Yankee Doodle Eggs Anticant

In a post entitled "Why don't they like us?" Anticant writes...

Egged on by Yankee Doodle, I’m taking on the burdensome role of Candid Friend, and putting together some personal reflections on the vexed question of European-American relations. Here is my first spasm.

Having been a teenager during World War II, Anticant is a "seasoned citizen" of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Anticant's thoughts in this post are worth considering, even if (perhaps especially if) one does not agree with them. I think future posts will be worth considering, as well.

Key excerpts from the comments section (italics added):

Yankee Doodle said...
Anticant,

I think you made some excellent points in your post (I have not yet read all the comments -- they are rather lengthy, and tomorrow is another day).

I think questioning America is the most patriotic and American thing a person can do -- especially when it is a question of war. Foolish is the crowd of people that goes goose-stepping off to war just because the Fuehrer says.

America is not perfect, and Americans need to hear the criticism not just of those who like America (like you), but of those who hate America (like the terrorists), because only by hearing it can we identify problems that we ourselves don't recognize, and we need to identify them in order to fix them. Who knows? If we fix enough of them, maybe the terrorists will find they can tolerate us after all.

And I "encouraged" you, I did not "egg you on" -- but, now I have fodder for another humorous post. ;)

Keep up the good work, Anticant!

18 October 2007 00:34



anticant said...
Thanks, YD. I should have said "emboldened" me - because many of your fellow-citizens will doubtless consider comments and criticisms from outside the tent the height of impertinence. [snip]

18 October 2007 01:47

Anticant, you of all people should know better: either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists!


Speaking of which, reading this part, "If we fix enough of them, maybe the terrorists will find they can tolerate us after all", somebody is going to take that out of context, misquote it, and say "Yankee Doodle said terrorism is our fault!" or something stupid like that.

My question: Who will it be?


There are several more interviews that I'm currently working on or planning to start soon. These are some quality people with interesting perspectives and interesting background. It promises to be good stuff, at least on their part -- no guarantees, explicit or implied, about the quality of the interviewer! :)

For my interviewees, some of whom have been working with me patiently for nearly two months now, thank you very much for your patience and understanding!