Posted on 07/29/2005 9:25:12 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The typical citizen of Seattle would feel more at home, ideologically speaking, in Paris than in Dallas. Yet, even a liberal Seattleite would be shocked by the images of America drawn by French schoolchildren.
In January, a cartoon festival was held in the town of Carquefou, just outside of Nantes in the northwest corner of France. Students of all ages competed in a contest to illustrate their vision of the United States. They drew obese Americans devouring Coca-Cola and McDonald's hamburgers. They drew the Statue of Liberty with fangs or in chains or being run over by a wicked Uncle Sam on a motorcycle. And they drew George W. Bush: Bush riding a tank to war; Bush taking over the world; Bush as a liar; Bush as a monster.
There were a few lighthearted drawings of Hollywood and Las Vegas and fast food (hamburgers, always hamburgers) but, predominantly, from ages 8 to 18, the French students sketched images of a fierce and fearsome country. One cartoon summed up American villainy with a series of three hands. The first was a fist representing Stalin's Russia. The second was a saluting palm, representing Hitler's Germany. The third was another fist clutching a cross, representing Bush's America.
Stalin, Hitler and Bush -- one French student's axis of evil.
I was a guest at the cartoon festival, one of four U.S. editorial cartoonists invited to represent an alternative America. The others were Kal (Kevin Kallaugher) of the Baltimore Sun, Steve Benson of the Arizona Republic and Ted Rall of Universal Press Syndicate.
The four of us spent an entire day onstage talking and drawing for nearly 2,000 French girls and boys. We did interviews with national radio networks. We sat near displays of our cartoons, drawing caricatures and meeting hundreds of local folks. We were feted at dinners and wine ceremonies and applauded in public presentations. They might hate our president, but the French loved us -- which is no great surprise since most of what we said was what they wanted to hear. Benson and Rall expressed their views with the unambiguous zeal that outrages so many of their readers. Kal and I were more nuanced. Nevertheless, we were brought in with the assumption that we would be Bush bashers and we lived up to expectations.
At one point, as we stood onstage getting our pictures taken with yet another student being awarded a prize for yet another anti-American image, I turned to Benson and said I felt like one of the Dixie Chicks, the all-girl country singers who got heat in the heartland for denouncing their president at a concert in Europe. We realized it was one thing for us to point out our country's flaws in our daily cartoons and quite another to see our homeland portrayed in such brutal imagery by French schoolkids echoing what they hear from their parents and teachers and see in the media.
As sharp critics who, nevertheless, love our home, we tried to point out that the America simplistically rendered in the children's drawings was a mere caricature, that our country, like theirs, is a complex society struggling to make real its founding principles of liberty, justice and equality. But it was impossible to move the conversation far from the president and his triumphalist foreign policy. Europeans are preoccupied with their disdain of Bush.
It would be nice to think that, once the current occupants of the White House are retired to their ranches, think tanks and corporate boards, all will be harmonious again between old allies, and French schoolchildren will see America in a kinder light. But that ignores broader trends that are causing the United States and Europe to drift apart. The reality is that Europeans are not what they used to be. That, as much as their current anger over American unilateralism, affects how they view the United States. We did not even come close to approaching this subject at the cartoon festival, but it might have been enlightening if we had.
America is a country that rose to pre-eminence through force of arms, from Yorktown and Gettysburg to Omaha Beach and the Persian Gulf. Conversely, Europeans ravaged each other through centuries of disastrous wars over religion, land and ideology. Although military solutions still can be sold to Americans, the average European is convinced that war is virtually never a sane alternative. They want to believe that all problems can be resolved in rational discussions at pleasant meeting places. That's why the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war is anathema to them.
It is more than aversion to war that breeds Europe's animosity toward warrior America, however. Today's Europeans want to escape from history. They live very comfortable lives and do not want to be disturbed by America's flag-waving crusades. This allowed them to brush aside Bush's bogus claims of an imminent Iraqi threat, but it has also led to a certain level of denial when it comes to the genuine perils of international terrorism.
Bush-hating has also given Europeans a marvelous distraction from their own failures; their failure in the Balkans, their failure to come up with a constitution for the European Union, their failure to build an independent military force, their failure to put together a single, coherent European foreign policy. In so many ways, Europeans who once ran the world now feel impotent to affect international events or even get their own house in order. They float like a lovely but rudderless old yacht in the surging wake of an American aircraft carrier.
So, Europeans do the one thing that makes them feel superior: revile Bush, the lunatic cowboy, and all those gun-toting, overweight, money-obsessed, religion-crazed Americans who chose him as their president.
