Anybody Else Bothered by This?

[Rohirrim]

Prior to the Super Bowl they have a little lead in show with Colin Powell and Roger Goodell (and others) reciting the Declaration of Independence. Then, on the Michael Douglas narrated lead-in to the game they have pictures and scenes of historical events in U.S. history like JFK's inaugural speech, MLK's "I have a dream" speech, raising flags at Iwo Jima and on the 911 rubble, and then they follow this with what...?

The Super Bowl?

Really?

So, the number one sports and commercial event in America is now to be considered on a level with what else...? 911? Victory in WWII? The Gettysburg Address? The Emancipation Proclamation?

Is this why our forefathers shed their blood? For the Super Bowl?

If you ask me, that was some weird, jingoistic bull****.

[Garcia Bronco]

Is this why our forefathers shed their blood? For the Super Bowl?




It's not the only reason, but yes.

[Pony Boy]

Yes and I also have a problem with the players not paying attention during the National Anthem and also Fox showing all the celebrities and politicians in the in the luxury suites paying no attention to the game. Basically telling the average Packers and Steelers fans you got them here but you can't afford to go to this game..

[Odysseus]

Prior to the Super Bowl they have a little lead in show with Colin Powell and Roger Goodell (and others) reciting the Declaration of Independence. Then, on the Michael Douglas narrated lead-in to the game they have pictures and scenes of historical events in U.S. history like JFK's inaugural speech, MLK's "I have a dream" speech, raising flags at Iwo Jima and on the 911 rubble, and then they follow this with what...?

The Super Bowl?

Really?

So, the number one sports and commercial event in America is now to be considered on a level with what else...? 911? Victory in WWII? The Gettysburg Address? The Emancipation Proclamation?

Is this why our forefathers shed their blood? For the Super Bowl?

If you ask me, that was some weird, jingoistic bull****.

Teddy Roosevelt rides again!

[Popcorn Sutton]

It's not the only reason, but yes.

LOL

[JJJ]

Fully agree, you are completely correct. That was total nonsense.

In addition I don't like the way Christina Aguilera sang the national anthem, besides messing up the words, it should not be sung with all those ridiculous runs. Just sing the song straight please. I actually had to turn it off to be honest.

When I turned it back on that Michael Douglas nonsense was on. Ugghhhh. Just show the ****ing game please.

Two old school teams playing they don't need all that stuff. Should have shown a little history montage and be done with it.

[Odysseus]

Wait.

A football thread in the War and Politics forum about politics?

Whoa. That was deep dude.

[W*GS]

Why is anyone surprised at the crassness?

[alkemical]

Prior to the Super Bowl they have a little lead in show with Colin Powell and Roger Goodell (and others) reciting the Declaration of Independence. Then, on the Michael Douglas narrated lead-in to the game they have pictures and scenes of historical events in U.S. history like JFK's inaugural speech, MLK's "I have a dream" speech, raising flags at Iwo Jima and on the 911 rubble, and then they follow this with what...?

The Super Bowl?

Really?

So, the number one sports and commercial event in America is now to be considered on a level with what else...? 911? Victory in WWII? The Gettysburg Address? The Emancipation Proclamation?

Is this why our forefathers shed their blood? For the Super Bowl?

If you ask me, that was some weird, jingoistic bull****.



you know what sucks: Is i could totally illustrate how this is similar to what another "culture" did to mix truth, with myth and play on the ego and false memories, etc - but that card has been so over used that even if i did make that statement/claim - it would be ****ty because of how over and misused it was by morons.

[Odysseus]

A real conversation between two Brits

"I wonder why these Yanks are always waving their flag about?"
"Probably because the bloody wankers are still struggling to figure out who they are!"

