To paraphrase Roger Williams, forced patriotism stinks in my nostrils.
I find it hard to believe that this is even an issue in a national election in a country with so many real problems and issues to debate and resolve. But it seems the punditocracy is all a twitter over Barack Obama's decision not to wear an American flag lapel pin, which apparently signifies much more than a break from political sartorial conformity. If you believe them, it's a rejection of the flag, the principles it stands for, and everything that's good and American in the world. Apparently it means he no longer likes baseball, mom, and apple pie too.…
Article comments
76 - K.G theartist
OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BUSH IS A CON ARTIST'S AND AMERICA SAY HELLO TO THE AMERO U FOOLS
77 - El Bicho
All those clips show is that Hogan is brilliant at stealing from Benny Hill.
I am not sure why countries have to be brought into it, but if you are still bitter about losing the American Revolution, I know of nothing that is keeping you in the Central Valley.
78 - STM
El Bicho writes: "I am not sure why countries have to be brought into it, but if you are still bitter about losing the American Revolution".
Lol. How many times do you here that one from Americans??
The truth is Bicho, having had the largest empire the world has ever known, and giving birth to America and ALL its institutions (history tells the truth on that one), the Poms probably don't give it a passing thought.
I lived there, and I never heard any Pom even mention it. Mostly, except that they they think Americans have a penchant for big-headed bragging (which is true, and they think Australians are loud-mouthed, drunken oafs, alos mostly true :), I never heard them say anything but nice things about Americans.
But not once did I hear a word about the American revolution. They're probably glad to be shot of ya.
79 - Andy Marsh
Hye Stan...we love you folks that speak that funny version of American!
80 - STM
Thanks Andy .... i think.
To EB, what you find "brilliant" in America sometimes just leaves us scratching our heads elsewhere (although American comedy is mostly good, I'll give ya that).
But it's horses for courses. I'm not a fan at all of Hogan's movies, but his comedy show here was hilarious. Except, if you haven't been here, it's hard to "get".
I notice you came out of the wordwork as soon as Kenny G was mentioned :)
81 - El Bicho
Aw, how cute. We get to hear from the penal colony, er, I mean, peanut gallery.
"ALL its institutions."
Really? Then I wonder why so many people think the Romans had the first senate. You should straighten them out.
82 - El Bicho
I noticed I was here before Kenny G was mentioned, in fact two comments to be precise, but maybe your sight is as clouded as your reasoning.
83 - STM
Upper and lower legislative houses - you just copied the name from the Romans, you tool.
Yeah, and proud of being the penal colony.
Gives us a much smaller proportion of know-it-all but know-nothing wankers.
84 - El Bicho
I see, the Brits had the idea of doubling what the Romans had previously done and you think they should get full credit. No doubt, you hold in high esteem the cook who thought to add a second patty to create the double hamburger. This does explain you're being so impressed with Hogan, though. Thanks.
"Gives us a much smaller proportion of know-it-all but know-nothing wankers."
That must make it easier for you to remember the names of everyone when you hold your meetings.
85 - STM
EB: "That must make it easier for you to remember the names of everyone when you hold your meetings."
Quite possibly, but how do you cope with the 300 million of you over there?
And yeah, I do think you should give most of the credit to the Poms for pretty much everything about your way of life, your legal system, your personal freedoms, your system of governance.
It certainly owes a lot more to them than it does to a bunch of blokes who were running around in sandals 2000 years earlier with bed sheets tied around their shoulders.
86 - zingzing
"I'm just geeing zing up because he sounds like a wanker when he carries on about this stuff, especially Nick Cave- like most music writers :)"
i'm not the one writing about the "soul of rock n roll" and "show me some clay" or some such nonsense. meh. and that rap being crap without the c... how old are you? cuz that's a pretty old line.
"Music writers can just sit there and write dribble about something that's totally subjective..."
you realize what you just did there, yeah?
87 - STM
Yeah, zing, I'm aware that most of what I write is crap, dribble and highly subjective drivel. I don't expect anyone to take it too seriously ... and I worry about anyone who might.
But it doesn't mean I can't recognise bollocks and gibber bubbling forth elsewhere like a veritable spring of nonsense (and it don't mean I won't say what I think - about America, Australia, Britain, or anywhere or anything or anyone else).
Having no leg to stand on in relation to that, it's not that I object to so much as the music/arts/film/TV/sports/politics/culture snob "your opinion doesn't count" that often goes with it.
It's always good to have the bullsh.t detector switched to maximum on here, and a must in America.
As for my age: silver-haired, but still surfin' ...
and still listening to good music.
88 - STM
Geez Doc,
I just watched those Paul Hogan clips. The best thing I can say is that Delvene Delaney looks good in the tennis one, but the rest of it's all looking a bit dated. I'm not sure I'd be touting Hoges as a comic genius, although he can be very funny on occasion.
And I'd forgotten about Leo Wanka.
89 - Andy Marsh
Honestly Stan...I've never met an aussie or a brit I didn't like...now there might be a few canadians....
90 - STM
Thanks Andy,
There's a lot more of you guys, so I can only return the compliment by saying I've met very few Americans I don't like (only one I can really think of actually). Most of 'em I've liked a lot, and I have a couple of friends here - one is a close mate - who are expat Yanks that I socialise with.
