Why am I always mistaken for a British woman while I'm in Italy?

BC

Hi dear readers. Just as a point of interest I was in Italy, staying in a small ski village close to where our plane clipped the skicable. Believe about 20 people were killed.

I cringed, not knowing what to expect from my Italian friends and the residents of the town I was staying in.

I had no problem whatsoever. Of course there were discussions regarding the incident. I would have been shocked if there had not been. But at no time did any Italian give me a bad time or make me feel uncomfortable. And that ski cable situation was a real tragedy.

"It interesting that Ms Sgrena's version of events is supported by her driver."

Huh? Well, maybe, but not nearly so interesting as if her version wasn't supported by her driver.

Actually the driver is a man of great integrity and courage , that has many years of experience in dealings with these situations ..
For what I have heard he is a Major of the Carabinieri,the elite force of Italy. As you can see, he is not just a normal driver.

As per ususal, we mostly have the press to thank or to blame for this tempest and I mistrust all media on an equal basis. The "news" is an ever-shrinking aspect of most media which is now agenda driven.

I was in England last fall during the American presidential campaign. I like politics and political discussions in general and try to keep up with the politics of whatever country I visit.

My friends in England are political animals as well, they are always impressed that I have at least a general idea of the current issues there and throughout Europe but they particularly seem to enjoy discussing American politics.

If one were to beleive the British media, including the once-lauded BBC, one would have beleived that the debates were Kerry all the way and that Bush didn't have a chance in hell of winning the election.

But when Brits would ask me who I thought would win I would turn the question back on them. Of the twenty or so people engaged in this line of discussion NOT ONE beleived Kerry would win and, in fact, well over half apologetically added that they thought Bush was the man for the job.

"Fair and balanced" has nothing to do with the media, here or elsewhere. Media outlets are in BUSINESS first and foremost. Their job is to sell papers or to sell advertising on the airwaves. ANYTHING one reads is to be taken with the smallest grain of salt, and this from someone who has a look at more than 6 international newspapers daily via the World Wide Web.

The incident with the Italian reporter was indeed unfortunate, to say the least, whether or not she was a communist or a communist supporter. However, as a news person she was surely aware that she was in a combat zone in one of the worlds hottest hot-spots. To "blame" anyone other than herself seems to me to be shallow and a bit unrealistic.

When one walks into the fire one should not be too surprised if one gets burned.

I am in Italy 3-4 times a year and have been travelling there since I was 16.

IMO there is quite a bit of anti-Bush sentiment there, but probably no more than there is here at home. I did not feel that this overlapped into an overall resentment of Americans. The Italians I know speak as poorly of their own president as they do ours. I have ofter heard reference to the "Three B's" in reference to Bush, Blair and Bosconi(sp?).

I have not been since this specific event and will be there in June so I will be curious to see if things are different.

I never reply to these things but I can't help it. I don't understand when people say the Italians - or the French, English, etc. - don't confuse American citizens with their government. Aren't they suppose to be the same thing? Isn't that what a democracy is?

As a Canadian, I'm constantly surprised when Americans disavow any responsibility for Bush. Somebody voted for him.

Rickmav: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have been waiting for someone to bring up this point forever - as Americans living in a democracy, we ARE our government.

President Bush was re-elected because a majority of the people who chose to vote voted for him. Here in California, we are represented in the Senate by two liberal Democrats, again voted on by the majority who chose to vote.

It drives me nuts when Europeans (who are trying to be nice) make this distinction between the government and the people as if we had nothing to do with them getting into office.

>It drives me nuts when Europeans (who are trying to be nice) make this distinction between the government and the people ...<

That is because in a Parliamentary Democracy it is possible to make a distinction between the people and the government. Their government, which can be a minority, is elected by Parliament.

Mussolini and Hitler took power with about 1/3 the total number of seats.

In the US, the government consists of 536 people, each of them elected individually, so that the government is the people.

I recognize that the President can be elected by a small majority, but the the Senatorial and Congressional majorities indicate that this government is what the people want.

It's also the government that they deserve.

(That's not my line)

Very much agree with Di's comments. I was in England for the election and am still here, and it was interesting to see how their press covered it and how much the Brits really did know about our political system. However, many of them, despite not supporting Bush, were very aware of Kerry's weaknesses in the way that American voters were as well. Press does work both ways and is pretty much always slanted in one direction or another ... normally to the left though IMO.

(Sorry, I meant Diablo's comments).

Technically, we aren't as much a democracy, we're a republic.

Sometimes my views are represented in government, sometimes not. Certainly there are times when I've had no one representing my views there, so I don't mind someone assuming that it's at least possible.

