At half time the announcer said something about the club having invited some crippled war heroes from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq along to the game.
I said, "Heroes?"
At which point two fine gentlemen looked as though they were about to set about me. Much shouting and waving of fists ensued as they proceeded to tell me that one had a son in the army, our "boys" were doing a great job, etc etc.
I explained (or attempted to) that in my view war "heroes" were soldiers who defended their country, not ones who went off to fight uninvited in other countries.
The response (accompanied by much shouting, swearing and aggression) was that they didn't ask to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and were just doing their jobs.
I mumbled something about opposing the Iraq and Afghanistan operations and being entitled to an opinion, to which another guy nearby responded that he didn't disagree with me, but that I should have probably kept my opinions to myself.
At that point I walked away.
What I should have added is that anyone else who gets injured "doing their job" is not automatically called a hero. So why should the military?
It also occured to me that if I had said "heroes!" rather than "heroes?", I would not have had a problem. Interesting how the difference between an exclamation mark and a question mark after a word, even when you're speaking not writing, can make a difference between getting attacked or not!!
Anyway, the two gentlemen in question were certainly not the most savoury of our fellow Seagulls supporters!
I said, "Heroes?"
At which point two fine gentlemen looked as though they were about to set about me. Much shouting and waving of fists ensued as they proceeded to tell me that one had a son in the army, our "boys" were doing a great job, etc etc.
I explained (or attempted to) that in my view war "heroes" were soldiers who defended their country, not ones who went off to fight uninvited in other countries.
The response (accompanied by much shouting, swearing and aggression) was that they didn't ask to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and were just doing their jobs.
I mumbled something about opposing the Iraq and Afghanistan operations and being entitled to an opinion, to which another guy nearby responded that he didn't disagree with me, but that I should have probably kept my opinions to myself.
At that point I walked away.
What I should have added is that anyone else who gets injured "doing their job" is not automatically called a hero. So why should the military?
It also occured to me that if I had said "heroes!" rather than "heroes?", I would not have had a problem. Interesting how the difference between an exclamation mark and a question mark after a word, even when you're speaking not writing, can make a difference between getting attacked or not!!
Anyway, the two gentlemen in question were certainly not the most savoury of our fellow Seagulls supporters!