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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Americans will die for liberty |
| 2007-05-27 |
| by Andrew Gimson, London Telegraph H/t Anchoress. Actually a few months old, but perfect for memorial Day. . . . American Airlines had provided a screen on the back of the seat in front of one's own, on which one could watch old movies. There was also a map showing how far we had gone, on which places of interest were marked. It began by showing only two places: London and Chartwell. The Americans are more old-fashioned than us, and what is equally admirable, they are not ashamed of being old-fashioned. They know Churchill was a great man, so they put his house on the map. There is a kind of Englishman to whom this sort of behaviour seems painfully unsophisticated. We are inclined, in our snobbish way, to dismiss the Americans as a new and vulgar people, whose civilisation has hardly risen above the level of cowboys and Indians. Yet the United States of America is actually the oldest republic in the world, with a constitution that is one of the noblest works of man. When one strips away the distracting symbols of modernity - motor cars, skyscrapers, space rockets, microchips, junk food - one finds an essentially 18th-century country. While Europe has engaged in the headlong and frankly rather immature pursuit of novelty - how many constitutions have the nations of Europe been through in this time? - the Americans have held to the ideals enunciated more than 200 years ago by their founding fathers. . . . The quiet solicitude that Americans show for the comfort of their visitors, and the tact with which they make one feel at home, can only be described as gentlemanly. These graceful manners, so often overlooked by brash European tourists, whisper the last enchantments of an earlier and more dignified age, when liberty was not confused with licence. But lest these impressions of the United States seem unduly favourable, it should be added that the Americans have not remained in happy possession of their free constitution without cost. Thomas Jefferson warned that the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots. To the Americans, the idea that freedom and democracy exact a cost in blood is second nature. . .. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #6 Now men, I want you to remember, that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country. George C. Scott, Patton, 1970 |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-05-27 21:46 |
| #5 I greatly prefer the Patton Quote "I don't want you to die for your country, I want you to make the other poor bastard die for HIS country". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-05-27 14:43 |
| #4 Uh. The GPS screen on the back of the seat has an algorithm for displaying nearby cities, based on zoom level and not cluttering the display up too much with noise. This author is simply ignorant of how computers work. There is a kind of American to whom this behavior seems painfully unsophisticated. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-05-27 13:57 |
| #3 Distinguish between the British and English when making such comments, moose. If only the English had a Parliament, a majority would be saying those things and, more importantly, acting upon them. Also note how many of the policies you condemn over there are advanced by our Democrats over here. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-05-27 12:37 |
| #2 It is far more important that the English re-evaluate where they are going. More than anything else, they seem diseased with timidity. For example, were you to discreetly inquire among the man on the street if he thinks that vicious murderers should be hung, I suspect that he would strongly say "Yes!" But he is far too timid to ever suggest such a thing without being solicited first. That is, is there not a single Englishman who will stand up and say that they, as a nation, should have and use a death penalty? I doubt it. But Americans are continually voicing their opinions, unsolicited, on every subject, and are not shy in voicing our disagreements. This is not uncivil, it is honest. And by doing so, we as a people discover what we really want. We question everything we think of. Issues that are never discussed in England because they think they are decided. They humbly do what they are told. "Abolish gun control!" "To HELL with CCTV cameras everywhere!" "Enough of this nanny state nonsense!" "Kick out these illegal aliens!" Civility is not the absence of argument. For without argument, civility withers before the petty onslaughts of tyrants unopposed. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-27 12:20 |
| #1 Thomas Jefferson warned that the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots. To the Americans, the idea that freedom and democracy exact a cost in blood is second nature. . .. Gimson gets it. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-27 11:25 |