Anti-Americans had me in tears on the Fourth of July

Daily Telegraph ^ | 07/06 | Julia Magnet

[ginle]

I've just moved from New York City to London, into a little house with a little garden - and it seemed a good idea to throw a Fourth of July barbecue. After years of cramped Manhattan parties, craning out of our air-conditioned apartment window to catch a glimpse of fireworks, I was determined to have the traditional outdoor feast.

My British flatmate loved the idea. "It's a themed welcome-back party," she exclaimed. She emailed invitations to our friends. I bought gourmet sausages, and then suddenly I panicked. Why would a bunch of Brits, anti-Bush and liberal Brits at that, want to celebrate our most all-American day?

Having lived in London on and off for two years, I've realised that young British people don't like America; in fact, now that Bush is waging his war on terror, they hate it. At a dinner party in the autumn, a boy I'd just met said: "You know, basically bin Laden is right." I began to cry. "America oppresses every other country, and really exploits them just to get richer and, you know, crushes them if they try to stand up for themselves. Bin Laden was telling America to mind its own business; it needed to be told."

And all this when my city was plastered with posters for loved ones missing since September 11; when I had just discovered that a friend had died in the attack. Knowing that one of the charges against Americans was that we "take everything too seriously", I apologised for crying.

Since September, most of my introductions to young Brits begin: "Oh, you're American." Then comes a barrage of questions and assertions about Bush and America's place in the world. If you can clear such political minefields, you find yourself with some friends for life, whose political attitudes about America do not extend to their opinion of individual Americans. "So really," I told myself, "stop worrying. These are your cherished friends coming to the party. You can make it through an evening without talking politics, and everyone loves a camp themed party, especially one with gourmet sausages and mustard in a squeezy bottle."

Then I read the "youth" survey in The Telegraph - a huge majority of young Britons thought America was "aggressive", "inward-looking", "concerned only with its own place in the world" and "not a good example to other countries". Thirty-seven per cent thought Bush was either "poor" or "dreadful". I accosted each new guest - even before they had negotiated the red, white and blue balloons that covered our floor - with interview requests. "Please will you tell me what you really think about Bush and America? I swear I won't get upset and really the more honest the better and I know that we disagree anyway." It worked, but not until we had more than a little drink. What a sight: BA literature students, photographers, actors and people in the theatre - all British but me - piling on to a sofa and talking tipsily about politics.

"Well, America," began someone, nestling into the couch and setting her drink on the table. "I really like America, but I don't think their political system inspires much confidence." "Bush is awful - a total idiot," broke in a boy from across the room, and the polite reserve was broken. "Yeah," nodded another friend earnestly. "Everyone in Britain thinks he's horrible; we were really gutted when he won. We wanted the other guy, what's his name? - Gore - to win."

Turning away from a conversation revolving around an Alabama-style chocolate cake that one of our friends had brought us, someone volunteered: "Bush is a homicidal megalomaniac; he wants to take over the world." My friend's boyfriend added a new sort of conspiracy theory: "The US is the world's biggest terrorist. They think that it is fine to go into other countries and pillage them for their own good, but when other countries attack them they call it terrorism. George W welcomed September 11. Look what it did for him. He didn't exactly engineer it, but he wanted to go into Afghanistan because of their oil resources. Do we really know Osama was behind September 11?" "Where did you hear this?" I asked, trying desperately to be impartial. "Well, I pieced it together," he replied. His paranoia was met with approval from some quarters: "Yeah, Bush wants to use 9/11 to start a world war." He was shot down by the others: "He's too stupid to do that."

I wondered out loud why they were convinced that he was so dumb. The answer was a bit feeble: "Our media has hyped him as stupid." But another friend, while pouring us more wine, came to the rescue: "He always messes up the speeches that are written for him and trips over big words." "He's a knob," yelled a friend as she went into the garden to partake of the sausages.