Yet, even when George W. Bush is gone, American power and predominance will remain and so will European unease with having to live in such a unipolar world.
As one French student's illustration pictured so brilliantly, America will still be the bat and the rest of the world will still be the ball.
This passes for reason?
Sure, Lenin the Man was a violent sociopath, catalyst for wholesale slaughter across half the world. But Lenin the Public Artwork is a beautifully crafted sculpture, and a catalyst for healthy discourse.
I don't know about you. But I would rather live with Mexicans than Algerians. At least Mexicans make good food and they won't blow me up. Plus they love to party.
Being jealous of #1 is nothing remotely new. If Great Britain were still the dominant world force today, they would view things largely the way we do, and everyone else would vent on them instead of us.
It was that way 100 years ago. Remember it was the British purpose to "civilize" the world.
They should see my pictures of the French ... and Seattlites.
I don't know about you. But I would rather live with Mexicans than Algerians. At least Mexicans make good food and they won't blow me up. Plus they love to party.
You obviously have never been to France. Southern France is beautiful, with great weather.
As far as Mexico, if given the choice of living in the south of France or Mexico, I'd take France any day.
My choice would be living on the coast in Marseille, you can have Tijuana or Mexico city. It's a deal brother.
Actually I went to Paris in 2002, but I didn't stay there long before vacationing in Spain. I thought Paris was nice, I did like the city and they had excellent food and I enjoyed Notre Dame. However, I did not like the French attitude at the airport because they were having a strike that day.
As far as Mexico, if given the choice of living in the south of France or Mexico, I'd take France any day.
I have not been to Mexico, but I have been to San Diego which is close enough to Tijuana.
My choice would be living on the coast in Marseille, you can have Tijuana or Mexico city. It's a deal brother.
Deal. At least I don't have to speak French and I do know a little bit Sspanish.
San Diego is the shinning city on the hill compared to the nightmare that is Mexico.
My choice would be living on the coast in Marseille, you can have Tijuana or Mexico city. It's a deal brother.
Deal. At least I don't have to speak French and I do know a little bit Sspanish.
Most all the French know English, as opposed to most Mexican's that refuse to learn.
It's a deal!!
I've been to France, and I've lived in Texas for over 20 years. You can have France, and I'll take Texas.
At a college reunion in Spokane several years ago, I was asked by a Seattle alum, "how does it feel to be back in God's country?"
I replied, "after living in Texas for 20 years, Texas is God's country to me."
With a look of disgust from the Seattle alum, the conversation ended frostily.
I guess you've never enjoyed the Texas countryside in the spring, when the bluebonnets and wildflowers are in full bloom.
San Diego is the shinning city on the hill compared to the nightmare that is Mexico.
My choice would be living on the coast in Marseille, you can have Tijuana or Mexico city. It's a deal brother.
I've been to France, and I've lived in Texas for over 20 years. You can have France, and I'll take Texas.
Actually we were comparing living in France to Mexico. But since you brought it up, Taking politics out of the equation, I'll take the south of France on coast in Marseille, you can have Houston.
I'll take that deal too!
Amen. Texas Hill Country in the Spring. It's a wonderful sight.
Is it really that bad?
Yes.
To repeat a joke that appeared on the WA message board today:
...and God Created Washington
Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God went missing for six days.
Eventually Michael the Archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?"
God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."
Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"
"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."
"Balance?" Inquired Michael, still confused.
God explained, pointing to different parts of the Earth, "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth but cold and harsh while southern Europe is going to be poor but sunny and pleasant. I have made some lands abundant in water and other lands parched deserts. This one will be extremely hot and dry while that one will be very cold and covered in ice."
The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass and said, "What's that one?"
"Ah," said God. "That's Washington -- the most glorious place on earth! There are beautiful beaches, streams, hills, and forests. The people from Washington are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace."
Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!"
God simply replied, "Wait until you see the jerks and misfits I put in Seattle and Olympia."
Would Tacoma be one of the more conservative cities?
The Tacoma area has a high population of retired military personnel...manning the outpost in Indian territory.
In other words, yes
Funny how the libs get all worked up about the soldiers this, the soldiers that, look at the moral of our soldiers, soldiers are getting killed...
and it turns out most soldiers vote republican
And cross their fingers when forced to shake hands with a New York Senator.
I seem to remember that. Have you read "The Truth About Hillary"? I've only read about the first 70 pages but it's quite interesting.
No, I'm affraid (or glad) I haven't read it. I don't need any more convincing regarding that witch. By the way, there are several active threads that show the photo of the soldier with his fingers crossed.
Bttt
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