Not Everyone Is Completely Thrilled About the Giants Parade
New York is chock-full of Giants fans today, reveling and doing what sports fans do best when their teams win: Having a parade! But everyone's not a Giants fan, and not everyone loves a parade. In fact, there are quite a few people not altogether thrilled with all the celebrating going on in Lower Manhattan today.
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The most concerted gripe is one put forth by founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff, who agrees that the Giants deserve a parade, but... shouldn't Iraq veterans get one, too? This has been an issue of some contention for a while, but the Giants parade has brought it back to the forefront. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, among others, thinks there should be a parade for Iraq vets, and Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, makes the valid point that “if we had to wait to honor our servicemen and women until wars were over, that would take a long time." On the other side of the argument, the Defense Department says it's just too soon for a parade for Iraq vets in New York City. (There was one in St. Louis in January.) And though a spokesman from the Veterans of Foreign Wars has said the organization would support New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg if he were to hold a parade for veterans, he is, at least for the time being, on the side of the Defense Department in "deciding it was not appropriate to hold a parade while American soldiers are still fighting in Afghanistan," writes Kate Taylor in The New York Times.
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Elsewhere on the Internet, namely, on Twitter, people are proclaiming their own personal issues about the parade, ranging from unhappiness (still) that the Giants won to unhappiness over missing the parade (and a chance to meet their future husbands) to concerns over crossing the street and general annoyance at revelers:
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@talya181 N.Yvonne When the giants have their parade I'm going wearing a patriots jersey walking the opposite direction. Yes I'm still a little sad.
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Feb 07 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply
@JokasWorld Al JOKA Ambert 30 minutes to cross the street due to Giants parade. #GiantsParade
Feb 07 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply
@jessicalynne Jessica NY Giants parade = too many douchebags in Manhattan today.
Feb 07 via Twitter for Android Favorite Retweet Reply
@melissaashraf Melissa Ashraf so badly wish i could have been at the @Giants parade today to see the one and only @TeamVic #iloveyou #marryme?
Feb 07 via web Favorite Retweet Reply
@THECULTUREOFME THECULTUREOFME if you want to see how we failed as human beings, go to the parade for the giants.
Feb 07 via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Reply
And, at the end of the day, we guess some people are just a bunch of parade-haters. But then there are those folks who apparently didn't get the parade memo at all:
@WalkingGodiva Honne I'm sorry are the Giants having a parade today? Feb 07 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply
