Kenny said:[email hidden] (Laz) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:I will agree sports has nothing to do with American foriegn policy;
however, I think there are a number of people who aren't subscribing
to that. There have been a lot of warnings in the media for Americans
traveling overseas- this is no mere coincidence.
I have totally no idea why US citizens should be warned to come to
Europe. Is there a war over here that i missed?? I don't understand.
If you drink your pastis in the Provence in France, or you're riding
your bike in the Flemish Ardennes, or you're eating a gelato in
Firenze, or watching bull fights in Taragona, Spain; what should be
warned for?? In interviews with Michael Moore i read about a
republican tactic of scaring people, of giving them an unsecure
feeling, to maintain their power. Maybe that's one of the reason, you
guys get warned if you overseas.
Quoted message said:but this much you cannot deny 1) Americans are
not very popular in Europe right now,
No, these conservative right wing idiots in your government are not
popular. I'm not saying that because i'm a leftie, not at all, I
hate lefties.
The thing is the US and Europe are concidered as "the West", though
there is an enormous difference between the US mentality and the
european mentality. And i have to admit, that has always attracted me
in the US, it seems te same (or we are fighting for the same rights)
but underneath there is a huge difference in perception, in the way of
thinking. e.g. we both live in democracies, but when i see what
happens at the campains of candidates who are running for president
(or for governour in california, some time ago), i hardly can't
understand this kind of [censored] can convince people. Is because the US
is the center of the movie & show business and people being so fond of
that, that people take this [censored]? It almost has to be, but i gotta
tell you that kind of campaigns don't do it over here. The same with
the media who have chosen a left or a right side over there, which is
not good for objective information. That is unthinkable here. That
was the case here in the newspapers about more than 40-50 years ago,
when you had catholic editions, left wing editions,...
But really i hope so see the differences between the us an euro
mentality myself in one or two years. Till then i hope the EURO stays
at its current level in comparison to the US dollar.
Quoted message said:2) much of this hostility has
arisen since the American overthrow of the Saddam regime.
Once again, there was a lot of protes against the US establishment.
As being the most powerful nation in the world, the US should be more
careful with its powers. Cause when Bush does something at his own,
there will be only one causer (especially in the eyes of these islam
fundamentalists): the US thanks to that cowboy in the white house and
the oil lobby. Then i understand you guys think the whole world is
against you.
I think that's pretty close to the truth. There wasn't a hint of animosity in the UK, France or Italy at the end of last year (when I was there) to Americans. I think the US has forgotten the enormous outpouring of shock, grief and fellow-feeling that Europe went through after 9/11. Londoners were weeping in the streets. There were national days of mourning. It's ludicrous to portray Europe as this hostile culture and I suspect most of it comes either from politicians and pundits with an agenda or from people who've never left the USA. Ditto any corresponding feeling across the Atlantic.
As for America the political entity, that's a whole different matter. The Bush admin. is obviously really unpopular over there for any number of reasons, and Lance probably took a hit from Bush's comments about both races being over. If you could ever get any sense out of the moronic beer-boys who jeered Lance on the Alpe you'd probably find that was their so-called 'reason.' No excuse for it, but perhaps Lance was standing in for Bush for those idiots. In the meantime I wish the whole 'them vs us' routine would go away. Like all prejudices it is built totally on ignorance.
