World Cup

Stupid, drunken, nationalistic soccer fans go berserk and pound the crap out of one another. In other news, the sun comes up again in the east. Decent people everywhere shed another little tear.

UPDATE: Think I'm kidding about the nationalism? This is from today's Boston Globe:

But in the bright sunlight of this World Cup season, the flags, cheers, and robust singing of the national anthem by the buoyant crowds have become something else -- a resurgence of unbridled patriotism on a scale unseen in Germany since World War II, according to historians, political scientists, and other analysts.

"It's really without precedent in our democratic [postwar] history," said Manfred Hettling, professor of modern history at Germany's University of Halle. "We've had soccer championships before. We've had proud moments, like the fall of the Berlin Wall. But never have we had so many Germans so publicly celebrating their country."

Einstein: "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

Einstein: "Nationalism, on my opinion, is nothing more than an idealistic rationalization for militarism and aggression."

Einstein: "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."