ok personal confession time
A throw away comment by Tico that I brought anti americanism to every thread started me wondering. Am I or am I becoming anti American? So I thought I'd hold up a mirror and give a2kers a chance to tell me, and you have. At least you should give me some credit for that.
The fact is I am no more anti American than I am anti English. Because effectively we on this side of the pond
are[/i] American in all but passport. Its taken me a long time to understand this, and there is still some element in me that reacts strongly against the notion, but the fact is the UK now is an associate member state of the Union. OK we have our own domestic policies...something similar to Home Rule I suppose, and we have our own quaint little ways of doing things, spelling for example, but when push comes to shove and Things Matter on the world stage, the UK is not just an ally of the USA but forms an integral part of the greater USA.
Its been this way for a long time, and of course has its origins in WW2, where in return for American help in defeating Hitler, Britain or rather Churchill pledged an unbreakable alliance among the "English speaking peoples". The military and intelligence alliance continues. But its more than that. American popular culture has been hugely influential in Britain, we absorb all that Hollywood churns out just like Americans. (And we have churned out some stuff ourselves). When you walk down a high street in Britain you see many American brand names. Unlike the French, we never put up much resistance to Americanisation. We might have thought some of it was plain daft, but in general we welcomed American chewing gum etc and American military bases and nuclear missiles alike. (Or rather British governments did...some people actually protested against making this country a prime target in a nuclear war].
On many threads on a2k I find myself using the pronoun 'we' meaning US and UK. [Iraq being a prime example. I get exasperated by the blundering mistakes of this administration...and frustrated when Americans dont learn from mistakes or listen to advice from people who do actually know something about Iraq...we invented that damned country and controlled it from its inception for just the same reason USUK forces invaded 80 year later...oil].
In US terms I am probably a 'liberal'...certainly I think society needs more than laissez faire capitalism and libertine "freedoms" to be considered civilised. [Of course that admirable document the US constitution provides a marvellous foundation for just that... why was it so easily abandoned in the face of Islamist terror?].
The particular comment I made which prompted Tico's charge of anti Americanism was to do with capital punishment. I'm against it (even for Saddam), and I do think states that have abandoned it have moved in a healthier and more civilised direction. But Americans who take the same view are not normally charged with being anti American, whereas this shot can be easily and cheaply made against those of us who do not hold US passports.
Anyway thanks for all your responses, including the fellow who threatened to have me arrested
Its been interesting.
So I've said enough, people are still free to come to their own conclusions about me, its a free country after all...now there's a rugby match on tv (thats like NFL + blood).
England v New Zealand...cant say which I'm supporting much too sensitive an issue round here.
