Tuesday, June 29, 2010

HOISTED BY OUR OWN PETARDS

The English team, (more correctly the UK team) is no longer participant in the World Cup football tournament.  If anyone wants to pick up some red and white stuff at keen prices for the next whizz bang sports, national pride jamboree,  now is the time to do so.   Traders have been left with stock that currently has no  attachment.  

In modern times, we have not been a flag waving country for the sake of monarch and country.  The media work really hard at whipping up mass emotion, even mass hysteria, especially in sport.  This has led to a delusional belief about our super position in international football.

Football is described as an alternative religion.  Business has bought into the delusion believing it will bring healthy sales.  If remaining stocks are that high, what percentage of the population really bought into the waving or wearing of national colours?  This might be a case of being hoisted by our own delusions and petards.

14 comments:

TG said...

Why do you say the UK team is more correct? I disagree. If there was a UK team, there would be no Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland competing in the qualification stages. Actually I think that would most of continental Europe like better, hehe. Would be easier to kick out one team than 4 ;)

Vincent said...

I had exactly the same reaction as MKL on this. What do you mean the UK team is more correct? Will you drag Scotland Wales & Northern Ireland into England's humiliation? It is well known that in the World Cup or any other contests involving England, Scots support "anyone but England" when they don't have a team of their own to support.


The outcome in fact was poetic justice. The flags of St George were too omnipresent. It was astonishing how quickly they vanished.

It is a message to the English (amongst whom I am a convert rather than native-born) to find more solid reasons for national pride.

ZACL said...

Okay, let's explain the UK team question for MKL and Vincent. Not being a football follower, I am not intimately familiar with all the backgrounds to the multinational players who are on the British team playing circuit. As I understand it, the team playing in the World cup was put together from a variety of club players, the players themselves, not all originally from England. I understand the players were meant to be representing England, but then, what today, is England?

Vincent's request epitomises for me, that living South of the border (not in Scotland) creates the belief that every game is played by the English because they believe everything should be English, rather than united kingdom or British,(denoting the British Isles). I venture to suggest this is a throw back to the imperialist mentality and is badly and belatedly in need of major review.

The whole presentation is suggestive of one national pride in these isles. This is not so. The Welsh and Irish have their own active national prides, as do the Scots. England has been trying very hard to own the Scottish tennis player Andy Murray while he is being successful. This man is from Dunblane and is proud to be Scottish. I notice now, the mainstream media is being a little bit more careful how they describe Murray's national links.

I do not believe that the ownership of a team or an individual should be clouded to suit am emotion or an outcome. Reality demonstrates that it is.

ZACL said...

A post script for Vincent;

"According to the media it is well known that the Scots support anyone but the English". This is a gross distortion of the truth. The was a lot of interest and support for the World cup in Scotland and the same disappointments were palpable in Scotland as they have been elsewhere in the UK. The truth is very different from the dubious media hype. The Scots support quality when they see it. The Scots will support the Welsh and Irish, too.

Anonymous said...

there must be some entrepreneur out there with a few quid to invest in all that paraphanalia with which to make a killing at the next bouts of hysteria in 2012 and 2014?

i think the English media can be very hypocritical, such as Andy Murray being British when he wins and Scottish when he loses...commentators are often the same with other non-English UK competitors in athletics etc.

ZACL said...

Hello Ax,

Do you think we should cogitate on the question of questionable stock in public, and give the people who bought into delusion for the profit motive, our clear cut money-making ideas? ')

Some alternative ideas on offer, would be to recycle the cloth into floor mops, or incorporate it into clothing for charity stores,

Oh dear, I think I'll purposefully, totally switch off from the hysterical media modes of 2012 and 2014. The last two recent blatant attempts at whipping up mass hysteria-the General Election and the football- have been more than enough to try and live with.

You make an apt point regarding the national pride debate and its underlying hypocrisy.

Anonymous said...

the people behind the England flag business are probably those who shout loudest about the teams abject performances, in the hope that all flags will be destroyed and folk will buy afresh in another couple of years.

why doesn't some thrifty lady gather up all these discarded items and make herself a lovely frock at no expense to be worn every St.George's Day?

ZACL said...

What a lovely idea, Ax, a dress. A Jacket could work too. I think I would like to see insets and inserts, rather than complete patchworks of flags.

I am sure you are correct in your thinking surrounding stock.

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franklin said...
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