Sunday, January 09, 2005

Notice to the American People: If You Voted for Bush, It Is Because You Are Traumatized and Quivering with Fear

Americans, rejoice.

Thanks to Le Monde and other European heavyweights, we now know that we are traumatised and shaking with fear, and that we live in "an America that feels threatened although that doesn't mean it approves Mr Bush's aggressive policy."

Patrick Jarreau, who should know better (since he is Le Monde's correspondant in Washington), calls Bush's victory nothing less but the grip of fear. The text is more of the same… (Earlier, Edwy Plenel, among others, had explained that Dubya's election victory was due, basically, to Americans being frightened and/or bamboozled by Karl Rove and his ilk, comparing the discourse on moral values with the speeches of Nazi-collaborator Philippe Pétain. [When Bush isn't being compared to Hitler, he is being compared to a Stalinist or a fascist sympathizer…])

I suppose PJ, when moving around the DC area, sees inhabitants much like I saw them on my recent visit to Texas, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada: cowering in terror. Except of course, I never really did see any locals livid with fear; everybody was pretty laid back and, if one did happen to bring up 9/11 or Iraq, it was not fear that came to people's faces, but anger. Anger and determination.

So might it be that PJ hasn't actually met many traumatized Americans, either?

Never mind: needless to say, you know how it is: Europeans know better… As always.

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