E-Mail Response to Euro Joke

When I get those e-mails from my European friend, I typically ignore them. They rarely hold much insight. They're cheap, they're ill-informed and they only perpetuate bad vibes. So I delete them. I don't even respond. But after posting the "joke" here, I began to stew in anger thinking about how wrong they've got it. As if Bush or the overwhelming majority of us uniformly hates Muslims! When one considers interventions in Kuwait, Somalia and Kosovo (as well as the tsunami aid to Indonesia and earthquake aid to Iran following Bam) on behalf of Muslims, I found it outright offensive. So I responded. Here's the text of my e-mail:

Hey XXXXXXX,

No offense, but seriously, don't copy me on this crapola anymore. It's low-rent and it's irresponsible. And worst of all, it's not funny. If you want to have an intelligent exchange on US foreign policy (which would include interventions and American deaths on BEHALF of Muslims...ones Europeans wouldn't lift a finger to address over a decade), or even a president I didn't vote for in the last election, then I'd be glad to have it anytime. And I'd surely like to talk about Schroeder and IG Metall's anti-Americanism disguised as legit politics in combination.

But unfortunately, what I see in "jokes" like this is precisely the wrong tone at a time when globalists like ourselves should be reaching out to one another. That's not to say that I can't handle criticism or laugh at well-targeted jokes at my government or Bush or anyone else in the US. I surely can. But the underlying premise has to be something with some factual resonance.

Sorry if I seem a little uptight a la Cape Town but there are plenty of legitimate ways to criticize without moving into Michael Moore teritory.

Anyway, hope all is well with you, XXXXX and XXX.

Take care,
Sim.