I was just about to go to bed when suddenly the entire neighborhood erupted with wild cheering. The sounds of joyous voices poured in through the window from all around. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “It must be the world cup and Korea has just scored.” But wait a second, haven’t all the newspapers been eagerly awaiting Korea’s first game to come later this week?
I turned on the television just in time to catch the replay of the goal that was scored and created such joy all around me. Australia had just scored a goal against Japan…
I remember when I was a child, that my father watched football (American) he would cheer for whoever was against OU (University of Oklahoma) just because he hated Barry Switzer, the head coach then. I thought it was slightly humorous, but I’ve never been interested in organized sports so it was just an objective observation.
But when a whole nation exhibits this kind of prejudice… this sort of jingoism really disturbs me.
I only wish I could say anything better about the US, or Japan, or pretty much any other nation.