My Favorite European Export – A Big Thanks to Denmark ;-)

Aside from the obvious peace, love, and happiness, I cannot think of a greater export from Europe. No. America has imported the best looking man in the world. Yes, you heard that correctly. In the world.

Thanks to “Casino Royale“, he’s becoming more popular in the states.

Denmark, the happiest nation in the world, thank you so very much for producing such a flawless genetic masterpiece such as Mads Mikkelson.

For those that understand my blog and know me well enough, you’ll also know that I’ve got my fair share of complaints about modern America. While we’re on the topic of HOT European men, let me just say that our men over here in America are turning into skirts. I’m not talking about homosexuals. I’m talking about HETEROsexuals. Nowadays, they are taking just as much time in front of the mirror before work as women (if not longer). Hair can no longer be found on their bodies (anywhere!!) unless it’s one of those dorky one-lined mustache-beard combos. I am trying to accept how people and language are evolving over time, but facing the metrosexual modern-man is becoming increasingly troublesome for me.

So, to find that sexy man with HAIR, one must look no further than Europe. Or forget about the entire continent, just go to Denmark and pray that you “accidentally” run into Mads Mikkelsen. Surely enough, some American men prefer to stay natural, but let’s just say they are getting harder and harder to find these days. I’m grateful for my husband who has hair, though! Yay!

Mads Mikkelsen is not just about looks, however. It doesn’t stop there. He has an incredible ACTING ability that I am told exceeds that of his villainous character in Casino Royale as “Le Chiffre“. (I’m also told that he has a great sense of humor and is a nice person, but I suppose I’ll never find that out for myself, right?) With that said, I signed up for Netflix and have been watching more of his films. I just recently saw “Elsker dig for evigt” (2002) OKA “Open Hearts”. I loved this movie so much that it is now one of my favorite films of all time, and I’ve already seen it twice with plans to continue watching it and more Danish films – especially with Mads in it.

See the slide show that I’ve created here.

You wouldn’t believe it, but unfortunately such innocuous topics as this spark up dirty Americanophobic pablum from both Americans (yes we are just as bad if not worse) and non-Americans. The Anti-American Americans are least effected by the mindless rants from other countries because obviously they hate Americans and America with just as much passion as the Americanophobes living elsewhere. I will discuss this in more depth in one of my upcoming posts. But for now, I will say that it is hard to explore and study Europe, their cultures, their languages, their movies, and their celebrities without being forced to hear how everything America does is wrong. *sighs* Any message board on Mads Mikkelsen, Danish films, and Dogme Films (which the USA make too), will define this sentiment. It comes to no surprise that if Americans are “insular“, that the “Ugly European” and “Ugly Canadian” definitely contribute to that because when we pop our heads out to explore what else is out there, we only get intimidated and virtually shot down by the Americanophobes. Most ironically, it is the NON-insular Americans that get attacked and in less severe cases are blamed for those Americans that are bad and immoral! Wouldn’t it be the Insular American that doesn’t watch European films with subtitles the ones most vulnerable to non-constructive criticism? WEIRD. But that’s the “Ugly European” and “Ugly Canadian” for you. We already know about the “Ugly American“.

Anyway, long live Mads Mikkelsen!!

EUROBAMANIA

I don’t know if you had a chance to follow Obama’s trip across Europe. I watched several reports in the German news, then in the French news, and he was unanimously being cheered like a rock star. As a French loving and living in the United States, I was pleased to see those pictures of true “pro-Americanism” in Europe. But I wonder how the American voters may react, and I thought this blog might be a good place to get some answers.

How does it feel as an American citizen to see a presidential candidate being praised by an overwhelming crowd of more than 20,000 or 200,000 Germans? How do American voters react watching a French president welcoming Obama as an almost-president of the United States and clearly endorsing his candidacy?

In a recent survey of 6,200 people in Europe by YouGov, Obama was favored by an overwhelming majority in Italy (70% vs 15% for Mc Cain), Germany (67% vs. 6%) and in France (65% vs. 8%). Only Russia (surprisingly considered as part of Europe in that survey) would support Obama by only 34% and gives Mc Cain a decent 28% credit (see here for more results and comments on this poll). This strong support lies in the perception that Obama would lead America in a way that better matches the European interests as well. He’s regarded by many Europeans as a kind of messiah, who will finally get the most powerful nation in the world back to reason: fighting Al-Quaeda where it really lies in Afghanistan – not in Iraq – and eventually joining European nations in their fight against climate change. Again, this is the general perception in Europe (please do not draw conclusions about my personal views on this .

