An American Scapegoat in London

[smirkymonkey]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1328823,00.html

An American scapegoat in London

In Britain, America-bashing is so bad that I fear for my safety

Carol Gould
Saturday October 16, 2004
The Guardian

"Something remarkable has been happening to me in the past 19 days. Wherever I go, no one launches abuse at me. When I open my mouth to speak, I am received with civility and the occasional "Have a good one". I am not attacked or intimidated. Where have I been visiting for the past two and a half weeks? Philadelphia. And where do I live? London.

Here is a scenario from my adopted hometown: a month ago, I was travelling on a double-decker bus. A well-dressed woman boarded with her son, respectable in his school uniform. Ahead of her was an elderly American woman, who said, "I beg your pardon, I didn't mean to bang into you." This prompted a tirade from the Englishwoman - let's call her Lady E. "I rejoice every time I hear of another American soldier dying! You people are destroying the world".

The American - let's call her Mrs A - fought back: "I personally am not destroying the world." This only provoked Lady E more, and she screamed into the American's face: "I wish every one of you would leave this country and not set foot in it ever again." Mrs A began crying. "Thank you for ruining my trip." Lady E lunged at the American and began to shake her. I jumped up and shouted for the driver to stop and for her to leave the woman alone, prompting Lady E to come over and grab me. "Another bloody American! You are scum." Thankfully, the woman next to me pushed her away. I left the bus. Mrs A sat sobbing.

Did I imagine this? No. Was the Englishwoman a crazy? No.

I don't like what is happening in Britain, and am dismayed at the level at which anti-Americanism has peaked in recent months. Does anyone say "George Bush" or "Donald Rumsfeld" or "Dick Cheney" when they fly into these tirades? No. In fact, the visceral, in-your-face America-hatred goes back long before the days of the Bush regime..."

[Union Thug]

1. and verily I shall sing the anthem of little George:

"Mission Accomplished!"

[XanaDUer]

2. Sorry, the Englishwoman was wrong

beating up on elderly people because of their nationality is ridiculous. Beating up on anyone is wrong.

Let's see-I'm of Irish descent, and the English has tortured and abused the Irish for, oh, 1000 years. So, I should be able to kick that Englishwoman's ass anytime I feel like it.

[smirkymonkey]

5. I agree, it was totally out of line.

How is what they are doing any different from an American abusing someone from a Muslim country because of 9/11 and "terrorism"?

I hate what the Bush Administration has done to this country and to our standing in the world. Yet it disturbs me that supposedly "enlightened people" can behave as Mrs. E did without stopping to think about how ignorant her behavior is.

It's not as if the English didn't have a history of imperialism and colonial oppression. This is not to defend the actions of the US, as I think they are indefensible. However, many of us despise our government as much if not more than people in other countries do, and to blame ALL Americans for the actions of their government is just plain wrong.

[fugue]

3. I experienced it in England, 1986-87

I was continually asked to defend Reagan's policies. I repeatedly pointed out that I had voted for the other guy and lost no opportunity to decry Reagan's evils to my fellow citizens. It wasn't good enough.

A Muslim saying that they don't support terrorism and argue against it isn't good enough for the rabid set of Americans, either. If any of your people act noticeably evilly, everyone in the group answers for it.

[havocmom]

4. Gee, during the Clinton years, family & friends visiting England were

extremly well received. Wonder why the big change ;)

[ithacan]

6. this is from "Frontpagemag.com": A lunatic right-wing pro-Bush site

Go to the bottom of the article:

<i>This is an extract from a longer article which appeared first on frontpagemag.com</i>

That fact alone totally discredits the author and the article.

Not sure why the Guardian would publish something from that site.

Yes I'm sure that elements of this are the truth.

But this does read like so much of the garbage that is published on that website -- Horowitz's by the way -- as to discredit it.

Frontpagemag is nothing but a blatant propaganda site featuring the worst of the neocons' delusions...

[thomas_a]

8. Good Point

This is a good point. I too have doubts about the credibility of this source but I still hear enough comments from U.K citizens who blame all the ills of the world on our doofus president and assign none to their own freely elected Il Duce II to feel compelled to label them hypocrites.

[smirkymonkey]

11. Didn't realize that.

I wouldn't expect the Guardian to reprint something from a right-wing rag.

[thomas_a]

7. The English Are Self-Righteous Hypocrites

I despise Bush as much as anyone but I must say that I find the British to be totally hypocritical. I wonder how many of the people spewing anti-American venom voted for the Labour Party and its Il Duce wannabe leader Tony Blair?

The United Kingdom of Great Britain has never been able to come grips with its lost role in the world so it attaches itself ramora like to the American Republican party and storms into Iraq happily slaughtering civilians and torturing innocents. Blaming us for their sins gives a new meaning to the word "chutzpah". The fact that Tony Blair remains in office shows that there is no difference between the British voters and the American Republican Party.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Well, thank you

I'm so glad to see you're able to distinguish so well between Labour MPs (the people with the actual power to get rid of Blair at the moment) and the British voters. In the 4 by-elections (ie when British voters do get to vote) since the Iraq invasion, the Labour party vote has been down by 20-30% (of the total vote, not just 20-30% of their own vote) each time.

Remind me how much lower Bush's vote looks like it's going to be this time, compared with last.

[pffarrell]

9. It's not true

I've lived in England for 14 years, and I've never, not once, been abused for being American. There are lots of sarky remarks, but nothing malicious - they are too polite for that. When someone finds out where I'm from, it's usually, 'oh, I've got a sister/cousin/friend who lives in the States' or, more often, 'what on earth are you doing in this crappy country?' (their sentiment, not mine!). If that lady really got attacked on a bus, then the person who did it was probably off their head and would have gone after anybody who bumped into them. The author was completely full of crap - if she wants, I'll come hold her hand next time she goes out so she doesn't have to be afraid of the bad, bad English people.

[fedsron2us]

10. Yes, here in the UK one can not walk down the street

without seeing the bodies of tarred and feathered American ex-pats tied to the lamp posts. Seriously, I expect that this lady spends too much of her time in the company of Guardian reading left wing intellectuals among whom anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment has been a hobby since the days of the Cold War. The fact that she resides in St John's Wood, one of the most expensive areas in London, suggests that she must come into remarkably little contact with the indigeneous population. Most ordinary English people can simply not afford to live anywhere near that area so I do wonder who she is actually meeting.

With regard to Britain's supposed rabid anti-semitism her comments are just ridiculous. Even the racist right wing groups such as the BNP reserve most of their poisonous bile for asylum seekers, Muslims, blacks etc. Jews come way down the hate list. Since the average 21st century English person has absolutely no interest in religion I can not imagine them hating their neighbours for their beliefs. In my experience they are far more likely to come to blows over their allegiance to a particular football team or about the maintenance of the boundaries of their properties. The fact that the author has to cite incidents from the middle ages to bolster her argument just shows how weak is her case. If she understood anything about the history of Britain since the Reformation she would know that it is Catholics and not Jews who have been the traditional bogey men and scapegoats.

In reality, outside of certain sections on the left and the British Muslim community, I would think that US citizens are no more likely to fall victims of British xenophobia than any other group of foreigners. Given that our politicians have their tongues permanently and firmly stuck up the backsides of their American counterparts I find this tolerance a little surprising. Even when sections of voters are roused to defend the UK's much vaunted 'independence' the target tends to be the toothless EU commission in Brussels rather than the malign regime in the White House who are really calling the shots. As far as I am aware a political party on a purely ant-American ticket has never stood in a British election. This will please Tony Blair who appears to want to turn these islands into a 'Little America' where he can play 'mini-me' to the US president. It will be a sad end to this nations history.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Thanks, I was kind of hoping someone would pipe up and

discredit this person's experience. I have to admit, I was alarmed by this article due to the less-than-noble reason that the Bush Administration is fucking up my long term plan to live and travel in Europe. Of course, I totally despise our government for other less selfish reasons as well.

I was in London and the Cotswolds almost exactly a year ago, and did not encounter any outright hostility. To be honest, it's one of those situations where "Hey, I can bash my country, BUY YOU CAN'T!" Always makes me a bit defensive, regrettably.