Letter To The ICBR: Re: America
04/16/2007
From: Matthew Kershaw
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:21:47 +0100
To:
Subject: America
Dear ICBR,
I don't expect you to treat this e-mail with much regard, I expect you are too short sighted to appreciate a different argument. I have read parts of the downright hideous 'book' The Evil Empire and can't help but feel a little insulted, and I'm not in the least bit interested in jingoism, something the author, and any supporters for British Reparations, can't claim.
My one question is, how can you attack Britain, a country that wronged the world beyond any lifetimes of its citizens, when you come from a country that only fifty years ago forced black people to live terrible lives, despite the fact they had as much right as any to be there (after all, it was American farmers who paid for the slaves, wasn't it?). Or how about the invasion of Vietnam, a pathetic attempt at forcing a nasty ideology onto a group of peoples who preferred equality? The British refused to enter Vietnam, and thank god, although I can't help but think British military expertise might have helped in that terrible, terrible war.
Again, I don't expect you to regard this e-mail with any respect, but I had to send it because there are people who can appreciate that the past is indeed the past, many Europeans have rightly forgiven the Germans of today for the Second World War (not that they need forgiving, but as your absurd arguments show some people will hold bitterness for the sake of bitterness) and indeed, many Americans. The entire argument seems to have spouted from a very angry American who can't appreciate criticism of the Land of the Free (Ha! Red Scare, anyone? Segregation?) and has targeted this on Britain, a country that for the last sixty years has offered free health care for anyone within it's borders.
Matthew