Europeans – and especially the French – have great interest in the coming American election. By supporting Obama, my opinion is that they favor change in the French-American relationship rather than Obama’s program for change. In Berlin, most of the crowd that cheered Obama did not even speak English, and a lot may have joined just to be part of a mediatic event. However, I like to see it as a gathering against anti-Americanism, and a hope for renewed friendship after a long period of tense diplomacy.

You tell me if American voters may trust a candidate with such suspicious friends abroad (facts are: the European support did not really help John Kerry enter the White House!). But I can tell you this: this “simple U.S. Senator” – as he presented himself – did more for America’s image across Europe in 3 days than the entire Bush administration in a decade (and this is a personal opinion you can now sneer at) )

Canadian Patriotism Linked with Americanophobia

This is what Canadian Patriotism is for the every day Americanophobic Canadian (found here).

Well, I ran across this article on the same page that discussed the myths of patriotism in both Canada and America. What some of us believe patriotism to be not only differs from country to country, but what we believe it to be (contrary to popular belief) is not really “patriotism”, but rather what we want patriotism to be. Simply, most people use the word “patriotic”  and “unpatriotic” as a convenient means to threaten, intimidate, succeed with an agenda or to bully others. Not surprisingly, my own definition of patriotism is not all too different from what can be found in the aforementioned article.

My definition of patriotism can be found in my glossary.

Q: What is Patriotism?

A: Most Americanophobes will tell you that Patriotism is defined as unconditionally accepting its leader and every crooked thing that a government may do. But I beg to differ. Patriotism for me is being able to say that you’re proud of where you were born and have the willingness to defend your country from verbal slander or violent attacks. True Patriotism also believes in free speech in that if we disagree with what our government is doing, we will question it. Patriots don’t always approve blindly of every decision made by our administration. Patriotism also believes that you can be a progressive-minded liberal and still be a patriot. Patriotism is ALWAYS optimistic, believes in change, and sees room for improvement when needed. If Patriotism doesn’t speak up and tries to make changes, then our ancestors that died for this freedom, died for nothing.

In the article, “Canada’s Patriotic Imperative“, patriotism as is should be is discussed below:

“…we have to realize that really loving this country means working to improve it. Patriotism isn’t about painting your face red and white, or wearing a flag pin, or shouting “We’re number one” and telling the rest of the world to kiss off while silently hoping against hope that the Stanley Cup will make its way north of the border next year. Patriotism is about action, not show, and it happens at the community level every day…

[snip]

…patriotism is as much about criticism and at times anger as it is about pride and tradition; and it’s much more about humility and openness and learning than it is about anything else.”

My observations of American Radical Conservatives and Canadian Americanophobia on Patriotism:

—>In the US, too many right-wingers believe patriotism to be silently and blindly accepting authority: both the government and the bible.

—>For Americanophobic Canadians, patriotism is not being American or anything like them. In this article written by an American who lived in Canada, it would appear as if change in Canada = fear of becoming “American”. Ewwwww!

Nor should Canadian patriotism be simple anti-Americanism. Anti-Americanism is so common in Canada that it tends to go unnoticed. Not that there’s anything wrong with being against American foreign policy or the current presidential administration, but dismissing an entire nation of individuals simply to differentiate ourselves from them is both uncouth and disingenuous. There’s so much more to being a Canadian, to the national identity we incorporate into our personal identities, than the popular Joe Canadian rant ever suggested.

Interestingly enough, Canadian Americanophobes and Radical Conservatives in the US are quite similar in that (for the most part), both groups don’t believe in change. They both hate liberals. Both groups hold on to traditional values with every cell of their bodies. The pariahs in society believe in the future through change in those matters that need improvement. The pariahs in Canada are called “American” whereas the pariahs in the US are called, “unAmerican”. These characterizations are ridiculously unreasonable and selfish.

Feel free to read more of what I’ve written about patriotism here.

Evening , folks, call me Sonnabend.

I am from Australia. I’ve been asked to step up and help out (you can find my blog here), so here I am…could not think of a better reason to join this team.

What is anti-Americanism?

It’s spitting on the flag, and the memory, of millions who have fought and died for your freedom.

It’s walking over the graves of many young men who sacrificed so you can argue to your hearts content.

It’s taking for granted the freedom and hope we have for the future, bought and paid for by the blood of patriots.

It’s standing under the shade of the Tree of Liberty, and then cursing those who have tended it and made it grow.

One afternoon, Vice President Cheney was talking at a symposium, and was being heckled by a French reporter. Cheney glanced over and asked the question.

“Are you French”? The man said yes.

“Do you speak German?” Cheney snapped back. The man blinked, and then said no.

