Armed Forces Day

[HelsinkiSaintee]

^this.

**** the politics, all the sectarian shite of other clubs,we are talking about people putting their lives on the line. As Broon said, 5 mins of  reflection isnt really that much to ask.

They get it and then some, it's called Remembrance Day.

[Broon]

They get it and then some, it's called Remembrance Day.

And this is our closest fixture to that day. 

[HelsinkiSaintee]

Yes, it's not on the day and it's nothing to do with our fixture.

Edited October 10, 2015 by HelsinkiSaintee
Lost some text

[andy rhodes fancy watch]

Nothing like the British armed forces to stir up a wee conflict eh ? Be that the middle east or WAP ! 

[jhq]

Athens Saint may have quoted me in his original post, but I would like to distance myself from his comments. Everyone is entitles to their own opinion but cheap insults are not required.

He'll blame you next time he's banned. 

[jhq]

Nothing like the British armed forces to stir up a wee conflict eh ? Be that the middle east or WAP ! 

The forces haven't stirred up any conflicts in the Middle East.  Politicians on the other hand....

[jhq]

25 years ago people kept their thoughts more to themselves.Because of social media people think they understand what a person is like and how they operate from one line of text..

25 years ago the IRA were still very active and it was far too dangerous for military personnel to wear their uniform at public events such as football matches.  

As an ex member of the Forces, my view remains that a dignified minute's silence would suffice for this.  Most squaddies, certianly in my day, wouldn't have wanted anything too flashy.  I would suspect that remains the view with today's squaddies.

Edited October 10, 2015 by jhq

[jhq]

I don't agree with this. It's not shoved down people's throats at all. Lets stop celebrating Christmas in schools as well then? Or shall we get rid of burns day? St Andrews day?  If you don't like it you can just go get a pie when the band plays. Nobody is glueing your eyelids open...its not Iraq after all.

Also, there are easier jobs out there for much better money. It's hardly hugely attractive.  My brother decided at about 12 he wanted to go in the army. He joined the cadets as a kid and went in on his 16th birthday. He was always desperate to be a soldier. I don't think he's that much in the minority. Granted many do it because they don't have many other options but lets not kid on these guys are picking it for it's merits as a quality job.

I don't understand the logic that we should remember those who didn't choose to fight in wars more than those who did. The fact is they ALL deserve respect. Every man, woman and child (as half the infantry were) deserve a little acknowledgment for the work they do. Under-equipped and facing certain danger in shit-holes all around the world. Sleeping in concrete-enforced beds just incase they happen to be mortared in their sleep. All to attempt to stabilise the crazy world we live in. I'm sorry but I think they are entitled to 5 minutes of our time. 

Great post.

[south inch]

I don't agree with this. It's not shoved down people's throats at all. Lets stop celebrating Christmas in schools as well then? Or shall we get rid of burns day? St Andrews day?  If you don't like it you can just go get a pie when the band plays. Nobody is glueing your eyelids open...its not Iraq after all.

Also, there are easier jobs out there for much better money. It's hardly hugely attractive.  My brother decided at about 12 he wanted to go in the army. He joined the cadets as a kid and went in on his 16th birthday. He was always desperate to be a soldier. I don't think he's that much in the minority. Granted many do it because they don't have many other options but lets not kid on these guys are picking it for it's merits as a quality job.

I don't understand the logic that we should remember those who didn't choose to fight in wars more than those who did. The fact is they ALL deserve respect. Every man, woman and child (as half the infantry were) deserve a little acknowledgment for the work they do. Under-equipped and facing certain danger in shit-holes all around the world. Sleeping in concrete-enforced beds just incase they happen to be mortared in their sleep. All to attempt to stabilise the crazy world we live in. I'm sorry but I think they are entitled to 5 minutes of our time. 

Well said.

