Friday was the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. If you were not aware of this fact, please crawl out of the rock you’ve been sleeping under.
The games bring out the best and worst of the countries that attend.
London has done a wonderful job gearing up for the games.
Part of the planning includes reinforcing the city with a tremendous security plan that is on par with that of World War II.
It’s too bad that the heightened security couldn’t keep out Mitt Romney’s embarrassing gaffe.
It’s the same old story and stereotype: the entitled and ignorant American stomping around and shouting, “‘Mericuh is the best.”
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has recently assumed this role.
In his visit to London Thursday, Romney was testing out his skills in foreign relations and ended up forgetting his manners.
He openly insulted Britain by doubting its readiness for the games, stating that the preparations he’d seen were “disconcerting” and finishing with “it’s hard to know just how well it will turn out.”
Our generally chipper allies were not impressed with Romney’s performance.
British Prime Minister David Cameron responded by saying, “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”
This, of course, is a direct reference to the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, which Romney had a hand in organizing.
After this visit, I’m guessing Romney won’t be invited to Downing Street for tea any time soon.
Romney’s behavior was unfortunate but not completely out of the ordinary.
American tourists are notorious for overstepping their bounds and being extremely loud while doing it.
Seriously, Google “American tourists” and you’ll see “annoying” and “worst” in the tag lines.
It seems that as of late, the U.S. has become increasingly rude to our neighbors.
Not only do we insult the countries that welcome us, but we also end up invading the ones who want nothing to do with us.
America is the loud guest at the dinner table who tells inappropriate jokes while others laugh out of politeness.
It’s a role that we need to stop playing.
We can no longer travel around like spoiled and entitled children.
We can no longer look at a country’s resources, yell “dibs” and invade it at will.
And we definitely can’t afford to act like the big bully in the playground and push others off the swings.
Romney embarrassed himself and the U.S. on the eve of an international event. As a presidential hopeful, he should have comported himself with dignity.
Instead, he opened his big mouth.
I have a feeling that many people will shrug off this event.
However, it’s important that we pay attention to who may be running our country.
We can’t continue to alienate ourselves from the rest of the world by being rude.
If we do, we’ll end up so far away that if we topple down, there will be no one to help us climb back up.
It’s time that we look to trying to fix our own mistakes instead of constantly antagonizing others. If we continue to march around with an entitled and pompous attitude, we’ll only end up in trouble.
Eventually, the playground bully does end up tasting his own medicine.
Michela Martinazzi is an art history junior at UF. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
