I was in the British Museum with a friend, looking at the Anglo-Saxon galleries, in advance of studying the Anglo-Saxons in my first term at Oxford a few weeks later. His mother called when he turned his mobile on when we left the museum, saying there had been an attack in New York and was he safe (see, other people have over-protective parents too!). I don't think I had a mobile in those days; I certainly don't recall really knowing what had gone on until I got home, although the newstands were already talking about thousands dead, which made me realize it wasn't a conventional bomb of the kind we were used to in the UK (the IRA) and Israel
( ... )
Didn't know about the Nostradamus urban legend. He wrote so vaguely, his prophecies can be twisted to mean just about anything you want.
That's what I think, and it turns out that this certain urban legend was quoting a prophecy that wasn't even one of his real ones. But still, for the next month or so my bookstore could NOT keep Nostradamus books in stock, and I had to be very careful to be diplomatic with customers and not reveal how ridiculous I thought the whole thing was.
I'm against the Iraq War, but Vietnam lasted longer.
What I heard is that the war in Afganistan is now the longest war that the U.S. has ever had. Don't know how the Iraq War compares to Vietnam. We're having so many wars now it's hard for me to keep them all straight!
I've never understood the torture either. Even aside from human rights, information gained under torture is suspect anywayI was shocked and ashamed to be an American when I found out we were doing that. And you're right, it doesn't even WORK anyway
( ... )
I guess I find it hard to think of America as a bully. I think Iraq was wrong and I think Vietnam was wrong, but - maybe it's because I've had American friends most of my life or maybe it's because America seems to be the only friend Israel has left (and that people who hate America generally hate Israel too) or maybe it's that America is one of the few countries that had a significant Jewish population but never persecuted them, I just can't think of America as a bully. Iraq, Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, the treatment of the Native Americans and even slavery... guess I feel they're aberations and that the real America will reassert itself. Europeans did things that were just as bad or worse too (you've probably never heard of the Don Pacifico affair or the Opium Wars, where Britain fought China so we could force them to let us sell them opium
( ... )
I just can't think of America as a bully. Iraq, Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, the treatment of the Native Americans and even slavery... guess I feel they're aberations and that the real America will reassert itself.
I understand that feeling. I also feel that there's a GOOD side to America, with might make these things even more frustrating. It's like, we SHOULD KNOW BETTER.
Here's a post from another blog I like that I think sums up what I was trying to get at about how America's changed since 9/11, and it hasn't been a change for the better: http://www.stonekettle.com/2011/09/911-ten-years-on.html
I don't know if Brits are aware of all the stuff that's been going on over here since then. It's more than just the wars. The entire country has gotten all paranoid. We've given up a lot of stuff that was supposed to be things we'd never compromise on.
Comments 6
Reply
That's what I think, and it turns out that this certain urban legend was quoting a prophecy that wasn't even one of his real ones. But still, for the next month or so my bookstore could NOT keep Nostradamus books in stock, and I had to be very careful to be diplomatic with customers and not reveal how ridiculous I thought the whole thing was.
I'm against the Iraq War, but Vietnam lasted longer.
What I heard is that the war in Afganistan is now the longest war that the U.S. has ever had. Don't know how the Iraq War compares to Vietnam. We're having so many wars now it's hard for me to keep them all straight!
I've never understood the torture either. Even aside from human rights, information gained under torture is suspect anywayI was shocked and ashamed to be an American when I found out we were doing that. And you're right, it doesn't even WORK anyway ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I understand that feeling. I also feel that there's a GOOD side to America, with might make these things even more frustrating. It's like, we SHOULD KNOW BETTER.
Here's a post from another blog I like that I think sums up what I was trying to get at about how America's changed since 9/11, and it hasn't been a change for the better: http://www.stonekettle.com/2011/09/911-ten-years-on.html
I don't know if Brits are aware of all the stuff that's been going on over here since then. It's more than just the wars. The entire country has gotten all paranoid. We've given up a lot of stuff that was supposed to be things we'd never compromise on.
Reply
Leave a comment