..................................................................................... Danes mark 90th Fourth of July festival By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (July 3, 2002 7:55 p.m. EDT) - There is a corner of this land that is forever American. Or Danish. Or both. Dreamed up a century ago by Danish immigrants in America to keep in touch with their roots, the Rebild Festival has been an annual event since 1912, claiming to be the biggest annual Fourth of July party outside the United States. Some 20,000 people ranging from Queen Margrethe to American exchange students are expected to converge on the hilly corner of northern Denmark, rain or shine, for barbecue, square dancing, country music and all the other fixtures of a typical American Independence Day bash. This is the place to spot American politicians on the rise; George Bush attended when he was vice president, and Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California. Richard Nixon showed up in 1962. It's also a place to highlight Danish-American connections. Janet Reno, whose father was an immigrant from Denmark, spoke at the festival in 1994 when she was attorney general. A bust of Victor Borge, the late Danish-American comedian and musician, stands at Rebild. And it's where Danish feelings about America can be gauged by counting how many Danes turn out to flash banners and yell protests about the U.S. policy of the day - Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Middle East. In recent years, only a few protesters have turned up. The festival was the brainchild of a group of homesick Danish immigrants in the United States who wanted a place where they could always visit to meet with relatives and fellow immigrants. After years of discussion, they bought 120 acres around the village of Rebild, 155 miles northwest of Copenhagen, and named it Rebild National Park in a nod to the American park system set up by President Theodore Roosevelt. "For many Americans of Danish descent, it's the umbilical cord to Denmark," said Birgit Larsen of the Danish Emigration Archives, a government-subsidized museum. In the late 19th century, some 300,000 Danes, or 10 percent of the population then, fled famine and emigrated to United States. Many farmers settled in the Midwest because the landscape reminded them of home, Larsen said. But even fifth-generation Danish emigrants still "feel they have a foot in each country," she said. At Rebild, you don't have to be Danish-American to be a guest speaker. These have included actor Danny Kaye, satirist Art Buchwald and singer Pat Boone. The festival is paid for with private American and Danish funds, sales at the festival, and dues from the Rebild Society's 2,600 members in the United States and Denmark. The two-hour ceremony opens with the hoisting of the U.S. and Danish flags while the national anthems echo in the hills. With the queen and Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in the audience at the park's grassy natural amphitheater, U.S. Ambassador Stuart Bernstein will speak on behalf of President Bush and things will end with everybody holding hands and singing "Auld Lang Syne" in English and Danish ("Maa gammelt venskab ej forgaa"). This year's festival will be different. For one thing, organizers expect this year's turnout to be double that of last year, because it's the 90th anniversary and the popular queen is attending. Then there will be the shadow of Sept. 11. A minute's silence will be observed, and 34-year-old firefighter Joe McKay of Engine Company 201 in Brooklyn will be presented with a plaque and a medal honoring Danish-American friendship.
Denmark is a great country with really nice people. I have been there for a year. They have a very friendly attitude towards the US.
I live in Denmark, and without starting an international crisis here on the BBS I would like to say that a lot of danish people don't like USA. Just like in the rest of the world I might add. We don't hate USA or anything, but we don't like the fact that it always seems like you can do anything you want without thinking of anyone but yourself. Like you are thinking you are better than everyone else. This is only the political system I am talking about here and I probably should back it up some more but I am not interested in making anyone angry and I personally like americans just not their way of doing politics and business I guess. You are a country that sets the standard on so many levels, but you are also a country that is very far behind on other levels, such as the way of seeing the world and not being so black and white about issues that has more than one truth. That is the impression one can get when watching the news, but when reading the BBS I can personally say that I am glad that most people in here have a very intelligent look on almost anything that is brought up so I guess the stereotypes from the news are wrong.
stra, Thanks for your opinion. Constructive crticism should always be accepted graciously. Our country certainly has issues, as does any. Our political and corporate leaders (those most likely to define the contact that you speak of) may be more arrogant than other countrys', I don't know. How is that gauged? In the spirit of constructive criticism, one thing that I dislike is the European hesitancy to take action when its warranted, leaving the US holding the bag. Maybe that's one reason we are forced to appear to view the world more black-and-white? Or maybe that's a strength of a black-and-white view? Anyway, I love Europe and Europeans. Maybe the Europeans should consider a world without an America before they consider whether they like us or not? (i.e. keep a proper perspective) You also mention that the rest of the world doesn't like us. Is this your opinion or fact? Whay do so many of other country's best educated elect to emigrate here? Another irony in your statement is that we are made up of all of these peoples that apparently dislike us, e.g. apparently, 10% of your population moved here in the 19th century. Lastly, again, we have many things needing fixing in this country, but how many of these people that dislike us would find only faults in and thus dislike the most successful country, regardless of who its is?
