Originally Posted by Videostar:
Carnelian, no, im not saying footballers kicking a ball around makes me proud of my country, my point is the English flag being flown outside someones house does not mean they are evil racists...that's my point.
Im afraid you are also coming across as a snob, just because the guy likes football, drives a white van and has 3 England flags outside his home (only one of which had a football crest on it) does not mean he is Mr Right Wing of Racist Town.
The level of disrespect shown to a regular common man, the flag he chooses to fly and indeed the freedom for him to fly that flag is quite honestly disgusting and goes against what Britain fought for in two wars.
Just because this guy hasn't fought in a war (and lets be thankful he doesn't have to) doesn't make him any less proud of his country than any soldier who did fight for our sadly lost freedom...so what if he drinks beer and watches TV? I find your opinions bizarre and offensive.
Im afraid Emily Thornberry has shown herself up as a bigot....and an idiot.
BTW, the EU are constantly sticking their nose into our trade affairs, our laws we pass, votes for prisoners, open door immigration (which affects us all), I could go on.....but these are not trivial matters for us.
On the contrary, the snobbery comes from the right wing media, that has this idea that the more uncouth you are, the more working class you are.
This is how Rupert Murdoch likes to see the English working class- fat, ignorant, nationalistic and able to be bought with beer and football.
This bloke is knuckle dragger. He admitted he left the flags up because they offended immigrants. So Emily's hunch was spot on.
The flip side of your argument is just because he flies a flag, doesn't mean he is any more patriotic than someone who doesn't. Patriotism isn't a virtue in its own right. If his reasons for being proud of his country are something moronic like England winning the world cup before he was born, then his patriotism is vacuous and merely football tribalism.
You've still to criticise Farage sitting with holocaust denying scum in the Euro parliament yet to take the moral high ground over a human rights lawyer's little error of judgement on Twitter. Give me a 'snob' any day over someone who jumps into bed with neo-Nazis.