Posted on 04/12/2002 6:13:23 AM PDT by Mr. Thorne
All the talk of law and peaceful discourse will not stop an armed barbarian. He wants, for whatever reason, what you have, and will take it by force.
Europeans don't understand that to real Americans that is a compliment. They should hear what we say about them ---but then maybe they take that to be a compliment.
Hate to say that I used to believe this. Maybe it was that guy in the Village People.
Why is the left is always talking about "Eurocentrism" when it is the Europeans who are always launching the left-wing schemes they only dream they can launch at home?
How about those "evil" guns - what self-respecting cowboy doesn't have at least 2 (one on the belt, one in an ankle holster), and probably a third (rifle in the saddle or pickup gun rack)? To me, this is the essence of the cowboy - the willingness to use force against evil, which the moral relativists decry.
The political equivalent of a cowboy (as well as the real thing earlier in life) was Teddy Roosevelt. During his presidency, nobody challenged us, as they knew that he'd respond as a cowboy. Compare with a contemporary and rival of his, Woodrow Wilson, probably the archtypical "tenderfoot." He so studiously tried to avoid war by being passive and peaceful (i.e. anti-cowboy), that we got ourselves into WW1 at a cost of some 300,000 dead.
The world despises the American cowboy because he represents American strength and resolve. They wish us to be like Wilson, weak and indeceisive, so that they can commit their aggressions with impunity. Bush is, so far, about 3/4 cowboy. The other quarter has begun to leak away in the last couple of weeks.
Now that's just good old fashioned common sense. I can picture John Wayne saying it.
One has to wonder if European intellectuals fear the cowboy because they instinctively understand that they're likely to end up on the wrong end of his gun for the evil they do, or at least the evil they desire to do in the name of "noble" ends.
Closest I ever got was an old neighbor of ours. He raised cattle, so I guess he qualified. Taught me how to use a bullwhip. Well, crack one, anyway. But AJ was good; he could do the 'cigarette out of the mouth' bit (if he could find a volunteer). Me, I'm lucky if I hit what I'm aiming at...
How about shame as a motivating factor? What's the idealized 'gunfighter' movie? Lot's of good guys with no guns and/or guts, one man with a lotta both.
So how does that make the 'good guys' feel? Grateful? Sure, at first, but then they think that maybe old so-and-so wouldn't have gotten shot if the hero hadn't intervened. After all, life wasn't all that bad before...
I think it's a big 'ol case of 'we realize we're weak and innefectual, but we've spent decades telling ourselves this is the way to be'.
Then here we come and start kicking butt. Why couldn't anyone else have done it? Because they're better at appeasement than confrontation, and they know it. But they don't like being reminded of it!
IMHO, of course.
As the daughter of a real cowboy, I definitely agree. Cowboys understand right & wrong. They believe in disipline & hard work, standing up for friends, respecting the land, being self-sufficient, helping those in need, & acknowledging a loving God who is greater than all of us.
Yep, I can see how that would be an insult.
= )
There. Just a minor correction to an otherwise excellent and insightful commentary.
I don't fear my neighbor: I'm a better shot than he is.
Well, you gonna draw those guns or whistle Dixie?
Hitler was one, but he was the only one mentioned.
If it weren't for European (and other foreign) tourists, we'd have a lot less money and a lot fewer tourists in Arizona.
Monument Valley, rafting the Canyon, jeeping Chelly, Hopi Mesa, Europeans outnumber Americans two to one or better. And usually, Europeans get higher marks for NOT leaving trash, NOT throwing rocks at just anything, NOT bringing boomboxes, and FOR asking intelligent questions. Some of those Europeans tell me they've planned to see the Canyon, or other sites for two, three years. And we've got locals in Phoenix and Tucson living here for a lifetime that have never seen the Canyon. Probably just as well, as the most common aerovac out of the Canyon are American yuppies.
Just one opinion, just my opinion, but I'd much rather deal with German, or Kiwi, or Irish tourists than Californians or New Yorkers.
And, sir, there are still old timers in Arizona who aren't too fond of Roosevelt. Either of 'em. Now mention Barry Goldwater, and now you're talking about a real man.
Bred, born, life, and I sure hope I'll die in, Arizona
Me too. And I LOVED the statement he made to the press while wearing a Carhart jacket covered with horse manure, which he had been shoveling. And...OH, how about the time he went to pick Putin and his wife up...WITH his own 4WD truck, WHICH he was driving with his OWN two hands...he mentioned to reporters that he and the Russian president were gonna go out and do some four-wheelin' on the ranch. Then they were gonna barbeque. Every time I hear a EUroweenie or EUroweenie wannabe cal him a "cowboy", I think of those incidents with pride and admiration.
I LOVE THIS GUY. Like I said before: if we both weren't already married, I'd propose to him. GO PRESIDENT GEORGE "COWBOY" BUSH!!
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