[Pony Boy]

Oh and lets send a message to Obama during the halftime show.....what a bunch of crap

WILL.I.AM SENDS MESSAGE TO OBAMA AT SUPER BOWL 2011 IN HIS SONG {BLACK EYED PEAS}

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QdgFWZyLLcc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[alkemical]

A real conversation between two Brits

"I wonder why these Yanks are always waving their flag about?"
"Probably because the bloody wankers are still struggling to figure out who they are!"

haha

[Garcia Bronco]

A real conversation between two Brits

"I wonder why these Yanks are always waving their flag about?"
"Probably because the bloody wankers are still struggling to figure out who they are!"

Because we shoved it up their ass so many times, we have to get it clean.

[cutthemdown]

I don't have a problem with doing that stuff. Troops probably like it and they are watching. Show the world who is watching some iconic American moments to let them know who they are tuned into.

I have more of a problem with getting the anthem wrong. I mean cmon that is unforgivable IMO.

[baja]

Prior to the Super Bowl they have a little lead in show with Colin Powell and Roger Goodell (and others) reciting the Declaration of Independence. Then, on the Michael Douglas narrated lead-in to the game they have pictures and scenes of historical events in U.S. history like JFK's inaugural speech, MLK's "I have a dream" speech, raising flags at Iwo Jima and on the 911 rubble, and then they follow this with what...?

The Super Bowl?

Really?

So, the number one sports and commercial event in America is now to be considered on a level with what else...? 911? Victory in WWII? The Gettysburg Address? The Emancipation Proclamation?

Is this why our forefathers shed their blood? For the Super Bowl?

If you ask me, that was some weird, jingoistic bull****.

Dude think about it that went out to 1 billion people around the world. If was a chezzy attempt to propagandize America both at home and abroad.

Think they hate us any less now?

[mhgaffney]

Ro,

Your after-the-fact objection is par for the course. I raised this issue on Sunday on the SB game thread and was told to GTFO -- or be banned.

Here's the outstanding poem I posted -- about a vet just returned from Iraq -- whose wife did not recognize him. Her husband came home a different man. She wants back the man she loves.


"For Eli"

By Andrea Gibson

Eli came back from Iraq
and tattooed a teddy bear onto the inside of his wrist
above that a medic with an IV bag
above that an angel
but Eli says the teddy bear won't live
and I know I don't know but I say, "I know"
cause Eli's only twenty-four and I've never seen eyes
further away from childhood than his
eyes old with a wisdom
he knows I'd rather not have
Eli's mother traces a teddy bear onto the inside of my arm
and says, "not all casualties come home in body bags"
and I swear
I'd spend the rest of my life writing nothing
but the word light at the end of this tunnel
if I could find the ****ing tunnel
I'd write nothing but white flags
somebody pray for the soldiers
somebody pray for what's lost
somebody pray for the mailbox
that holds the official letters
to the mothers,
--------------fathers,
--------------------sisters,
and little brothers
of Micheal 19... Steven 21... John 33
how ironic that their deaths sound like bible verses
the hearse is parked in the halls of the high school
recruiting black, brown and poor
while anti-war activists
outside walter reed army hospital scream
100, 000 slain
as an amputee on the third floor
breathes forget-me-nots onto the window pain
but how can we forget what we never knew
our sky is so perfectly blue it's repulsive
somebody tell me where god lives
cause if god is truth god doesn't live here
our lies have seared the sun too hot to live by
there are ghosts of kids who are still alive
toting M16s with trembling hands
while we dream ourselves stars on Survivor
another missile sets fire to the face in the locket
of a mother who's son needed money for college
and she swears she can feel his photograph burn
how many wars will it take us to learn
that only the dead return
the rest remain forever caught between worlds of
shrapnel shatters body of three year old girl
to
welcome to McDonalds can I take your order?
the mortar of sanity crumbling
stumbling back home to a home that will never be home again
Eli doesn't know if he can ever write a poem again
one third of the homeless men in this country are veterans
and we have the nerve to Support Our Troops
with pretty yellow ribbons
while giving nothing but dirty looks to their outstretched hands
tell me what land of the free
sets free its eighteen-year-old kids into greedy war zones
hones them like missiles
then returns their bones in the middle of the night
so no one can see
each death swept beneath the carpet and hidden like dirt
each life a promise we never kept
Jeff Lucey came back from Iraq
and hung himself in his parents basement with a garden hose
the night before he died he spent forty five minutes on his fathers lap
rocking like a baby
rocking like daddy, save me
and don't think for a minute he too isn't collateral damage
in the mansions of washington they are watching them burn
and hoarding the water
no senators' sons are being sent out to slaughter
no presidents' daughters are licking ashes from their lips
or dreaming up ropes to wrap around their necks
in case they ever make it home alive
our eyes are closed
america
there are souls in
the boots of the soldiers
america
**** your yellow ribbon
you wanna support our troops
bring them home
and hold them tight when they get here