Dear GiuliaPirainoetc.,

I think you question was extremely logic and practical. I'm shocked it hasn't been more of a news story here. That said, look how so many Americans (this doesn't mean everyone, especially I'm sure fodorites) refused to eat in French restaurants, called french fries freedom fries, and wouldn't drink Grey Goose Vodka, after they expresssed their opinion and refused to join us in Iraq. I live in NY, a very metro area, and there was a lot of anti-french feeling going around at that time. Let's not be so naive to think that the Italians at this time, couldn't be upset with us. However, I don't think anyone would be rude (hopefully) as most people recognize that the person (traveler) is not necessarily a reflection of their countries politics or actions.

DiAblo, I very much liked your rational, well-thought response...you make very good points.

All “news” must be read with the knowledge that what you are reading is from the perspective of the writer and/or of the particular leaning of the publication...and there is always a leaning.

I also agree with your thoughts on the GSgrena issue. The fact that this incident occurred in a war zone, on a road from Baghdad to the Baghdad Airport which is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world--because it has been the site of many suicide attacks and many car bombs--should not be overlooked when analyzing this issue.

Ricmav and gualalalisa, thank you both for your comments... "as Americans living in a democracy, we ARE our government" says it all.

With all due respect to everyone who say that we should not confuse American citizens with their government, keep in mind that over 62 million Americans voted for President Bush. So that logic would be wrong a majority of the time.

JoeTro and Diablo, I guess you guys are not reading the Sun, Mail, or Telegraph ...all of which have been nonstop in their support of Bush and/or conservative causes before, during and after the election. As they still are. The UK most certainly has a good share of conservative media (most of it controlled by RM). And you can watch Fox News as well.

BT I do agree ... I was thinking more of American media. Aside from the Wall Street Journal and a couple of other major newspapers, it seems that many of the bigger papers lean a little to the left. Nothing wrong with that. It was more in line with the fact that most news sources have some kind of slant politically, including Sgrena's. It's part of the business.

>Technically, we aren't as much a democracy, we're a republic.<

We are a democracy within a republic.

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/creed.htm

Our British cousins are a democracy within a constitutional monarchy.

There are more than one way to skin a cat.

Hello everybody, I am italian and I can reassure you that while there is a lot of irritation with the Bush administration, there is absolutly NOTHING against the American people. The italian mentality ALWAYS separate the people from their govnmt. I am not saying it is better, or it is good, but that's the way our Past, History, and Experience brought the italians to be. Italians think democracy is good, and beleive it is the best form of governement, BUT THEY don't beleive it is the perfect world. They generally have almost NO trust in politicians, and if democracy help to controll them, it doesn't actually stop them to do their own interest. That is why Italians rarely give responsability of a governement choice to its citizens, because they never really feel that the choice of a governement, even in a democracy, is that much influenced by the people of that nation.

Even those italians people who beleive Bush is a lyer, and is doing this war for its private oil interests, have a lot of respect for the people who voted him, because they understand that 95 % of them did it in a genuine way, really beleiving that this war will bring democracy and peace in the middle east and in the world.

Any way, even if a lot of people hate Bush (as they also hate their own italian prime minister Berlusconi), there is a particular attraction and simpathy for the american culture and its people, generally speaking, from the people of Italy.

For this actual incident, very few people beleive in the official american version. However the majority beleive it was a tragic accident. Very few people beleive in the actual plan for murdering the italian journalist, because if that is what they had wanted to do, they would have simply put a bomb afterwords killing the wounded, and then pointing the responsability against arabic terrorism.

However it is difficult to beleive that they received a flashing light warning plus some warning gun shot before being shot at. The driver was a major carabinieri, the other people in the car were some of the best agents of the italian secret services, they are all very well prepared people that are not that stupid to ignore the stop request from an american military post. People here in Italy beleive that probably the soldiers are very young, not enough professionaly prepared for such a huge task as being an occupying army, and most of them are understandebly TERRORIZED (war is a tragedy, and the terrorits make life VERY difficult for american troops), therefor they easely loose their self controll by shooting at every thing that moves. What happened with Sgrena made the world prime news because she is an italian journmalist and a freed hostage, but it is impossible at this point not to ask how many innocent irakiens are killed this way by accident without the rest of the world knowing anything about? The question is very important because to win a war, the military aspect is not enough, you also have to win it on a political base, to do so you have to get the respect and the support of the irakee people. Now my question is: are the young american soldiers (lots of kids 20 years old) enough well prepared for a peace keeping task? Or were they just trained for the battles combact and that's it? D the actual american troops in Irak have the skill to win the war POLITICALLY?

P.S. excuse my poor english

Well, yes ira I guess that's where I was going with that, but neglected to type all the words.

I do believe on a federal level that we are more republic than democracy. State gov't are a hybrid but you can't help but notice the absence of any voter initiatives other than in electing representation. Either you win or you lose. I'm not sure how much in between there really is, in modern times.

Mommo,

Thank you very much for your sensitive and informative post, I appreciate you taking the time to write on this subject.