Finally, I went out into the garden to talk to my friend, the war studies undergraduate, who seems the exception to the rule. "There is less to worry about George W than everyone makes out," he said, lighting my cigarette with an "I Love NY" lighter. "He is a strong hand on the tiller and his responses are not wrong. The Republicans pick people for character traditionally and set up a really intelligent strong team behind them. I don't think we have to worry with Colin Powell and Rumsfeld." This inspired a boy who had been quiet the whole evening - "I am the most British person you'll ever meet," he confided, "and I am completely behind Bush and America. So I guess that I don't have anything to say here."

Probably this, not the paranoid anti-Americanism, was the most shocking comment. But it was a lovely evening, and no one got into an argument, except for two Brits about the NHS. The Telegraph poll said that 63 per cent of young Britons think America is a good friend to Britain, and that is what I most noticed at my party. For all their criticism of America and its supposed militant posturing, here were my friends, bearing wine, celebrating the Fourth of July and staying late, long after we wanted to clear up and go to bed.

After all, these were the same people who had called me and my parents on September 11 and sent flowers to lay at the site.

[Tribune7]

Great post

[dread78645]

Poland ?, They declared war over Poland.

Or were you thinking of Checkoslovakia ...

[AdA$tra]

Great post

Civilized debate! Well except maybe that poodle thingy.

[Inkie]

You're right about spunky Britain, David. Same for "the colonies" like Australians, who were in SE Asia long before we Americans joined. However, let's agree to the fact that, once dear FDR got an un-ignorable wake-up call, it did become a team effort. No one party could have won without the others doing their part.

[dfwgator]

Sure they declared war over Poland, but what did they do to try to help Poland? But yes thanks, you reminded me of that little worm Chamberlain and that farce in Munich.

[krb]

Cool...you're welcome over here anytime you want to visit!

[Inkie]

I don't know about just wanting everyone to love us. When you are a guest in someone else's country, and the voices of some of these hosts are all beating up on you, it can be hard to gather your wits. That's the kind of occasion that, when they all leave, you suddenly have all your brainstorms and hit yourself in the head, saying, "I should've said this and I should've said that ...".

[AdA$tra]

Same for "the colonies" like Australians

See just how similar: HERE

[Prodigal Son]

For consideration: The author of this writing is not an American. Notice the British spelling of words.

I don't know... You live here for a while you start to pick up that spelling. Licence. Defence. Tyres. Rumour. That sort of thing. I get confused on FR sometimes because I try to stick with American spelling but some words (rumour, humour those ones especially) have really stuck in my head. Also, I can't even remember whether some words are spelled which way in which language and will never get them right anymore. Is it "organize" in the Queen's English and "organise" in American or vice versa?

Also, the article was posted in a Brit newspaper so I assume that any spelling editors would have changed his American spelling (if he used it) to the British version.

[Arioch7]

LOL! My, I think they need some lessons in dressing themselves.

Mr. Hunter, I must say I find your lack of gratitude irritating. After all, I do thank the French and the Dutch for helping us kick the royalists out of this country.

I wonder if you all feel this way. If so, I would have just as soon let you all fight the Nazis by yourself. With no one to stop them from getting the resources they needed, I am SURE the tide of the war would have went your way. LOL!

[quebecois]

The Europeans are flabby and morally useless. They once had an enormous "fire in the belly" to go out...exploring and conquering. But that is long long gone.

Now, they have a system that I call "easy-chair socialism". Its a decadent political and social system where no one has to work too hard or risk anything in any way. The women are easy, the wine is good, and everyone (everyone, that is, who bothers to work at all) has 15 weeks vacation. Has europe produced one great military leader in 50 years? One great captain of industry? One great ANYTHING? Nope...its easier to sit back in the easy chair.

As for the UK...the scary thing is, they are probably the best of the whole sorry lot (except for the Russians and Serbs...who both have some fire left).

I read a story recently that sums up the UK quite well: A thug broke into a guy's house. The homeowner pulls a FAKE gun and calls the cops. The police arrive, and arrest the homeowner for "instilling fear in another person with a 'gun-like object'. The thug was out of jail quickly, while the homeowner was still in the slammer. To top it off, the thief got to TESTIFY AT THE HOMEOWNER'S PAROLE HEARING as to whether he was "worthy of early release".