[blueheaven]

Any sane person on the planet disgrees with the Mail! Quoting that piece of crap as a defence to your argument, whether valid or not, as i previously said  just seems lazy. WAP s one of the few online forums where you can actually get a reasoned argument from all sides- long may that continue

What you're saying makes no sense to me. The Mail is one of the most read websites and newspapers in the UK. Whether we like it or not, it carries a huge amount of influence and it uses that influence to 'poppy bully' and jump on Remembrance to boost its own sales and agenda. I gave those examples to explain why I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the way the media and the UK in general treats this time of year. Should no one ever point out that this is happening or ever criticise the press because you find it "lazy"? I find what you're saying to be absolutely bizarre.

Also I reckon you'll find there are probably quite a few people on this forum who actually agree with what a nasty, bullying, right-wing rag like the Mail has to say, as appalling as that is.

[Abernethy Saint]

Know your enemy. 

[rik2304]

Can you get the Daily Mail in Greece?

[Edstar101]

Just to add. I have no strong feelings either way whether or not the club hold an armed forces day, likewise whether they get in for free or whatever

 

the ramming down people's throats bit was more to do with people getting pilloried for not wearing a poppy

[MySpazz]

Not in favour of this move by the club.  What have the military got to do with sports? All a bit rangers/millwall, a bit 'merican

Public servants deserve no more of a discount or recognition that disabled do....why positively discriminate? Keep it non-binary.....

Or is this another one of the Sports, The Greatest Hypnotic Distraction? (TBF Saints have me controlled!)

 

Sports, The Greatest Hypnotic Distraction

Picture a room full of people playing musical chairs. You hear the music playing and you observe the players walking around the chairs anxiously keeping an eye on the closest empty chair noting which chair each will try to sit in if and when the music stops. Have you played the game? Do you remember how engaged you were during the playing of the music? You knew exactly which direction to walk and you were paying close attention to the music waiting for the cutoff.

Similarly, sports in America and the accompanying culture of sports fanaticism plays people’s minds and continuously demands their focused emotional attention inning by inning, play by play. Sports fans respond to the constant sensational cycles of competition between individuals and/or teams, and the unavoidable emotional and psychological result of winning or losing.

Likewise, sports and the addiction to sports, like many other addictions, is a distraction diverting the attention of the participants from reality to the reality of the game and the emotional and psychological addictive benefits it guarantees. As the musical chair participants predictably walk in one direction careful not to miss a second or lose attention for fear of losing the game, so also do sports fans figuratively march in one direction; going along with the waves of storylines, latest scores and memes that the sports leagues throw at them on a daily, even hourly or minute-by-minute basis, careful not to miss a score, a game, or a big story.

The Sports Platform as a Tool

This sports platform provides a false reassurance and comfort for fans, assuring them that everything is great; everything is under control, come watch the game and relax (more on this later). The sports platform also teaches patrons to never question authority (umpires, referees or coaches), do as you are told, the government is a trustworthy system free or mostly free of corruption, the mass media reports factual truth, we only launch necessary wars to spread the message of freedom so you should honor the wars and the soldiers with season-long events and ceremonies before, during and after games; the war on terror is real because people who hate freedom America and liberty want to kill you; the government is your protector from these people who hate freedom and you should give up all your rights (and your guns) in return for personal government protection from this harm which is why you should support the idea of DHS, TSA and the militarized police state at stadiums and all over your local town.

 

Sports also teaches its patrons that they should be fearful, respectful and very thankful for the government’s commitment to your personal protection (police state gone nearly martial law); any opinions that don’t express full appreciation for this favor (the government is doing for you) is a voice of dissent which is disrespect, lawless, a lack of responsibility, dishonor, and even an act of violence or terrorism (Dissent = Terrorism). Sports fans are trained to appreciate these “values” early on, thus it is very easy to reinforce these ideas when you have someone’s attention every day.

