First there was this column in the Guardian. Then Marc answered with this (who knows if they'll publish it): From pouty teenager to package tourist: Julie Burchill may have come a long way, but English attitudes toward Germany apparently haven't. As I read her anti-German diatribe last week, I was disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised, to see another such vitriol-filled rant emanating from Britain. Though Burchill only suffered from her own poor judgment to go on a cheap Canary Islands package holiday where Germans with equally poor taste vacation, I think she hit upon the reason why so many Britons have a visceral hate for Germany: The ugly sides of both nations are remarkably similar. Could it be deep-rooted self-loathing that bubbles to the surface when English anti-German feeling come into play? In my own experience, British beery louts -- specifically English louts -- have done more to ruin Spain as a perfectly good holiday vacation than the Germans ever could hope to. Most surprising was that the Guardian published Burchill's piece and not some kraut-bashing publication like the Daily Telegraph. Surely her poor time in Canaries must be evidence the Hun are succeeding in taking over the European Union! Were Germans not white, Burchill's comments would be considered overtly racist. That is unfortunate, since her sentiments are not so different from the German attitudes half a century ago, which led to the concentration camp pictures that haunted her as a nine year-old. Perhaps next holiday she should just go to Blackpool where she can avoid those nasty foreign-types altogether.
