German brothel ad angers Muslims (what doesn't?)

BBC News ^ | 4/25/2006 | Staff

[NZerFromHK]

"But the Liberal Europeans say the only reason the Muslims hate the West is because of US foreign policy?"

I kid you not, many European academics have pointed out the US's moral decadence among the general urban elites and populations, as marked by things like "Sex and the City", "Ellen" or "Basic Instincts". Of course they conveniently ignore the moral laxity in their own countries that almost always outrank those in America, and their American liberal friends in the media block the entire reports off American MSMs because they know the likes of gay activists or porn industry won't like it.

[Red6]

What they can't discern is fantasy and reality. Sex in the City is Fantasy, Islamic terror is reality.

Hollywood and a liberal media in Europe have created the "image" of the US.

Here’s a good one. When I was still there and the last elections were impending, I explained to some (in casual; conversation when politics came up) that Bush might win. In fact it’s very likely he wins. They were:

1. Shocked that I could actually say that. After all, who would vote for such a horrible president?

2. Thought I was crazy and that Bush would loose by a landslide to Kerry. Why do they think that way?

Because this is where the average German gets his information from: http://www.spiegel.de/ and http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/index.html . A few, a real small percentage might have vacationed in Florida. Those are then the "experts" reporting on what the US is all about.

Example: All they hear about Iraq is one sided. Their government is today silent (The want to no agitate the situation) but under Schroeder was actively making statements negative to the war, its justification, outcome and costs. Then add in a media that is even MORE left than in the US. Imagine a media where what they call right is at best slightly left of center in economic and security matters compared to us. What they call center is what we call liberals and what they call left we call freaks, whacko’s, who no one plays attention to here. Der Spiegel for example is one of Germany’s main weekly papers and is in bed with guess who? The NYT’s. But “Der Spiegel” is even a tad bit further left than the NYT’s if you can believe that?

The German” perception” of the US is a bunch of simplifications, cliché’s and a one sided view. Just like the average American really does not know much about Germany, they know little about the US. But of course they will snicker and think the American is uneducated because he does not know the capital of Austria. But does the German or Austrian for that matter know the capital of California? After all, California has a larger GDP, population, land mass, bigger military with its National Guard and even has a former Austrian as their governor. Walk up to an average European once and ask him: What’s the capital of NY? California? Texas? Ironically their media tells them we are stupid because we don’t know the capital of Denmark.

Back to the point – They get blasted by an extremely left media which even told them to be afraid of that evil Rupert Murdock and his right wing FOX news. Of course the Germans that say this never have seen FOX for the most part, but that’s again another side bar conversation of its own. Also the minor fact that the German media is partially state run (ARD, ZDF, HR3, SWF, DW, WDR, NDR….) is a slight detail that the German does not seem to worry much about.

The Germans maybe should get a clue from indicators like when Fahrenheit 9-11 sells better there than in the US; when Bowling for Columbine sells better there than in the US; when the NYT’s is loosing ground in the US but does well selling stories in Der Spiegel…………. What the Germans want to believe, and have been told, is far from what we are.

[NZerFromHK]

If you grow up in that environment, even blue state America looks conservative to you. I have lived here in New Zealand for years and we get all new important news from the British MSMs. From this perspective Bill Clinton is merely yet another neocon American imperialist - only Dubya is infinitely worse.

When Clinton came to Auckland for APEC in 1999, there were demonstrators demanding his head for what he did in Kosovo and Sudan in 1998, and starving Iraqi children through sanctions. As I said before, any Americans pleading Europeans to shoulder more their defence obligations are perceived over there as a bluff "Now you don't have a credible armed forces, so you just put up or shut up!".

There is a faultline that separates Europe (including Britain) and America, and which I don't think leftism and conservatism differences offer complete explanations.

[NZerFromHK]

"The Germans maybe should get a clue from indicators like when Fahrenheit 9-11 sells better there than in the US; when Bowling for Columbine sells better there than in the US; when the NYT’s is loosing ground in the US but does well selling stories in Der Spiegel…………. What the Germans want to believe, and have been told, is far from what we are."

They can retort what you said here with the clinche "those who don't want to face the truth won't face it and thus won't watch it". We can only persuade them with direct evidence - that whether Michael Moore and NYT have spoken the truth.