Saturday, October 16, 2004

An American Crybaby In London


I had no idea Americans were so easily reduced to tears.

After going on at considerable length about how rude Londoners hate and attack Americans (something Paul Craddick forgot to mention in his recent travelogue), we're informed that the British are even worse than anti-American...
Here is what I perceive as the explanation: Europe has always been a seething hotbed of anti-semitism. England, sadly, has the distinction of being the very first country to expel its Jews and initiate the blood libel. The Jews were not allowed back into England until the time of Cromwell, and feel to this day that they worship by the grace of the sovereign.
Um... do I sense a slight bias in the author's perceptions?

When the author whines, "I cannot conduct business or even take a taxi ride in Britain without a scathing tirade about the scurrilous Yanks", I can't help but wonder if her London is even on the same planet as the one which holds the London that I vist from time to time. On my last trip, the most memorable taxi conversation involved a driver who, upon learning that I had lived in Manchester when I was five, started querying the extent of my expected resultant devotation to Man United. Ah, this crazy post-9/11 world....

2 comments:

  1. No, the English hate Gentile Americans, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. C'mon. The English hate everybody. Well, hate's not the word. Condescend? It's sort of a national pastime.

    ReplyDelete

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