How the Europeans see us

[ginnyinWI]

I suppose you all know who Rick Steves is, the European travel guy? Here is a letter posted on his site. I liked the comment from the Danish hotel owner, especially what I've bolded. I took out the names because I don't know if it would be appropriate to copy to another site.

Americans Boycott Danish B&B After Rude Awakening
Many American travelers (and even some of my readers) are still surprised that Europeans oppose American foreign policy. And many are put off by hoteliers and B&B hosts who show their politics. Generally, our European friends are okay with just avoiding the painful subject. But, as this e-mail correspondence shows, if you ask a European to pray for America…you may not get much support. Read this back and forth correspondence and be warned.

Rick


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To Rick,

We are planning on a vacation to Europe and need a room in Copenhagen for a couple of nights. I sent a message to a B&B you recommend and this is the reply I got. I just thought it was interesting to see how some others in the world see us these days. We responded by declining to use his B&B. We hate to get in a big discussion during a vacation. Note Mr. Frederiksen’s PS.

Pray for our troops and country,

xxxxx and xxxxx



Dear xxxxx and xxxxx,

I have a double room available for the 2 nights requested, arriving the 27th of August. The price is 500 Danish krowns per night. Please, let me know if you want to book and, if so, also your arrival time. This is important as I don't have a 24 hour reception desk. Once you are here, you get your own keys and can come and go as you like.

Yours,

xxxxxxxx


P.S.: I'm sorry, but your last request about “praying for your troops and country” I can't fulfill, as I am very much against the US war crimes in Iraq and hate your evil, fascist, hypocrite president. And because of God letting things like that happen, without striking Bush and his criminal gang with a thunderbolt, I don't believe in him either. So your last request is completely impossible for me. I simply can't do it. Sorry.


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Editors note: xxxxxxxxx received many e-mails in response to this exchange on our website. Here is a recent letter from him:

Dear Rick,

With my e-mail inbox overflowing with support e-mails, I got curious whatever happened, and one of my supporters could tell me, that my private e-mail to Trudi and John had ended up on a public billboard on your homepage.

I think it's quite OK of you to warn Americans with this kind of (to most Europeans) extremist political view, so that they keep it to themselves, if they don't want to get into political discussions. The great majority of the populations here are against the attack on Iraq. It's only a few of the European leaders that support it, and very much against the will of their own people. So asking people here to pray for these troops or for a country, that runs a concentration camp (Guantanamo), where prisoners are held for unlimited time, under inhuman conditions, without trial, is like waving a red cloth in front of a bull. To many of us, America is no longer the leading star of the free, democratic world. And this has nothing to do with the single american tourist, who (the vast majority) fortunately is a very pleasant experience. I have met Americans, who, immediately on arrival, even started out excusing their governments behaviour, without me getting into that matter, at all.

On the contrary, I assure them that I didn’t hold them responsible for any of that, and that they didn't have to do it. We all know that only 50% of the American voters actually vote, and of them only 50% voted for George Bush. And that is only 25% of the Americans. I guess about the same percentage that would support a communist leader if their people had the chance of a free election. But your advice is good and well-meant: If you don't want to get into political discussions here, don't provoke us like that.

All the best to you.

Yours,

xxxxx

p.s. Rick Steves is a lefty--his picture appeared in The Nation on the page where they show a celebrity reading a copy of the magazine.

[TayTay]

1. Well, I'll let you know how it goes in Scotland

I already saw two of the topics up for discussion at the con:

Is America an Empire in Decline?
America: Has it lost it's moral way?

This bodes well. Good thing I have my "I voted for Kerry" shirt all packed and ready to go.