A Much Shorter Retort to the Domed One's Essay

["S.P. Goodman" <spgoodman@earthlight.net>]

Thanks for sharing this Karen, nonetheless.  One wonders if BE hasn't been
spending too much time [a] in LA, or [b] around Bono.  It brings to mind
also the image of  a pioneer in ambient landscapes being also affected by
the landscapes he inhabits.  I won't go on at length about it, as it's 
quite
futile if not bad manners to argue politics on a newsletter not on the 
topic
of same.  As a US citizen and UK resident, I find the kind of extreme
business BE is spouting here quite ordinary if not altogether boring, as
such opinions are quite popular in the UK with the Labour intelligencia and
wannabe glitterati as well.  The anti-American sentiment on the part of the
British press is fairly commonplace and pretty much taken for granted.  On
9-11 the BBC didn't begin to fully report on the WTC atrocities, until the
second tower fell, and it was known British citizens were involved.  As if
it made a difference!

> Brian Eno is a musician who believes that regime change begins at home.

He should start at home, which the last time I checked is no utopian
paradise, but rather a bad socialistic wet dream that survives solely on 
the
resiliance and creativity of its people.  To paraphrase Byron, the American
people have a fatal affectation for all things British - and in many
respects the inverse is true as well.  Play a Blues song in the midst of a
set here, no matter what kind of music you're playing, and the crowd goes
wild.

Most British folks including my wife don't know much about America despite
the ongoing good relations between the two countries' citizens (not just
their governments).  Blair's pretty much a lapdog for anyone in the White
House, and most Americans somehow don't get this, instead having been
presented a picture of loyalty and cross-Atlantic brotherhood via No.10
through the US media.  The UK is xenophobic beyond the understanding of 
even
the KKK, though most Americans know or hear nothing of it, and the press
hardly reports it unless it happens in a spectacular way.  A trip to a
football match - anywhere in the UK - will treat one to a stream of racist
invective the likes of which would have people in jail in the US.  It's not
just a "hooligan issue", folks.  And it doesn't just happen in the UK.
Mercy sakes!  It's not an egalitarian utopia?  The horror!

Perspective is a marvelous thing.  One is certainly entitled to their
opinion, and I will defend always one's right to express it.  I couldn't
however stay silent and allow the single opinion of a single person be
presented as if it is a norm, especially as it comes from an extremely
limited scope of experience and information.  I would put it to all that
British people have no more idea as to what it's like to be American, than
Americans have an idea as to what it's like to be British.  Though many
Americans would no doubt find the old argument about an American "Empire"
not only boring, but also inaccurate and, in this case, just bad mirroring.
So, start at home, Brian, in what used to be an Empire.  There's still a
load of work for you to do in the UK, if you really want to do something on
that level.

S.P. Goodman
EarthLight Productions
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