Hi Mario, Welcome to the list and thank you very much for responding to my post. Your English is very good so don't worry and please post away here! I think the San Remo show is floating around the list and hope someone can hook you up with it.
A few comments: You wrote: > In general, I don't like generalising (I am a Groucho >Marxist too), also because Europe is much less a single >entity than you may think in the US. Speaking about >*Europeans* might be useless. Yes, I don't throw them all into one bag by any means. I have just read some European, mostly British, opinion writers, that seemed very contemptuous of the U.S. I realize that that doesn't mean any Brit or Europeean feels the same way. I guess I think of how some of the American opinion writers influence people in the U.S. and when you hear the same thing coming from them over and over, after awhile it can become "truth" to people, even if it was originally based on pure speculation or opinion or myth. >Conversely, it is difficult to me to understand the >beautiful force that binds Americans (oops, I >generalised!) together. This compactness in hard > times is probably your major strenght, at least from my >*European* point of view. I love hearing this from someone who lives outside the U.S. That force is beautiful to me, too, and I am always amazed by it! >I don't agree (to put it mildly) with many decisions taken >by US governments over the years, and I have seen that >many of you do not agree with them as well. Yes, that is true. It's so difficult here sometimes to reach a consensus or to do what is wise. We are so diverse and our politicians or government decision-makers, sometimes to please everyone (and get votes), make decisions that are either ineffectual or ultimately harmful to us. I think most Americans have a pretty good idea of why we are having problems now in the middle east, but the situation is so complex, that I don't think we quite know how to fix it. Also, people in the U.S. are split in their positions on many of the burning Mid-East issues. They are not split along political parties lines, either, so it is complicated. I do think that the governments of some of the countries there which are having so many problems need to take a good look at themselves, too. They need to assess their own positions on human rights, justice, fairness, diplomacy and terrorism. I'm not denying that the U.S. has in some ways exacerbated the problems there, but they cannot assume the U.S. alone will always be convenient to be blamed or to help get them out of their problems. > I have read in another post that an English > woman stupidly attacked Kakki without any reason, as >if she were responsible for any decision taken by the US >president. I am *European*, but hopefully I am not >stupid, and I wish not to be confused with people > like that. Oh no, I would not do that! And I'd have to say that the U.S. has it's own share of jerks here, too, who have probably been just as insulting and inappropriate with people from other countries! Thanks so much again, Mario. Kakki