[sirhcyennek81]

Ro,

Your after-the-fact objection is par for the course. I raised this issue on Sunday on the SB game thread and was told to GTFO -- or be banned.


Maybe its because you infuse every conversation with your political point of view and then refuse to give anyone else who holds a differing opinion the right to their point of view.

Makes you a douche.

:Broncos:

[chadta]

Maybe its because you infuse every conversation with your political point of view and then refuse to give anyone else who holds a differing opinion the right to their point of view.

It is just one of the things that makes you a douche.

:Broncos:

fixed it for you

[That One Guy]

I can only speak for myself but I'm more offended by the NFL trying to infuse the pride thing into their programs all the time than I was ever thankful for their "praise". I still get a semi-sick feeling in my gut when I think about my time though... so maybe I'm still just too negative about it all and my opinion doesn't match the rest.

I've always felt all the flag waving, thank yous, etc went along with the concept of the care packages. At first they were cool and useful but then it was a way to make the family members at home feel like they were supporting and contributing and it made the families smile. For us receiving them, we read the letters like you might pick up a magazine when you get tired of waiting at a dentist's office and after we looted anything unique or valuable, we just tossed all the stuff in a box incase someone needed something at a later date.

Again, for me, the thanks, the praise, the hero-worship... it was all hollow, worn out, and for those not actually serving. It's like when you meet someone infinitely above your status in life and they do the courtesy ask about how you're doing, how life is, etc. They don't care but they're pretending they do.

[Rohirrim]

Maybe its because you infuse every conversation with your political point of view and then refuse to give anyone else who holds a differing opinion the right to their point of view.

Makes you a douche.

:Broncos:

Bingo! His narcissism smothers the board.

[Kid A]

Oh and lets send a message to Obama during the halftime show.....what a bunch of crap


Eh...terrible halftime show, but I can't hate on him for paying a little lip service to the education issues in this country. Worse ways to use that platform/audience.

[spdirty]

Not really bothered by it. But I think the better way to do it would be to show a history of both the Steelers and Packers and then a season recap of both then move on.

What really bothers me is Super Bowl parties. I ****ing hate those.

[Odysseus]

Because we shoved it up their ass so many times, we have to get it clean.

You mistreat our flag this way? That is no way to treat our 51st state!

[Requiem]

I'm bothered that the troops get blown off at every possible chance they get. Yawn.

[Garcia Bronco]

You mistreat our flag this way? That is no way to treat our 51st state!

lol

[mhgaffney]

Bingo! His narcissism smothers the board.

I confronted the mob directly -- while you whine after the fact when it is meaningless

Another gutless wonder.

[Rohirrim]

I confronted the mob directly -- while you whine after the fact when it is meaningless

Another gutless wonder.

You are the hero of your own movie, the god of your own domain. Ha!

[mhgaffney]

No, Ro,

I never claimed to be a hero. Just a writer who takes seriously what Orwell said.

It's pretty humorous to see the board go ape just because they can't handle the message. Then again, it's so sad

to live in the end time of Amerikkka, graveyard of rainbows.

In the end, there are no words. Our language has been twisted and made to serve power.

The only thing left is anger and tears.

MHG