Posted on 01/07/2005 1:35:12 AM PST by kattracks
Our mainstream press is virulently anti-Bush/and on most days, anti-American, and from all accounts, the European press runs along those lines. Certainly the world's superpower is disliked by some, and rightfully so. (Why do you think most of the US despises the New York Yankees aqnd took such delight in the Red Sox winning the recent World Series!)Some of us here are closet isolationists, dragged kicking and screaming into this brave new world of globalisation. We want to be left alone, to live our lives, raise our kids, play with our dogs, etc.. We don't sit around nights wondering how to rule the world, or even to remake it in our image...well, perhaps the Council on Foreign Relations does, but not the average man in the street.
Sadly, though, the Middle East and certain murderous crackpots therein forced us to take preemptive action. Whether first in Iraq or Syria after Afghanistan, it hardly matters. That famous quote of rousing the sleeping tiger with the attack on Pearl Harbor is still apt.
As for individual Europeans being friendly toward Americans, I'm sure you're right, but Europeans get a daily diet of how dreadful we are from your main stream press. We're no worse nor no better than anyone else, but we have spent a good part of our GNP on national defense and technilogical military wizardry, a deliberate choice that saved Europe from most of that expense and allowed her to spend her money on other things. I read an interesting article maybe a month or so ago, by a Frenchman. Perhaps it was an editorial...lamenting the changes he saw in France, and what he saw coming because of a growing Muslim population (allowed in as guest workers and paid low wages, descriminated on, etc.), and the low birthrate for the native French. Christianity, he felt, was moribund, and since nature abhores a vacuum, Muslims and Islam were poised to take over. They'd use violence, the vote, whatever it takes to assert their theocracy upon the host country. It's going on under your own nose...much as Mexicans and anyone else who cares to migrates northward across our southern border. (And yes, we have a big problem with George Bush about this particular issue.) You/we have to decide if your/our ethnic, cultural values are worth saving. Something tips the balance, I don't know what event it will be. The Netherlands had a wake up call with Theo's grisly murder, well, two, counting that earlier killing of that minister? They're rethinking a great many things, including the fact that many Muslim immigrants refuse to assimilate.
That Frenchman I mentioned asked what it would take before France woke up. What would they do when Muslims desecrated the treasures of the Louvre because they believed them obscene? He felt that those with means would flee to Australia, New Zealand, and yes, even to the US.
I'm just one small voice here, and sadly inarticulate about things I hold dear. If you have time and the inclination, I would suggest seeking out the essays of Victor Davis Hanson, for one, an American historian -- Californian -- and grower of grapes. He says so much that makes sense, and is, of all things, a democrat.
I am also not much of a typist, sorry.
The Brits much preferred living on their knees, the Frogs would become whores for the Germans. Churchill called it right long before the Brits had the gall to admit it and plead with him to save them. Shameful lot. Course that was expected of the the cowardly frogs.
We need to put this in it's proper perspective.
Do we compare percentages of GDI or only the proper percentages?
Remember 67.8% of Norways GDI is controlled by Government. vs 17.6% in the US.
What percentages should we use, which is proper. If we use all of GDI as a measuring point, correct, it is smaller, if we use the percentages Government controls, it is higher.
The US always gives more than all of the other countries combined. Granted, most of it comes from private and corporate donations. But that's what we are, a free marketplace that believes in helping people. Not just that evil corporate entity.
You seem upset.
By "them" I of course didn't mean America(ns) in general, or real Conservatives for that matter. I figured "they" know who they are. They and their adherers/admirers who go by the prefix neo- and who are ready to exploit every anti-European sentiment or cliché there is, over and over again.
We preferred living on our knees did we? Is that why we fought so doggedly on our own for two years? And how did we build that empire when we preferred living on our knees? And how many members of the French Resistance pimped themselves out to the Germans?
You can't base all of your knowledge of my country on 'The Gathering Storm', my friend. I haven't based all of my knowledge of yours on 'M*A*S*H*'.
How would you characterize the European press?
I read several papers on a adily basis. Every day there is an onslaught of Anti-Americanism. I am getting sick of it.
Looks like Goebbels had many able Apprentices all over the world who are now promoting his legacy.
Well, we have the daily terror index, and if attacked, the best advice our big thinkers in D.C. can give is to rush out and buy plastic wrap and duct tape...we're supposed to have already done this, only I keep using up my duct tape on everything else. This, along with the reality of 9/11 and the knowledge that a free society is incredibly vulnerable tends to concentrate the mind. Plus, we just endured a presidential election that went on for months and was, to say the least, emotionally draining...and from all accounts, most of the world would A. like to have a vote in our elections, and B. have elected John Kerry in a trice. Neither of these choices make me rest easy.
I was talking about Europe competing economically against the US...nothing wrong with that, and maybe consumers would benefit worldwide. But I was keeping mum about the wisdom of stuffing all those European countries (cats), in the same burlap sack and hoping for nirvana.
Wouldn't you know it! V.D. Hanson's NRO column was just posted here on FR a few minutes ago. Great read.
There is an argument that if you assigned the right nations to the right departments, it might work.
We'll take Foreign Policy, the Germans can have the economy, the French can do the catering and the Swedish can bring the girls.
Good point well argued. Actually, these days, it's us with the best economy, so we'd better take that as well. We'd better take control of Home Affairs as well, the French will only go on strike, the Italians won't turn up and the Germans....well, we don't want ID cards, do we?
The Swedes and the Italians can share girl duties, and if my girlfriend is anything to go by, we might have to ask the Portuguese to supply the pretty boys. Keep the French in the kitchen, move the Germans to the brewery and get the Turks to sort us out with some snacks afterwards. Sound good?
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