Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA09822 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 7 Sep 2001 14:15:37 +0100 From: Philip Jonkers <P.A.E.Jonkers@phys.rug.nl> X-Authentication-Warning: rugth1.phys.rug.nl: www-data set sender to jonkers@localhost using -f To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: FW: England humour Message-ID: <999868262.3b98c76636f67@rugth1.phys.rug.nl> Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 15:11:02 +0200 (CEST) References: <20010907123812.AAA7538@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> In-Reply-To: <20010907123812.AAA7538@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: IMP/PHP IMAP webmail program 2.2.5 X-Originating-IP: 129.125.13.3 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Quoting "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>:
> On 09/07/01 06:58, Vincent Campbell said this-
>
> >Remember the US Russia ice hockey matches of the Cold War and how the
> US
> >public felt about those games? Many many matches in football (Man
> >U/Liverpool, Rangers/Celtic, Milan/Inter, BArcelona/Real Madrid,
> >England/Germany, England/Scotland, England/Argentina, Germany/Holland
> etc.
> >etc. etc.) generate that kind of local, regional and national feeling
> as
> >those games did for the US.
>
> Tribal and xenophobic behaviors are just that, regardless of
> how masked.
I'm not an expert when it comes to soccer, but we have this
well-known soccer coach here in Holland who once exclaimed:
`Voetbal is oorlog!' (Soccer is war!). Though obviously
exaggerated, there is some truth in it. A lot of sports matches,
whether football, soccer, hockey or whatever, often are
accompanied by hooliganism, riots and yes sometimes downright
armed conflicts.
There must be some sociological reason for
people taking up arms like that since they are prevalent all
over the globe. Perhaps it's an expression
of our natural lust for (tribal) warfare (survival of the
fittest, the `it's either him or me' attitude) when we're
lacking it now through modern-day society's inhibiting action
(law, ethics, social control, etc.)
It's seems to be our biological drive for animosity
still calling the cards. Jerks from tucked away,
long `forgotten' vestiges of brutal ancestry?
(Damn, I'm almost getting poetical over here.
You must have triggered something Wade;
maybe poetry is memetically contaminating.)
> Today's soccer players are tomorrow's universal soldiers.
I for one hope not, Holland lost from Ireland (1-0),
we'd make lousy soldiers!
Phil...
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