Cheney replied with a straight face “You’re welcome”.

God Bless the United States of America.

Anti-Americanism in Indonesia: What It Looks Like

(My name is Yella and my blog can be found here.)

When George W. Bush visited Indonesia last year, thousands of us marched down the streets, with banners saying things like “Bush’s feet are stained with blood. Don’t let him on our innocent land and force our government to kick the President of USA out of our country.”

These people, we suspect, were the same people who had protested many times before — and who would protest again in the future — against US international policies and any bad news from Palestine (or ‘good news’ from Israel) regarding the conflict between the two countries. These people, claimed themselves anti-Americans. They burn the so-called star spangled banner, threw rocks and rotten eggs at the American embassy building …while wearing Levi Jeans and keeping a Motorola in their pockets! These kinds of people are usually not so anti-American and harmless on normal days. They love McDonald’s fried chicken. Only a few of them were true anti-Americans. And I can say is that an anti-American here is also a fundamentalist Muslim.

Anti-Americanism in Indonesia is almost always about Islam and non-Islam. That’s why whenever their brothers in the Middle East suffer from Israel and/or USA actions, they get angry, and they gather people to walk the length of all roads to express their resentment. It’s a good thing for them that most of Indonesian people would come with these Muslims (or any Muslim at all), for free lunch.

We Indonesians, actually, are not quite familiar with anti-Americanism. We’re never even anti to anything at all! We’re too lazy to think, to busy with our basic daily needs like getting something to eat, some place to stay, and some clothes to wear. We don’t have time for anti-Americanism. So if we joined the parade and burned American flags, we did it for free lunch.

In fact, in normal life, we respect Americans. I know many of us would rather live in the US than in Indonesia, if given the choice. What we commonly have in mind about Americans is that Americans are rich and generous, and that they’re nice and fun people to get along with. Thanks to Hollywood.

Moreover, there are many people who kept their head up high simply because they had an American friend. They talked about their American friend all the time, and tried to think and live like Americans do.

Me, I’m with most Indonesian people — not an anti-American at all. Only I’m luckier than my neighbors here. I don’t have to burn flags for lunch.

Okay, happy 4th of July! I’ll see you again next time.

What the 4th of July Means to ME!

What’s the big deal with the whole 4th of July speech? “All men were created equal….bla bla bla….” Does anybody know who this was meant for and what it REALLY means??? Most of it doesn’t even hold true any longer as times have changed, and…. FOR THE BETTER!! How much do people really know about America? That speech actually degrades us and continues to make a laughing stock out of us. Not that we need too much help, but ya know…..

Here’s what is important. For several years, the Brits were bullying us around and taxing us like crazy. Being that the Americans don’t take being walked on very well, we stood for what was right, kicked some British arse and became independent from them! Now, that’s why we are as patriotic as we are – if we are. We got where we are today by fighting for what was right. Although I’m truly sorry we got rid off all that precious British tea (10,000 pounds worth was a lot of money back in the day). I’m not kidding. Take it from a SERIOUS tea drinker, as myself.

No. America’s not perfect. Read in my glossary how I define patriotism before the Americanophobes come here with THEIR automatic weapons and laundry list of American errs.

As one of my German friends said, …

But it´s important to realise this: The basic experience of the USA as a nation is, that it had to fight for it´s freedom and independence (against Britain) and later in the american civil war… For this reason their believe in the USA and the strong patriotism of the american citizens are an expression of their pride, that they have survived and did not brake appart, and also on their strong believe in freedom and independence their fathers have fought for – and the strong believe that the USA is standing for these two qualities.

Listen to the lyrics of the national-anthem of the USA, it is all about this. Many Americans support their country, because it is assuring their freedom. Many Americans support the US-troops, because the troops are defending their country and the USA gained it´s freedom through war….

You may allow me to say… It is not that dumb to support your countries troops – it consists of your people and is fighting for your values and interests. (Let´s say – it should fight for your values and interests…)

[snip!]

Another thought on American patriotism: The USA is proud to be a separate and independent nation – it is proud, that it has become a wealthy and strong country (the Europeans predicted, that America would brake apart in anarchy and chaos) and it is proud to be the oldest democracy on this planet, that still exists…

Things one can actually be proud on. There IS a form of healthy and honest patriotism in the USA, which you should be careful to critizise. (some overdo it – but extremists are standart in human societies.) Be sure, that you understand what you are up to, before loading your weapons…

For those people who think you can’t be a liberal and love your country at the same time can stick it. And then kiss my natural born white and plump ass!

