Idiot on "NIGHTLINE" last night.

[skypilot]

"Nightline" had a segment last night about a letter writing campaign coordinated by The Guardian in which British citizens wrote to Americans living in a town in Ohio (I've forgotten the name of the town). The writers did not know any of the people they were writing to but were trying to impress upon them the importance of this election. I don't know if any of the writers said anything explicitly anti-Bush but it seemed pretty obvious that they were concerned about another Bush term. Anyway, "The Guardian" printed some of the responses that the writers received and alot of them were not pretty: "Mind your own business you pansy-ass tea sippers!" "Brush your teeth!" and the like. At the end of the segment they were interviewing this one woman whom I knew right away was a rightwinger;she was wearing a Stars and Stripes jacket (conservatives always seem to make a fashion statement with the flag) Anyway, her comment about the letters was simply that we'd fought for independence from the British for a reason. She made kind of a "That's that" gesture with her hands and then repeated that we'd fought for independence from the British for a reason. "It's as simple as that" she said. In other words we don't have to give a shit about what some "pansy-ass tea sippers" have to say.

This, of course, is ridiculous. It's not "as simple as that". Did this moron forget that there are British troops in Iraq and that our foreign policy helped put them there? Does she realize that our foreign policy,especially in the Middle East,can have effects on people who happen to live alot closer to the region than we do? And that includes the British. "Nightline" interviewed another person whose son is in Iraq. He too was not moved by the letter he'd received and claimed to be astonished that someone from another country would have had the nerve to write it. This particular "Nightline" segment hilighted quite effectively the self-centeredness of some Americans and I don't even think that that is what they were tryingto do.

[Lancer]

1. Xenophobia. "It's as simple as that."

Fear and loathing of other nations and cultures is so typical of neocons, who think nothing of throwing those "pansy-ass tea sippers" in the paths of tracer fire, IEDs, or al Zarqawi's sword.

And you're right, skypilot, It is invariably the most jingoistic and ignorant among us who wrap themselves, literally, in the flag.

[Wilber_Stool]

2. Just think of what things would be like

if we hadn't fought the War of Independence. We'd still be under the repressive thumb of Briton like Canada and Australia.

[skypilot]

3. Cheaper drugs and "Fosters" beer!!!

The horror!

[Huckebein the Raven]

6. and having a national health care system

and possibly citizens who have traveled the world and speak more than one language.

-what a nightmare that would be......Not

[thethinker]

4. What I noticed was

What I noticed was that all of these people had claimed to be undecided when polled. It was obvious from the the Bush signs in the man's front yard he was not undecided.

[FlaGranny]

5. I saw that and was ashamed.

The British wrote polite, concerned letters. The Americans responded with rudeness and arrogance. Tell me again why Americans are hated in the rest of the world?

[Huckebein the Raven]

7. They must hate us for our freedom.....yeah right

I was ashamed as well when I read some of those responses. More people fitting the "Ugly American" stereotype.