On the monorail on the way home from the Pajamas Media party last night, I ran into a large family from England. The grandfather was left without a seat near the family, so he came and sat by me. We chatted and joked about Las Vegas and differences he had noted between the US and England and also Canada, where he lives now. And then he said something that he thought the US was a nice country, and then he did that speaking-out-of-the-side-of-his-mouth fake whisper thing and said something like, "We aren't really so fond of that president of yours, but other than that it's a good country." Then he went on to say how the rest of his family was happy to get rid of Blair since he was in bed with Bush.
I was immediately reminded of the boorish German that Tim met while waiting for me at the train station.
I mean, really, who does this? Who thinks it's appropriate to insult the leader of a country in the first five minutes of meeting someone from that nation? I would never dream of doing this if I met a foreigner, and especially not in his country! I hated every aspect of living in France, and still I would never start bashing the country to a Frenchman I just met. It took me three years to tell my French relatives that I had a horrible experience in their country. Telling someone you just me is just so rude it's beyond my understanding.
I didn't even bother saying anything back to this man. Overall he was nice and I didn't want to make the conversation any more uncomfortable than it already felt. Plus, if you hate Bush so much that you have to mention it during a discussion of how interesting it is that you get free drinks in American casinos, then you're beyond hope for anything I could say.
But honestly, all I could think about was, who does this?
Sadly, lots of people. I told my husband this story this morning and rhetorically asked who does this, and he said, "Well, Americans have taught this man that this is acceptable behavior." When Kirstin Dunst says she'd kill Bush and Michael Moore says our country is the worst, then foreigners think that all Americans talk like this. We have taught the world that it's OK to bash us.
What idiots we are.
Posted by Sarah at November 9, 2007 01:46 PM | TrackBackYou hit the nail on the head, which is why I hate Hollywood and the trash that comes out of it. Like Kirstin Dunst has anything intelligent to say -- shoot she can't even act! What's up with that?!
Posted by: Claire at November 9, 2007 08:44 PMYep.
Posted by: airforcewife at November 9, 2007 08:57 PMLook at it this way: on January 20th, 2009 a lot of people are going to have to find something else to do with their lives.
your husband makes a very good point!
Posted by: annika at November 11, 2007 04:23 AMBush sucks ass. It's only natural that the Englishman, being intelligent, would want to inform you that he's aware that Bush is an idiot.
Posted by: Lee Atwater at November 11, 2007 08:55 PMIt's sad that we are our own worst enemies in many ways.
Posted by: Nicole at November 12, 2007 01:12 PMYesterday I read "The dezinformatsiya war" at the Braden Files (http://braden.weblogger.com/), including the intriguing remark "I learned that international respect for America is directly proportional to America's own respect for its president."
Too often I have remained silent upon hearing remarks that make my blood boil. I don't like confrontation, and I don't want to be the lone voice of disagreement in a group. I am trying to learn the art of disagreement in a polite, friendly manner. It feels rude to contradict someone, especially a stranger. But it is the silence of people like us in the face of such remarks that enables that behaviour.
Your post resonated with me. Thank you.
Posted by: hiraethin at November 13, 2007 03:49 AMSarah,
Please forgive the old bastard. He mistook you for the average American who shares his frustration with our President.
But please don't mistake this criticism of Bush with bashing "us".
Bush is not us. He's our employee, though both you and he seem to have forgotten that.
This 72 year old Vet (101st Airborne) & Agnostic Atheist Activest says: I see some of the Clueless Clods of the Loonly Left have posted here.
Their comments show the only thing which exceeds their immense ignorance of the facts is their astronomical arrogance in thinking they have a
clue.
There were more than sufficent facts proving the Iraq War is both fully justified and a necessary part of our war on terror before we liberated Iraq. Now, with the captured evidence and statments from former Iraqi officals, there is even more proof.
(Anyone who disagrees with that is either: A. Ignorant of the facts. or B. Too lazy to learn the facts. or C. Too stupid to be able to comprehend simple little things like facts.)
All these anti war troglodytes prove is
that if ignorance is bliss, they must be
in a constant state of ecstasy!
Neil C. Reinhardt
Uh, get bent, Neil C. Being old is no excuse for being stupid.
Posted by: Lee Atwater at November 14, 2007 11:46 PM