Far too many Americans tend to get upset, lose their tempers and be quick to complain loudly and bitterly over the least significant of things, especially if their delicate sense of national patriotism or cultural equanimity is offended.
They take these matters a bit too seriously in my opinion.
Tempers, for example, have flared in Pennsylvania recently when the commissioner of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League advised 200 high school hockey teams to eliminate the national anthem before games because it takes too much time to perform and costs too much money.
“We are recommending the national anthem not be played or sung or whatever it is,” Commissioner Ed Sam, told reporters. “It has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism at all. That’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
He said teams are only allotted a certain amount of time to play matches. “Ice is very, very hard to get and it’s not cheap,” he added, noting that it costs upwards of $300 per hour for schools to rent ice rinks.
Not surprisingly, the decision has been met with fierce opposition by hysterical “patriots” who insist that the national anthem ritual continue before every game.
“I go back to the 1960’s with high school hockey and it’s always been a part of it,” whined one of them. “A part of our history and it should be a part of the game.”
Really – the national anthem is part of our history at high school sporting events? Not playing or singing it at every game would be unpatriotic?
Yes, many Americans apparently think so. They feel threatened when they can no longer force the rest of us to endure their patriotic ritual again and again on the most insignificant of occasions.
Last week an Arizona woman was so upset over the outcome of the presidential election that she ran over her husband with the family Jeep SUV because he didn't vote. For failing to participate in what she thought was his civic duty she pinned him between the underside of the SUV and the curb when he tried to run for help.
Witnesses told police that the woman followed her husband in her car through a parking lot while screaming at him. He hid behind a light pole to protect himself while she circled several times. She struck him as he tried to make a break for the main road. He remains in critical condition.
Only in America can one find stories like this because only in America are people that hysterical about such small matters. Denying him sex for his omission I could understand, but running him over …? I didn’t vote either as a matter of principle. Please don’t tell anyone.
Meanwhile, Victoria's Secret has apologized profusely for putting a Native American-style headdress on a model for its annual fashion show, after the outfit was criticized as a display of ignorance toward tribal culture and history.
"We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone," the company said. The model also posted on Twitter that she was "deeply sorry if what I wore during the VS Show offended anyone."
"We have gone through the atrocities to survive and ensure our way of life continues," Navajo Nation spokesman Erny Zah said in an interview Monday. "Any mockery, whether it's Halloween, Victoria's Secret -- they are spitting on us. They are spitting on our culture, and it's upsetting."
Abaki Beck, a 19-year-old member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana, said she wanted more than a short apology from Victoria's Secret instead of what she said sounded like an automated response. "But perhaps that is an unrealistic hope," she admitted, "It is all about business, after all."
"We are people; we're not a fashion statement," Jennie Luna, a Chicana and Caxcan, said. "We are people who are facing serious issues, and for them to further perpetuate the type of stereotypes and disregard for a community's way of life is unacceptable."
Gee, I used to play cowboys and Indians with my little pals as a kid. I suppose that’s no longer acceptable to these recently manufactured hysterical types, who, incidentally still refer to themselves as “Indians” living in “Indian” country and practicing “Indian” culture.
No more kids wearing Indian costumes on Halloween, I suppose. They can wear Civil War uniforms or dress like Leprechauns or drunken Irishmen, but no more cowboys and Indians. It’s a crying shame.
It’s just more national anthem angst and other hysteria American style.
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