Sports as a marketing propaganda platform

Browse any of the professional sports websites and notice the bombardment of U.S. Armed Forces advertisements as they lure you in to join the military. You will be a hero, the ad assures, joining and signing up is portrayed as a mark of wisdom, decisiveness, integrity, and true leadership. You want to travel and be a “Global force for good”? Then join the U.S. Navy because the U.S. Navy is apparently in charge of the globe. Why bother living a normal boring (or “civilian”) life when you can travel, have a full-time job, save money and learn leadership? They portray a heroic courageous warrior, not someone who will be asked to fight in illegal and immoral wars, disrupt lives, break apart families, disable, and murder others. From coast to coast this constant lying to the sports viewers and luring them into joining the military is one of many messages targeted at sports fans using clever and thought-out marketing propaganda tactics, and public relations campaigns.

You might say, it’s just marketing, right? Professional sports are targeting a market for their product; just like any other organization, they are recruiting and paying for advertisement space, right? So what is the big deal here?

Sports to control the masses

Why hasn’t America reached critical mass awakening? Consider that tens of millions of American sports fans are subjected to the daily influences of the powerful American sports programming. This system which covers scheduled cycles of physical competitions between athletes, is a powerful hypnotic tool. Studies and observations on human behavior show that humans respond to repetitive stimulus by adapting in many ways. This is known by many as the Repetition Principle of learning. Repetition is associated with, among other things, familiarity and thus comfort, mental adjustment and orientation and coping. Hitler once said “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it FREQUENTLY enough, it will be believed”. Regarding repetition Aristotle once said “it is frequent repetition that produces a natural tendency”.

Why the concern over the typical sports fan’s repeated exposure to planned stimuli? Because participants are constantly subjected to pro-government reinforced propaganda. These themes and memes are always on cue, nicely synchronized, and always endorse or reinforce whatever beliefs the establishment government wants you to believe. I’m reminded that the May 1, 2011 Bin Laden death hoax press release was first announced to ESPN watchers during a Sunday Night Major League Baseball game. The sports platform served as a convenient tool to legitimize the message they wanted to put out.

In this daily, repetitive, cyclic, and hypnotic platform of sports, other more subtle values and lessons are reinforced by the entire system. No one dares speak out against the system, no one dares to express any criticism about the government for fear of backlash. Every day we hear about an athlete being punished for something; either arrested, accused, murdered, sentenced, shot, suspended, fined, and ejected. The incidences of player punishments and the media coverage of these stories has been escalating in all the major sports for years. Some say it is good to see that players are not above the law, but it’s as much or more about making an example of these athletes as it is the quest for justice.

The objective appears to be about punishing players so the millions of young Americans see this and become more and more obedient (and fearful of government/authorities). The message to fans is that this is what happens to people who don’t obey. Players are also discouraged from speaking out against the control system, their private lives are now everyone’s business, and players must watch what comments they express on social media sites for fear of mass media criticism, suspensions, fines, and accusation of misconduct. These all serve as tools to condition the masses to obey.

Sports fans are likely to own and watch a significant amount of TV – in many cases including other TV programs – which are almost all designed to indoctrinate the way you think. Because they physically own and watch so much TV, many sports fans are positioned to digest the ideologies and marketing campaign schemes that are targeted at them. Wouldn’t you warn someone about standing in front of a target if you knew that the target was about to be used by nearby shooters? Likewise, sports fans, without realizing it, have unintentionally positioned themselves in the line of fire of the most expensive and sophisticated government propaganda campaigns ever, including the war on terror and the need to give up all your rights in order to benefit from government safety.

Unsuspected well-meaning sports fans don’t realize the degree to which their view of the world is influenced by the sports culture and the messages that sponsor those sporting events. They are unaware of the degree to which sports is serving a two-fold purpose for the emerging global government. One purpose is to make profit and the other is to provide entertainment to keep the patron coming back for more and thus continuously distract them from the real issues.

Sports and the false morality

Sports teaches that competition is good, and winning is the only thing that matters. Sports teaches self-denial and that team is more important than self in order to coordinate the defeat of another team. Yes, sports values are similar to military values. Sports has become another form of military training. Values are placed not in what is wrong or right, but on obeying a set of rules just as in military boot camp. This is all part of the sports false morality.

