Email This to a Friend
A Letter from London to Post-Election America
Distance from my homeland has only heightened my awe of the unique American experiment.
Over the past two weeks the outpouring of British newspaper, radio, and television punditry has been staggering in volume. Staggering in variety? No. One theme that seems to obsess British journalists has been a grim, humorless regurgitation of the most negative aspects of American history. One would think that a hundred years’ war between white and black Americans has been unfolding on the streets of every corner of America, that a truce has been declared with the Obama victory, but that any moment now the war will resume. It is truly mind-boggling that commentators in Britain, some of whose knowledge of American history and cultural evolution borders on the comical, and some of whom rarely visit the United States, have used the election result to condemn every aspect of American interracial life. I simply will not accept that the black experience has not improved since the days of Jim Crow of my childhood; nor will I buy the picture generated by the British media of a nation of despicable racists hell-bent on oppressing every person of color from sea to shining sea.
In my play, A Room at Camp Pickett, written in early 2004 and performed in first-draft form as a “rehearsed reading” at the London Africa Centre in August of that year, I provided a narration. It is unbelievable but true that I mentioned Barack Obama in this part of the text, saying he could be “the one” black America has sought since the assassination of Martin Luther King. What British commentators do not grasp is that Americans like myself, who grew up in James Baldwin’s “fire this time,” see the Obama election as a natural progression following on the ascension of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice to international distinction within the context of a Republican administration, for heaven’s sake.
One of the recurrent themes that have driven me to distraction these past two weeks has been the assertion on British radio, television, and in the print media that Obama “is the first president to come from humble roots.” Hello? In his television series America’s Future running on the BBC, Professor Simon Schama spends an entire one-hour segment condemning the treatment of Chinese Americans, providing yet another prime-time trashing of “racist” America. One would think from his program that Americans of Chinese descent are living in abject squalor and obscurity under the cudgel of oppression and hatred. This past month has been a feast for those wishing to denigrate the United States rather than rejoicing in the dynamism of this recent exercise in democracy. (Happily, British race-relations guru Trevor Phillips has spoken out about the impossibility of a person of color ever ascending to 10 Downing Street; I say “happily” because he has put into a welcome perspective the “casting the first stone” syndrome obsessing the USA-bashing media.)
Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail has commented that television coverage of the election was wanting; he reinforces my view that knowledgeable American commentators were conspicuously absent, replaced by fumbling British mavens that included — wait for it — the comic actor Ricky Gervais of The Office. He may be much beloved of American audiences but Brummer rightfully lamented his presence on “election night analysis.”
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
Carol Gould is the Philadelphia-born author of Don’t Tread on Me: Anti-Americanism Abroad, Spitfire Girls, and A Room at Camp Pickett, a play about her mother’s experiences as a WAC in World War II; she has just completed films about black GIs and GI babies. Carol has been a panelist on BBC's Any Questions?, hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby, and is a commentator on Sky News, Press TV, the BBC World Service, and Five Live.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
115 Comments
1. George Bush On Best Political Blogs » A Letter from London to Post-Election America:[...] A Letter from London to Post-Election America Distance from my homeland has only heightened my awe of the unique American experiment. [...]
Nov 20, 2008 - 12:42 am 2. SeanLA:this, coming from one of the most horrid nations in the most horrid continent ever in history is worth about as much.
shut the F*** up with your English opinion BS
In Voltaire’s Candide, Candide would not get off the ship at portsmouth and set foot on that horrid nation, that was what? 1750?
what has changed? Even as late as 1906 England was all about the genocide in the Congo. read Conrad for what a nightmare England represents.
To take anything English as anything valid is ridiculous, this article is a waste of time.
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:02 am 3. JamesH:(From The Hague). I was really surprised by how crazy people over here are going as well. One of the Daily Dutch Language Commuter Newspapers actually did a “Special Edition” about Obama’s election with articles specifically about him, the US President, etc.
It seemed way out of proportion, I think it is because of the stereotype of what most Europeans have of the US.
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:51 am 4. Lance Woodward:As a Caucasian-American, I think it absolutely divisive to have segregated Blacks from non-Blacks with the label African-American.
I don’t remember when it started or who hurled the first label but this country of ours is never going to be equal in every way unless we end the i.d. game.
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:19 am 5. Chris in Toronto:The Euros are happy because they see America under Obama sliding down the slippery socialist slope to join them in an unproductive multiculti pc hell. And after all, misery loves company.
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:48 am 6. Craig:4. Lance Woodward:
As a Caucasian-American, I think it absolutely divisive to have segregated Blacks from non-Blacks with the label African-American.
I don’t remember when it started or who hurled the first label but this country of ours is never going to be equal in every way unless we end the i.d. game.
Nov 20, 2008 – 4:19 am
5. Chris in Toronto:
The Euros are happy because they see America under Obama sliding down the slippery socialist slope to join them in an unproductive multiculti pc hell. And after all, misery loves company.
Did you guys do a vulcan mind meld with me? Perfecto.
Nov 20, 2008 - 5:00 am 7. RE:There a huge number of American voters that have know idea who they elected thanks to the corrupt media willfully keeping the ignorant ignorant.
I tend to dismiss the professional European America bashers. The are merely engaging in escapism form their own miserable existence and societal devolution. They are what they are – a rather pathetic bunch not worthy of much consideration.
I try to avoid making blanket statements about Europeans. There are a great many fine and honorable Europeans that I will support. There are a great many Americans I will not support. One must separate the wheat from the chaffe here, there, and everywhere.
I agree with the more thoughtful Europeans critics who are dismayed by the colossally foolish blunder America just made in electing Obama.
Obama will prove to be a classic example of ‘Be careful what you wish for…’. All one can do now is take steps safeguard themselves against the collateral damage of Democrat ‘good intentions’.
Nov 20, 2008 - 5:33 am 8. Babs:Oh, the racism has just taken another direction. Get real.
Nov 20, 2008 - 5:41 am 9. Jason S:How can you write an article about British ignorance of America without mentioning the “worst journalist in the world”, Justin Webb of the BBC?
Seriously, go seek out his blog and knock yourself out. Pay particular attention to his coverage of the US election. This is the man the BBC pays to “cover America.” And he uses that money (paid for by the British public via the license fee) to inform his readers just how stupid and ignorant Americans are. His contempt shows through in every post. At one point, he very matter-of-factly asserted that “only those that hate their country would vote for McCain.”
Nov 20, 2008 - 6:57 am 10. Reality:I’ve not seem much of the British media’s coverage of the election and race issues in America, but as an American, I can tell you that racial bigortry is most certainly alive and well here. In almost every section of the country, one will find racial hatred of peoples of color. In some areas, it is open and blantant, while in others it is more subtle. We’ve made some obvious progress in our relations and views of Blacks, yet we are shamelessly exploiting Hispanics and creating a new kind of “nigger.” Withthe compliicity of the Bush administration, we have allowed some 20 million Hispanics to enter the United States illegally and, by doing so, created an new underclass of deserately poor and disinfrachized pseudo-citizens. This will come back to haunt us, of course. The seeds of civil unrest, criminality and, yes, terrorism, is the sort of economic disparity and class marginalization we’ve re-established in the U.S. over the last 10 years. Can Obama turn this around? Only time will tell.
Nov 20, 2008 - 6:59 am 11. The Historian:OBAMA WILL ABANDON LEFTISTS
What is Moveon and Kos to do given political reality in America and the practical nature of their savior:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/democrats-and-radical-left.html
Nov 20, 2008 - 7:24 am 12. rvastar:As VDH has stated before, it’s our responsibility as Americans to be the grown-ups and to see the Europeans as they are: over-indulged, spoiled adoloscents who curse and rage against “Daddy”, yet would be helpless without him.
