Posted on 11/05/2004 5:53:39 AM PST by navyguy
I am an American currently working in England. I have been here for the last month and thought you might like to know what I've been seeing here...
Let me first say that the Brits are great people! They are cordial, giving, inviting and very decent people. I myself have old family roots here. There ARE some very vocal Socialists here, but I have no issue with the British people.
First, the pre-election media coverage of the election was totally skewed against President Bush. There wasn't even an attempt to hide it. As the election drew closer the coverage grew increasingly hostile. Further, the tone transformed from criticism of Bush to berating not just the president but anyone who supported him. In nearly every story I saw Republicans were characterized as complete religious zealots. In fact, like the US, leftists here believe that ALL conservative are Christian fanatics. I actually had to correct several Brits here that this was NOT the case. They seemed shocked. The tone rapidly descended into simple insults, with average americans routinely being called 'idiots', 'morons', 'stupid', etc... This tone continued, night after night for at least 10-12 days. If a european tells you they aren't anti-AMERICAN I can tell you they are lying. They simply do not like us, anything we do or anything we represent. I never saw a single postive word about Americans or America as a whole. I was told that were were 'too hung up on the US Constitution." This, above all, really disturbed me.
I never saw a single story about ANYTHING positive happening in Iraq. Ever.
I now know that europeans, for all of their 'sophistication' and 'worldliness', harbor serious misconceptions about America. For example, I saw New Mexico described as "a relatively small, mostly poor state." In fact, I saw a 1 hour documentary done by a Brit travelling through the states that essentially described America as a boiling cauldron of poverty, racism and violence. I could not believe what I was seeing. I saw southerners (I live in North carolina) described as "backwards", "fundamentalists" and "stupid". Farmers in the mid-west were described as "simple folk". There were many other examples as well. I now understand that europeans are half as sophisticated and worldly as they think they are. Most of them do NOT understand America. I finally got some of my coworkers here to admit as much.
There is a TOTAL anti-gun bias here. I saw it in the media over and over again. They are now trying to ban knives, BB guns and replicas of guns as well.
The Nanny State reigns supreme here. I predict that in 25 years the UK will be totally Socialist. If you want to see what the US would be like after 50 years of total Liberal domination come here for awhile. You won't like what you see.
After the election the anti-american torrent CONTINUED. Unreal.
The Guardian is viewed as MAINSTREAM MEDIA here.
It will be awhile before I return here. I love England and its people and its great and honorable history, but it is only a shadow of its former self.
Thank God for the Daily Telegraph.
Just thought you'd like to know. Cheers!
Can you still spot the creepy anti-semitism I saw on TV in the 90s?
bump
ping...you might find the lead post of interest
Much of that money came out of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. I made myself very popular in work in Philly by telling the Irish guys that a terrorist is a terrorist. They are all big Demonrats who believe that GWB is a liar.
Heading over to London myself next Friday... my brother and I are gonna cut loose for a week (with permission from our wives). Pub crawlin', a football match, 3 days in Bath... we'll be defending Dubya, too, with charm and politesse. Love England.
Do something about the Yank bashing over there, and I imagine you'll see less Brit bashing over here. We haven't openly anti-British headlines in our major dailies the last few days.
They did their best in Dublin in the 70's. I was a few feet from being killed by an SAS bomb.
When I hear an Englishman deplore terrorism I just laugh.
Thank God my ancestors came here several hundred years ago.
British Allies...why get so upset?
The fact is you are no longer allowed to keep weapons, now the country is the crime capital(aside from murder) of the Western world!
This isn't YOUR fault, but it's what happens when the State becomes all. Let me know when you aren't being imprisoned and excoriated for defending yourself, your family and your home with a weapon, especially a firearm.
Now, it is true we have those people here too. But we are not as far down on that slide to authoritarian socialism. We are just pointing out that you have a head start in socialism, or do you forget your health care system?
Why get snippy about the facts? We both need to spread our memes of liberty and accountability.
The UK is going to be "socialist" in 25 years? With someone like Tony Blair in charge? If you had any idea of what the UK is really like these days, instead of sounding off after, what, TWO WHOLE WEEKS there, you'd know that we're going to be more like the US than not in less than half that time.
Also - why on earth would we (people in the UK) have the idea that the majority of Americans are right wing, religious fundamentalists that are in your own way, due to the amount of military and economic power that you wield as a country, as worrisome as Islamic crazies... when "only" about 55% of you believe that mankind came from Adam and Eve? When you elect Bush over Kerry, what are we supposed to think? Is Bush not right-wing? Born again?
No, I really can't see why we get that impression at all.
As for insulting the Queen - feel free, the vast majority of Brits couldn't give a damn. I'm a republican in the sense that I want to get rid of the Monarchy as soon as possible; it's an anachronism that has no place in the modern age.
Finally, when it comes to insulting your President - why can't we criticise, or at the very least comment? Do we not have a "special relationship"?
Why dig up a thread that died nearly a year ago?
Always wondered, if you live East of Mecca, do you still bow to the East or to the West?
Just a simple question.
It looks more and more like the right people left Europe?
My daughter, an American in name only (AINO), who married a Brit and lives there, has adopted most of the liberal tripe handed out daily by the brit media. She sends me occasional far-left writings just to irritate me and it succeeds. Angleland is doomed to eternal liberal lunacy that will finish them off. I give them two decades and then oblivion. Will my daughter repent? Unlikely!
I sure hope she doesn't get ill and has to wait in line for medical treatment under the "free" social insurance scheme.
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