The Ignoramoid “Woo!”
When did America’s official cheer become “Woo!”?
Am I alone, or does anybody else think it sounds utterly ignorant and infantile?
This afternoon, Chris Matthews was broadcasting his “Hardball” show from outdoors at Rockefeller Plaza. He asked who in the crowd thought the U.S. should support Israel exclusively in the current Middle East conflict. Large numbers of the crowd went “Woo!” to express their approval.
“Woo!”?
Do these ignoramoids think anybody in Israel — or Lebanon — is going “Woo!”? As if the war were an entertainment?
Even fucking Hezbollah isn’t going “Woo!”.
I swear, there are moments when I think this country deserves every goddamn thing that happens to it. Because we don’t know when we’re being stupid. Because we seem to think everything is a show or, worse, a sport.
On the other hand, maybe this is an American value we should be promoting directly to the jihadists, to cripple their ability to recruit. I mean, how seriously could you take a terrorist group whose battle cry was, “Death to America! Woo!”?
About as seriously as you can take The Nation that Goes “Woo!”.
July 31st, 2006 at 10:44 PM
Was this the “woo” as in the old Arsenio Hall bark, or “woo” as in the “woo-woo” of Etta Candy in the Golden Age Wonder Woman comics?
Cuz that second one is cool with me.
August 1st, 2006 at 1:23 AM
It’s more like Ric Flair’s “woo”. The Etta Candy/Curly Howard “woo-woo” is something else altogether.
August 1st, 2006 at 7:16 AM
I wonder if it’s based on Homer Simpson’s “Woo Hoo!”. If so, this would fit the theory in a very appropriate way.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:31 PM
“Woo woo woo” was the Arsenio Hall chat and was annoying to me even back then as a perfect example of how much we as a society are sheep easily led. Sadly, “woo” is another example of how much lazier we have gotten in even in the past 15 years. 😉
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:56 AM
Hey, Ric Flair saying “Woo!” is fine with me. He’s the nature boy!
As for the popularity, I don’t know, redneck chic? Didn’t Bo used to make that noise on “The Dukes of Hazzard”? Oh wait, the Dukes were hillbillies. Make that hillbilly chic.
And as far as the Hezbollah reference, I think “Woo!” sounds far more intelligent and articulate compared to “Kill the Jews!”
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:26 PM
Ric Flair saying “Woo!” is fine with me, too, as long as it’s in the context of wrestling and not war. (Although, come to think of it, both are usually fixed.)
Personally, I prefer “Kill the Jews!” from Hezbollah. In fact, I think they should all stand up immediately and yell “Kill the Jews!”. Perfect way to prevent any further civilian casualties.
(For those who care, my thoughts on the current Middle East mess are complicated. I consider Hezbollah totally in the wrong, but I have serious reservations about some of what Israel is doing and about the American response, or lack thereof.)
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:47 AM
I liken the Israel/Lebanon situation to a bully/victim one. If a kid gets picked on long enough, and no adults are doing anything to stop it, eventually he’s going to snap and fight back. Sometimes, his actions may seem disproportionate to the specific event that pushed him over the edge, but it makes sense once you realize there was a lot of rage festering inside him for a long time before he let it all out.
Israel has been being attacked by Hezbollah for decades, and this kidnapping was the straw that broke the camel’s back. People are saying “How is all this trouble being caused by Israel proportional to just three kidnapped soldiers?” Israel just got fed up. Tired of Syria and Iran funding a terrorist group that wants to wipe their country off the map, tired of giving concessions to a group that has no intentions of keeping up its end of the bargin, and tired of the U.N. pussyfooting around the issue.
Do I agree with everything Israel is doing right now? No. Do I think they went a little overboard (heck of an understatement)? Yes. Do I understand why they’re behaiving like they are? You bet I do.
I suppose in the spirit of the bullying/victim analogy, what’s going on in Lebanon right now is a little too close to Columbine.
August 13th, 2006 at 4:16 AM
Yes – the ‘woo’ is entirely foolish and infantile – and in the context of the way people are behaving in the Lebanon, it’s only one F short of the sound of baying dogs.