But they certainly don’t make it easy.
Nov 20, 2008 - 7:55 am 13. submandave:By “segregated holidays” I read “Kwanza,” the faux-African traditional celebration invented by Black Nationalist Maulana Karenga (nee Ronald Everett) in 1966 so African-Americans wouldn’t have to “imitate the celebrations of the predominant society” (i.e. “white” Christmas) and to further “social revolutionary change for Black America.”
Yes, this is a deeply flawed evil racist country, where the majority even forces its minority to invent and spread its own racially segregated holiday built on repudiating the majority and empowering the minority to rise up in power.
Nov 20, 2008 - 7:58 am 14. Thinking Person:I think the European outpouring of joy over an Obama presidency stems from the fact that Bush never allowed himself to be manipulated by the foreign opinion of himself or his views or how he ran the country. Bush did what was best for the U.S. and that infuriated the Europeans. In Obama they see a “world leader” willing to sway in deference to the pull across the Atlantic. Simple enough to get I think. Scary proposition for us though. And as for the racist argument…has anybody see the sea of lily white faces in the Parliment? Please.
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:11 am 15. Zinger:“it’s our responsibility as Americans to be the grown-ups and to see the Europeans as they are: over-indulged, spoiled adoloscents who curse and rage against “Daddy”, yet would be helpless without him.”
What an absurd (not to mention arrogant) statement. The opposite is actually the truth. We Americans are the spoiled children, who believe it is emcumbent on the rest of the world to respond to our every whim. If we don’t get our way, we throw a tantrum. Most Americans have never travelled abroad and know knothing outside of their pathetically narrow world view. Yet, that doesn’t stop them from rather stupidly demanding that everyone else bend to our will. If we have the role of “daddy” it is because we have – by virtue only of our military and economic strength – demanded it. America has been the school yard bullies of the world for 50 years. Most recently, we’ve been beating up on our best friends for not towing the line. President Obama is going to have his hands ful repairing the damage caused by the would-be dictator who currently sits in the Oval Office. This is much more important than whining about the residual racial bigotry practiced by our most ignorant and insignificant citizens.
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:18 am 16. Laura:Blacks here in Canada had a orgasmic-fest when Obama won. Newspapers here were thrilled to show them rejoicing now that their “cousins” would have representation. What was not mentioned, is that the black community in Canada all but DID NOT EXIST 40 years ago. The Governor General of Canada is a black, Francophone Haitian. The Prime Minister is a Christian male. I am neither black nor Christian nor male. Where is my representation? Why do people of colour feel that they should have special rights and privileges over everyone else? Aren’t we all citizens of the same country, fighting for the rights of everyone?
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:31 am 17. newton:If we really, really cared about what the Brits think of us Americans, we’d be part of the British Commonwealth today… But we’re not, and we have had nothing to do with them for the last 232 years!
Thankfully!
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:37 am 18. Ian Thorpe:Cartol,
You should not believe everything you read in the papers, especially the British papers and more especially in The Daily Mail.
Your description of Trevor Phillips as a “race relations guru” is laughable; this odious, self aggrandizing little oik is doing his very best to stir up the kind of racial tensions in Britain as, he believes, exist in America. He, with his ideas about quotas of “black” people in the professions, the media and government is the racist.
And you should not be taken in by the apparent Obamamania which only truly exists among members of politically correct academic and media cliques. While most of us are quite glad to see the end of Mr. Bush’s Presidency as were were to see the back of Tonly Blair, 90% of us don’t give a flying f*** about who is President now. Who America elects is America’s business.
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:41 am 19. m. smith:Colour prejudice exists in every country of the world. It even exists in families. Americans long ago came to terms with the truth and many people happily co-habit with people who are different from them, but some will never change. It is exactly the same in Canada, Britain, China, Europe etc.It would be a very dull world if we were all the same; it is up to each individual to make what he wants of his life. After all there is no army with only generals; the enlisted man is perhaps more important than the officers. So it is time to stop putting emphasis on race and skin colour; there are more important things which are presently ruining the lives of many; such as crime, the infatuation with celebrities, sex, etc.
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:45 am 20. Ben Franklin:At a business meeting last week we had an asian, white and armenian lawyer; my secretary is filipino/jewish; one of our best friends is a black lawyer married to a chinese woman he dated for years.
My teen aged daughter and her friends have dozens of friends that are black, iranian, latino etc.
Let it go you race obsessed people!
We have a black President, Callifornia has a govenor born in Austria .. .let it go!
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:51 am 21. Thinking Person:Zinger….Your arrogance in assuming that most Americans have never traveled abroad and therefore have a “pathetic, narrow world view” shows that you truly don’t know your own country friend. Let’s follow your argument here…Americans don’t travel overseas and therefore we know nothing about “them” but apparently the entire rest of the world travels here and can therefore have an opinion about our election. Not only just an opinion though right? An opinion we should listen to right? Pathetic. I hasten a guess that you are for open borders and against all free-trade agreements. You are a prime example of why the term patriot holds no value in present day America. In case you have forgotten our government is here to represent the US citizens. That’s their sole job. If that offends you and your sensibilities then maybe you should hand in your citizenship and go abroad where they are so much more open minded than us. Laughable.
Nov 20, 2008 - 8:53 am 22. David H:Ian Thorpe, actually the MSM most notably the BBC did give a flying whatever who was the next President of the USA, the same as every single media in Europe, however near the end of the campaign I did happen to notice a bit of balance creeping back into TF1, bit late though…
Personally I could not give a damn what race people are, its what they think and do that counts, the left are so fixed on race that I happen to believe most of them are racists because they have a superiority complex for those poor third owld people who do not understand, that is the racism inherent in the left and you see it in Europe all of the time.
Nov 20, 2008 - 9:35 am 23. tim maguire:Thank you for a great essay, Carol. You hit on two things that, well, I don’t know how to characterize them except that they bug me.
First is the remarkable ignorance of America shown by most Europeans and the other is a more general observation that a great many people have no problem holding strong opinions on things they know virtually ntohing about and do nothing to educate themselves about. As though strong opinions are a duty and informed opinions are optional.
Nov 20, 2008 - 9:36 am 24. vb:Zinger,
What did you do, take a 7 capitals in 7 days tour? You obviously don’t read enough of the world press or see enough foreign TV to appreciate the caricatures of America presented to the average person abroad. You also probably haven’t spent much time in working class bars abroad listening to conversations and gossip, or you would know that Plato, Shakespeare, and Kant aren’t hot topics for the average folks anywhere. You might also miss the irony of politicians who spent their youth with Mao’s little red book in their pocket are now the ones criticizing the US for not doing enough about human rights in China.
Nov 20, 2008 - 9:43 am 25. rvastar:Give us an example of one of these “tantrums”, Lefty.
That’s rich, Lefty. But answer a couple of questions:
The vast majority of Americans accept that women should have equal rights to men. What would you find in the Muslim world of over 1+ billion people…or Latin America…or Africa?
A majority of Americans just voted for a black president. Name the equivalent in one of your broad-minded European nations that we should model ourselves after?
Americans believe that govt is beholden to the people…well, except for you Lefties – who believe that govt should be holden to Leftist elites. How much control over their govt do the 1+ billion Chinese have…or the 1+ billion Muslims…or Africans?
Should we be learning how to throw acid in womens faces from the Muslims? Should we be learning how to execute 1,500+ people a month from the Chinese? Should we learning how to hack people to death with machetes from the Africans? Should we be looking to the Europeans on how to foster racially-inclusive societies, whilst they quarantine all their immigrants in ghettos? Maybe we could set-up a class of Untouchables like the Indians? Or borrow some of the Latin American concepts of machismo?
