Tag Archives: germany

Grab your boats

Well, Queen’s day is upon us. 24 hours from now the canals will be filled with bumper to bumper boats, beer will flow through the streets, men everywhere will be urinating in public, pack-rats (Some of my friends as well) will be selling their old shit, and an all-encompassing orange party fog will consume the city. Thus is queen’s day. The real event of importance for me is the arrival of a wonderful friend from London. Together we will hopefully go to the World Press Photo exhibit.

I grow tired of xenophobia in general, but lately it is the UK that has shocked me with the fear of immigrants that the press seems to be alluding to. Immigrants are a vital part of their work force, as they are in the US, Germany, Netherlands, etc. Without this group of brave and modest people, the the UK’s- and the world’s- economy would collapse. Tony Blair should make this clear instead of trying to please the racist, ethnocentric types.

All this buzz because Saturday is May 1st, the day the European Union expands to 25 countries. I’ll post a special welcome for them all, because as a European Citizen, I’m happy to have them along. The more cultures the merrier, and the less borders the better. There’s nothing natural about these borders to begin with, ever stand on the Canadian-American or Belgian-Dutch border? What a plain feeling, a human-made border. Oceans, now those are borders!

Today’s Music: Tahiti 80 – 1,000 Times

Anti-Americanism. If you’re reading newspapers or watching the so called “news” on TV, you might have heard this term. More and more lately, mainstream media loves to mention France or Germany’s “Anti-American” sentiment. And many Americans read this and say “Yeah! Those bastards, they’re anti-american!”

Let this journalist be the first to clear up something: Anti-Americanism is a made up word. It’s a politicians word and a media word, used to get you angry and feel betrayed, and therefore to support the very leaders that are doing things that are hurting your well-being (say spending your tax money on war or tax breaks for polluting companies for example) They point to Europe and shout “look, look, they hate Americans, they are evil!” This of course is sheer bullshit. Whats more, it’s being swallowed up by many in the US.

“Why then do so many people hate Americans?” You might ask with anger. Well first, let’s make a separation: Government – Citizens. These two entities are not the same. And Europeans are quite good at separating the two. Now, what does hold truth is that a majority of Europeans are completely frustrated and angry at the American government. This has first and foremost to do with this spirit of “with us or against us, we’re going to do what we want”and then theres the completely anti- international agreements like environmental, international law, and open trade policies, all of which the Bush administration has completely turned its back to. These are things which are important to Europeans and most of the world, hence, a hatred of this rogue American government. This says nothing of American people. Except that many world-wide are baffled as to why the American public goes along with this government? But what should be said, is that actually, many Americans do not want to go along with this government insane and criminal policies, the trouble is, to go against it is quite difficult and in many cases harmful to one’s political/social/legal and physical health.

Next time you hear anti-American in the news, turn it off, put the newspaper aside, don’t be distracted by political manipulation that tries to play on your emotions.