Now I was drifting through some other blogs and came across one from an American visiting London who was complaining how aggressively anti-American the Londoners they were meeting turned out to be. Perhaps the arrangement of flags shown above has something to do with it. I think during the Blair years many people in Britain were appalled by the devoted way our Prime Minister followed George W in every aspect of his policies - especially in the Middle East. The way British forces were sucked into conflict has coloured the views of many Brits about Americans. As usual though perhaps we are confusing the people with the government.
I do think though that American Imperialism is at the back of some of the prejudices about Americans. Alot of Britons think American imperialism extends to every aspect of their lives - films, books, music, commerce, finance, business and politics. But then the British cannot really decide where they are - an independent country or part of Europe or the 51st state on the United States!
2 comments:
We visited the UK in May (I'm presently doing a very long winded blog of our trip), and didn't have any problems. The folks in London, Liverpool and Edinburgh were all very nice. Several told us about their trips to America and how much they enjoyed it. One gentlemen even thought Utah and Montana were wonderful. Go figure!
The BBC is blatantly anti-American, both in the UK and on the BBC America cable channel here in the States. Sky News seems more reasonable and so I generally read their site for UK news. Politicians come and go, so things will smooth out eventually.
Since everyone hates America I find it interesting that so many will try any means to become part of it. 12 million illegals and counting.
Just goes to show you don't realise the prejudices of your own broadcasters - I hadn't noticed the BBC bias. Sky News is owned by Rupert Murdoch I think so that might explain the difference in attitude. Most Brits complain about life in the UK but like with the US there is an enormous influx of people - especially from the former Soviet bloc.
Post a Comment