Another gem from the Financial Times. Americans visiting Rome were shocked, shocked they tell at us at the level of vitriol directed at the President’s visit to Italy.
A family from Tennessee tells the tale:
For the Cooper family, from Knoxville, Tennessee, visiting Rome was supposed to be the highlight to their two-week vacation in Europe.
Instead, they arrived on Saturday to find some of the Eternal City’s most famous streets and piazzas packed with tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators protesting against a visit by President George W. Bush on his way home from a G8 summit.
“We come from a place where you just don’t see this kind of street protest,” said John Cooper, watching with his wife and two teenage children as demonstrators passed nearby waving communist flags, chanting “Yankee Go Home” and brandishing banners that compared Mr Bush to Hitler.
As Mr Cooper spoke, a skirmish erupted between protesters and riot police, sending the family fleeing for safety down a side street. The violence flared for the next two hours, finally quelled by thousands of baton-wielding police and several bursts of tear gas.
and of course the corporatists are in charge preventing a true accounting of the war:
Avoiding the issue has become easier since Europe’s two most strident war critics – Gerhard Schröder, former German chancellor, and Jacques Chirac, former French president – have been replaced by Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who are more Atlanticist in outlook.
But while Europe’s leaders may have decided to look beyond the war, Saturday’s protests showed that many ordinary Europeans, particularly the young and left-leaning, still view the US through the prism of Iraq.
Most U.S. tourists felt the protests were aimed at Il Presidente rather than the U.S. But young Ms. Cooper was in a bit of a tiff about the Anti-American rabble on the street:
But Mr Cooper’s daughter, Sarah, admitted feeling resentful. “It’s tough to take when you see people being so disrespectful of our president,” she said.
Me, I’m learning the words to O’Canada for my next trip abroad.
The full article (firewalled) is here: We don’t take kindly to yer type around here
For a further view of how Skeeter, I mean Mr. Cooper, and his family can’t see beyond the daily talking points from Fox and the Vice President’s sockpuppet, or as he likes to be known, Senator Lieberman, I refer you to NLinStPaul’s excellent diary:
Respect, they say, is *earned* … even when you are the President of the United States.
I guess young Sarah hasn’t been taught that.
In the culture from which young Sarah comes — and among which I grew up — respect is automatically owed to any person in a position of authority. It is almost never earned, except in the sense that people begin to owe it to you the moment you achieve some kind of authority.
At root, I think the whole authoritarian culture is maintained by an unconscious and automatic identification with the oppressor. Because people in such cultures feel weak — as indeed they are — they identify with authority figures in order to feel strong, even when their interests and those of the authorities are diametrically opposed.
Note the phrasing “our president”. How many freethinking liberals do you know who use that idiom, even when a liberal is in power? We say “the president”. As a victim of authoritarian thinking, Sarah is trying to appropriate the power of the oppressor by claiming ownership of him, or membership in his circle.
Excellent insight eodell.
When in Rome do as the Romans do!
I would recommend to angry U.S. citizens the following:
“When at home, do as the Romans do.”
Isn’t it about time to take to the streets?
Thanks for the recommend northcountry. Sorry I didn’t see it sooner, I’ve been busy at work today.
You do begin to wonder when these people will wake up and begin to deal with the dissonance. At least the fact that this family is travelling in Rome might be a positive step. From what I’m reading, ANY contact with the “real world” helps.
Either that or they crawl up into the fetal position and mutter about decadent Europeans…
Or the well-known Italian anarchy. 😉
Just to help you in your travels.
But if you really want to be convincing you will need to learn this bilingual version(MP3)… If you can manage to even half pronounce the french parts without mangling it too much they may ignore the American accent and give you the benefit of the doubt. heh
I take it that the Coopers are unaware of the mass peace demonstrations in Rome prior to the invasion of Iraq, and later for the withdrawal of Italian troops; of the murder of SISMI agent Nicola Calipari by US soldiers in Baghdad and the subsequent cover-up by the Pentagon; and the CIA kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar from Milan. And then they wonder why Italians are so upset with our President.
I’m furious, and I don’t even live in Italy.
not to mention the wonderful, colorful “Peace from Every Balcony” campaign that took place during the period leading up to the war and continued for months afterwards (and there are still some banners hanging today).
People were very frustrated that Berlusconi and his government went along for the ride, because the populace was almost totally against the war and thus any Italian involvement.
Another subtlety the Coopers are missing is the difference between respect for the office of the Presidency, and the respect (or lack thereof) for the individual currently occupying that office. There is absolutely no reason for them to be personally offended (except for the fact that it evidently reflects on their judgment, since they probably voted for Bush).
Bill Clinton, on the other hand, has always received an extremely warm welcome over here, as have other Democratic presidents.
I’m sure they were absolutely unaware of what you mentioned as none of this was covered in our so called liberal media. I would imagine they are still living in the fantasy that the USA is Number One in everything and everyone loves us and wants to be just like us cause we’re just the bestest country in the world.