IOW: what – exactly – is it that we should be learning from the rest of the world?
And the Europeans…and the Russians…and the Muslims…and the Chinese…none of them wants us to bend to their wills.
Right?
Nahhhhhhh.
You Lefties really have issues with your school experiences, don’t you?
Name one other nation – other than the US – that has led the way in freeing anybody from the oppression of tyrants and totalitarians over the past 50 years.
Really? What friends have we “beat up”?
Nice Lefty hyperbole. Care to name the steps that the “would-be dictator” took to overthrow the US govt?
Thanks for perfectly exposing the sham that Leftists actually care about independence of or diversity of thought. You only care about DICTATING what is acceptable thought according to your ignorant beliefs.
Nov 20, 2008 - 10:08 am 26. WJ:re: “The embassy, facilitated by Republican Ambassador Robert Tuttle, immediately shut down the television screens; gruff security staff told us to go home. It was a bizarre tableaux, especially for working journalists who were literally in the midst of filing their stories when the plugs were pulled.
The behavior of the “Republican” embassy was dismaying;”
It was 4 IN THE MORNING, for goodness sakes. The election was called. Why do you think you have a “right” to stay in the embassy and celebrate at 4 IN THE MORNING?
Nov 20, 2008 - 10:43 am 27. mike:How our country is still considered so racist is completely beyond me. I was born in 1983 and have been pretty much been educated in the California public school system where political correctness, environmentalism, equality, and fairness at all costs were always the preferred values to teach. They pounded into our heads that everyone is equal and we shouldn’t let differences like skin color make a difference in how we treat one another. I took that lesson to heart and firmly believe all people are equal.
Now slightly older and a bit more jaded I realize that most of the people who talk about racism, in any context positive or negative, have a vested interest in keeping it alive because it continues to give them something to talk about, make money off of, and leverage to play social engineering games with. Now that they have gotten their wish and our students are taught the “correct” values they have created a monster that they probably won’t be ready to deal with. I think most of my age group who were raised in the PC environment find it repugnant that the same people who said we should ignore race out of one side of their mouths says we need special rules for certain races out of the other side. Are ALL people equal or not? This backlash won’t create a little army of Republicans though because my age group has little patience for the loonier members of the party who believe their own Judeo-Christian morals should extend to everyone in all circumstances including and most especially in the bedroom (I like the commenter in another post calling all gays sodomites, when we know that that behavior never goes on between a man and woman, especially never a good Christian man and woman) .
Most of the racism that I encountered at school was one minority group against another. At my school it was always Native Americans against Chicanos (or Indians vs. Mexicans for the undoctrinated). White people are so scared of being called racist that most of them go out of their way to not mention someone’s race even when it may be a factor. America also elected its first black senator in 1870, first Hispanic representative in 1877, and first woman representative in 1917. If anyone can gets stats for any other Euro country it would be interesting to compare and contrast the dates our minorities got elected to theirs.
Nov 20, 2008 - 11:26 am 28. Valerie:LOL These people who go on about how most Americans have never traveled outside the USA… And what is that supposed to prove exactly? Going on vacation to another country will somehow turn you into an informed world citizen, is that it? So I guess all the young Brits who live for their time on Ibiza, where they dope, drink and ”mate” means that they know a lot about the world? For heaven’s sake, what idiocy. Do you think that tourists come to the US in order to increase their knowledge of current affairs and US foreign policy? LOL
Nov 20, 2008 - 12:21 pm 29. John B:I found the Daily Telegraph’s coverage to be the most venom filled and biased. After 20 odd years of never missing a copy, I cancelled it!
Nov 20, 2008 - 1:29 pm 30. anthony:“The road ahead will be fraught but every American, Republican and Democrat alike, should relish this moment, when the country for the people, by the people, and of the people, deserves to inherit the earth.
”
Really?? You think we should inherit the earth? WOW talk about imperialistic! That’s the problem with the current Republican party – Don’t get me wrong, there was a time when Republicans stood for the things they hide behind now but that time was LONG ago. They are nothing but a shell. The problem our country has is blind ignorance. We still think we’re the greatest and everyone else and everywhere else sucks. We are one world and America is the teenager in the room who thinks they know everything. We need to grow up and realize we have a lot to learn!
Nov 20, 2008 - 1:47 pm 31. rvastar:Same question goes to you, Lefty, that the other Lefty coward, Zinger, hasn’t had the courage to come back and answer.
The vast majority of Americans accept that women should have equal rights to men. What would you find in the Muslim world of over 1+ billion people…or Latin America…or Africa?
A majority of Americans just voted for a black president. Name the equivalent in one of your broad-minded European nations that we should model ourselves after?
Americans believe that govt is beholden to the people…well, except for you Lefties – who believe that govt should be holden to Leftist elites. How much control over their govt do the 1+ billion Chinese have…or the 1+ billion Muslims…or Africans?
Should we be learning how to throw acid in womens faces from the Muslims? Should we be learning how to execute 1,500+ people a month from the Chinese? Should we learning how to hack people to death with machetes from the Africans? Should we be looking to the Europeans on how to foster racially-inclusive societies, whilst they quarantine all their immigrants in ghettos? Maybe we could set-up a class of Untouchables like the Indians? Or borrow some of the Latin American concepts of machismo?
What are we supposed to learn from the oh-so-civilized masses out there in the rest of world?
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:25 pm 32. Tom:Europeans are the MOST IGNORANT people on the planet when it comes to their freeked-out Area 51 beliefs about America and Americans.
It is SO WHACKED OUT. I’ve been to Ireland 7 times for business, and once for honeymoon. They are so messed up in the head. How can a whole country be so educated and yet so woefully stupid, juvenile, dumb, paranoid, etc.
It is so amazing. Then of course they watch CNN International and the BBC so I know that explains much of it.
We’ve had people from Ireland come to the USA for work and they are shocked that I don’t own slaves. Heck, I’m part American Indian for crying out loud. They are particularly shocked given our headquarters is in Alabama and we actually live with, for, and intermarry with blacks and whites. Imagine that?
I wouldn’t trade my US citizenship to be a European (any country) even if you threw in a million bucks.
Obama and the Dems will trim back freedoms even more along the lines of Socialist/Secular Europe. But, I’m still a free man here compared to anywhere else on the planet.
I think I’ll go free a few more slaves today. Peace.
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:26 pm 33. mike:If America is the teenager throwing a tantrum then who’s the world’s adult? Its not Europe because generally adults take responsibility for their actions and take care of their own problems, instead of either outsourcing it to their “kids” (defense)or ignoring it (immigration, entitlements, declining replacement rates). Most adults will also stick to their guns when they promise to do something, Europe tends to stick with their guns only when it politically expedient and will break promises the second it inconviences them (see Kyoto, membership requirements for the EU, and any UN resolution that involves action not relating to bashing the US). So who are the world’s adults and what characteristics do they share that make them adults in any sense of the word other than age?
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:34 pm 34. Brooke:Chris in Toronto: I was scrolling down reading all the posts when I spoted yours. Chris, You are absolutely right. All the analyizing is pure bull, the bottom line is this takes the U.S. a notch down to their level. They love it!
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:35 pm 35. Andrew Ian Dodge:over-indulged, spoiled adoloscents who curse and rage against “Daddy”
Its just the opposite. They are incensed their offspring has risen up and out-performed their arses in extremis. Or to put it another way its sheer jealousy.
Its amazing how fast antis that I have met turn pro when a green card gets likely in their future.
Nov 20, 2008 - 2:59 pm 36. Tony:Tom says
“We’ve had people from Ireland come to the USA for work and they are shocked that I don’t own slaves”
Ah Tom, thats just a lie and you know it. Even if Europeans (and us Irish) only learned about the USA from watching Hollywood movies, Friends, Scrubs, Frasier, Desperate Housewives, etc etc etc – even the rubbish CNN, there isn’t a soul who would think that slavery exists in the US.
