February 06, 2009

Snowballs and the Nanny State

Deluged with unexpected amounts of snow, the British media are full of breathless reports of danger, chaos, and a shortage of "grit," both literal and metaphorical.

And the BBC attempts to answer the question of what to do if one is a target of snowballs.

"We sometimes don't know how to respond to something like a snowball. Some adults feel it demeans their dignity and compromises their status. All their pent-up anger, all the times their boss has had a go at them, can be unwittingly released when they are hit on the head by a snowball. But if you respond too pompously, you're likely to be hit by 20 more [says 'a leading expert in body language and social behaviour'].

"And in our era of the nanny state, if you decide to join in the fun and throw a snowball back at the children, and it happens to contain a stone or too much ice, will you get into trouble?"


Thank goodness there is always a leading expert when you need one.

And comment #2 is priceless.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The proper response in "Great" Britain is to fall to the ground and curl into a ball, so the cameras can identify the perpetrators. One must never make a snowball. Making a fort or snowman to cower behind is okay.