Lion in Winter

Agreed, one of the patriotic songs would be fine

Gordon Barlow

[That's from Post #400 a couple of pages back]

During the London Olympic Games I often had to leave the room when the US athletes wrapped themselves in their bloody flag time after time after time. Not that they're the only athletes that did it - the Brits have adopted the same silly custom - but with such a huge population the USA wins most of the medals, doesn't it? Some time in July I took to my blog and wrote a scathing criticism of all the nationalistic claptrap, and registering the hope that those might be the last Olympic Games. Faint hope, though, eh?

kimilseung

I think it reminds me of a slice from a haka, bended knee, facing the 'other', slapping parts of their body, "U-S-A U-S-A" then tongue pulling.

Lion in Winter

Actually, I would quite like to see that.

Well, once anyway.

yellowroom

Yes, you're right! I've been the other side of a group of Kiwis demonstrating the All Black haka, and it was bloody scary!

And Maori culture is more about singing to commemorate events, as people will have seen from that video going round from the NZ parliament vote on gay marriage, and there was a chorus of Pokarekare Ana (video here if you haven't seen it yet). Much more uplifting.

Nokoman

You really think Swing low sweet chariot or Walk on are that different?

They are tribal chants...different tunes.

Lion in Winter

That is nice.

paul32x

"Yes, I saw that. It was not a sporting event and that flag-waving and chanting seemed very out of place to me. There are dead and injured people - cheering and doing the "we're number 1" thing doesn't seem to fit."

I agree, but I thought the applause they were giving the police and other officials when it was first over was a genuine touch.

kimilseung

May I refer the honourable member of BE to previous recent posts by yellowroom and Lion in Winter from today.

Lion in Winter

Yes, I have no problem with that, it seemed real enough.

By the way, if you use the quote button to the right underneath the post it makes quoting someone a lot easier.

Sally Redux

Yes! Sort of gorilla-like.

dakota44

Originally Posted by Lion in Winter
It's the national level of fear I don't understand. I lived in London when the IRA bombings were happening, and then there were the July bombings a few years ago. There was no suggestion of a "lockdown" in London, shutting down all public transport or closing the airspace.

Could not find the original post, so pasted the above from a response. You don't remember them closing airspace because you never had anyone hijack 4 planes in one day and crash 3 of them into buildings killing more than 3,000 people. Had you had that experience, you can bet your butt air space might well have been shut down in the wake of a terror attack. Pity the people that make the decision not to shut it down and then see a hijacking or worse. They would be crucified for that failure.

As or locking the city or certain parts of it down, it has a few specific purposes. When you have suspects at large after such an attack you want to isolate them and close off their options for points of exit. Secondly you want the streets clear so that the only vehicular movement will be law enforcement and also so that suspects will find it difficult to drive away without sticking out like a sore thumb on empty streets. Thirdly, you keep innocent civilians out of harms way, particularly when you have no idea if there might be other attacks. It is a totally smart move. Nothing to do with your perception of a "national level of fear". Just sound tactics to minimize the possibility of further casualties and to enhance the ability to track down the suspects.

dakota44

In the case of terrorism of the foreign kind (and even though these two were mostly raised in the U.S. most will consider them foreign and also supporters of Al Quaeda) it's a way of saying "F@CK YOU we're still here. Not saying that I totally agree with it, but it is really a form of resistance. I will say that even as a Yank I get totally annoyed with the incessant USA chants and the "greatest country in the world" crap. A little humility goes a long way. Particularly when you are out ranked by a lot of other countries in education, health care and more. Not to mention the racism, political insanity and an inability to work together for the betterment of the country.

dlake02

Forking to a new thread...

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...3#post10670363

scrubbedexpat099

When the IRA were busy, amusingly backed financially from Boston, we did not have the 24 hour news media.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/we...d-name-in-news