Vuvuzela stirs up hornets nest

Can you say "how annoying" in hundreds of different languages? As the 2010 FIFA World Cup is being beamed into homes, pubs, bars, and public watching spots across the globe so is the bee-swarming sound of the vuvuzela, a plastic horn that South African fans and others love to blow during soccer matches. The idea is like the homer hanky but with sound. The vuvuzela has been part of South African soccer for a couple of years, but the horn is front and center to the soccer world this year since the World Cup is being held in South Africa.

While the World Cup brings the planet together like no other sporting event, the vuvuzela is creating its own global buzz for better and sadly, for worse. It's a global trending topic on Twitter. Check out these screen grabs (taken at different times) to see for yourself:

The venerable New York Times even has a story today about the controversy created by the noise. According to the story, World Cup organizers are debating what to do about it, but have decided the horns stay for now, and "Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has supported the trumpets, saying Europeans must adjust to African traditions."

Here is what a stadium full of vuvuzela noise sounds like:



But alas, the vuvuzela controversy has taken an ugly turn. Fans annoyed by the constant buzzing noise (which drowns out all the normal crowd sounds) have gone beyond complaining. It goes like this: Vuvuzela = I don't like that sound = the sound is the ruining the World Cup = here is how soccer matches sound everywhere else = here is how soccer matches should sound = what is wrong with those South Africans = [a whole bunch of racist comments and You Tube videos].

Sigh.

You can dislike the sound (I do), or even hate it, but why you gotta go there, people?