Breakfast at Tiffany's – Because I Do Not Know

Purrrrrrrrrr-fic Timing

It will be the Fourth of July is less than an hour -- and along comes this article about a poll of British citizens and their opinions of America:

People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.

The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.

The YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".

As Americans prepared to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

Let me begin by saying that I doubt the validity of this poll. First, it appeared in The Daily Telegraph -- a notoriously anti-American British newspaper. Second, it was distributed on the wire by Agence France-Presse, or AFP -- a notoriously anti-American French news agency. Third, the "journalism" practiced here fails to cover the most basic tenent when writing about polls: The wire story doesn't discuss how it was conducted.

Fourth, if you do look at the poll itself, you'll find it was conducted by YouGov, which -- as this Wikipedia entry notes -- uses "responses from an invited group of Internet users, and then to filter these responses in line with demographic information." This methodology is up for debate: "Critics argue that, as around 40% of the public do not have access to the Internet, its samples cannot accurately reflect the views of the population as a whole. YouGov has contended that its opinion polls in recent UK elections ... have been consistently more accurate than traditional opinion pollsters."

I have several British friends, and while they may look down upon their American cousins from time to time, they are not idiots. And anyone who says the rest of the world doesn't look to the United States as a "beacon of hope" is an idiot. But if there are such idiots, we should put them on TV. Then maybe we wouldn't have to build that wall.

But just in case this is legit ...

To that 83 percent who say Americans don't care what the rest of the world thinks ... well, damn right. In the spirit of Jack McCafferty, who as a teenager fought the Redcoats alongside other members of the Pennsylvania Line, we stopped giving a flying flip what you thought about the same time Samuel Adams and his boys threw your Earl Grey into the harbor.

Happy Fourth everyone!

6 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 9:08 PM
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6 Comments:

Well, Jake, here I am again. Thank you very much for your attention about the films (BAT & BE).
Yes, it has to be true. Like the «Sunday Telegraph», we went here through the male population, and 99.9% answered they do love you. So you need not be modest anymore...
As far as the USA are concerned, things are slightly different, if you «catch» my meaning. The main problem, as I see it, is not so much to find out if methods are accurate or absolutely scientific, but just to pay attention to the contents of the questions asked. For me, the USA are no beacon... For a Mexican or any Southern American, I'm sure they still are. And the question now is: why haven't all those American countries thrived up till now? Here in Europe we got used to call them USA's backyard. Isn't that right? Remember Guatemala, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, and so forth. Hope you haven't forgotten Kiesinger & his good fellas...
The USA are definitely a great country (I've been there myself as a tourist and enjoyed it very much), but they're loosing their face to the world, day after day, as people keep on dying in Iraq - both Americans and Iraqis. All this is insane, stupid, and - even worse! - will bring democracy nowhere further. (Maybe some other occasion I'll come back to this topic).
Thirty years ago, I took part on the celebrations of the 4th. of July. Where? I was in Germany as a boy who had got the best marks in German at his school. It was a kind of a price I was given.
Hope you'll enjoy your holiday today as I enjoyed it back then in 1976, a marvelous year for me.
Bye-bye!

By Anonymous, at 11:59 PM

I went to England in '02(with a group of Jane Austen fans,most of whom were US citizens)and the Brits treated us extremely well. I'd go back now if I could(didn't get to see London much the first time)-sure,some folks may not like us but you can't please everyone all the bloody time.

Have a good trip,Jake-watch out for those wooden nickels:)

By lady t, at 7:26 AM

Ricardo, I want to know who the 0.1 percent is!

You do make a strong argument. But since you did spend much time in Germany and you seem to be of a "certain age," you surely recognize that any foreign policy decisions from 1949 to 1989 were colored by Cold War glasses. (I had a much longer comment, but my Internet died and ate it.)

Also, the American reaction to European criticism is based upon your continent's own inability to get along. The European colonial powers haven't done much for the world in terms of spreading freedom, either. I would point to your own country's holding of colonial property well into the 1970s, as well as Portugal's fascist government throughout much of the 20th century. (The only non-democratic member of NATO during most of the Cold War.)

I haven't forgotten about Kissinger's support of Central and South American dictators. But if we're going to look at back yards, let us look at Angola and Mozambique (your country), as well as the rest of Africa and how well the European powers have done there.

So it's not that I think America is perfect in action or policy. It's that Europe has very little room to criticize. (As Lady T alludes to.) And, as history moves further down the road, we've done more good than bad.

A unified, democratic Germany and a democratic Japan (you know, that place where people said democracy would never work), a bustling Eastern Europe and a freer world today than at any point in our history speaks to that.

With all that said, I understand Portugal is a beautiful country. I look forward to visiting one day. Besides Lisbon and the beaches, what sites should I see?

By Jake McCafferty, at 6:26 PM

i felt southern englanders and a good portion of london, when expressing confusion over an american course of action, would phrase it in a negative sense - whyyyy would they do that??? it didn't necessarily mean they wouldn't agree in the end but until they had their confusion erased, they were content to act like they were poopooing it.

this may have influenced the results of the poll as well since the pollsters likely asked about particular topics and received that response.

and who really cares in the end, while i agree that america would do itself some justice by shutting its mouth more often, the flipside is that giving in and meeting the dmeands of any small nation each and every time is no better because then america becomes just a slave endeavor and its money and manpower abused. in between the extreme of american action first and the other end of meeting every single expected action is the curvy and wavy road that america's international action has taken overall - undoubtedly influenced by which politcal party is in power.

america is the only superpower and stupid in many regards, generous in many other regards, but it tries regardless. and i think in this instance, trying is certainly much better than selfishness, and the attempt (however smart or misguided because someone can always find something misguided) is what should be kept in mind.

poopooing is easy, trying to affect change is the harder task.

By kinkyrhombus, at 6:36 PM

that poll means nothing except to the people who want to believe it

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