In praise of big bums
From Mr Paul Coletti Sir: Jo Johnson (Down with Oncle Sam!', 23 February) quotes Jean-Pierre Chev'enement as saying that America is responsible for the tretinisation of the French people'. This is nothing new. The French have thought along these lines for years, and so have shedloads of Brits — myself included. Big deal. If anyone's doing the cretinising, it's those of us who flock to McDonald's in droves.
We should remember that America is grounded on certain principles — principles which our own ancestors dragged across the pond all those years ago. We can hardly complain when some enterprising Americans use them to hit upon the idea of making a tasty snack with a bap and a lump of mince and then export it across the globe, simultaneously making a billion bucks and a million French lose their taste for snails. It's freedom of choice, JeanPierre! And we'd better accept that America now embodies this concept more than anyone else on the planet. The Taleban banned cassettes because they didn't like them. M. Chevenement would love to ban Americanisation.
I'll continue good-naturedly to mock the Yanks with their lurid green leggings, big bums and ignorance of the whereabouts of Bucharest. But stand by for another more long-term emotion reversal as we Europeans start to realise again the simple fact that the US is the greatest free country in the world. Think about it. We, as inhabitants of the second most free country in the world, should start using our own principles to play the Yanks at their own game instead of whingeing like brats.
Paul Coletti
Edinburgh
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