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Growing up in the UK in the 50s, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart and Burt Lancaster formed my first impressions of America. Bilko might have been in there somewhere. There was no Internet and most TV programming in England was presented by people who sounded like royalty. Their voices were what someone once described to me as 'terribly awfully'. To hear an American Forces Network transmission on shortwave was a revelation because the American accent and turns of phrase were so different. Older people sounded cooler and younger and people seemed more casual and less uptight. A lot of English bands imitated 'The Beatles' but their other model was the American accent and this lent an air of worldly sophistication and cool. The UK and the US fought on the same side in WWII so I assumed it was that that created a 'special relationship' between us. I think I'd had the impression as a child that we'd also fought the War of Independence together which shows my ignorance. I read DC comics about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc, and had no idea that in the national psyche of the US, all of these were American rather than English. I think the phrase, 'Fighting for Truth, Justice and the All-American Way,' should have been a clue but I just didn't realise how jingoistic it all was. I assumed that when Superman said all that he was automatically including us here in England. Captain America obviously wasn't from Cornwall with a name like that so, clearly, I wasn't getting it, was I? The language being the same and our ancestors having common origins, I've just always thought we were living in the same country in cultural terms - a million miles from, say, France. I have no idea what they're saying or why they're all so entirely mad. Americans were much more accessible. What a pity that this relationship wasn't quite as cosy as I'd imagined. It took a visit to Disney World in my late forties before I realised how Americans shared the sheer joy of having shot quite a lot of English people and having a military and political divorce from our rule. I hadn't taken it in that the UK is Doctor Doom to the US's Spidey. We're the bad guys! This makes appeals from either side to the 'special relationship' less of a comfort than it used to be. Guns and the right to carry them was always a big difference between us. Illegal ones have come to the UK in large numbers now but as I was growing up they were rare. I've never held one and I'm ancient. Nor have I seen one except in the hands of foreign policemen at airports - usually in holsters. Oh, I saw some Greek guards with rifles and some guards at Buckingham Palace who had them though I don't suppose they were loaded. I'd seen John Wayne movies. Clint Eastwood had plugged lots of people with a mean squint on my TV screen. I just don't think I realised that guns common to fiction could be a reality within a civilised society. With the shootings of classmates in European schools in recent years, I think we're catching up with this horror. I don't think it's about personal freedom, though. I think they're a tool for killing and maiming. There's nothing free about that. It defines being anti-social, if anything. |
The last gun I saw, now I recall, was worn by an American airport security official who made me remove my belt. That's going to take the shine off a visit to Disney World for you. I asked him if he was serious and - even though my trousers might easily have fallen down - he really was. How can you conceal something in a slim, conventional leather belt? I'm actually all for more airport security and, rather than die horribly, would be happy to accept any amount of protection so I'm delighted to take off shoes, open my bags or let a S.W.A.T team surround my hat. I was, however, and still remain, mystified and slightly offended at an armed man bossing me about officiously in front of my wife and young family. I was, after all a tourist - a paying guest departing from his first ever experience of the US - not a criminal suspect. I wouldn't want to put it any more strongly than that and, as I've said already, I think security is vital. I think that what I'm trying to say is that - whilst I didn't disagree with his action in principle - I was left feeling disappointed. I don't meet many Americans and the last one I did meet was armed and made me look silly. The special relationship seemed little in evidence, I suppose, and suddenly perceiving the gap between the Independent US and me - the dad making the error of not actually being American - was slightly chilling. I know I've made a mountain out of a molehill here and I apologise. It's just that I kind of expected some kind of mutual cultural recognition, service with a smile, and definitely a cheerful, 'Have a nice day, sir!' At any rate, it all goes to show that you shouldn't believe everything you read in comics. Here's an interesting clip about an American woman's experience at an airport. It's probably more about taking no chances after 9/11 according to the presenter on Fox. Here's a much more direct objection to exactly what I've been talking about. This makes sense. And, finally, here's a totally false account of a granny dealing with over-zealous airport security. FlameDruid 2009
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