As mentioned above, sports fans watch their favorite players do as they are told, they don’t challenge authority or criticize the system in the same way that soldiers are taught not to complain. The system equates obedience with being respectful, honorable, and responsible. Someone who speaks out is disrespectful, a smart ass, immature, or perhaps a lunatic or a criminal.

Sports talk shows are powerful reinforcement platforms of government narratives and not about truth. Owned by the same corporate giants who own most of the media, sports talk shows have long been known for censoring truth from the communication airwaves. Try calling into a major sports network with real questions about freedom, tyranny, sports, and the global government agenda and see how far you get; you will be “off topic” and easily cut off.

Sports, hypnosis and social engineering

What we see is a carefully coordinated mass mind manipulation of sports fans that include the systematic, scheduled delivery of entertainment, distraction from real news, rechanneling of young male bravado, energy, and passion, and a scheduled feeding of government propaganda all so deeply embedded into the minds of sports fans that most of them don’t realize the how much they are being manipulated. They don’t realize the role sports has played in the social engineering of America.

Think of the Boston Red Sox honoring the victims of the Boston bombing and pushing the ‘Boston Strong’ marketing campaign to keep the false flag event in everyone’s mind and push the globalist agenda further. Was the Red Sox organization willing to lend a voice to those who doubted the official government version of the event or to lend a voice to those outraged by the unconstitutional ‘lock down’? How about the post-9/11 ceremonies that paralyzed the sports world in a whirlwind of emotional displays which went on for weeks. Will we ever really know how these 9/11 ceremonies triggered the anger and imagination of our youth into wanting to enlist in the military and wanting to kill Muslims for America? Consider the social engineering that took place in both cases, without actually saying it; the sports leagues cement the lies by not allowing critics to have a voice, giving the perception that critics are not welcomed, not appreciated, and are not entitled to a voice. In this manner the sports platforms act as ceremonies for socially cementing the lies told by government and media.

As the global government plans move forward and Americans wake up to the reality that America is hijacked by thugs who hate the Constitution and freedom, sports remain in the way of consciousness making it nearly impossible for tens millions of young men and women to think on their own for a moment, look around and see the crumbling nation that was once America the free. They continue to believe we are free because they hear the playing of the national anthem before every game and the PA announcer says we’re free. They accept their slavery at the hands of DHS because they hear the repeated voice coming from the PA system saying “See something say something”. They are encouraged that it’s okay to report your neighbor or a stranger to Big Brother for almost any reason that might seem even remotely suspicious. They won’t take a minute to think on their own, because after burning all their energy rooting for their favorite team or player there is hardly ever any time, energy, desire, or resources left to act upon any other cause like standing for freedom or the restoration of your country and the Constitution. No way.

The question (of defending freedom, liberty and the American Way) is extremely difficult to concentrate on. With so many neurological sensory patterns competing for the sports fan’s mind it is not easy to choose a paradigm that goes against all the stimulus patterns you the sports fan have been exposed to for so long. Knowing that taking a stand for freedom will make you stand out and will put you in a position of perceived unpopularity with your peers, your favorite team, your favorite player or the perceived opinion of the general masses makes your decision to stay uninvolved that much easier. The thought of enjoying the next game and being consumed in the rush that accompanies each game is more than enough for the typical sports fan to allow themselves to become a passive observer in this fight for truth, and consciousness. And just like that, the sports hypnotic spell goes on consuming all of the energy of our generation.

Will this cycle be broken? Will sports fans take a stand and realize that our team (of Constitution, liberty, freedom and America lovers) needs help spreading the message of freedom in America to defeat the agenda of the other team of people committed to the global government and the destruction of America, the Constitution, and freedom? If not, then what will it take for sports fans to wake up? This is a concerning question in a country where many sports fans are fanatically addicted to the cycles of competition in the same way addicts are addicted to gambling and alcohol.