Hate the Irish all you want but don’t tell pathetic lies to make yourself sound convincing you ignorant fool.
Nov 20, 2008 - 3:00 pm 37. Jaime Roberto:I’m still waiting for our superiors in Europe to elect their own minorities to the top position. When will the Germans elect a Turk? They’d have to give them citizenship first. When will the Brits elect a Jamaican, Indian or Pakistani? When will the French elect an African? I guess they get partial credit for Sarkozy, who is Hungarian.
Nov 20, 2008 - 3:09 pm 38. KansasGirl:Where are Europes’ black leaders?
Nov 20, 2008 - 3:15 pm 39. James Westlake:Carol Gould,
“One of the recurrent themes that have driven me to distraction these past two weeks has been the assertion on British radio, television, and in the print media that Obama “is the first president to come from humble roots.” Hello?”
You use quotations marks so show us the source!
I’m British, closely followed both the election and post-election coverage in a wide spectrum of both print and broadcast media and have never, NEVER, heard any journalist suggest such I thing. Carol Gould you are just so full of shit. People with access to the British media come here week after week to expose your inaccuracies but you carry on regardless. You really are so stupid that you still seem to think you can get away with lying here because an American audience won’t regularly access the UK media. This is incredibly disrespectful to both your host country and your American audience.
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 3:27 pm 40. James Westlake:rvastar:
“The vast majority of Americans accept that women should have equal rights to men. What would you find in the Muslim world of over 1+ billion people…or Latin America…or Africa?”
In the Muslin World Pakistan has elected a woman President
In Latin America Argentina elected a woman President
In Africa Liberia has elected a woman President
” Should we be looking to the Europeans on how to foster racially-inclusive societies, whilst they quarantine all their immigrants in ghettos?”
Do you really believe this?
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 3:57 pm 41. James Westlake:SeanLA,
“To take anything English as anything valid is ridiculous, this article is a waste of time.”
does that include the English language Sean?
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:11 pm 42. James Westlake:Jason S,
“At one point, he (Justin Web) very matter-of-factly asserted that “only those that hate their country would vote for McCain.”
Unless you show us the quote I will assume you are lying.
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:15 pm 43. rvastar:And the US has elected a black president. So according to your logic, I guess we’ve put the whole “US racism” issue to rest, eh?
Nice selective commenting, too. Care to share your thoughts on the other examples of what we ignorant, unsophisticated Americans should be learning from the Muslims…or the Chinese…or the Indians…or the Africans…Russians…Europeans?
No, I don’t, but that’s not the point.
The point is too expose the gross oversimplifications of “useful idiots” like Zinger and Anthony as the de rigeur, mindless Leftist drivel that it is.
And I’ve succeeded…as their cowardly retreats clearly indicate.
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:42 pm 44. AW:#2, SeanLA: wasn’t Heart of Darkness about Belgian colonialism?
Are you sure you shouldn’t read it?
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:46 pm 45. James Westlake:rvastar:
“(…) the US has elected a black president. So according to your logic, I guess we’ve put the whole “US racism” issue to rest, eh?”
How do you draw that conclusion?
” (…) what we ignorant, unsophisticated Americans”
your words not mine.
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 4:53 pm 46. Chris in Toronto:Thanks, Brooke!
Nov 20, 2008 - 5:12 pm 47. Pajamas Media » A Letter from London to Post-Election America:[...] Pajamas Media » A Letter from London to Post-Election America That’s the problem with the current Republican party – Don’t get me wrong, there was a time when Republicans stood for the things they hide behind now but that time was LONG ago. They are nothing but a shell. The problem our country has … [...]
Nov 20, 2008 - 5:19 pm 48. Carol Gould:May I please explain the reference to inheriting the earth? My late mother, a tireless 1930s civil rights campaigner who also fought for the desegregation of the troops during her years in the US Army, used to say that ‘the meek shall inherit the earth, and one day black Americans will inherit the earth.’
Nov 20, 2008 - 6:12 pm 49. rvastar:My reference was also a play on the magnficent words of Barack Obama’s hero, Abraham Lincoln, who, as we know, wrote that the government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth. I believe the USA has come close to perishing from its own soil in recent years but if it now becomes a light to the nations it deserves to inherit the earth, as in the soil of its tormented land. At this point, with the news from the financial world being as perilous as it is tonight, sadly I fear many nations may now inherit the wind.
For example: you cite the fact that Pakistan elects a woman to a high office as some kind of argument that Muslim women are on equal footing in Islamic societies as Muslim men…which is patently false. And to illustrate, I point out that applying your logic, you would have to admit that the election of a black American to the Presidency means that racism doesn’t exist in America.
Would you concur, James?
Ahhh…the old Lefty Shuffle 101:
“When you can’t elaborate, obfuscate!
Nov 20, 2008 - 6:55 pm 50. James Westlake:rvastar:
” you cite the fact that Pakistan elects a woman to a high office as some kind of argument that Muslim women are on equal …”
No I didn’t but if that is what you want to read into it you are very naive.
” you would have to admit that the election of a black American to the Presidency means that racism doesn’t exist in America.”
Not at all. But both are examples of progress.
Westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 7:17 pm 51. James Westlake:Carol Gould,
“May I please explain”
explain where you got your quote from:
“is the first president to come from humble roots.”
or people will assume you’ve been found out lying again.
westlake
Nov 20, 2008 - 7:42 pm 52. x:Yes, I quite agree with the person who admonished people to get over the race issue. And it would only be fitting because there are an awful of fervent religious types who should be ready, willing and able to embrace all of mankind. See here, you religious snobs, you have to love everybody or else you are not true christians. Isn’t that what Jesus was all about? You know very well that if Jesus suddenly appeared you’d all be toast because most of you are horrid hypocrites and have very little in common with his teachings. He’s coming soon. Better get your act together. A very good start would be to love more and hate less. I think He’d like that.
Nov 21, 2008 - 12:23 am 53. RF:lolz…x: You’ve committed at least two fallacy’s. One; It doesn’t follow that, just because Jesus forgave a single or several sinners, that we should forgive one or any sinners ourselves. If I forgive sinners does that make me Jesus? No. That’s affirming the consequent. Two; Two universal premise such as, people being ready or not ready for Jesus’ appearance, and how soon and what He’s going to do when He does come, and the existential conclusion of what will happen to the people, are all together a logical fallacy.
I’ll stand corrected if I’m wrong.
Nov 21, 2008 - 3:14 am 54. US Election On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Pajamas Media » A Letter from London to Post-Election America:[...] Pajamas Media » A Letter from London to Post-Election America Pay particular attention to his coverage of the US election. This is the man the BBC pays to “cover America.” And he uses that money (paid for by the British public via the license fee) to inform his readers just how stupid and ignorant … [...]
Nov 21, 2008 - 3:25 am 55. rvastar:♫ I put my Lefty foot in, I put my Lefty foot out,
I put my Lefty foot in, and I shake it all about,
I do the Lefty shuffle with the words I like to spout,
Who cares what it’s all about?!? ♫
Yay!!!
Nov 21, 2008 - 6:28 am 56. Carol Gould:The British historian Dominic Sandbrook has written a beautiful piece about the uniqueness of America; he wants the sneering in Britain to cease now that this event has taken place, a momentous one whatever one’s political leaning.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23583473-details/Yes%2C+we+can+take+a+share+of+America%27s+optimism/article.do
Nov 21, 2008 - 6:33 am 57. Ian Thorpe:David H,
You seem to think I suggested that the UK and European mainstream media did not care who became US President.
