Via Andrew Sullivan, perhaps the dumbest Fox News piece I’ve ever seen:
As for why you’re not hearing “USA! USA!” chants at the Olympics, perhaps that’s because they’re being held in the United Kingdom, you morons
Fox News Complains Olympians Aren’t Wearing Their Patriotism On Their Sleeves
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Comments
22 responses to “Fox News Complains Olympians Aren’t Wearing Their Patriotism On Their Sleeves”
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I think Nike had the contract for most of the athlete uniforms for events. Lauren did the Opening and Closing Ceremony stuff
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@Russell:
Why do you hate our troops? -
@Murray: I think you are trying too hard to find something to be angry about. I have no idea how you could read my comment on the color and style of a warmup jacket as hating anything. I didn’t even say that I didn’t like the style, just that it reminds me of Cadet colors and styling.
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As somebody in the host country, I find this line of argument completely bizarre. It is true that English football crowds are often very noisy and triumphalist (it’s also true, incidentally, that this has tended to be inversely proportional to how well we’re actually doing). But at no point has the atmosphere at the Olympics been remotely akin to that which holds sway at a football match. Nor have the spectators acted in a similar manner. It’s apples and oranges.
American athletes appear to be well liked by their peers and they have won significant praise from the British public for the manner in which they conduct themselves and their abilities in competition. Their success stands on its own merits. The idea that the situation would be improved in any way by large crowds of Americans – in a manner pretty much unique among the spectator nations – bellowing “USA!!!! USA!!!! USA!!!! USA!!!!!!!!” whenever an American athlete does something praiseworthy is unbelievably stupid. All it would do is earn the USA a terrible reputation and add a massive element of tension to proceedings. It’s just rude.
Even allowing for the fact that much of what is written about the Olympic Spirit (or whatever) is self-serving rubbish, I just find it very sad. The idea that it’s not good enough to win, that every effort must be made to demonstrate “exceptionalism” by publicly rubbing the noses of the other competing nations in the dirt, is unworthy. A little graciousness goes a long way in these situations.
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@Anthony:
What? Are you suggesting we aren’t loved for our loud displays of jingoism? If we don’t shout slogans directly into the face of every foreigner we encounter, how are they supposed to know how superior we are?
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@al-Ameda:
I purchased American Flag decals for placement on my neighbor’s math lab
Why do you hate arithmetic?
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@Anthony:
You obviously have not seen the Polish fans at the men’s volleyball games or other countries fans cheering for their national teams. To argue that the U.S. are worse is laughable.
Nike seems to believe that it is OK to make U.S. athletes into “global icons” that are disconnected from the U.S. while other countries such as Great Britain has nationalistic uniforms.
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A little graciousness goes a long way in these situations.
For those who haven’t seen these videos I would recommend them In my opinion the U.S. has handled the whole “guests to the world thing” exactly right this year. With good grace, humour and style.
No wonder Fox is up in arms. They fucking hate style. It’s what those libruls do.
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