Two things I saw on TV that made me feel a little ill at ease....

[WCGreen]

First was the way the people at the super dome reacted when the National Anthem was played.

Let me come clean, I think that playing the national anthem at all sporting events is a little jingoistic to me, especially if the only time the anthem is played is at sporting events.

Tonight it felt a little over the top, the response by the crowd, the way the people on the field reacted.

I may be off base but it just felt threatening.

Maybe because it was in New Orleans, a place that the government at the time of Katrina, basically said you're on your own, and still...

Again, it felt a little dangerous to me.

Then there was the Victoria Secret commercial where they were flaunting a size for all and all they showed was waif like women who ran the gamete from size 0 to size 1.

Granted it is Victoria Secret, but still...

I may be paranoid, but it seemed like I was living back in the Bush Administration when people displayed a love of country that was a mile wide and an inch deep and that women should be objectified.

[gophates]

1. Football has a lot of war metaphors. What do you expect?

Nike, in marketing their Pro Combat series of college football uniforms, is giving out flash drives that look like dog tags. Kellen Winslow's son, also a TE says that football is just like war. Crap like that sells to a certain segment of society.

[Fumesucker]

4. George Carlin on Football vs Baseball..

It's pretty clear he prefers baseball.. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_yq4L3M_I

[BrklynLiberal]

6. He had so many, many great diatribes..and that is one of his best.

[WCGreen]

9. Football you strive for the End Zone...

In Baseball, you go home...

[WCGreen]

7. It was more than that, usually I don't feel ill at ease watching the

garish display of patriotism but tonight, I felt weird about the display.

[proteus_lives]

2. How did they react?

What super-dome? Recently at some sporting-event?

[WCGreen]

5. It's a Nationaly telivised football came on NBC...

Vikings vs. The Saints in New Orleans.

[proteus_lives]

10. Again. How did they react?

I don't understand what's upsetting you.

Are you upset because they reacted positively, negatively, what?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Visual imagery can be very striking...

And they can strike us in ways we don't expect, at times when we least expect it. Or they can remind us of things that we found upsetting back in the day...

I hope these images were no more than that, and that we aren't heading back in to the days where they displayed the reality.

[valerief]

8. I didn't see that on Keith or Rachel. nt

[WCGreen]

11. It was at the opening of the football season tonight on NBC...

[valerief]

26. Football? Oh. Nevermind. nt

[gristy]

12. As proteus_lives asked, I will also ask. How did they react?

Until you or someone tells us, those who did not see it will not have a clue what you are talking about.

[WCGreen]

15. People were weeping, saluting, singing along with tears in their eyes...

I have been to a lot of sporting events in my life and I have never felt this ill at ease.

After 9/11 I understood, but now, in the deep south, I felt ill at ease.

[gristy]

18. ok. One thing to consider is that the network probably gave instructions to the cameramen

to seek out specifically people who were reacting in a certain way. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

The alternative, which is much harder for me to believe, is that the people caught on camera were just randomly chosen, as that would imply that it is likely that most everyone in the stadium was either weeping, saluting, or singing along with tears in their eyes.

[WCGreen]

23. that doesn't dampen the way I felt about the coverage...

In this tense political times, in a place were the main concern seems to be the burning of the holy book of another culture for political reasons...

[proteus_lives]

21. Why did that bother you?

So they got emotional.

Just because you don't feel the same, that makes it bad?

Patriotic events and places have made me cry before.

What's wrong with that?

[WCGreen]

27. It just did...

Given the political climate we are in...

[proteus_lives]

31. What about the political climate?

That's another vague statement.

Explain please.

[WCGreen]

32. I really thought that would be self explanatory

Tea Parties, Fox News, people lining up to willingly toss a mosque out of a neighborhood, threats of burning Korans, I don't know about you but the political climate is pretty bad right now, almost as bad as it was in the 70's...

[proteus_lives]

33. Meh, it's nothing new.

I was just reading about the election of John Adams.

You'd be surprised how similar things are to events/groups/trends today.

It's just that cable news had sped it all up.

Being a history buff has made nonplussed about many things.

