New Symbol for European Elite Force: Castrated Lion!

Posted by Alex in Pictures, Politics, Weapons & War on December 17, 2007 at 3:47 am


The Nordic Battlegroup, a 2,400 soldiers-strong rapid reaction troop, lost a legal battle over its army and was forced to castrate the overtly male heraldic lion:

The proud motto of northern Europe’s crack rapid-reaction force is ad omnia paratus. Prepared for everything, everywhere. But the heraldic lion above the Latin tag now sends a less plucky message – he has just been digitally emasculated and, though technically still a lion rampant, he does not seem to be ready for anything, anywhere.

The change was implemented after a group of women Swedish soldiers protested that they could not identify with such an ostentatiously male lion on their army crest. A complaint of sex discrimination was then lodged with the European Court of Justice.

“We were forced to cut the lion’s willy off with the aid of a computer,” Christian Braunstein, from the Tradition Commission of the Swedish Army, said.

Now the Nordic Battlegroup, a force of 2,400 soldiers, is looking deeply embarrassed. For sceptics who already consider the Nordic Battlegroup to be something of an oxymoron – it is led by the Swedes, who were last in battle in 1809 – the operation on the lion is not an auspicious omen.

“A castrated lion – the perfect symbol for European defence policy,” an American military blogger sneered.

Link – via Scribal Terror


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COMMENT

23 comments to "New Symbol for European Elite Force: Castrated Lion!"

  1. Liz McRae
    December 17th, 2007 at 5:02 am

    I think my husband said it best when he saw this:

    "I've heard of gilding the lily, but never gelding the lion!"

  2. Jeff
    December 17th, 2007 at 6:09 am

    Newsflash ladies, the lion has a mane, it's obviously male. Cutting off his frank and beans doesn't make it a lady.

  3. fz
    December 17th, 2007 at 6:52 am

    No big loss

  4. ted
    December 17th, 2007 at 7:15 am

    Sounds like Urban Legend material to me.

    If they were to draw the lion anatomically correct, I doubt they would also draw a scrotum.

  5. ImageGag
    December 17th, 2007 at 8:52 am

    Our Wall Street Bull is next.

  6. Dave
    December 17th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

    I think the word should be "emasculated" instead of "castrated"; there is a difference.

  7. ryan
    December 17th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

    @ted

    I think if they drew the loin anatomically correct it would have trouble holding the sword, lacking opposable thumbs and all.

  8. Abestar
    December 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Yay for political correctness ruining another harmless tradition.

    If I was a guy in that outfit, I'd be pissed.

  9. Sid Morrison
    December 17th, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    European Court of Justice huh? Sounds like where the Superfriends hang out when they are on holiday.

  10. Vonskippy
    December 17th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

    Whats with the tongue and the toenail polish?

  11. CKS2996
    December 17th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

    To be truly anatomically correct, a lion's junk isn't there anyhow.

  12. raincoaster
    December 17th, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    It's not so much emasculated as "Bobbitted". Perhaps it will go on to a long, sleazy career of bad porn flicks and celebrity appearances opening dive bars?

  13. Kate
    December 17th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    questions of anatomy aside, that lion's position is passant, not rampant.

  14. Kerozene
    December 17th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

    like Cks2996 said, an accurate male lion's "junk" dosn't look like a humans. if you have a pet cat, its similar. located in the back so they can easily spray territory, and tiny.

    Best to just remove it because it looks like a guy with a weenie fetish just had to slap a human joystick on the lion.

  15. Lars Westergren
    December 18th, 2007 at 3:57 am

    >Now the Nordic Battlegroup, a force of 2,400 soldiers, is looking deeply embarrassed.

    Hardly. They have important peace keeping missions to care about, and I think the male members are secure enough in their masculinity not to care about a few pixels on an image somewhere.

  16. CM
    December 18th, 2007 at 4:38 pm

    It's STILL a very male lion. It has a freakin' MANE. I would be embarrassed by this, too - for the fact that they caved to a couple of petty, uppity whiners.

  17. Denita TwoDragons
    December 18th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    *gasp* How dare a MALE lion have that...that...that...THINGY there?! Oh, I shall faint now! I need therapy! I'm traumatized by that lion's P-P-P-PEEEEENISSSS!!

    Sheesh.

    --TwoDragons

  18. Arto Peltomäki
    December 19th, 2007 at 1:18 am

    Get your facts right! It's not "Northern Europe's Elite Force", it's only the Swedish Army that changed their herald!!

    Don't get the rest of Scandinavia involved in this stupidity.. >:P

  19. Lars Westergren
    December 19th, 2007 at 2:46 am

    >It’s STILL a very male lion. It has a freakin’ MANE.

    Yes, so why does it also need an anatomically incorrect, human like penis and scrotum?

    >I would be embarrassed by this, too - for the fact that they caved to a couple of petty, uppity whiners.

    ...who are risking their lives in combat situations.

  20. Sid Morrison
    December 19th, 2007 at 8:52 am

    I dunno ... the basic image strikes me as bogus. The naughty bits look like an afterthought added by a 14 year old with Photoshop. The story smells of phoniness.

    That said, a fighting force primarily composed of Swedes doesn't instill a bunch of confidence in me. Sweden seriously wussied out during WWII, maintaining an official policy of neutrality, yet in reality generally collaborating with the Nazis a lot. They sold them tons of critical ballbearing & raw materials and also permitted the Wehrmacht to use their roads and railways to move troops back and forth between forcibly occupied Norway and Finland. The Finns for their part had some nominal alliance with the Germans, but it was really only to help fend off the communist Russians (Finland was pretty good on its own at this though!), who had serious design on Finland's territory and were the more imminent threat.

  21. Sid Morrison
    December 19th, 2007 at 8:55 am

    accidently hit 'submit'...
    What I was getting at in the prior post is that maybe this Nordic Battlegroup needs more Finns and fewer Swedes. Finland has some pretty liberal gun laws -- their citizenry is armed and not afraid to protect itself from aggression. Just a thought...

  22. LB
    December 30th, 2007 at 3:28 am

    I know a bit late but, um, Kate, do a google image search on 'lion passant' and 'lion rampant' and you'll see that the article is *correct*.

  23. JB
    January 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    > Yes, so why does it also need an anatomically incorrect, human like penis and scrotum?

    I believe the inclusion of said equipment (anatomically correct or otherwise) is more true to the specific artistic style chosen for the lion. If you look up images of Medieval heraldry, you'll find that a lot of critters have been rendered with their "junk" in view, some of which is also anatomically incorrect. The reason for including genitalia in heraldic designs is anyone's guess, but I suppose my point is that the artist who made the original lion for The Nordic Battlegroup was likely trying to keep with the style of art that was chosen for reference.


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