We're flying home to the States today. The day started with the hotel fire alarm going off at 6:20am just as I was turning on the shower. That was exciting. While we were sitting outside in the car, waiting for the all-clear, I read Robert Fisk in today's Independent on the third anniversary of 9/11. Powerful and pointed as always. (Hands up those who knew where Fallujah was three years ago.)
After showering and packing, I came over to the WiFi hotspot to log in. As I started typing this, Morrissey's America Is Not The World started playing over in the restaurant. I've heard it almost every day while I've been here. What a tragedy, that Bush and his henchmen should so totally squander, trash, and sh*t upon the worldwide compassion and empathy that followed 9/11. And how depressing that Americans appear unable to see Bush for what he is.
Talking to people over here, mostly professional or academic, I find a curious attitude towards the US Presidential election. Of course they are interested, and of course they hope that Bush is defeated, but it's not accompanied by any great expectations. It's almost as if they've written America off: it's a hopeless case, perhaps it will come to its senses some day, but there's no point in thinking too much about that. (I saw one op-ed piece that pointed out that since the actions of the US had such an impact on everybody around the world, maybe we all should be entitled to vote for the POTUS. And the lapsing of the assault gun ban was the occasion for the usual head-shaking about the suicidal insanity of a gun-drenched culture.)
Of course this raises more questions than it answers. But that's for another occasion.
Update: We're now home - but not before experiencing yet another fire alarm: this time in Heathrow Terminal 3. Every passenger in the terminal was herded into the structure that links the terminal to the more remote gates, while ear-splitting sirens blared overhead. It was 20 minutes before the Terminal was declared safe.
Posted by geoff2 at September 11, 2004 02:56 AMConcerning the assault weapons ban, I challenge you to find even the slightest blip 1 or 2 years from now in the statistics for gun-related crime in the USA that can be even tangentially tied to the ban's lapse.
Speaking as an American, I don't really get the feeling Brits and Europeans understand the issues. We're kind of waiting for you to figure out that socialism is a bad idea :-)
Posted by: Patrick at September 13, 2004 06:38 PMMultiple non-sequiturs - I really hope this isn't meant as an example of American prowess at logic.
(1) My comment was about the perception of a gun-obsessed society, not about crime rates. Nonetheless it is revealing that in a time of "war", with talk of "homeland security", that the POTUS has reneged on his earlier commitment to renew the assault weapons ban. Flip-flopping to ensure the support of the NRA lobby, it would seem.
(2) When it comes to government involvement in economic activity, the US is the "socialist" state these days. Massive expansion in government spending, government hand-outs to the airlines, energy business, cotton growers and steel. It's corporate socialism - a bit like pre-WW2 Germany and Italy.
Posted by: Geoff Arnold at September 13, 2004 09:04 PMGeoff, I'm here in North Wales and I have to say that perhaps you have summed up feeling in the UK with this post. One of my colleagues sums it up as "the Americans will be alright, they're just too young as a democracy - give them a hundred years or so and they might have grown up". Most people don't care about the US election result because the view of America is exactly as you have stated. The thing I often point out to them is how much effect it has on our lives in this country and all those worldwide, but the feeling of apathy toward it actually is more than that toward British politics. I think perhaps that some of the policies that Clinton persued during his tenure made Brits look up and see good things being done, but the way things have happened since 9|11 just completely undoes all that good. And, of course, we do get to see a bit more truth about things on the BBC as opposed to Fox News or whatever, so that just increases apathy over here in ways that perhaps Americans don't get to 'enjoy'.
Posted by: Ade at September 17, 2004 08:05 AMHere's an ironic twist: you say "we do get to see a bit more truth about things on the BBC as opposed to Fox News or whatever". Well, on cable TV we in the US have access to a channel called "BC America", which has news broadcasts anchored by people in both Washington and London. And compared with the domestic (or world service) BBC news, it's incredibly tame. How disappointing. (BBC America's claim to fame here is based on "What Not To Wear" and "The Office", and the fact that on Friday nights it shows "The Avengers", "The Prisoner", and "The Saint" back to back....)
Posted by: Geoff Arnold at September 17, 2004 08:21 AM