[lunasun]

37. Like when the brownshirts stood up + started singing in Cabaret or what??? nt

[OhioBlue]

24. maybe the emotion had more to do with the Saints being

the defending Super Bowl champs?

Some of the fans probably have PTSD - seriously... after Katrina, the oil spill...

Saints had never won a SB, first home game....

They felt good, proud, relived the emotion of the SB win....

[WCGreen]

28. That could very well be...

I just wanted to get down on paper how I felt about this.

It just made me feel ill at ease...

[Steely_Dan]

34. While some may...

not understand why you felt ill at ease...I understand. It is also a little frightening.

-P

[Cosmocat]

46. Spot on ...

I think that the current political climate added even more to it, but to me, it was a cathartic moment for the Saints fans ...

Saints have a L O N G and storied history of being a REALLY bad franchise, New Orleans as a city, even before Katrina had issues of being felt a bit put down, then Katrina ... The oil spill ...

Winning the SB was a REALLY, REALLY big thing for the city ...

Again, current politics probably added to it a bit, but that wasn't what it was about ...

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. The objectification of women didn't end with the election of Barack Obama. Wait, is that criticism?

I can assure you it isn't.

Oh, and I LOVE the singing of the National Anthem at sporting events.

[conturnedpro09]

14. No offense, but you should plan on getting used to it.

Flag-waving sports fans aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. Heck, I'm one of them!

[WCGreen]

16. This was just way over the top....

Like I said up in the thread, I have been to hundreds of sporting events.

This felt different and I was watching from afar.

[CLANG]

35. I thought the National Anthem was very slow and drawn out

that seemed kind of spooky to me.

[WCGreen]

39. That was part of it for me...

I didn't catch the very begininng, just from the part where they started going into the crowd...

[eShirl]

17. I don't "get" why that would be threatening.

[WCGreen]

19. When I was watching the coverage, I felt a sense of read...

I can't explain that, it's just how I felt.

It was over the top, at least to me.

I can't help that I feel that overt out of context displays of patriotism make me ill at ease.

I just wanted to share that feeling.

[BlueJazz]

20. There's something else in Advertising that has increased but I can't talk about...

...it here. It's interesting.

[proteus_lives]

22. What can't you talk about here?

[lonestarnot]

25. Now we really want to know. What?

[red red red]

29. Sorry but I don't get it...

I have always felt very strongly about the National Anthem - To me its a beautiful statement to our country and has always been, years before the Shrub took over. And, I do believe this game in New Orleans certainly had some emotion to it. Oh yes, I am only 20 miles from the game now and the Saints are my team - GO SAINTS!

[WCGreen]

30. I don't expect people to get it...

It was a feeling I had and I wanted to share it.

It was visceral to me...

[Dystopian]

36. I didn't see it...

I don't watch sports.
Yet I felt your words....
I get it.
I understand...
Made sense to me...for what it's worth.


peace~

[OregonBi]

42. your dog...

...is fracking cool!!

Oh how I wish I could rent him for a week!!

[lunasun]

38. here is some of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVhvcUzIiTw

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

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[gophates]

43. There's only one man appropriate to sing the National Anthem.

The great Enrico Pallazzo.

[JonLP24]

44. Meh

I always skip those--meaning I watch something else when the anthem and all that other stuff is going on. I like it when it gets into the regular season 'cause they go straight to the kickoff on television coverage. I can't stand pre-game of the Super Bowl. They announce the starting lineups, do the national anthem and probably that god bless America song. They show the coin toss too which also takes longer than it's supposed to. I just want to get on with the damn game.

I kind of understand what you're saying but not sure I agree. The display of emotion has never really bothered me(I usually see it from players tearing up when the anthem is played). Myself, I never feel anything when the anthem is played or fighter jets (which gets the crowd in a frenzy) flying above.

[Hekate]

45. I understand your concern about the women: a "gamete" is very, very tiny indeed. Although sexy...

... to scientists with microscopes. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gamete ;-)

OTOH, maybe you meant "gamut" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gamut

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :blush:

As for NOLA, maybe it was just their way of shouting "We're back!"

Hekate