July 5, 2011

I like the way the British newspaper has the strongest 4th of July frontpage today.



Here's the article. Don't miss the second photograph, of the adorable little boy with flag painted on his face — held in the arms of the adorable President of the United States. The boy looks as though he's got all the troubles of the world on his mind. The President does not.

Now, why is a British newspaper so enthused over our celebration of beating the British in a war?
The Brits lack self-esteem and wish they could be us.
The 4th symbolizes freedom and independence and they like that too.
The Brits like to be gracious and demonstrate no hard feelings about the old war.
It's a commercial calculation based on knowing where web traffic comes from.
  
pollcode.com free polls

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are family after all...

Fred4Pres said...

The British people wish they could shoot off guns and fireworks...other than Pakistani-British terrorists trying to kill other Brits.

KCFleming said...

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

Rialby said...

They regularly feature stories about us that the MSM doesn't want to cover. Like 4th of July Parades, 'cause all they do is promote the GOP or something like that.

G Joubert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lincolntf said...

Is the poll working? It froze on me when I tried to vote and won't let me access the "view" window. At least a 50% chance that my computer is at fault but I figured I'd ask. Can you guys vote/see the results?

Curious George said...

"They are family after all..." is about right. And after that little spat in 1776 and a few shortly thereafter we have proven to be reliable in supporting the Brits for a couple centuries.

Of course, Obama has shit all over the "special relationship." But they know like we do that his Asshat is a short term problem.

Chip S. said...

@GJoubert, What was it about the 4th that bothered your Brit friends? The noisy celebrations, the cookout food, or simply the cheek of us former colonials? Seems weird that they would be so sensitive. Must've been academics.

Christy said...

Or perhaps the Mail does it as a jab at their own government? Or to draft off family success?

Ipso Fatso said...

@Lincolntf

I had the same problem with the poll.

KCFleming said...

In the photo above, Obama is explaining to the little boy:

1) He already owes Barry and the Socialists about $500,000, right outta the gate

and

2) "It's your own damn fault, you racist lil' white boy. Pwned!!1! Gimme your corporate jet! And your guns, incandescent bulbs, and trans fat.
Unless you're gay; NTTAWWT.
"

Ipso Fatso said...

The Brits I have met here seem to be facinated with the US and I am sure many back in the UK are as well which would account for some of the coverage in the Brit press. A friend got a call from Australia yesterday and they wished her a happy fourth.

P.S. the kid with BO in the photo does not look happy. Maybe he is a racist!!!!

lonetown said...

The Brits are fascinated with us, and love the ironies.

Its about them!

G Joubert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MisterBuddwing said...

The British people wish they could shoot off guns and fireworks...

Ever hear of Guy Fawkes Day?

WV: cholua (a mixture of chocolate and kalua, I do believe)

rhhardin said...

Kroger used to offer free hot dogs on the 4th, but the food nazis seem to have put an end to its correctness.

Amy Schley said...

While I can't speak for GJoubert, "bemused" is exactly the word that comes to mind with my own British friends' reactions to the Fourth. The notion of loudly celebrating one's national pride is just baffling from that culture's perspective. An American analog would be WASP bemusement at the boisterousness of an AME church service. The behavior is neither necessarily good nor bad, but it is something that one simply can't imagine doing oneself.

Terry Pratchett's Night Watch has a couple rather good quotes about this mindset:

"Raising the flag and singing the anthem are, while somewhat suspicious, not in themselves acts of treason."

"Have you ever sung the national anthem?"
"Oh, lots of times, sir."
"I don't mean officially."
"You mean to show I'm patriotic? Good gods, no. That would be a rather odd thing to do."
"And how about the flag?"
"Well, obviously I salute it everyday, sir."
"But you don't wave it at all?"
"I think I waved a paper one a few times as a little boy ..."
"Never since then?"
"Well, no. I'd be very worried if I saw a man singing the national anthem and waving the flag, sir. It's really a thing foreigners do."

Shanna said...

Option 5: Fireworks make a pretty picture!

