The whole concept of Anti-Americanism worries me hugely. While countries like France (particularly at the moment), the UK, Germany, Japan etc. etc. labour under a certain amount of distrust and dislike from many people, it seems to me the only other countries where anti-<country>ism is such an issue are the ones ruled by paranoid, tyrannical dictator types. Zimbabwe, maybe. Or Iraq? Certainly the witch-hunts against un-American Americans are on a different level to those poor fuckers who get caught in Iraq, but the psychology behind it is disturbingly similar. (NB, I completely love America and Americans, and I hope to live there one day. So maybe I'd better watch what I put in writing...) Christine's story about a family being tricked into thinking they'd lost a son is, I think, central to problems certain people have. The essence is this. In your posts, Christine, there is a tone that some people are picking up on which comes across devious, reactionary, passive-aggressively critical. This particular instance suggests to me that the anti-war movement uses obscene tactics against those who represent pro-war emotions (though I'd be willing to bet that family just want their son to come home). What annoyed me was you choosing this as the view you want to get across of the peace protesters, rather than focusing on the good, positive, self-sacrificing actions of so many. So Christine's parable could be viewed as a simple tale of "gosh, society these days, isn't it terrible?". Or it could be taken as above, intended or otherwise, which justifies confronting the issue. This isn't supposed to single out one individual for criticism. It IS, however, reasonable to respond to someone who makes controversial views public and is, I am assuming, keen to stimulate debate. Also, apologies for the tone of my last post, which I know was too snarky and personal. Right, I'm off to invade Paul Arathoon (and I mean that in a sexual sense). See you at the picnic! Mark xxx http://www.joannou.net/biondino __________________________________________________ Yahoo! Plus For a better Internet experience http://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+