Actually I said that while cliques of academics and mainstream media professionals were sucked into the Obamessiah personality cult 90% of us, i.e. the mass of people did not care much who won.
Do pay attention old boy.
In fact, though no reliable figures are available there have been many complaints about the UK press and broadcast media’s biased coverage of the US elections.
Nov 21, 2008 - 8:39 am 58. Jim Baker:It must be fun to be on the sidelines observing the political theater in the only country where the outcome seems to matter to everyone. To all of you high minded Europeans, thanks for your interest.
Nov 21, 2008 - 8:56 am 59. James Westlake:Carol Gould,
“is the first president to come from humble roots.” ”
As you have failed to provide a source for this un-attributed quote despite repeated requests to do so one can only assume that you made it.
Now that you have again been exposed as a liar I am somewhat surprised that you are still being allowed to continue on Pyjamas network. If they allow one unapologetic liar, such as your self, to continue how do we know if other contributors are, at least to the best of their knowledge, being honest. You damage the whole network.
westlake
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:01 am 60. Alfred Adler:Thanks Carol for your article (and also your book on Marx’s ontology which I assigned to my classes some year ago). As an ex-Brit who has lived in the US for 40 years I have never ceased to be amazed by the condescending attitudes of some in the UK toward the US, only matched by ignorance of American culture and hetereogeneity. I suspect it is also something to do with the lack of a ‘positive’ English identity in a period of colonial decline, an issue which may also relate to why immigrants in the US more readily assimilate than they do in the UK.
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:54 am 61. rvastar:Still waiting for you to share your thoughts on what we ignorant, unsophisticated Americans should be learning from the Muslims…or the Chinese…or the Indians…or the Africans…Russians…Europeans, James.
Are we mere mortals simply supposed to absorb your radiant brilliance through our monitors, in a process akin to photosynthesis or osmosis?
Maybe you could give us a few more of your Yoda-like nuggets of wisdom:
“Hmmm! Answered your questions, I have. Understand…or understand not. Hmmmm!”
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:54 am 62. James Westlake:rvastar,
“Still waiting for you to share your thoughts on what we ignorant, unsophisticated Americans should be learning from the Muslims…or the Chinese…or the Indians…or the Africans…Russians…Europeans,”
Why???
I’ve never described Americas in such terms nor suggested they ’should’ be learning anything from anyone.
westlake
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:29 am 63. rvastar:A cowardly Leftist turd named Zinger wrote the following:
To which, i replied:
Zinger the Turd – when faced with someone who’ll throw his stupidity back in his face – beat a hasty retreat, like his particular brand of ignorant Leftists often do when challenged.
You then decided to chime in with the following comment:
To sum up: Zinger the Turd claims that “Most Americans have never travelled abroad” (i.e., are IGNORANT of the world) and “know knothing outside of their pathetically narrow world view” (i.e., are UNSOPHISTICATED due to that ignorance). I rebut and challenge the Turd’s argument. And you seek to answer my challenge with red herrings meant to obscure the disgusting treatment of women in the named cultures.
So, while you never said those words yourself, you took up the argument of someone who most definately did. Sorry, but I don’t split hairs like that.
As the saying goes: when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
Nov 21, 2008 - 12:20 pm 64. The Whale:The 4 most racist and segregated places i have ever been, england, france, new york city and california. All of them Lefty hells. I have finally realized why my family left europe 300 years ago. it is still run by the same wankers. How sad for you. We survived 4 years of Jimmy The Idiot Carter, we will now make it thru 4 years of Obama Bin Load in pants and his collection plate sermons. AS for Europe, when the Euro drops to the 50 cents its worth we might comeback. But the Limeys and Frogs have passed Jim CRow segregationist laws against smokers so i won’t be going there. Probably to Spain, which tried to do the same thing, But even the Fascists know fascism when they see it. So they told the anti smoking douche bags to eff off ( see more lefty hell brought to you by the left). Madrid is great in the Spring i hear. See all right thinking people there. I will be the one smoking the non taxed american indian cigs at the corner table.
Nov 21, 2008 - 12:40 pm 65. sntrdr:rvastar,
You are just another example of hard-right bigotry, blinded by your own egotistical views that do not permit you to see through the narrow haze.
I have genuine sympathy for you and your race..it would be wishful thinking to say ” I hope you some day see the light!!”. Amen.
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:01 pm 66. Yeah well:Thanks Carol. In my world, ethnic relations in the USA are generally good to very good. That’s not to say there aren’t the occasional incidents and that there aren’t still people who hold views that are ethnicist. However, yeah good to very good.
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:11 pm 67. Yeah well:“There a huge number of American voters that have know idea who they elected thanks to the corrupt media willfully keeping the ignorant ignorant.”
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:14 pm 68. Yeah well:Wait – are you attempting to say that some voters didn’t know Obama is Bi-racial/Black? Because that’s the point of the article.
To “Reality”
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:16 pm 69. rvastar:That may well be *your* reality. However, as in may other things one tends to see what they’re oriented to see.
And you’re just more Lefty excrement: minimal substance…light and liquidy…a slight annoyance.
<<…FLUSH…(gurgle, gurgle, gurgle)….
Ahhhhhhhh…that’s better
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:21 pm 70. The Dude Abides:Europeans are slightly more sophisticated than chimpanzees in their world view – but only slightly. They can’t help that however, given the pablum they are exposed to by their media.
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:34 pm 71. The Whale:Sntdr, what bigotry? Muslim, African, and Many Euro cultures treat women like second class citizens. To deny that is to make yourself ridiculous. Americans are sick of hearing crap from the rest of the world, while the rest of the world does nothing to help anyone or anything. Americans are sick of Euro whining about Americans cleaning up the Post Euro Empire world. Today, there is not a single Conflict going on in this world that isn’t a direct result of Euro Empire. But please keep going. The isolationists in the wacko american Left love it. They want to roll up the carpet, end all free trade, and generaly re-instate fortress Usa from the 1930’s. They, like you are oblivious to the fact that this led to WW2 and the death of 40 million people. But hey whose counting.
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:37 pm 72. The Whale:Dude, stop calling chimpanzees bad names. Only Euros and American Leftys want to be called Euros. Chimps know they have to work for a living and you only get what you earn. Euros and the American left think the bananas just fall out of trees pre-peeled. That’s after they have spent all day whining about the people up in the trees picking the fruit sweating on them.
Nov 21, 2008 - 1:58 pm 73. rvastar:Beautifully stated, whale. Pitch-perfect.
Europe spends 400 years trying to hammer the world flat, to the point that in 1900, some 80+% of the world’s surface was under the control of Western Civilization: Indian Civilization, conquered…Muslim civilization, conquered…Africa, conquered.
Then, 50 years later, Europe decides to simply quit and go home, leaving powder kegs of animosity and confusion littered all around the globe, whilst an ascending Communist behemoth sits on their door step, ready to swallow them whole.
The only thing that stopped it all from exploding into Armeggedon is the United States: preventing the Soviets and Chinese from devouring Europe and Asia…preventing the Arabs from destroying Israel…preventing 7th century religious nuts from gaining control of the worlds most precious economic resource…protecting the world’s shipping lanes for the open trade that has benefitted the lives of billions…and on and on.
So when these Leftist stains start their talk about Americans’ “pathetically narrow world view”, it makes my blood boil… because HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of those “pathetically narrow” Americans have given their lives cleaning up the mess left by the holier-than-thou Europeans and fighting to ensure that these same ankle-biting Lefty idiots can be as monumentally stupid as they want to be!
Nov 21, 2008 - 2:33 pm 74. Martge:Now I have read up on British History and guess what I found. None of the PM’s of that country have ever been black. There is no black in the HOuse of Lords. And if there are blacks in the House of Commons they sure must SIT IN THE BACK. And every day you hear about race riots in Britain so why don’t they explain all that. Sorta sounds like British racism to me.