And remember people, if it weren’t for the French, chances are we would have never been able to have an Independence Day. There would be no “4th of July”. They fought courageously and helped us kick British butt! Give credit where credit is due. As SuperFrenchie says, …

If it were not for the French, Americans would be speaking English today! 

With that said, …

Happy Independence Day!!!!

and

Thank you, France!!

What the Far Right and Far Left Have in Common

Due to my chatter about Americanophobia on this blog, when I mention the “Far Left”, I’m talking about the Far Left in Canada and Europe (naturally some can apply to Americans). The “Far Right” will be the Americans. (Obviously this doesn’t mean that all Americans are “Far Right” and all Europeans and Canadians are from the “Far Left” – I’m just mocking the extremists!)

Let’s begin!!

—> They both think their country is the mmm bestest in the worldest.

–> Sports is less about entertainment for these people and MORE about Patriotism.

—> They both have an outstanding lack of intellectual curiosity.

—> They both believe that Obama was only elected president because he was black.

—> They are both overly obsessed with politics. It’s all they think about, it’s all they do, it’s all they watch, it’s all they read. They live it, breathe it, milk it, and feed it.

—> They are both against porn and those who look at it.

—> They are both against swear words and look down on those who use them.

—> They both feel morally superior and above others. (Self-righteousness is a good word!)

—> They don’t travel. If they DO, it’s only because they HAVE to.

—> They both think Bush won the 2000 election.

—> The far left call Bush “Hitler”. The far right call Obama “Hitler”.

—> Neither one of these groups have a sense of humor. They are the kind of people that you have to explain everything to, and they STILL don’t get it! They both have a tight ass. The concept of “having fun”, kicking back, enjoying life or a laugh is like a foreign language to them. The Right is wondering why you’re not taking the Muslim terrorists seriously enough, and the Left is wondering why you’re not taking the starving S. Africans seriously enough.

—> They are both THE most intolerant and xenophobic people on earth.

—> They are both very preachy.

—> They are both boring to be with.

—> They are both very closed-minded (OKA “mentally constipated”) to any dissent, new ideas, and other possibilities. Their minds are made up for life. All researched information are those ideologies that entertain their own belief system. All contrary ideologies and dissent is purposefully misunderstood and twisted brilliantly to suit their own ongoing agendas.

—> They are both obsessed with food. The Right eat too much and the Left starve themselves.

—> While they can be admired for their political activism, they both tend to protest violently and resort to destroying property and symbols as well.

—> They both have very bad tempers, but they both exercise so much constraint that people on the other end of the conversation/text will admire them for their “stoic response”.

—> They will unashamedly accuse other people of doing the very things they have perfected themselves. With that said, they are well known for being the most hypocritical people.

—> They pretend to care about others when, in fact, all they’re concerned about is their agenda.

—> They are both religious fanatics. The Right believe that Christian Fundamentalism is the “religion of peace” whereas the Left believe that Islamic Fundamentalism is the “religion of peace”. – (Yes, even if they’re not Islamic themselves!)

—> They both believe in the most hypocritical version of the word, “peace”.

—> They both hate cigarette smokers — I mean really hate them.

—> They both have very strong mindless minions and backup.

—> They both think Scott Peterson is innocent.

—> They are both technophobes. They just get by on the basics, but frown on anything that is or appears complicated. For example, both of these groups hate iPods and iPod users. They would also never know how to take care of their computer by themselves in the most basic ways should they have technical problems.

—> They are both very grumpy, whiny and pessimistic.

—> They are both the PC Police and the Grammar/Spelling Police of the world (unless, of course, you’re on their team). With that said, they get offended VERY easily over the pettiest of things. Even the word, “fart” causes them to run and take a shower.

—> They both don’t believe in the separation of Church and State. The Right support Christian Politics and the Left support Islamic Politics even if they’re not Islamic themselves!!

—> Neither one of them believe in Personal Responsibility and blame other groups for all of their problems and life failures.

—> Both are gay. It’s just that the Right are still in the closet.

—> They are both seduced by power and like to be told what to think and do.

—> They both H-A-T-E Hollywood with a passion and are vehemently *against* televisions and anything that resembles entertainment i.e. music, film, comedy, etc…

—> They both go out of their way to take away the freedoms of the opposing party.

—> They are both paranoid watch-dogs. The Right are watching the Muslims, and the Left are watching the Americans.

—> They both hate happy people.

—> They both hate me and my blog as I’m not a slave to either of the political wings.

—> They both hate themselves.

—> They both need a little more of , , , some more of , much more of , and not to mention , and , and it couldn’t hurt to do more of , , and , and either!

—> And last but not least, both groups will be offended by this post.