Not the America I know

I don’t normally respond to anonymous posts, and even less commonly devote a post to them.
I realize and accept non-blogger commenters can and do respond with intelligent comment.

But given the tendency for hit and run attacks under the cover of anonymity, and the growing trend for those annoying spam messages, they are more commonly just rubbish.

I expect the recent post on Time no friend of Bush was meant to be a serious comment, despite its poorly framed argument:

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, there is nothing more interesting than seeing a canadian post comments on our president Bush.

Except for one thing: watching the mold grow on open bread, or how about counting how many blades of grass there are on my front yard.

I guess the message means – ‘mind your own bloody business and leave the US alone.’ That I’m not a Canadian, (small c or otherwise) is perhaps not relevant, but I guess I feel the need to proclaim my Australian heritage.

That my country of birth and my country of current residence; should somehow render my observations irrelevant smacks, of a paternalistic ignorance which is thankfully not common in the blogging community.

If the commenter had found my reflections boring, in the normal course of things, they would have simply moved on. But there was obviously a point to be made, or attempted.

While there are no doubt many Americans who would rather the country was fully insular, or alternatively engage in bully tactics to fend of criticism, the reality is different.

The USA is an active member of the world community; a member with enormous influence over the politics and economics of other countries; including Australia and Canada.

While I can understand the tendency to want to defend national pride, the purpose is not served with smartarse comments.

For my part I am will comment freely and fairly on events and personalities anywhere. Hopefully it is a dialogue, in the end, and I’m always ready to stand corrected when shown to be wrong.

But please, let us not degenerate into a stupid cross border shit fight.

Post under anonymous or any other handle, but please do not insult your fellow countrymen or the rest of the world with shallow insults in place of considered discussion.