Posted on 02/18/2005 7:59:31 AM PST by quidnunc
As a first time visitor to England many decades ago, the thing that impressed me most was how incredibly polite everybody was. By the time an Englishman approached within ten feet, he was already calling out, "Excuse me."
Civility is not the first thing a visitor to England would be likely to note today. Indeed if there is one thing in which the English, particularly the educated classes, seem to excel today it is vituperation.
All the old taboos against expressions of hatred have fallen. On the verbal level at least, the manners of soccer hooligans have been adopted by the chattering classes. Two days after 9/11, Philip Lader, former United States ambassador to the Court of St. James, was reduced to tears on the BBC's Question Time as the studio audience chanted anti-American slogans, while the BBC moderator sat there impassively.
Carol Gould, an ex-patriate American living in England for many years, describes a seen on a London bus, in which a tweedy Englishwoman, accompanied by a son in his public school uniform, set upon a hapless, elderly American tourist, telling her, "I rejoice every time I hear of another American soldier dying! You people all deserve to die in another 9/11." When the elderly American began to cry, her assailant grabbed her and started shaking her.
When the taboos start to fall, the weakest and shortest-lived taboo — that against open expressions of Jew-hatred — will be the first to go. Penelope Wyatt reported in the Spectator a few years back, a liberal lord's relief that, "Thank G-d, we can once say what we want about the Jews." …
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
That craven attitude helps explain why it is permissible today in English society to utter any possible lie about Jews and Israel, but speaking truthfully about the deformities of modern Islam will earn one a tirade about Islamophobia. Thus the Mayor of London, who demonstratively boycotted a reception for President Bush, warmly embraces an Islamic cleric who praises suicide bombers and endorses wife-beating.
England has a long history of anti-Jewish attitudes, Shakespeare's depictions of Shylock and Iago being among the most notable. What's truly sad, is that British Jews were as British as German Jews were German. Benjamin Disraeli was a born-Jewish Anglican, but he demonstrated that Jews in England weren't as liable to persecution as they were in, say, Russia.
Now, Britain has a large population of followers of a cult that advocates murder of those who disagree with it....and is viciously anti-Jewish to an extent that would make Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Paul Josef Goebbels and old Scramblebrain Adolf proud.
The Britain that stood up against Nazism and faced down the Luftwaffe is fading into the past. As infested with muslimes as is France, or damn near, anyway, it looks like the English lion is becoming a weasel.
What a pity.....what a filthy pity.
Thanks, I'm still in the dark though. I had read the whole thing and see the heinous, unexcusable behavior described, but still don't understand why the article opens with 2 examples of Americans being bashed by Brit when the title of the article is "Jolly Old England No Longer: Can the surge in British Jew hatred be linked directly to its media?" It is obviously trying to set the stage somehow, but I am missing it.
How so. He became Prime Minister. The leader of the Conservative Party and the Shadow Chancellor are also Jewish. The slightest hint of anti-Semitism in Labour's political advertising caused a huge outcry.
Now, Britain has a large population of followers of a cult that advocates murder of those who disagree with it....and is viciously anti-Jewish to an extent that would make Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Paul Josef Goebbels and old Scramblebrain Adolf proud.
At most, 1.5 million out of a population of 60 million. You have just as many vipers clutched your bosom, if not more. Go and watch "Fahrenhype 9/11" and note all the red dots across your country where Al Qaeda cells were found.
The Britain that stood up against Nazism and faced down the Luftwaffe is fading into the past. As infested with muslimes as is France, or damn near, anyway, it looks like the English lion is becoming a weasel.
Hardly.
Those who died, those who fight, and those who support them, deserve better than yours and quidnunc's conceit, snobbery and sniping.
Ivan
His grudge trumps anything that Britain has done in the War on Terror, and as such, he is broadcasting any anti-British articles he can find, no matter how spurious.
Regards, Ivan
"Jews are the canary in the coal mine."
Some of us are well armed canaries. :)
It is obviously trying to set the stage somehow, but I am missing it.
(1) The general point about the lapse in manners leads into the specific point about expression of anti-Jewish sentiments.
(2) Carol Gould is Jewish.
. . . describes a seen on a London bus . . .
If she'd merely been eavesdropping, I suppose she'd have described a heard.
Ah, yes, interesting thread indeed. That puts things in perspective. Thanks.
Yes, it was obvious that Carol Gould was Jewish. And the general point wasn't completely general. It was directed specifically at Anti-American instances, not just a general British lapse in manners. The author was trying to tie Anti-American sentiments to Anti-Jewish sentiments and since I really didn't know much about the topic, I wanted to know if there is some reoccurring relation.
Ivan, who's also posted on this thread did shead some rather interesting light on the initial post though.
O doubt it, they have always had someone they hate...Chinese, Pakistanis, Indians, etc...travel around and spend more time away from the touristy places some more, and you will see it.
Bump to that.
Just what I was taught in my English lit classes years ago. If I'm wrong, I apologize, and I lay the blame for my mistake at the feet of two people: My English teacher for getting it wrong, and me for not correcting it.
I understand and am happy and grateful that the British -- at least some of them -- have stood with us in the War on Terror, but how can you refute the anti-Semitism that was clearly detailed in the column? It appears crystal-clear to me what's going on.
He can cite and prove incidents in the media. I can do so in the American media if I try hard enough. It appears that someone has an axe to grind.
Regards, Ivan
"I really can't wait for this generation to pass, so the world has a chance at sanity again... "
I think this all the time (I'm 32), but then I realize, shoot, my parents are from that generation. GRR. They've always been good Conservatives, don't know how they escaped the influence besides their great powers of observation.
So, yeah, like you I'm rooting for your second idea!
Bravo, MadIvan. This fact can't be repeated often enough on FR, apparently.
There are many who seem to think the Muslim population of GB is somewhere around 25%.
Perhaps some clever English scholar has detected some coded references in Othello which revealed Iago to be Jewish, or perhaps your English teacher was misinformed.
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