Vuvuzelas? I say: Power to the people!

JOHANNESBURG – Some of the rancor has died down over this relentless attack of the vuvuzelas. But there’s still some of it out there. I mean, geeze, they’re horns, not poisonous shooting darts.

Sometimes I think we’ve all just become a world of big ol’ wussies. I like to call it the flat screen effect.

Life is pretty good for most people in developed worlds. But we’re not so far removed from much tougher times. It really wasn’t so long ago that no one had air conditioning. And yet humanity survived. Now we’re not happy if the damn flat screen doesn’t adjust to the light in the room.

So, here’s what I have to say to all the killjoys who keep lamenting the vuvuzelas: get over it.

I’ve been to the stadiums here. It’s white noise. You really do forget about it quickly.

In a lot of ways, this is South Africa’s World Cup. If the people of this still-developing land want to blow horns in joy, let ‘em!  It’s part of the culture. In some ways, it’s part of the landscape, part of the environment, like altitude or temperature. How about if the United States hosted a major international basketball tournament and folks from around the world started belly-aching about music, dancers of maniacally screaming PA announcers during timeouts? We’d tell all to deal with it or go home.

And, puh-leeze, don’t tell me about it affecting the game. Every player I’ve heard from here, including plenty of the Americans and even Holland prima donna Wesley Sneijder, say about the same thing: once you’re in the match, you don’t hear them.