I submit to you that any nation that allows that to happen is finished. The UK is no longer the nation of Drake, Nelson, and Victoria.

We should have let the Nazis have them.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Whew! Quite a rant, do you feel better now? lol........ thanks for the comments - I need to vent like that once in a while too.....

[David Hunter]

However it is debatable whether or not Britain and the USSR would have defeated Hitler if the US hadn't entered the war. I'm a serious student of WWII and I believe that the Nazis would have prevailed had the US not supported, then entered the war. The US was supplying a great deal of material before Pearl Harbor such as tanks, food, planes, destroyers, etc.

I agree that the USA certainly helped minimise British and allied losses and that it speeded up the victory over the NAZIs. I just get irritated when Americans try to take the whole credit for the allied victories in WWI and WWII. If I remember correctly Hitler himself said that if the war ended quickly Germany would win, but if it dragged on then it would probably loose. The USA's lend-lease agreement which supplied $11 billion to the USSR was very important to the allied war effort, since it helped to sustain the ailing Red Army. I wonder if the Soviets ever paid the USA back?

I believe that even if the USA hadn't joined the war in Europe and had just continued to support the allies with economic aid and arms shipments, then Hitler would still have been beaten, but at a much greater cost in allied lives and resources. But, of course, most of continental Europe would have ended up under the boot of the Soviets. Hence it was in the USA's best interests to get in and help Britain retake as much of Western Europe as possible.

Also note that Russia and Germany were allies and divided Poland. Hitler then turned on Stalin. Without US and British help to Russia and the threat of a second front with the US and Britain, Hitler could have fought at least to a standstill - until he had the atomic bomb.

Yes, I am well aware of the non-agression pact Stalin signed with Hitler and the fact that they divided up poor Poland between them. The Soviets were the scum of the Earth, they claimed to be the idealogical enemies of the NAZIs but collaborated with them to gain territory and power. If only we had kicked Hitler out of power when he first violated the treaty of Versailles.

I very much doubt Hitler would ever have got the atomic bomb. Werner Heisenberg deliberately stalled the NAZI atomic bomb effort and most of Europe's best nuclear phyicsists fled continental Europe because they were Jewish. Hitler really shot himself in the foot with his anti-Semitic policies when it came to scientific research. Have you read Thomas Powers' book: 'Heisenberg's war - The secret history of the German Bomb'.

But, without Churchill and the British fight, it would have been a lost cause for all of us. I vote for Churchill as the man of the century!

That's my point, it was a team effort. If Lord Halifax and that arch traitor Edward the VIII had succeeded in turning Britain into a NAZI client state we would all be speaking German!

[David Hunter]

Mr. Hunter, I must say I find your lack of gratitude irritating. After all, I do thank the French and the Dutch for helping us kick the royalists out of this country.

I am grateful for your help, as I have already said in earlier posts. I merely wish you and your countrymen would not try to take all the credit for beating the Germans in WWI and WWII.

[quebecois]

You know what? I DO feel quite a bit better. I'm going to have to do that more often.

[MoJo2001]

Look on the opposite side of the issue. I work with about 6 people that aren't American. Four of them just moved here. They introduced themselves to everyone and I introduced myself. I asked where they were from, how many Muslims they had as neighbors, and when the hell were they leaving.

Okay, so I'm a rude American. What can I say? Thanks for coming, but when are you leaving?

[dread78645]

Sure they declared war over Poland, but what did they do to try to help Poland?

They commenced firing on German ships at sea, The Scheer was bombed within a few hours of the declaration of war.

Would you expect the Brits to start bombing cities ? the war hadn't got that desparate yet.
Or do you think they should have shipped off their only two fully-equipped divisions to help the 40 Polish against the 62 German divisons ?

[Dr. Frank fan]

At a dinner party in the autumn, a boy I'd just met said: "You know, basically bin Laden is right." I began to cry. "America oppresses every other country, and really exploits them just to get richer and, you know, crushes them if they try to stand up for themselves.

Yeah, that's what (MUTILMILLIONAIRE) bin Laden decided to murder Americans over. The fact that we "exploit" "every other country" "just to get richer". Hail bin Laden, savior of the little guy....