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:17 pm 75. Mary Jackson:Still here, Carol? Still lying through your teeth?
Carol Gould you are just so full of shit. People with access to the British media come here week after week to expose your inaccuracies but you carry on regardless. You really are so stupid that you still seem to think you can get away with lying here because an American audience won’t regularly access the UK media. This is incredibly disrespectful to both your host country and your American audience.
James Westlake has it right. Carol “I have no dhosh” Gould, who lives in St John’s Wood, where flats go for the equivalent of $4 million, earns her living by bleating and whining and lying about Britain. Yet, after thirty-two years, she still lives here. Why? Because if she went back to America and tried to earn her living by bleating, whining and lying they wouldn’t like it.
She writes for an audience even more ignorant than she is, which is how she gets away with it.
Carol, in the words of the World War I song:
“We don’t want to lose you, but we think you ought to go.”
Bon voyage.
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:33 pm 76. Mary Jackson:Over the past two weeks the outpouring of British newspaper, radio, and television punditry has been staggering in volume. Staggering in variety? No. One theme that seems to obsess British journalists has been a grim, humorless regurgitation of the most negative aspects of American history.
Evidence? Evidence? What percentage of British newspaper coverage has, over the past two weeks, been about America? Of that, what percentage has been about American history? Of that, what percentage has been negative? Which papers? Which radio programmes? Evidence? Evidence?
No. Carol Gould has no need of evidence. She is writing for an audience that, so it seems, has no need of sources, of references, of rational analysis.
Disgusting. She brings shame on Britain, on America and on this site.
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:47 pm 77. Mary Jackson:“is the first president to come from humble roots.”
Source, please. Or are you, are your “fellow Americans” happy to be lied to?
Nov 21, 2008 - 11:04 pm 78. Carol Gould:Mary Jackson,
Nov 22, 2008 - 3:10 am 79. Mary Jackson:I have a pile of about 5,000 cuttings and never put pen to paper until I have links for the Pajamas Media team to insert (you will note that there are numerous links provided in all PJM published material); the reference to the humble roots of Barack and Michelle Obama has been made over the past few months as I listen to Talk Sport, Radio Five Live, BBC and LBC. The concept of ‘poor’ or humble roots (Nixon, Clinton, Wilson, and now Obama) always generates lively discussion and inspired Janet Daley in the Telegraph to write about the class-conscious British social discourse that prevents the kind of dynamism seen this year in the American election process. I was on Radio Five Live a fortnight ago on the Gabby Logan Show hosted by Dom Joly and afterwards was inundated with phonecalls from friends who said they were so glad I had brought in evidence from history and specific references. My new book has scores of references and the editor, Clive Liddiard, recently emailed me that ‘it is a testament to your wiritng’ that he had only a handful of minor corrections to make in the final proof.
Over the past two weeks the outpouring of British newspaper, radio, and television punditry has been staggering in volume. Staggering in variety? No. One theme that seems to obsess British journalists has been a grim, humorless regurgitation of the most negative aspects of American history.
The link below is to a week’s covers of The Times. Nothing whatsoever about American history, negative or otherwise:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/newspapers/
The newspapers have been full of stuff about the credit crunch,Labour’s spending plans, “Baby P”, the battered baby, tax cuts, mortgage defaults, John Sergeant’s exit from Strictly Come Dancing and Michael Jackson’s conversion to Islam. Immediately after the election there was quite a lot of stuff about Obama for about two days. Then very little.
These are the facts. Readers are invited to click the link above and also to look at The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun, the London Evening Standard, to see what has actually been in our news. As for radio, try BBC i-Player, which has a week’s news, and Channel 4 where you can watch repeats.
So, American readers can see for themselves. Or they can believe the words of a ranting hysteric with a chip on her shoulder.
Nov 22, 2008 - 4:24 am 80. Mary Jackson:Lies by Carol Gould:
Racism in football said to be at an all-time high when it is at an all-time low.
Press coverage in the UK full of negative stuff about American history, when (see my comment at #79 there has been proportionally little about America, nothing much about American history, and nothing much negative.
Made up quote about “humble roots”, which she now claims (without proof) to have heard on the radio.
Stephen Fry described as “a curmudgeon of the first order” when he is a much loved comedian who gives pleasure to many.
Professor Simon Schama spends an entire one-hour segment condemning the treatment of Chinese Americans, providing yet another prime-time trashing of “racist” America.
A blatant lie. The disgraceful treatment of Chinese Americans in the past was indeed described, but this took up no more than 15 minutes, and had no implications for modern times.
“I have no dhosh”. Carol Gould owns a flat, if not a house in one of the most expensive areas in the world.
There are many, many more lies here and on her own website.
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:41 am 81. Mary Jackson:Now I have read up on British History and guess what I found. None of the PM’s of that country have ever been black. There is no black in the HOuse of Lords. And if there are blacks in the House of Commons they sure must SIT IN THE BACK. And every day you hear about race riots in Britain so why don’t they explain all that. Sorta sounds like British racism to me.
Another ignorant American. No prime minister has been black, true. But your president isn’t black either – he is half white. Meanwhile, we have had an ethnic Jewish PM, albeit a convert, and a woman.
There are, in fact twelve black and Asian peers in the House of Lords. There are quite a few Asian (=from Indian subcontinent) MPs. The thing about sitting at the back is nonsense. They are back-benchers, just like white MPs that are not as important.
Look it up, you idiot.
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:46 am 82. Quote Of The Day: An American Abroad's Awe Of Post-Election America:[...] GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief Print Our political Quote of the Day comes author Carol Guild, who writes via Pajamas Media of her awe as she looks at post-election America from London: Over the past two weeks the outpouring [...]
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:47 am 83. Mary Jackson:“And every day you hear about race riots ”
Source please?
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:49 am 84. AgingMom:I think that at least five US presidents were born in log cabins, including Lincoln. Wasn’t it Reagan who said that his mother used to send him to the butcher shop to ask for “scraps for the cat” when they had no cat? The first few presidents were from prominent families (Washington, Adams, Jefferson) but it has been a mixed bag since then.
Obama not only did not attend state schools, he attended an “independent school” which means it was far more expensive and exclusive than most of the private schools run by religious groups. Bill Clinton was raised by a single mother and by his grandmother, but he attended a very run-of-the-mill high school.
The real joke is that “post racial” Obama got into Harvard through Affirmative Action despite the fact that he is descended from slave owners, not slaves.
Nov 22, 2008 - 8:59 am 85. Self-hating boomer:There’s nothing “magical” about suicide.
Nov 22, 2008 - 9:27 am 86. Almost tired of labels:#4 Lance Woodward
I just tuned in and thanks for the term (and label I guess): Caucasian-American.
Nov 22, 2008 - 11:41 am 87. James Westlake:Mary Jackson,
I am not sure which is sadder; that bitter liars such as Carol Gould are given the space to spout their nonsense or that likes of Martge, Yeah well, lfred Adler et al are so gullible as to believe her (one of these people even claims to be a teacher, the mind boggles!!!).
The amount of ignorance spouted on this page in response to her article, not only about the UK but also about other Europeans, Muslims, Africans – in fact just about pretty much the rest of the world, could confirm all the worst clichés one could believe about Americans being ignorant cretins. Thank god they are not representative as Nov 4 proved.
In general the problem with a liar such as Ms Gould is that her “journalism” is so full of misrepresentation, half truthes and outright lies that to correct every error would take at leaast twice as long as it took her to write this trash.
westlake
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:07 pm 88. James Westlake:Carol Gould,
“(…) made over the past few months as I listen to Talk Sport, Radio Five Live, BBC and LBC.”
