Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous

Posted on | July 25, 2012 | 76 Comments

The English-speaking world shares a culture as well as a language, and the term “Anglo-Saxon” has long been employed as a shorthand designation of this culture, for good or ill. But use of the term becomes a shocking scandal when it is employed by Republicans:

As the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America’s enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London.
In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

Oh, how terrible: Acknowledging that our history and common culture creates a “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain, our ally in both world wars of the 20th century. How awful that anyone would risk “accusations of racial insensitivity” by expressing pride in “an Anglo-Saxon heritage” that includes William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

This is a dreadful scandal, you see, in the same way that practically everything any Republican does is interpreted as scandalous.

Ann Romney owns a horse? Scandalous!

Mitt Romney’s business made profits? Scandalous!

Democrats can engage in routine corruption, enact ruinous policies and leave campaign aides to die in submerged Oldsmobiles and nobody in the media ever blinks an eye, but anything done by any Republican is automatically a controversial scandal.

Category: Election 2012, Great Britain, Mitt Romney, Scandal

Comments

76 Responses to “Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous”

richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:57 pm

You know those wonderful rights we are endowed by our Creator with in those two splendid documents. THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR THEM in many languages. They are the English language’s unique gift to liberty.
Adobe_Walls
July 25th, 2012 @ 9:35 pm

Your confusion is understandable.
Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:06 pm

Ok, I think something important is getting lost in translation:

Yeah, America was founded on Anglo-Saxon culture, social mores, etc.
But it was really the Scots-centric version of this, which has always had a sort of “oi, who to bloody hell do you think you are to tell me what to do? sod off! (accompanied with the appropriate hand gesture). Now that’s an attitude I can respect, admire, and heck, even try to emulate. Sadly, they do not all of Britain make.
The flip side is a Britain that is seriously into social caste, overdependence on ritual and manners, ruuules, unquestioning adherence to custom and following orders, and lastly taxes (lots and lots of taxes and pushing the little people about with no representation).

We had a little dust up because we cleaved to the former and renounced the latter — and we were right to do so, and we would be wise to remember why we were so very right to do so.
Being an American Anglophile is fine…but it’s always good to remember just which side of Anglo we hold such philios for (and that includes that posh, silly accent on the language — sod off with that too).

Just my two cents.
Wombat_socho
July 26th, 2012 @ 3:43 am

Or you could, you know, check to see how Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) feels about this, seeing as how he wrote a whole book on the subject. If it’s not too much effort to heave your carcass out of Mom’s basement, that is.
Wombat_socho
July 26th, 2012 @ 3:46 am

Hey, I’m Reverse Black Irish (Mom crypto-Jew, Dad Irish) so I should hate the Brits twice as much as anyone else. But the fact is, they’ve pitched in and sent troops to bleed and die with ours when they didn’t have to, most notably in Iraq. So the special relationship isn’t just a turn of phrase, it’s a bond of blood and honor.
Wombat_socho
July 26th, 2012 @ 3:48 am

See also Senator Jim Webb’s BORN FIGHTING, which goes into great detail on precisely this topic. Did I mention he’s a Democrat? 🙂
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:33 am

communist anti American pronographer

TFTFY.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:38 am

I’ve actually never stumbled across this site before.

See the damage drugs will do to you.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:47 am

Exactly.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:49 am

Yeah, and…
It’s Scandalous! Just Scandalous I Tell You! | ZION'S TRUMPET
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:50 am

[…] Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous […]
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 7:52 am

Our whole Culture – politically, legally, morally, etc. – is based on English Culture. We can’t help but have a special relationship with our Mother Country and her other children.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 8:03 am

Maybe the left/DNC/media can provide the Romney campaign with a handbook of acceptable words/phrases?

I’m surprised at you, PGlenn! – the latest edition of the Dictionary of Newspeak is already out!

Come to my apartment and I’ll show it to you.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 8:08 am

Well put.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 8:09 am

Before the arthritis kicked-in major-time, my Dad was a Melodica-American.
Bob Belvedere
July 26th, 2012 @ 8:12 am

Spoken like a true Democrat-Republican.

Thank God we philosophical descendants of the Low Federalists are still around to restrain you all.
Pathfinder's wife
July 26th, 2012 @ 9:44 am

Wow…so I guess you guys are cool with living in a socially stratified country that envokes a rigid caste system, an overdependence upon rituals, rules, and obsolete customs, lots of taxes (as long as you’re in one of the upper castes), imperialism with a divinely authorized king, and a liking for effeminiate, posh accents?

O_o; ok, I guess I’m in the wrong party then, bye.
Pathfinder's wife
July 26th, 2012 @ 9:46 am

…and I should have also added:

a real fancy for white supremacism and anti-semitism (those B-side Brits our founders renounced were kinda fond of Germans behaving badly….heh, and not just from a racial/purity/eugenicist/Darwinist standpoint either…being a bear was sort of cool too).
Have fun with that.
scarymatt
July 26th, 2012 @ 9:52 am

This is getting really stupid. Cut it out, you slavery loving American.
The Wondering Jew
July 26th, 2012 @ 2:14 pm

This is the sort of incident that confirms my worst fears about Romney.
Romney Busted? No, Obama : The Other McCain
July 26th, 2012 @ 8:10 pm

[…] Office again.”Romney’s trip to Ol’ Blighty might help to explain the attempt to play an Anglo-Saxon race card. Breitbart, however, reports that the Anglo-Saxon kerfuffle was Rancid Pile of Hooey […]
Wombat_socho
July 26th, 2012 @ 9:12 pm

Great job of reading between the lines there and completely misunderstanding what’s being said as a result.
Bob Belvedere
July 27th, 2012 @ 9:14 am

Thank you.
FMJRA 2.0: Sign Of The Times : The Other McCain
July 28th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

[…] J. PatrickThat Mr. G GuyHogewashAmSpecBlogThe Camp of the SaintsThe Daley GatorMaking ‘Anglo-Saxon’ ScandalousThe (Perhaps Slightly Less) Lonely ConservativeDaily PunditHogewashPirates CoveThe […]
Michael
July 28th, 2012 @ 3:21 pm

The beginnings of the Anglo-American alliance are found in our joint efforts to end the international slave trade, a bit of “commerce” in which Obama’s family were active participants. Of course they hate the Brits, and the Americans, too.
kexiao
July 29th, 2012 @ 9:54 pm

tinyurl.com/cyk9xz2