I guess it was only later that I thought of all the people living in America who didn't vote for Bush it can't be a great time for them. I also don't believe that everyone who voted for Bush was simply stupid, it would be easy, and maybe reassuring to think so, but clearly not true. The idea that many see him as a man of morals is astounding, but then for so many Americans it seems that 'morals' seems to simply mean believing in God, and hating homosexuality and women who have abortions (and the people who perform the abortions of course), tolerance and understanding are low on the list. The Daily Mirror (that fine bastion of journalism) printed response to its 'controversial' front page asking how so many Americans could be so dumb and some of those responses were very interesting. Obviously there were many idiotic insulting letters claiming the English are filth cowardly morons (one claimed we would always be turds compared to America, a sentiment which I believe is held by many Americans simply because so many of them don't seem to realise the implications when they claim that there is no greater privilege than to be American and that the US is the greatest country in the world. Also the old chestnut of how the Americans won the war for us, a simplistic ridiculous (and more importantly - not true) argument that no doubt gets easier to believe the more Hollywood rewrites history to favour the US) but there were also letters that made me realise that many intelligent thoughtful people voted for Bush. Also of interest was letter from Americans claiming they would like to leave the country, will we see unhappy voters leave? In the end what right do we really have to critise, we kept Thatcher in power for a hell of a long time.
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I guess it was only later that I thought of all the people living in America who didn't vote for Bush it can't be a great time for them. I also don't believe that everyone who voted for Bush was simply stupid, it would be easy, and maybe reassuring to think so, but clearly not true. The idea that many see him as a man of morals is astounding, but then for so many Americans it seems that 'morals' seems to simply mean believing in God, and hating homosexuality and women who have abortions (and the people who perform the abortions of course), tolerance and understanding are low on the list. The Daily Mirror (that fine bastion of journalism) printed response to its 'controversial' front page asking how so many Americans could be so dumb and some of those responses were very interesting. Obviously there were many idiotic insulting letters claiming the English are filth cowardly morons (one claimed we would always be turds compared to America, a sentiment which I believe is held by many Americans simply because so many of them don't seem to realise the implications when they claim that there is no greater privilege than to be American and that the US is the greatest country in the world. Also the old chestnut of how the Americans won the war for us, a simplistic ridiculous (and more importantly - not true) argument that no doubt gets easier to believe the more Hollywood rewrites history to favour the US) but there were also letters that made me realise that many intelligent thoughtful people voted for Bush. Also of interest was letter from Americans claiming they would like to leave the country, will we see unhappy voters leave?
In the end what right do we really have to critise, we kept Thatcher in power for a hell of a long time.
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