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-

[quidnunc]

Quote:

For another, the Lone Star State — and specifically Houston — is the epicentre of President Bush's Republican dystopia.

dystopia (n.)
An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.
A work describing such a place or state: “dystopias such as Brave New World” (Times Literary Supplement).

Or how Chrétien never scampered to Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, some 320 kilometres northwest of Houston. Looking around, I'm even more certain than before: Declining an invitation to the Bush ranch was a very good decision, indeed.

Was Chrétien ever invited to Crawford?

I never heard that he was.

[Arkinsaw]

George W. Bush's war in Iraq

When you see this, stop reading.

[Shermy]

"Welcome to George Bush's America.

Better than Paul Desmarais' Canada.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>Here, liberally-minded, latté-sipping, Volvo-driving New Englander Democrats — and peaceniks visiting from snowbound Canuckistan, for that matter — are wholly irrelevant. They, we, just don't matter.

And some people really get their panties in a twist when they just don't matter.

[Lunatic Fringe]

America wears its isolation as a badge of pride

Isolation, huh? Yeah, who went 18,000 miles around the world to free 25 million oppressed Iraqis, eh? Who sat in their comfy la-z-boys eating fried cheese, watching hockey, and drinking watered down ice beer and dreaming of the days of when Wayne Gretzky wasn't a rich American, eh?

[Howlin]

No, he wasn't.

[Bikers4Bush]

Why are Canadians at the Super Bowl? Don't they have some curling finals to watch or something?

[adam_az]

"Why are Canadians at the Super Bowl? Don't they have some curling finals to watch or something?"

Musta been some hippies from BC who thought that the Super Bowl is a giant bong.

[mountaineer]

What this dipwad doesn't understand is that we have a country worth loving. That's why we shed a tear now and again when a particular song moves us.

[theDentist]

Come on Warren. Tell us how you really feel?

[Gefreiter]

"Here, liberally-minded, latté-sipping, Volvo-driving New Englander Democrats — and peaceniks visiting from snowbound Canuckistan, for that matter — are wholly irrelevant. They, we, just don't matter."

Something like that. Come election time, anyway, he's right: Canadians don't matter because, despite Wesley Clark's efforts to the contrary, Canadians don't vote for the American President. Am I supposed to feel bad about that?

"It was, in a sense, a microcosm of Texas, and the United States itself, circa 2004 A.D. Utterly (and proudly) isolationist. Unaware, or perhaps uncaring, what the world thinks."

This statement doesn't make any sense. How is the Super Bowl isolationist, with millions watching? How is the Super Bowl like America, exactly? What does the last bit mean- are we supposed to care about what the world thinks about the NFL, or what?

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?

[microgood]

Warren Kinsella is a Toronto author, and former assistant to Jean Chrétien.

That's all I needed to know.

[Warren_Piece]

This is the funniest quote:

Down on the field, the Panthers and the Patriot players are mostly black. Up in the stands, where unremarkable seats are fetching well over $2,000 from the scalpers clustered outside, the fans are almost entirely white.

Because this man doesn't understand America, he undermines his own argument in a cheap shot attempt to make the USA look racist. I would say that every one of those players are more wealthy and pampered than 90% of those in the stands.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I'm getting doggone tired of these screeds from the Great White North. YOU CANUCKS DON'T LIKE AMERICA? FINE! STAY IN CANADA!!! SEE IF WE CARE!

This, of course, is not meant for the many fine conservative posters from Canada who frequent this site...

[dead]

“The Internet has been a very damaging influence — with the Clinton-Lewinsky thing,
for example, which is something that had no business becoming as big a deal as it did.”
- Warren Kinsella, liberal politician and whinging Canadian typist

[DB]

Hey Warren, could it be many Americans have their sons and daughter fighting and dying in a war that you are too cowardly to fight???

Could it be many Americans still love their country and are willing to die for it???

What a d!ckhead.

[sticker]

Let me get this straight, this was an American football game in Texas and this clown is whining because it was too American??? Earth to canadian idiot, drop dead the RATS haven't been able to cede the country over to koffi and the rest of the Useless Nations. Yet

[Texas_Jarhead]

having read this tripe I feel dirty

[americanSoul]

Actually, when you see the source as "The Toronto Star" stop reading.

That rag is an unofficial liberal party organ and is consistently anti-American with a venom.