The American Soul wot I found in the Olive Garden
The Guardian's Matthew Engel had dinner at an Olive Garden in Birmingham, Alabama and believes he has discovered the key to understanding the current state of Euro-American relations: outside the beltway, in America's hinterland, us Americans is jes plain pig ign'ant. We don' know nothin' 'bout fancy schmantzy stuck up Europe. And know what bubba? We don't care 'bout fancy schmantzy stuck up Europe. It's too damn far away. (Though them Europeans sure is nice when ya bump up against 'em at the Olive Garden-- matter of fact, I think my great grammama came here from some damn place in England, like France or somewheres.) Anyhoo, things have gotten real bad now that the ignorant, unsophisticated bumpkins have taken over the White House, too.
In Alabama, he writes:
a European visitor can expect a warm welcome, because Alabama is like that. But the locals might be just as charming to a visitor from outer space, who would be only a fraction more exotic.Is this just how it is in the hinterland, far removed from the more sophisticated dinner tables of Washington DC? Not necessarily, when Washington is run by George Bush of Texas, Dick Cheney of Wyoming, Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois, not to mention Condoleezza Rice, from Alabama herself, and Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld's deputy, who is sometimes suspected of coming from outer space. You may not feel comfortable with the fact that the future of the planet should be decided by the representatives of voters who know so little about it. A good many senior European politicians share that concern.
Engel adds that, for a European, "over the past few weeks, Washington has seemed almost like an enemy capital." Well, not quite. But keep trying, Matt.
Posted by Dr. Frank at February 26, 2002 10:16 AM | TrackBack