LOL. Not only are you a liar but you are also too stupid to even read back your own words to see what your original lie actually said. You are now trying pretend to have got the quote from radio but seem to have forgotten what it was you actually wrote:
‘the assertion on British radio, television, and in the print media that Obama “is the first president to come from humble roots.” ‘
You claim to have heard this so often that it has “driven (you) to distraction” yet you can’t sight a single source from your “about 5,000 cuttings”. I don’t know how you would rather people viewed you, as an ignorant fool or a contriving liar – somehow you are managing to come across as both at once. Here is some advice Carol: if you are in a hole, STOP DIGGING!!!
westlake
Nov 22, 2008 - 6:53 pm 89. James Westlake:Mary Jackson,
Btw. by now admitting that all she actually heard on the radio where “reference(s) to the humble roots of Barack and Michelle Obama” as opposed to any mention of Obama being “the first president to come from humble roots”, as her article claims she heard on “British radio, television, and in the print media”, Ms Gould has now tacitly admitted to making the whole thing up but is probably too stupid to realise this.
westlake
Nov 22, 2008 - 7:26 pm 90. Talking Ocean:I’m still trying to learn about the political parties in England. Are there any conservatives left? What do you Brits think about all of the taxation in your country, is it out of control? I live in Texas and we do not have state or city taxes. I hope to go to London next year. I was in Birmingham England in April-went to see Jennifer Saunders (French/Saunders). I was raised on British Comedies and fell in love with Brits. My ancestry is native american, irish, french, german, & english…(found out in an ancestry dna I’m 13% african american too)…I’m a product of the melting pot. That’s America. So, how do you feel with all of the foreigners now residing in England and how to you feel about your culture? The British Empire? Just curious. Not sure my post has anything to do w/the topic discussed just taking the opportunity to learn a few things from some Brits. Sucks I have to sit outside and smoke though, didn’t like that part when I visited England…it was pretty chilly. Finally made it on the other side of the pond and couldn’t smoke in a pub. Too bad London is becoming like California & New York….getting in everyone’s personal business “for their own good”…Sounds like you guys need your own revolution to take back your culture, traditions, and freedoms. I know the Liberal philosophy is opposite of self reliance, personal liberty, and freedom. Educate me Brits! Trying to understand you more. (I haven’t written you off, although the MSM, BBC, etc crucified Sarah Palin who is the only reason why I voted for McCain, she is a fiscal conservative that has actually DONE something..I never met a politician that did anything they said they were going to do while campaigning..caught me off guard). I hope GovPalin does a great job in AK and educated herself on foreign affairs and comes back strong…I want her to become like Maggie Thatcher. (I have no political heroes
Nov 22, 2008 - 8:48 pm 91. Mary Jackson:personal liberty, and freedom. Educate me Brits! Trying to understand you more. (I haven’t written you off, although the MSM, BBC, etc crucified Sarah Palin who is the only reason why I voted for McCain, she is a fiscal conservative that has actually DONE something..I never met a politician that did anything they said they were going to do while campaigning..caught me off guard). I hope GovPalin does a great job in AK and educated herself on foreign affairs and comes back strong…I want her to become like Maggie Thatcher. (I have no political heroes
Maggie Thatcher was wonderful – saved us from the jaws of socialist ruin – and New Labour under Blair and Brown have all-but squandered her legacy. A bloated public sector – Labour’s client state – and ever-intrusive laws, of which the disgraceful smoking ban, so damaging to our wonderful pubs, is one.
Not all our press was against Sarah Palin. Some articles in The Times and The Telegraph spoke up for her. I suspect the opposition was motivated by the same force that led people to oppose Thatcher: misogyny, combined with the fact that she is – and Thatcher was – conservative. If Thatcher had been Labour, and if Palin had been a Democrat, the feminists would have been all over them both.
Do visit again. Americans – or anyone – with an open-minded attitude and a positve approach are welcome here, and are better placed to enjoy themselves.
Nov 23, 2008 - 6:33 am 92. Jonesy55:As always seems to be the case when Britain or Europe are mentioned on this site, a squadron of virulently anti-European people come along to spout half-baked and ill-informed opinions while at the same time criticising Europeans for being anti-american and ignorant of the USA.
Of course it doesn’t help when the article writer herself resorts to wildly exaggerated claims that she appears unable to back up when queried and paints a thoroughly distorted view of the situation here.
If PJM and other US right-wing media were my main source of ‘information’ about Britain and Europe then I probably would cry myself to sleep every night over my misfortune to live in such a blighted and doomed continent. Reality however is very different to the agenda-driven misrepresentations of the media, it’s not just the MSM that you need to be wary of guys, don’t believe everything you read from ‘alternative’ sources either.
Carol mentions that the British media has been incessantly talking about how Obama “is the first president to come from humble roots.” Now I can’t say that I have heard this mentioned once, either in print or on TV, but I googled it to see. That phrase turns up only links to articles by Carol Gould herself, lol.
Nov 24, 2008 - 5:15 am 93. Jonesy55:The comments in comment #93 are there to illustrate the points in paragraph 1 of comment #92.
I have to say that the notion of Voltaire as an anglophobe is an amusing piece of revisionism though, very creative.
Nov 24, 2008 - 5:39 am 94. James Westlake:Jonesy55,
“Carol mentions that the British media has been incessantly talking about how Obama “is the first president to come from humble roots.” Now I can’t say that I have heard this mentioned once, either in print or on TV, but I googled it to see. That phrase turns up only links to articles by Carol Gould herself, lol.”
Hilarious!
westlake
Nov 24, 2008 - 6:17 am 95. David H:Ian Thorpe, post 57 yes I mis-read your comment sorry, was in a hurry at the time. Nice blog by the way.
Carol, you should leave, I left the UK, one reason was for a job, but I was fed up with the vandalism, I was having at least two attacks a week on my fence, over here which is a similar area to where I was living in the UK it was once over 4 years, I would not go back.
Mary, what a true statement, “Maggie Thatcher was wonderful – saved us from the jaws of socialist ruin – and New Labour under Blair and Brown have all-but squandered her legacy. A bloated public sector – Labour’s client state – and ever-intrusive laws…”
The legacy that the Major government left Labour was public finances in excellent state and a growing tax base and economy steered through an earlier property bubble, the only real error was the black Tuesday debacle…, the rest was manufactured sleeze by the pliant media…
Nov 24, 2008 - 8:28 am 96. rvastar:What “ignorance” would that be, Westlake?
Nov 24, 2008 - 10:14 am 97. rvastar:- More than 50 percent of Britons believe that polygamy is legal in the United States; in fact, it is illegal in all 50 states.
- Almost one-third of Britons believe that Americans who have not paid their hospital fees or insurance premiums are not entitled to emergency medical care; in fact, such treatment must be provided by law.
- Seventy percent of Britons think the United States has done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000; in fact, America’s rate of growth of carbon emissions has decreased by almost ten percent since 2000, while that of the EU has increased by 2.3 percent.
- Eighty percent of Britons believe that “from 1973 to 1990, the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons.” In fact, the United States sold just 0.46 percent of Saddam’s arsenal to him; Russia, France, and China supplied 57 percent, 13 percent, and 12 percent, respectively.
- The majority of Britons believe that since the Second World War, the United States has more often sided with non-Muslims than with Muslims. In fact, in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the United States has sided with Muslims and/or Arabs.
Nov 24, 2008 - 10:18 am 98. rvastar:Guess it runs in the cultural-blood, eh Westlake?
Nov 24, 2008 - 10:20 am 99. boazhorribilis:Britain…These guys confronted racism head on by banning fruit and vegetable imports from settlements in the West Bank.