Mary Beth said...

Another story on the front page - I'm only making his dreams come true': Mother who took dying son's sperm before switching off life-support machine prepares to see baby conceived at Mexican clinic - seems kind of creepy to me. The father objected, the mother was for it. She got her way.

rhhardin said...

I think it was Tyrrell who said that Guy Fawkes was the only person ever to have entered Parliament with honorable intentions.

Scott M said...

Ever hear of Guy Fawkes Day?

Actually, not until I realized that the Wachowski brothers were wholly in the multi-culti, left wing camp. Unfortunate, that. Hugo Weaving is ten times the actor than the Bros are writer/directors.

Chip S. said...

@GJoubert, Interesting.

Perhaps it's the traditional burning of the Union Jack at the start of every 4th-of-July parade that bothers them. Next year maybe you could serve Pimm's cups at your celebration.

MayBee said...

Interesting, G Joubert.
The British friends I had when living overseas really seemed to not even remember we had once been one of their colonies.

DADvocate said...

Hmmm. I thought July 4 was about celebrating our brashly declaring our independence. We didn't win the war until several years later on Oct. 19, 1781 when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. Oct. 19 isn't a good time of year for outdoor celebrations for the folks up north though. Battles, like the the Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky, continued after that.

Eric said...

We get goofy over their royals, they get goofy over our fireworks. Quid pro quo.

Carol_Herman said...

Why not? It's summer. People love fireworks displays. Coney Island used to do them once a week. On Tuesday nights, if memory serves. We'd stay at the boardwalk's edge. The barges were out in the water. I grew up thinking you always needed water for the ships. So, I was amazed to learn you can do this inland.

As to honoring July 4th, why pray tell, not?

Look at all the attention Americans gave Princess Diana. And, how wonderful the Will & Kate wedding was to watch.

traditionalguy said...

The Brits are more and more like a northern branch of the family who always looked down on the southern family members that had less education and less money. But the northern branch suddenly is about to be run out of the north and they are trying to re-set their relationship with the southern branch that they are planning to move in with.

The Crack Emcee said...

I just introduced my oldest roommate to The Daily Mail yesterday:

"Dude, check it out, it's the news - with tits!"

Amy Schley said...

From the genius that is "Yes, Prime Minister"

Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers: the Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by people who actually do run the country; the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; the Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.
Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?
Bernard: Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits.

AlanKH said...

Maybe the Brits are glad that the clowns in Congress aren't members of Parliament.

edutcher said...

Bad link...

Anent the picture, the little boy is holding the man and the man looks unhappy because his very real fear is that he will fall and be hurt.

Anonymous said...

Being from the south and all our ties to England run deeper than the rest of the U.S. From language to manners and mores...

edutcher said...

Surfed said...

Being from the south and all our ties to England run deeper than the rest of the U.S. From language to manners and mores...

No, there's also a lot of the area north of the Mason-Dixon Line, particularly among the older families and communities, which has the same kinship.

The South just hasn't had as much immigration until recently.

traditionalguy said...

Surfed...Southern ties to Britain are mostly along the coast: Savannah, Charleston and up to the Chesapeake. Those ports developed as trading centers and a friendship with the British Empire was very rewarding for them. King Cotton had to have its customer. But starting 80 miles inland you will find that settlers hated England. King's Mountain, near Charlotte, was the turning point of for Washington's nearly lost war. And the English haters that decisively won there were a self supporting volunteer force.

AmPowerBlog said...

I been linkin' Daily Mail a hella lot lately!

Roadkill said...

"An American analog would be WASP bemusement at the boisterousness of an AME church service."

Amy, I think you nailed it.

Thomas W said...

According to The Economist magazine a week or so ago, the Daily Mail online is designed as a US web site, concentrating on US news, in particular celebrity news. So it's no surprise they have a big 4th of July headline. The question is what the print newspaper in Britain has for its headline.

Ann Althouse said...

The Daily Mail is a lot of fun. Especially if you're interested in what female celebrities look like in bathing suits.