Bush supporters in America send feedback to a God forsaken socialist hell hole

EYEWITNESS

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By Laura Pekonen
     
      Rarely does a journalist who is accustomed to getting angry feedback get feedback that is as angry as that which has appeared in my e-mail during the past two weeks.
      During the US Presidential elections I interviewed Americans living in Finland. Many of them were shocked at the victory of George W. Bush, and one of them swore to stay out of the country through the duration of Bush’s term.
     
The article was translated into English and spread around the world through the English language Helsingin Sanomat, International Edition.
      Since then I have received about 30 fiery messages from the United States.
     
"There is no going home if they think that America is wrong. Thankfully, they can stay in your God forsaken Socialist Hell hole and whine" wrote one commentator.
      "I was a pro-UN Democrat Liberal ... when I gained the courage to examine the track records of the individual nations that make up the International Community. The International Community ... gave birth to Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, the Mongols, the Vikings, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, the Ottoman Empire, the Emperor of Japan that attacked Pearl Harbor..." wrote another.
      Another example: "If you see them again, tell them to stay where they are. Let them stay in Europe, where snivelling, whining and appeasement of terrorism is, like euthanasia and hatred of America, an accepted way of life".
     
The trans-Atlantic cyber attack showed that the bitterness of the US right wing toward Europeans, referred to on The Simpsons as "cheese-eating surrender-monkeys", has not eased since Bush’s victory; quite the opposite is the case.
      The messages contained reminders that the United States is fighting on behalf of all democracies against a global threat, as it did in the 1940s.
      What is important is not the reasons given by part of Europe against the attack. What is significant is that when the United States asked for help, not everyone gave it - even though the United States saved Europe half a century ago.
      "Had it ever occurred to you  that our strong moral character (the one that Euro’s think is irrational, extremist and down-right foolish) is the reason Europe is still Europe and not the United States of the Third Reich or part of the USSR", wrote one Bush supporter.
     
The mentality is very black-and-white, but in the view of the Americans who sent the feedback, only countries living in peace can afford to quibble over shades of grey.
      For them George W. Bush is like Ronald Reagan: men whose goals - for Reagan, the defeat of communism, and for Bush, the crushing of terrorism - justify the means so clearly that eventually the rest of the world will understand that the means were necessary.
     
European and American opponents of Bush can, of course, feel that their criticism is justified. However, at the same time it should be kept in mind that if the Europeans again need the support of the United States for some as yet unknown reason, the right wing - which won the election - may feel that not all of them deserve it.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 18.11.2004


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Americans living in Helsinki disappointed by Kerry defeat (4.11.2004)

LAURA PEKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
laura.pekonen@hs.fi