What's hilarious is that Euroweenies who make this type of criticism (which they merely heard on BBC or somewhere and are just repeating like parrots) actually think it makes them sound smart. America, and Bush, are "dumb". But they are "sophisticated" - because they know that this class-warfare explanation is the reason (MULTIMILLIONAIRE) bin Laden hates America! Idiots.

I had just discovered that a friend had died in the attack. Knowing that one of the charges against Americans was that we "take everything too seriously", I apologised for crying.

If the Brit she was talking to at the time had had any class, he/she would have been the one apologizing, and would have felt like a heel. Guess that wasn't the case.

Then I read the "youth" survey in The Telegraph - a huge majority of young Britons thought America was "aggressive", "inward-looking", "concerned only with its own place in the world" and "not a good example to other countries". Thirty-seven per cent thought Bush was either "poor" or "dreadful".

Yawn. More brainwashed parrots. What else is new?

"Well, America," began someone, nestling into the couch and setting her drink on the table. "I really like America, but I don't think their political system inspires much confidence."

Meaning... what?

"Bush is awful - a total idiot," broke in a boy from across the room

Oh, I see. What an insightful critique. So detailed and substantiated. Truly, who can argue with this unassailable logic?

"Everyone in Britain thinks he's horrible;

You hear that? "Everyone" in Britain holds to the exact same opinion. Or at least, the intelligentsia elite do, and the media would have us believe the intelligentsia speak for "everyone" like some huge monolith.

we were really gutted when he won.

This is the part I don't get. Why does some grad student in England give a rat's ass who wins the US Presidency? I don't care who wins Prime Minister or whatever they call it. What business is it of theirs?

We wanted the other guy, what's his name? - Gore - to win."

Heh. This says a lot. They wanted the "what's his name" to win, even though they don't actually know any details about either candidate.

Why? Because they were told to prefer what's-his-name by their elite intelligentsia superiors; that was the Correct opinion.

So sophisticated, they are. Yup, monolithical opinions which are shaped by wise elites sure are a sign of intelligence....

I wondered out loud why they were convinced that he was so dumb. The answer was a bit feeble: "Our media has hyped him as stupid."

Bingo. But why don't these kids resent being brainwashed by a biased media?

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

None of the Eurosocialists do. It's a pity.

There are freedom loving people in every country, even in Europe. It's just that their socialist brainwashing has taken such deep hold on their minds and their way of life, there is nothing left but hatred of America.

The mystery is not why so many Euros hate America and President Bush. The mystery is how people in this country could allow the Trash that previously inhabited OUR HOUSE to stay in their eight long years without rising up in rebellion to throw them out. The mystery is how people in this country, seemingly rational Americans, could tolerate someone like Cynthia McKinney and Hillary Clinton in elective office - with all their loathing of freedom, hatred of America, and desire to destroy everything most Ameicans love and cherish!

I forgive the Eurosocialists their hatred of us. It is understandable. Those that do. (And there are many who do not). However, being able to forgive AMERICANS for hating this country and everything good and honest and true about it, including President Bush, is something I have not yet become able to do.

[David Hunter]

As for the UK...the scary thing is, they are probably the best of the whole sorry lot (except for the Russians and Serbs...who both have some fire left).

Yes we are. Don't fall for that Russian propaganda that they love the USA and want to be its best friend. If the Russians love you so much why do they continue to sell weapons systems and nuclear technology to China, North Korea and Iran? Remember who your allies really are.

I read a story recently that sums up the UK quite well: A thug broke into a guy's house. The homeowner pulls a FAKE gun and calls the cops. The police arrive, and arrest the homeowner for "instilling fear in another person with a 'gun-like object'.

Yes, Britain is a victim of statism and "Political Correctness", but not all Britons agree with it. If some career burglar broke into my home and threatened me, then I'd shoot them on general principle and to hell with the consequences! Personally, I'm seriously considering emigrating if the government bring in ID cards, especially ones with fingerprints, DNA profiles etc. '1984' really is in the future for Britain.