Monday, March 03, 2008
In America Even Peasants Own a Car
A Danish reporter who was in Crawford, Texas wandered into the yard of an elderly woman. The woman armed herself with a revolver and then demanded the trespassing man leave her yard, which he promptly did. The incident got reported in both American (hattip: Kim DuToit) and International media. Despite sensationalist language in some of the reports of the incident, it is unlikely that the woman was close to shooting the trespasser or threatened him with the gun, since he admitted later that he wasn't even aware that the woman he spoke with had a gun on her until fellow reporters pointed it out to him in pictures they took of the incident through a telephoto lens.
CNN's webpage describing the incident was filled with comments by both foreigners and Americans about how this incident is just another example of how stupid, backwards, and aggressive Americans (and Texas, specifically) are. I am not worried that reporting of this incident will hurt America's image in the rest of the world, however. I am sure that for every foreign busybody or elitist who posts on the internet or is quoted in the press about how terrible the incident is, that there are several times as many common people who get an entirely different impression of America than what the newsmen intended to portray. Think of how many of the elderly people or women in Denmark who read that story will quietly wish that they could have the same ability to protect themselves from strange men that the Texas ladies have.
CNN's webpage describing the incident was filled with comments by both foreigners and Americans about how this incident is just another example of how stupid, backwards, and aggressive Americans (and Texas, specifically) are. I am not worried that reporting of this incident will hurt America's image in the rest of the world, however. I am sure that for every foreign busybody or elitist who posts on the internet or is quoted in the press about how terrible the incident is, that there are several times as many common people who get an entirely different impression of America than what the newsmen intended to portray. Think of how many of the elderly people or women in Denmark who read that story will quietly wish that they could have the same ability to protect themselves from strange men that the Texas ladies have.
