Football patriotism
2008-06-17 | Filed Under Journal |
Two posts on football in one day… we can expect hell to freeze over any moment now.
While I’m no fan of football (or any organised sport, really), the Euro 2008 championship has had one welcome side-effect: Germans are showing their true colours… literally. Everywhere you look, cars, windows and balconies are proudly adorned with German flags; this trend first surfaced during the World Cup in 2006, and has returned for Euro 2008.
In most countries this would be considered normal, especially in the United States where you can’t go anywhere without bumping into the Stars and Stripes. Due to their history, however, Germans are worried (read: paranoid) that any display of patriotism will be misinterpreted as nationalism, and that openly carrying a German flag is just one small step away from goose-stepping into neighbouring countries.
I’m pleased to see that sixty years and three generations after the end of World War II, Germans are finally daring to openly show they are proud to be German.
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