Hung parliaments and world cup hysteria.

Oh dear, it has been a while since I graced Blogspot with my presence. I have had an avalanche of assignments and exams, but I am pleased to say that I am now free for the summer! Also I am no longer a fresher at Brunel University - unbelievable how fast the time has gone. Since my last visit we have had an election, which is like a Politics student's equivalent of the world cup. I'm pretty sure I must have driven my parents insane as it was all I could talk about. As far as the results went, in all honesty, as a Liberal Democrat voter, it was the best outcome we could have hoped for, but I digress, this blog is not about the election. As much as I have to say about it, I will surely bore you and it is kind of old news now. Just wanted to give it a brief mention ;)

What I am here to talk about is still political in some respects, although it is more just another angry rant about an "issue" that has really got me going. I use quotations for the word "issue" because the truth is it's not really an issue at all. It is merely a combination of hysteria and bigotry that has created this so called issue that isn't actually there. Allow me to explain.
The world cup is approaching, and as always, people are suddenly remembering that England isn't such a bad place after all and that they actually quite like this country and so they get out the England shirts and flags and we all cheer for England until they get knocked out in the quarter finals, and everyone goes back to complaining about what a cold, grey place England is.
So everyone is happy, digging out the St George memorabilia from the attic or the shed or wherever it is they so grievously tossed it three years previously when England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Everybody has Baddiel and Skinner or Fat Les on repeat, and even the big companies are cashing in on the event. World Cup fever is here once again.
But this time the Sun, that Holy Grail that only speaketh the truth, has made a scandalous discovery. Police want to BAN England shirts from pubs! Oh noes! :O
The offending article can be found here.
Only it's actually not as bad as is first assumed. They only recommend a ban of the shirts during the World Cup for the simple reason that there may be clashes involving drunken football hooligans. I have read the article three times and have not seen the words "Immigrants", "minorities" or "political correctness" mentioned once.
So we should accept that for once, the blame doesn't lie with immigration and that maybe the police have a point somewhat, right?
Wrong.
I came across a lovely little group on facebook. Did these people bother to read the article? Probably not. One outraged patriot says:

"how would they like it if we went and lived over there during the world cup what weve been waiting so long for and full off hope and we forced them to take off there turbans, they dont remove vales and turbans whilst there over here so why should we remove our shirts in our own country?? they shud be greatefull there here nevermind trying to take over the country. WERE ENGLAND !!! ALWAYS WILL BE, NOT PAKISTAN :D"

Do policemen wear turbans? I do not see what Pakistan has to do with policemen wanting to ban football shirts from pubs. Do they do that in Pakistan too?

"come on england im going to wear an england shirt with bnp no 10 on it im english and proud .."

Yes, because the BNP supports everything about the England football team. Wasn't it them who supported Denmark in 2002 because England wasn't "white" enough?. And didn't two senior members of the party claim that Ashley Cole wasn't English and therefore had no right to play for England, despite him being born in London?
So, if it wasn't enough that they were taking all our benefits and jobs, now those nasty immigrants want to steal our world cup too! Never mind the fact that the Sun never even mentioned immigrants in the first place. So once again the Sun’s readers fail to illuminate the issues concerned and demonstrates its inability to differentiate between fact and myth, and the proud patriots who speak for the entire population have made us look like a nation of gullible xenophobic fools.

You know, English pride, and all that.