I even let 'em put the Stars and Stripes up at my place one year on July 4 for the annual Independence Day barbecue - but unbeknownst to them, we surreptiously changed the design a bit beforehand and put a Union Jack in the corner instead of the stars just to make everyone feel at home as there were Poms, Kiwis and Aussies there too :)
We also put up condolence signs every year marking the anniversary of their great mistake in breaking away from the British empire, but apart from that, it's hot dogs, little star-bangled banners and beer all round.
I do love the place (America). It's just that, well, Americans ARE different ... but only a bit.
I just wish they'd speak a brand of English that you can actually understand.
91 - Andy Marsh
I was in Germany a couple of years ago learning a radar system so I could write some training material for it later on...one weekend we took a trip to Amsterdam and actually stayed in a hotel outside of it in Breuklin...not sure if I spelled that right...I'd spell it the way they do in NY but I know that's wrong...anyway, we were riding the train into Amsterdam and I met an irishman. I struck up a conversation with him while standing around some of my new german friends...I politely nodded my head as he spoke and when we we got to Amsterdam we left the train and went our seperate ways...that's when one of my german friends came up to me and made the statement that she couldn't understand a word he had said and she spoke very good english. I told her not to feel bad because I only got about every third or fourth word he said either!
But then again...I'm in the deep south this week, in Mississippi and I have a bit of trouble understanding some of these southern folks too!
92 - silver surfer
Andy: I don't think we speak English at all down here.
It's some kind of bizarre codified South Pacific pidgin based on English.
Like your German friend, I blame the Irish. They had half the influence on this accent.
93 - Dr Dreadful
I'm not sure I'd be touting Hoges as a comic genius, although he can be very funny on occasion.
I'm not either, Stan. But neither is he the antithesis of genius, as El B seemed to be arguing.
I remember pissing myself laughing at those shows when ITV screened them in the early 80s. Besides Leo Wanka (Hoges's greatest creation), I recall with particular fondness a skit about the anti-Mastermind 'Thick Head' - a TV quiz competition to find the stupidest person in Australia*, and one about Rolf Harris going into the Outback and 'summoning' a wild Aborigine (who'd driven up behind Rolf in a Land Rover while he was dicking about with his wobbleboard and changed into a loincloth from his t-shirt and jeans... although he'd forgotten to take off his sneakers).
I imagine a lot of the humour was lost on me (and indeed most of the Pom audience) at the time, as I wouldn't visit Australia for another twenty years.
* No easy task! ;-)
94 - silver surfer
Doc: "'Thick Head' - a TV quiz competition to find the stupidest person in Australia*,"
Lol. Well, there'd be plenty of takers :) They could just go down to the front bar of my local pub and get six months' worth of competitors.
Or they could just grab my next-door neighbours.
Or head down to Cronulla on the eve of an immigrant-bashing session.
I do remember that skit though. It wasn't bad.
Even Leo Wanka, which I don't like that much, is a take-off of the mustachioed rescue unit guys, who loved to strut around doing their good deeds.
I guess if you don't know a lot of that stuff, you'd be left scratching your head.
95 - Dr Dreadful
Leo Wanka (actually spelled 'Wanker' in one of the skits I watched last night on YouTube) also used to attempt various Evel Knievel-type stunts, at all of which he would fail miserably.
Did those guys seriously used to whoosh around in the back of a ute with a flashing light on the roof? Where was the fire brigade?
You're right that some of Hoges's material is looking somewhat dated. Even in Australia, I doubt he'd get away with 'sexist' stuff like that pushbike skit nowadays. But that's partly the charm of it. Take his 'Perce the Wino' character, for instance - the old drunk who used to stagger around playing pranks on people with 'The Entertainer' music playing in the background. Somehow I don't think 'Perce the Crackhead' would have quite the same appeal...!
96 - STM
No, they didn't scream around in a ute, but there were three rescue units - police, fire and ambulance, all vying for top spot I guess on the funding tree, plus the State Emergency Service and the Bush Fire Brigade, all of whom used to wear the overalls and hard hats.
They were a common sight around the place.
I believe it's all been streamlined since and while all those things still exist, their roles are much more clearly defined. I remember going to a job once and all five of those rescue/emergency units were there.
We used to joke that they'd all turn up to get a cat out of a tree. And most of the guys working for them were pretty macho dudes.
They did, however, do a great job and saved a lot of lives.
But they did have proper trucks. I suspect Hoges just couldn't get hold of one.
It's Anzac Day here BTW, so there's a pretty sombre mood around the place, which puts all this flag-waving patriotism stuff in perspective.
There are no WWI veterans left now, and the ranks of WWII veterans are thinning considerable. Those men are now in their 80s.
There was a show on TV last night about Aussie Vietnam veterans, who said they could never forgive the peace protesters for spitting at them and throwing pig blood on them. Most of the soldiers were conscripts, drafted in a lottery system.
One guy said he didn't agree with the war either, and it should have been the government the protesters were taking out wrath on.
It's governments that do this stuff.
I notice too in relation to this story that it's never usually actual veterans themselves who are jingoistically patriotic to the point of making the rest of us vomit.
Perhaps they should get out there and put their money where their mouths are.
97 - Clavos
There was a show on TV last night about Aussie Vietnam veterans, who said they could never forgive the peace protesters for spitting at them and throwing pig blood on them.
Didn't know that happened Down Under, too.
If you know any Stan, tell 'em your Seppo mate says, "Welcome home, Brother."
98 - troll
It's governments that do this stuff.
a convenient scapegoat...it's people who do this stuff
we each have the power to 'just say no'