Thanks to everyone who e-mailed a response to my TCS article about anti-American sentiment in Britain. Roger Simon's readers have had their say too. Here's a short selection of the other messages I received:
*For clarity’s sake, please make the English understand that America considers itself to be a world entire unto itself. We in California find New York as foreign as England. Perhaps because European countries feel like bit players on the world stage--and about to exit therefrom--they profess the need for international institutions and foreign allies. In any event, were America to seek allies, it would look west to Asia rather than to Europe. We know whence the future.
*Surely this was written before 7/7? ----- "neocons not Islamists are regarded as the great threat to democracy". This is certainly not true today, however little the BBC likes neocons!
*As an American I don't see the problem. As to being disliked - every #1 is disliked almost universally. Remember the British Empire?... The same is true today: we can never be the America of your dreams, past, present, or future....We always counted on you as America's Bulldog. An honorable position. Instead you feel like you are America's poodle....
*I've been debating Kyoto online for years, and 90% of the Euros I discuss it with are incredibly ignorant of the specifics of the thing (specifically, who is affected and what it is intended to accomplish), and seem to think of it more as an expression of concern and solidarity about the environment than something of substance. What on earth have the Euros been told about Kyoto?
*I cannot tell you the number of Brits I meet--ALL of whom immediately comment on how little Americans know about Europe and how little they travel here. I know it's not the same thing as anti-Americanism itself, but it's a version of it--the tone is always derogatory. I usually respond by asking them where Kansas is and what states border it (proving they know s**t about America)... And then I remark that with only two weeks of annual leave per year (which includes sick leave) most Americans can only dream of traveling, and don't have the luxury of free time to sit at a cafe and talk to foreigners about American arrogance--they're too busy working.... I'm unhappy with the mess that is America right now, but Brits do seem to have a special knack for making it personal.
The HUMAN PARADIGM
Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is an
accurate definition of the creature. The way we
define 'human' determines our view of self, others,
relationships, institutions, life, and future. Important?
Only the Creator who made us in His own image is
qualified to define us accurately. Choose wisely...
there are results.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by
nature and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of
Criteria. Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive
characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the natural
foundation of his environments, institutions, and re-
spectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is orien-
ted to a Freedom whose roots are in the Order of the
universe. selah
Americans, like many other peoples, are in process of forgetting who we are. Time to remember...
"Got Criteria?" See Psalm 119:1-176
semper fidelis
Posted by: James Fletcher Baxter | Saturday, August 13, 2005 at 04:34 PM