Nov 24, 2008 - 10:49 am 100. Mary Jackson:Now that the job of showing solidarity with the totally unproductive is done , they embark on teaching America about the virtues of egalitarianism and social engineering.
The “blind” trying to lead the “somewhat myopic”.
The idiots are back.
Nov 24, 2008 - 11:31 am 101. James Westlake:rvastar,
people on this page seem completely obsessed about what Brits think of America – why is this so?
Btw as I mentioned before I know that kind of people who tend to dominate here at PJW are not at all representative of the great majority of Americans who’s cultural characteristics tend to a ‘can do’ attitude mixed with a sense of decency and straightforwardness. Of course this is a bit of a cliché itself but that has been my overriding experience.
westlake
Nov 24, 2008 - 11:49 am 102. rvastar:As is the utterly predictable, Tourette-like blurting of “Idiot! from those such as yourself, Mary.
Funny…you’d think that out of all you vastly superior, non-idiots, you could come up with at least one original insult.
Hey, maybe you – along with Westlake – can pick up the trail that Zinger and Anthony left when they tucked tail and ran away…put your heads together and see if the four of you can come up with one.
Nov 24, 2008 - 12:02 pm 103. rvastar:And you seem completely incapable of answering questions that are put to you, westlake – why is this so?
Since Westlake is British, many readers here may be confused by his dialect, finding it difficult to grasp his meaning.
Please…allow me to translate:
“Would anyone like more red herring? Anyone?”
So, westlake, you’ve proven yourself to be no better than the two who disappeared earlier. Just a different brand of intellectually dishonest Leftist who can’t answer simple questions, yet has the effrontery to call other people “ignorant”.
May you continue to find your own tediousness amusing
Nov 24, 2008 - 12:25 pm 104. Anonymous:rvastar
“- More than 50 percent of Britons believe that polygamy is legal in the United States; in fact, it is illegal in all 50 states.
- Almost one-third of Britons believe that Americans who have not paid their hospital fees or insurance premiums are not entitled to emergency medical care; in fact, such treatment must be provided by law.
- Seventy percent of Britons think the United States has done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000; in fact, America’s rate of growth of carbon emissions has decreased by almost ten percent since 2000, while that of the EU has increased by 2.3 percent.
- Eighty percent of Britons believe that “from 1973 to 1990, the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons.” In fact, the United States sold just 0.46 percent of Saddam’s arsenal to him; Russia, France, and China supplied 57 percent, 13 percent, and 12 percent, respectively.
- The majority of Britons believe that since the Second World War, the United States has more often sided with non-Muslims than with Muslims. In fact, in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the United States has sided with Muslims and/or Arabs.”
It would be interesting to have a source for these claims, they seem preposterous
Nov 25, 2008 - 12:19 am 105. Anonymous:“What “ignorance” would that be, Westlake?”
I would suggest thst you look at comments 2, 9, 12, 25, 32, 35, 64, 70 & 74 for starters.
Nov 25, 2008 - 12:28 am 106. Anonymous:ALso it would be nice to see a source for those claims you’re making in comment 97.
Nov 25, 2008 - 12:29 am 107. David H:106 the facts are correct, however the do you mean what the Brits actually think, I do remember seeing some sort of survey on British anti-American attitudes and the questions and the numbers seems to fit with what I remember, I remember thinking that it was a sad inditement of the BBC!!!
Nov 25, 2008 - 2:59 am 108. Jonesy55:As always with opinion polls of this sort, the results often say as much about the questions asked as the genuine attitudes of the respondents.
For example with the question about Saddam’s weapons, i’m sure most people in Britain don’t know the exact percntage of weapons sold to Iraq by various countries during the 1980s. They do however have a general impression though that Saddam’s regime was supported militarily by the west, including the USA, which is reflected in their response to the poll question. The survey analysis is basically trying to say that this impression is wrong and that the USA did not support Saddam militarily.
However although it’s true that the USA didn’t sell many F-16s, machine guns or Apache helicopters to Saddam, it did provide vital intelligence support in the Iran-Iraq war and made dual-use technology available which it tacitly knew would be used to build up military capability in the hope of counteracting Iranian influence.
So the general impression that people have of the USA supporting Saddam is not wrong, they may have the details a little mixed up but that is hardly surprising. Of course it wasn’t just the USA, other western countries also supported Saddam in similar ways but as the ‘leader of the free world’ the USA is always going to attract more scrutiny than say Belgium or New Zealand, that just goes with the territory.
Nov 25, 2008 - 3:35 am 109. David H:I would suggest that what you say in your last sentence in 108 is the same as saying America caused 9/11 because they supported the Islamists against Russia in Afghanistan with Stingers, so the USA created Al Queda which we all know is complete rubbish, well anyone with a brain…
The Iraqi military was massively equipped with Russian hardware, when the attack on Iran failed and turned into a war of attrition that Iraq could only lose the USA realised that the threat of an Iranian takeover of the Gulf was something that could not be allowed so they gave intelligence assistance to prevent that, so lets say that Iran had defeated Iraq and taken over the oil fields of Iraq and then Kuwait, where would we be now?
Nov 25, 2008 - 7:23 am 110. Anonymous:I would suggest that it is not at all the same. It might be the same as saying that the west supported the Islamists in Afghanistan which is true but making the leap to say that this means the US created Al Qaeda is not analagous to anything I said in 108. If I’d have claimed that western support for Saddam caused the gulf wars then this might be similar but I didn’t
Whatever the reasons behind US support for Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war, and I’m not saying it was neccesarily a wrong policy, my point was that this support is not fictional and it is this support that people were no doubt thinking of when they answered the pollsters question. Thus it is a mistaken response but one that is not as grossly ignorant and as far removed from reality as the pollsters are attempting to portray it.
Nov 25, 2008 - 8:39 am 111. jonesy55:That was me commenting by the way.
Nov 25, 2008 - 8:41 am 112. rvastar:Ah, what an ever changing cast of characters we have here. Zinger…Anthony…Westlake…Mary…and now – surprise, surprise! – “anonymous”.
Although…maybe you’re jonesy55?
Enjoy: http://americaintheworld.typepad.com/home/files/TrueOrFalseStatements.pdf
Of course you would!
So let’s ignore the posts that aren’t mine…why don’t you point out my “ignorance” in detail, anonymous?
Nov 26, 2008 - 7:40 am 113. Jonesy55:Well, rvastar, the comment about Europe “quarantining all immigrants in ghettoes” clearly isn’t true for starters.
Thanks for the source of those surveys, this organisation has as its specific aim, a policy to say how great the USA is compared to the rest of the world so I would suggest that they have designed the survey to give answers which reflect this aim.
I can’t say that I’ve ever met a Brit who has thought polygamy was legal in the USA so I can’t explain that one I’m afraid.
As for the question about carbon emissions, the wording is deliberately misleading. Yes, the RATE of increase has fallen in the US faster than the EU but the actual AMOUNT of increase is lower in the EU and the total AMOUNT of emissions per head is lower in the EU.
Polling is now a highly developed art, polling companies know how to design questions to give the outcome their clients want to achieve, thus I take all of these claims with a pinch of salt.
Nov 27, 2008 - 1:53 am 114. roGER:Hey, SeanLA:
You wrote:
“Even as late as 1906 England was all about the genocide in the Congo. read Conrad for what a nightmare England represents.”
The Congo was a Belgian colony! Conrad, writing for an English speaking audience, was pointing out the horror of Belgian colonialism, which most experts think was the worst in the world at that time.
Conrad, who was in fact Polish, became a British citizen when he was in his late 20s and liked Britain a lot.
Nov 27, 2008 - 6:19 am 115. Anonymous:Hey roGER
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good ignorant rant!!
Nov 27, 2008 - 11:52 pm