommers start bobbing up and down in time to the music. They all look like a bunch of upper-class twats having an "absolutely splendid and jolly super time" and I have this overwhelming urge to go and slap 'em all.

Perhaps I'm being over sensitive or something?

Euro 2004; England diagnosed with football (soccer) fever yet again.

I was never in to any particular sport as a kid. I was active - I used to run around, climb trees in the woods and stuff - but sports always seemed to me to be too "formal". You have a "position". You have to obey a set of rules to have fun.

I've got no particular feelings towards the actual game of football.
What I don't like is the fact that football has taken over the T.V. schedules for 3 weeks (although not so bad if you've got cable/satellite).
What I hate is the fact that, as an English male, I'm "supposed" to love the game.
What I really hate though is the blatant xenophobia disguised as patriotism that the whole event causes.

There is a very, very fine line between patriotism, jingoism and xenophobia, and I can't help feeling a little disturbed by the amount of St. Georges flags around at the moment - stuck to people's cars, hanging in windows, on T Shirts - suddenly they're everywhere! Patriotism is also a self centered belief. If a patriotic English person had have been adopted at birth by a family in France that person would hardly grow up to love England - so people love their country because they themselves live there!

Even normal fans seem to take it all rather to seriously, and as for the football hooligans - I just don't get it. What goes through the minds of these people?

For fuck's sake, IT IS JUST A GAME!!!

UPDATE 14 June : Trouble erupts after England game [ BBC News story ]
What a surprise. Still, England has only to loose the match on thursday to be out of the competition.