No USA Flag Waving at Athens Olympics

The U.S. Olympic comitte has advised Americans to refrain from the jingoistic flag waving that has become a staple of the Olympics washingtontimes.com... in an effort to portray Americans in a better light.

Sounds like good advice to me, I love almost everything about Americans but that whole USA!! USA!! USA!! chanting and flagwaving nauseates me. Save that stuff for domestic consumption.

I agree. It seems like bad sporstmanship to see someone chanting only for themselves, in my opinion.

And hopefully this will improve the international image of the United States.

Would this rule apply to other nations represented, as well? Is the US the only nation that waves their national flags?

Really matters not to me anyhow, since the US has seemingly backed itself into a corner, but I wonder at the singling out of this ruling.

I do believe that what you may see, though media might hamper such coverage, is the US pulling for the Iraqi team(s) that have made the coming Olympic events, namely the soccor team.



seekerof

All nations wave their flags. As for only cheering for one team...When you watch football, basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. Do you root for your home team and the opposing team? I don't know a single individual who does that.

You may recognise where there is skill, after all, this is the Olympics, the best of the best, so there will be some stellar performances. You can aknowlege skill, but you don't have to root for the opposing team.

A personal example, I'm in Chicago. Go Bears, down with the Packers! However, I do recognise that Brett Favre is one of the best, if not the best quarterbacks ever. Doesn't mean I have to like the team, tho... Lousey bunch of cheeseheads

omfg....who the hell cares? we won fair and square so why not show some....emotion and wave our flag? we're f*ckin americans god dammit! wtf happened to ur pride?

The original post indicated that it was the US Olympic Committee that made the statement. Consequently, it's not binding on anyone. The fact is, all people wave the flags of their country at the games. there's no way anyone is going to stop that. Actually, when you really think about it, the USOC statement is really foolish!

This is absurd, every country cheers for their countrymen. To tell one country not to do this is really offensive to me. If I were going to the games I would bring two flags instead of one to show my defiance and distain for this type of statement.

God Bless America

Originally posted by silQ
[golly]....who the [heck] cares? we won fair and square so why not show some....emotion and wave our flag? we're ... americans [gosh darn it]! wtf happened to ur pride?

Apparently Americans aren't allowed to have pride in their country because it upsets terrorists. :shk:

It sounds to me in the article that they don't care about the audiance waving flags, it's the athelets they don't want running around with a flag after they win.

But you also have to think given the world situation would someone with an american flag be much different then someone with a target on their back?

This is the first summer olympics and the first of either the olympics outside the USA since Sept 11. Considering that Athens still haven't finished all the venues there has to be some worry about security.

WHoever has a problem wiht our countrymen parading with our dear american flag after we have won an event in the biggest athletic event can kiss my american ass.

We dont have to change just to be liked anymore in the world. I think we should step up the sense of pride for our country. Who cares what the international community thinks.

That really makes me mad that we can celibrate like americans because we might offend someone. THis thought of appeasement is what is goin to kill america. When has appeasement ever solved anything. If you can think of an incident it did please tell me but i have numerous accounts when it doesnt.

Originally posted by Quicksilver
WHoever has a problem wiht our countrymen parading with our dear american flag after we have won an event in the biggest athletic event can kiss my american ass.

We dont have to change just to be liked anymore in the world. I think we should step up the sense of pride for our country. Who cares what the international community thinks.

That really makes me mad that we can celibrate like americans because we might offend someone. THis thought of appeasement is what is goin to kill america. When has appeasement ever solved anything. If you can think of an incident it did please tell me but i have numerous accounts when it doesnt.

Well...The League of nations appeased Germany after they invaded Poland. That worked out well, didn't it?

This is really stupid. The rest of the world really doesnt care if you wave the flag at olimpics or not, actually everybody expects you to do it, just like anyone else. Thats a normal part of the game.
THe thing is, it is the american olympic comitee panicking here and creating a big deal out of it, not the rest of the world!
This is just insane.

Originally posted by junglejake

Originally posted by Quicksilver
WHoever has a problem wiht our countrymen parading with our dear american flag after we have won an event in the biggest athletic event can kiss my american ass.

We dont have to change just to be liked anymore in the world. I think we should step up the sense of pride for our country. Who cares what the international community thinks.

That really makes me mad that we can celibrate like americans because we might offend someone. THis thought of appeasement is what is goin to kill america. When has appeasement ever solved anything. If you can think of an incident it did please tell me but i have numerous accounts when it doesnt.

Well...The League of nations appeased Germany after they invaded Poland. That worked out well, didn't it?

Exactly man. Look what happen when we "appeased" then of course Germany just sat on its hands and played nice with everyone.

Also a question. Who runs the USOC? I mean is it a private group or is it a branch of the governmnet? Because this statement screams anti-american

I would have thought that the reason they don't want americans to wave their flags would be to aviod being made targets by any terrorists.

Sure every country has its jingoistic flag waving, but you have to concede that Americans are more energetic and immersed in it than most.

BUt if we win we have the right to be. I think they should have advised the athletes of this (but they probly already know) But discouraging national pride whats up with that?

There is a line between pride and arrogance, don't cross it.

Forgive me for sounding stupid here... But isn't waving an American flag at the Athens Olympics a bad thing?

I mean with all the terrorism aimed at Americans is waving an American flag not more like waving a TARGET?... Screaming HEY HERE I AM KILL ME!

Gazz

WEll we are americans and you know what we will not live in fear and change our behavior just beacuase we feel threatened! If we stop because we think we are a target the terrorist win plain and simple.

Originally posted by zero_snaz
There is a line between pride and arrogance, don't cross it.

I agree snaz. But to me it sounds like they are tryin to quell our pride. Ill put it this way i would rather accidently look arrogant then betray my country in a way by not being proud of it and its citizens

Possible scenario: a 100m race. A deep male voice is heard on loudspeakers on the whole damn stadium "american john smith running in lane 2". 20 secs later " and american john smith wins the race!", the whole stadium hears it. The athlete is shown on a huge screen, everybody on that stadium sees it. Now whether he is waving the flag or not after he has won the race makes no difference! If somebody wants to shoot him he knows who to shoot, john smith's face is on a HUGE screen, showing him celebrating. You can't miss it.
Thats why I think that th�s flag thing panic is plain stupid.