Dear Stacy
Re your recent blogpost about how we Brits are going to hell in a handcart…..where to begin? Well, as many Brits do with the USA you select an admittedly horrendous case and then mischaracterise it as a general rule. We do the same over here about American society where newspaper reports of gang rape, serial murderers, drug wars and high school killing sprees are then used to imply that that the majority of US citizens live in a Mad Max world where only a few can live decent lives.
It’s not true about America and certainly not true about the UK.
What is irritating about this particular post is that you, the great advocate of shoeleather journalism, make a whole series of assumptions about the society I live in without bothering to come here and mix with the natives – which is the accusation you rightly hurled against the NYT and WaPo weasels who decided, without a shred of evidence, that a census official had been murdered by drug crazed incestuous hillbillies who believed him to be an agent of Obama.
I live in a town with a substantial muslim minority. Until I recently retired I spent nearly 40 years teaching adolescents who came from the “estates”. I simply do not recognise the picture of universal depravity and rampant islamic fascism that you portray from the seat of your deer damaged Kia 4000 miles from the scene of the action – and, before I am accused of being a dhimmified helot, my heroes are Maggie Thatcher, Enoch Powell and Oliver Cromwell, my heart bursts with pride when I see the union flag and I thoroughly approve of SAS hit squads wiping out Taliban/AQ cadres with bombs,bullets and knives. But I also never assume that the behaviour of a few slimeballs gives adequate evidence for condemning a whole cultural group.
I always come here to read your take on the US scene – just do me a favour and count to ten before pontificating about events further away that you only hear about at third or fourth hand – after all you will never catch me passing any opinions on American politics….
PS – our royals and the aristocracy in general have always been as randy as Democratic Presidents, Hollywood stars and Newt Gingrich.
PPSÂ – if you do decide to wear out some shoeleather by coming over here, e mail me and I’ll buy you a beer or two at the pub.
Yours sincerely
The Aged P