Are you a sports fan who understands what is happening and are awakened to our fight for freedom, liberty and the American Way? Help spread this information and hopefully together we can all help break through the sports hypnosis that is stalling one of the great human awakenings of all time and that has a stranglehold on the heart and inner strength of America. Breaking through the sports hypnosis will hopefully fuel the passion for freedom in the hearts and minds of our youth including all of our star athletes around the country who have a lot to offer our country far beyond the endorsing of products to their fans. If you agree please share this article with sports fans and athletes alike.

 

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/08/sports-greatest-hypnotic-distraction.html

[Gussie]

Was that for your PhD Spazz?

 

 

[Shaky Toon Saint]

I got as far as the first mention of "Hypnotic Distraction" then was distracted by a bottle of Gordon's Gin !

[monkfish]

Interesting discussion.

I agree with those saying the minute's silence is enough. I also personally do not agree with having that at a football game, but I'm OK with it happening.

Anything on top of that potentially strays into a celebration of our current armed forces: a much more contentious area which I think is best left alone. It's clear from the opinions on here there's far from a consensus around it like there more or less is with the minute's silence.

Edited October 10, 2015 by monkfish

[monkfish]

Also, just to add that my grandad fought in World War II and would not have wanted to see any hint of a jingoistic celebration.

No doubt some others of his generation would be in favour of it, but I think it's quite shameful that some people presume to take offence on behalf of a diverse group, when really what they are presenting is their own agenda.

[Bruno Strasser]

Yawn Zzzzz zzzzzz 

[canuck_saint]

What you're saying makes no sense to me. The Mail is one of the most read websites and newspapers in the UK. Whether we like it or not, it carries a huge amount of influence and it uses that influence to 'poppy bully' and jump on Remembrance to boost its own sales and agenda. I gave those examples to explain why I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the way the media and the UK in general treats this time of year. Should no one ever point out that this is happening or ever criticise the press because you find it "lazy"? I find what you're saying to be absolutely bizarre.

Also I reckon you'll find there are probably quite a few people on this forum who actually agree with what a nasty, bullying, right-wing rag like the Mail has to say, as appalling as that is.

the Mail may well be one of the most popular websites/papers - given its vast marketing budget, thats hardly remarkable. My point wasnt your criticism of the RW media and their glorification, it was the fact you felt the need to quote such a low brow outlet.  If i wanted to dismiss racism, itd be simple enough to quote Farage - that really wouldnt challenge soe folks views.

Back OnTopic the idea of an appreciation and one of a rememberance, are completely different in my view. Maybe thats the ex soldier talking.

 

[Cleveland-Saint]

Can you get the Daily Mail in Greece?

No, but you do get the καθημερινά συρτή

[50yrs a Saint]

 

No, but you do get the καθημερινά συρτή

is that a newspaper, an STD, or a meal?

[Cagey]

Yawn Zzzzz zzzzzz 

This.

[blueheaven]

the Mail may well be one of the most popular websites/papers - given its vast marketing budget, thats hardly remarkable. My point wasnt your criticism of the RW media and their glorification, it was the fact you felt the need to quote such a low brow outlet.  If i wanted to dismiss racism, itd be simple enough to quote Farage - that really wouldnt challenge soe folks views.

Back OnTopic the idea of an appreciation and one of a rememberance, are completely different in my view. Maybe thats the ex soldier talking.

 

OK then. Let's just never criticise the Daily Mail or Nigel Farage.

[Gussie]

I've no strong views either way but why stop at football matches? We could do this with schools, pubs, anywhere...the local shopping centre..or that carpark which creating a big row about payment.

I have found that this country is drifting towards the US way of worshipping the military. The military there are offered discounts buying cars etc, cheap flights. NCIS is the US's prime time telly and most popular programme as well.

The European model has always been to keep it in the background such as Rememberance day etc and thats the way I prefer. Most of the old blokes who served; either in a war or via National Service would probably concur.