Belittling Uncle Sam with swipes at stars and stripes

Gemma O'Doherty

October 30 2004 12:11 AM

Last Saturday, Stan Korzeniewski was standing at the check-out in his local grocery store in Kildare when it happened again.

The shop assistant and a female customer in front of him were looking at a newspaper picture of kidnapped charity worker Margaret Hassan.

The customer shook her head and said out loud, "the Americans have a lot to answer for".

"Your hear it everywhere you go," says Korzeniewski, a sales executive from Pennsylvania who has lived in Ireland for six years.

"When you switch on the radio, in the classroom, in your local store. You would swear we were the country that produced Saddam."

For Stan and many of his compatriots living here, to be an American in Ireland is to be a pariah. Some US citizens say America-bashing has become so prevalent in Irish society, they no longer feel welcome. Others no longer feel safe.

James Young, chairman of the Irish branch of Republicans Abroad, a network of US Republican Party members living away from home, was forced to go ex-directory.

He used to be a regular contributor to the Irish media but is increasingly wary of airing his views in public.

"We were getting weird calls, some of them threatening, so we had no choice," says Young, an economist from Arkansas whose wife is Irish.

"Out of 20 American business people living here who are members of our group, 12 are leaving Ireland. The most common reason they cite for going is that they are tired of the bashing. They just don't feel comfortable living here and they're not willing to put up with it any more.

"It seems in Ireland you can say whatever you like about Americans these days and get away with it. If you slotted in the words 'black person' instead of 'American', it would be a different story," Young continues.

"Whatever about being American, if you say you're a Bush supporter in polite conversation, forget it. It's as if Cro-Magnon man has just appeared.

The first thing you get is a disdainful look, as if to say 'Oh, I thought you were a nice person'. You're instantly typecast as a raving right-wing lunatic. Often the conversation ends just there because people do not want to talk to you," he says.

'Most of the bias comes from the Dublin 4 chattering classes. You get it from RTE and the Irish Times all the time. Oh, and Newstalk 106. I'll never do an interview with them again - their bias is so strong. What happens in my experience, the host goes after you if you're a Republican because it is the acceptable thing to do. During the Bush visit, there was so much hysterical ranting and raving from left-wing wackos about the evil warmonger. There was no debate."

In the aftermath of 9/11, Stan Korzeniewski was appalled to hear that a teacher at his daughter's school had allegedly been discussing her opinion of America with a class of eight-year-olds. "My daughter came home and said the teacher seemed to be questioning whether it was right for the US to invade Afghanistan.

"I wanted to go down there and ask her not to discuss her personal views with a group of impressionable children," he says.

"The one thing about living here is that it has made me more resolute and patriotic as an American. You could say I wrap myself in the flag. I listen to our anthem in the car and find myself getting tearful. I hear ignorance expressed about my country day after day by Irish people.

"What would the world be like if it wasn't for America? We have got rid of an evil dictator who was killing his own people.

"We have been very good to Irish people, welcoming them with open arms and giving them the chance to be the best they can. I just can't understand why there is so much anti-American feeling here," adds Korzeniewski.

Bush supporters like James Young believe that much of the anti-Republican rhetoric they hear from Irish people is based on ignorance.

"Most Irish equate Boston and New York, both Democratic strongholds, with the US. They go there for summer work and have close connections with those cities. But they forget how big the rest of the country is," he says.

"The Irish will be the first to say they have nothing against the American people but that they are anti-America. Have they forgotten that George Bush was the choice of the American people?

"If John Kerry wins this election, many Irish will think it's wonderful, but for how long? I don't think they realise what he's planning to do. Kerry wants to kill outsourcing. He'll be taking a lot of your jobs back. The feel-good factor mightn't last very long then. The Irish might just have to come down off the high moral ground. They can't have it both ways."

Belittling Uncle Sam with swipes at stars and stripes

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