[DanaC]

The "dialogue" sounds totally unconvincing to me in both the bus incident and the shop incident.

There is an undercurrent of anti americanism .......but it isnt that overt and it isnt that angry. Most people I think have the capacity to say anti american things in discussions but if presented with an American in their midst are more likely ( in my experience) to be curious about them and explore their views.....There really is very little a Brit likes more than a heated debate. ......Also much of what is said which could be seen as anti American is really anti American foreign policy or a knee jerk response to the worlds current Empire in residence.

To compare the Jews of pre holocaust Germany with an American in London I think is falling into a journalistic trap which merely serves to diminish the horror of the Holocaust. Time marches on and generations go through their schooling ....Dont think that the emotional response of a ten year old today upon hearing tales of the Nazi crimes is in any way the same emotional response that you had....or that I had, or that our parents had. In these days of mass media where genocide is a semi regular feature on the news, how can children grasp the scale of a holocaust 2000 years in the making if it is used so casually to illustrate a point ?

My main problem though is that the article sounds false. I can well believe Onyx's description of anti american sentiment, with the low kew unfriendliness and whispering and so on. But then people can be rude. That's about being different I think. I have had similar experience as an eczema sufferer. There have been a couple of occassions where I have had to interract with new people whilst in the midst of a flareup and they've been downright rude ( as per Onyx's story) and then a few days later had cause to interract with them again ( in one case to return an item to a catalogue shop) and they've not recognised me ( I assume) and been all smiles and good customer servce.

There is I think for many people here a default setting of cynicism and suspicion when it comes to America in theory ........ but when presented with a real live breathing, bonafide American theyre far more likely to be either dazzled by the excitement of having someone new and interesting to add a little spice to their day or studiously unimpressed ......or directly challenging about America and it's role in the world. I simply do not believe the visceral attacks were as described in that article. That kind of venom most Brits reserve for "bogus asylum seekers " and even then it's usually only the paid up fascists who'll shout about it.

I think the majority though seperate their view of the administration and certain aspects of the culture from their view of the people themselves. They dont apply the same modes of thought that they apply to people they see as fundamentally different. Most Brits I think have a sense of Americans as more alike than different culturally, whereas they may not necessarily see that same balance of difference when it comes to a Pakistani immigrant.

For some people America seems more like us than does France or Germany for others it is the opposite way around.....all depends on how they define their Britishness (does parity in language and humour mark like to like or is parity in political or religious sensibilities more relevant)

My guess is she has probably encountered some people who have tried to debate with her on some issue and it's drifted onto the topic of Palestine and then the standard British/European position on the Middle East problem has been argued and misinterpreted as anti Jewish sentiment. Being against the actions of the current Israeli administration does not equate to being anti Jewish, no more than being anti bush equates to being anti American.