American liberals who are embarrassed to say they live here are fond of saying that America has no culture. You can take this two ways: a) we have no original culture like France has cheese and Italy has opera or b) our culture-at-large is mostly European in origin, thus it is not unique to us. Therefore, we have no culture.
One only has to look at the recent elections in Spain to see how wrong this presumption is. Two days after their nation suffered a horrendous terrorist attack, Spanish voters threw out their center-right prime minister and installed an avowed socialist. This was suprising to me until I remembered that I was looking at the situation from the perspective of an American. Had there been elections here on Sept. 13, 2001, George W. Bush would've been re-elected in the largest landslide in American history. Spain, however, has chosen to throw out the guy whom the terrorists don't like in the hopes that the pain will go away.
Of course, this is nothing new to Europe. Britain and France all but ignored Nazi Germany and Facist Italy until the tanks of the Wermarcht began rolling across the continent. Neville Chamberlin, the man who preceded Winston Churchill, met with Hitler on the eve of the Second World War, declared him a gentleman and said, "This is a man I can work with." Then, with the black days of war upon them, the British people turned to Winston Churchill, a well-known hawk who mobilized the nation for war. Once the war was over and Churchill began warning about the very real Soviet menace, he was tossed out on his head.
I have to say that I am suprised about Spain. Democracy is new in Spain; a generation ago, the nation was run by a dictator. One would think (here's my Americanism showing through again) that the memory of that would still loom large in the national consciousness; I guess having France next door has begun to rub off. I fully expect Spain to pull their peacekeeping force out of Iraq in a few months.
I find it ironic that Western Europe (with the exception of the U.K.) have become so passive and afraid. I wonder what their ancestors would think of all this. Europe for the most part bashes our foreign policy but comes running to us when they need help. During the 80's at the height of the cold war there were always demonstrations against our bases in Europe. I'm sure the Soviets would have just left Europe alone had we left. Considering we almost went to war with them on the reconstruction of Germany. History is easily forgotten because it's in the past for many. Ask a war veteran if it's in the past for them.
Posted by: shawn at March 15, 2004 12:04 PMCan you hear it now? The anti-US sentiments. "You see what happens when you stand up for peace."
The terroists win again. The world's mafia.