Jingoism Rules at Super Bowl (A Canadian is drips venom and bile)

The Toronto Star ^ | February 9, 2004 | Warren Kinsella

[quidnunc]

In George Bush's Houston, America wears its isolation as a badge of pride.

Crying. The man in section 128, row AA, seat 27, was crying.

Standing in Houston's Reliant Stadium, not that far above the 40-yard line, a visitor from Canada could be forgiven for wondering why the well-dressed American wasn't deliriously happy. After all, his Super Bowl XXXVIII ticket had a face value of $500 U.S., the big Texas sky had turned sunny for the first time in days, and an astonishing pre-game show had just concluded, offering up the likes of Aerosmith, Willie Nelson and Houston's very own Beyoncé singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

But the neatly-barbered fellow, well-appointed in a yellow silk shirt, dress slacks and tasseled loafers, was crying just the same.

The weeping man, and approximately 71,000 other Super Bowl fans, gazed up at one of Reliant Stadium's two huge screens — measuring 30 feet high, and 100 feet wide — placed high, high above the Carolina Panthers' and New England Patriots' end zones.

Up on the full-resolution, high-definition video displays, country star Toby Keith — who had been part of the pre-game show, with Willie Nelson — was growling his hit song, "American Soldier."

In the video, a U.S. serviceman drives past a cemetery full of dead soldiers, while Keith sings:

I will always do my duty, no matter what the price,
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice,
Oh, and I don't want to die for you,
But if dyin's asked of me,
I'll bear that cross with an honour,
'Cause freedom don't come free.

A few moments later, Keith — who previously achieved distinction when he likened the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines to "Commie heathen," for her opposition to George W. Bush's war in Iraq — is seen in an aircraft hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California, framed by four F-16 fighter jets. Sings Keith:

You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door,
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey I'm true down to the core,
And I'm an American soldier, an American.

A group of Canadians present for the game, and located just behind the weeping man, stand in stunned silence. They look around. The man (a Pats fan, go figure) isn't the only one with tears rolling down his cheeks. A lot of other people are crying, too, swaying back and forth.

I turn to a friend from Quebec and whisper: "Welcome to George Bush's America. Please check your senses at the door as you enter."

-snip-

[Snuffington]

I'm actually starting to enjoy these little missives from Canadians in a perverse way. Take this line for example:

I turn to a friend from Quebec and whisper: "Welcome to George Bush's America. Please check your senses at the door as you enter."

I'm picturing a bunch of guys with Chretien-style pinched up faces, giving those little Gallic nasal snorts which pass for laughter in Quebec.

In other words, I'm finding it hard to get worked up by these guys, because they strike me as too silly to take seriously. It's that ridiculous juxtaposition between how seriously they take their own opinions, while consistently being totally wrong, completely irrelevant, or finding the perfect balance between the two.

With intellectual rigor that almost approaches that of a college sophomore, ninety percent of Candians have somehow simultaneously decided George Bush is too stupid to be president, and at the same time the mastermind behind everything wrong with the world. Also that Hallibuton is the most evil company ever. And all Texans love oil with a maniacal obsession, only equalled by their psychotic love of guns. And Mumia is innocent. And Michael Moore is a courageous truth teller, but Fox news is only propaganda for the simple-minded.

Oh well. Time will tell whether Canada will emerge from their mass hissy-fit, or if they'll continue to degenerate into a colder version of France.

[quidnunc]

What can one expect from a nation where one of the national dishes is poutine — french fries and gravy topped with cottage cheese.

[Snuffington]

This person is piss-poor writer. I would've given this back with a C, tops, until some specific, precise ideas materialized. Otherwise what's the point of writing?

The entertainment value of course! Check out this little bit:

And yet — and yet. In the massive $450-million stadium, the air is thick with jingoism that recalls cheap aftershave.

It's like a jounalistic car-crash between a newspaperman, French intellectual, and Mickey Spillane. Unintentionally hillarious.

[Redcloak]

I'm sure that this rube will be out there condemning Canadian jingoism at the next curling championship.

[GigaDittos]

"A group of Canadians present for the game, and located just behind the weeping man, stand in stunned silence. They look around. The man (a Pats fan, go figure) isn't the only one with tears rolling down his cheeks. A lot of other people are crying, too, swaying back and forth. I turn to a friend from Quebec and whisper: "Welcome to George Bush's America. Please check your senses at the door as you enter."

Buncha yella-bellies.

[par4]

Other than ice hockey, what have the Canadians ever done for us?

Well, they gave us examples of their culture and sophistication with TV programs like "The Red Green Show" (although I did like the homespun decor at the Possum Lodge).

[par4]

Other than ice hockey, what have the Canadians ever done for us?

Well, they gave us examples of their culture and sophistication with TV programs like "The Red Green Show" (although I did like the homespun decor at the Possum Lodge).

[BadAndy]

"...he is a bit correct, the US is very isolationist. And damn proud of it."

We are not isolationist. We are not a country of sheep, we are independent and do what we believe is is necessary and right. Headsrong perhaps, isolationist no.

---

"A group of Canadians present for the game, and located just behind the weeping man, stand in stunned silence. They look around. The man (a Pats fan, go figure) isn't the only one with tears rolling down his cheeks. A lot of other people are crying, too, swaying back and forth.

I turn to a friend from Quebec and whisper: "Welcome to George Bush's America. Please check your senses at the door as you enter."

First, I can't imagine ANYTHING about Canada that warrants teary eyed patriotism. Second, it was wise that the author whispered his comments, or he would have been in a body cast by the kickoff.
And PS, what the he|| was this idiot doing at the Superbowl when I bet he has nothing but distain for football, America and Texas?

[SB00]

Typical tripe from one of the biggest media cheerleaders in Canada for the federal Liberal Party.