Great retort, Cohen. I was going to say... it's hard not to be self-centered when you are doing the lion's share of the work that needs be done around the world.
I don't know how a world without USA would be but I don't think it would be better! But c'mon there are flaws Democracy: using the foreign politics to take focus away from issues within the country itself. This is my own theory or what you want to call it, but where did the enron scandal go, wasn't Cheney involved. The world is not a playground like it was made out to be under the cold war. I am not writing anything more about this cuz it's not worth it Fight against terroism or fight against evil: The only country that has ever officialy been punished for doing terroism is the USA. Nicaragua is not a pretty spot in us history. Yes 9/11 was terrible but it didn't happen in a world of good and evil. You just can't call your enemies evil. There are explanations to everything and Osama bin laden is a psycho but why do you think USA has so many enemies. I agree that the us does many good things or at least have good intentions but just recently they were the ONLY country to veto an international court of human rights because the us think they are the biggest and the best so why should anyone tell them what they are allowed to do or not. They vetoed an environmental agreement about co2 I think it's called and are really not helping any development for environmental improvements. Again because there own interests comes before common interest. The gulf war was not a case of freeing an innocent country from evil forces of darkness as Bush would like us to believe. They don't care about Kuwait but they just wanted to protect their oil and let the world see how big and powerful they were. My own country is not all that but we are the country giving the most money per capita in the world to underdeveloped countries, and we are in the very top of developing environmental friendly energy and setting new standards in the environmental thinking. My personal opinion is that the USA does not do anything at all to protect the world or what you want to call it, but only cares about own interest. It sounds harsh and it probably is too harsh but I am only talking politics and business. I am not calling american people in general egocentric as we are all individuals who behave from individual morale. I just wrote this post to say that you are NOT being the only ones who fight for a better world and as far as european countries being hesitant. I only think that's a good thing.
Northern Europeans unite! I went to the German-American day parade last year in NY when I was living up there. Giuliani showed up. Cool experience.
<b>stra</b>: You don't expect the U.S. to work against their best interest do you? When was the last time that anyone (including your Denmark) did that? Isn't that kind of an empty criticism? Find a posting by a guy named MadMax and read his signature... words, I believe, uttered by former US President Teddy Roosevelt, he of "walk softly and carry a big stick" fame.... BTW, I spent two weeks in Copenhagen in 1978. What a beautiful and clean city!!!
Well there is a difference in working for your own interest and at the same time work for common interests and then working for your own interest while you use other countries. Money perhaps rules to much. I am thinking of the oil companies being allowed to destroy big land areas. There is the BIG weapon industry that needs a conflict to sell it's weapons to. And the fact that everyone can have a gun in their home or whatever. This love of weapons could be stopped by the government but it isn't. On a less serious note I can't begin to imagine how irritating it must be to have your television programs interrupted by commercials every 5 minutes. In Denmark I have just watched the tv-series "24 Hours" without any commercials and the length of each episode was not an hour but 45 minutes because they cut the commercials. And when I watch NFL for example it hits me that the game has enough breaks as it is, but you have extra long breaks because of commercials. That I believe is one the reasons us sports have a hard time getting peoples excitement build up over here in Europe. We are just not used to it and hope we never will be forced to get used to it. I love the NBA though. USA is a great country but I personally don't think it's the greatest country in the world. But then it's good that I don't live there. I am just typing what pops up in my head so if it seems a little unorganised then it's because it really is. BTW I don't want to be known as a hater or troll so I guess I am going to join another less serious thread.
The USA is not perfect...no doubt. No human institution is perfect. Discharged with the same power and the same responsibilities, do you think any nation would perform with a better record than the Americans? After all, we're made up of Danes..and Brits..and the French...and Kenyans...and Chinese...and...well, the rest of the world! But it seems to me, particularly from your posts, stra, that a good part of YOUR disdain for the US (and perhaps that can be extrapolated out to the rest of the world in some way) comes from misunderstanding. For example, you asked about the international court and the US veto of it. You state that the reason for the veto is that the US just thinks it's better. I would call that an unfair characterization. We have a strong belief in the concept of self-rule and self-determination in the United States. Honestly, I would say those two concepts are why the United States has risen to the position it has while other cultures who've adopted a more communitarian view still languish, despite the fact the US is among the youngest of cultures. In the United States, we are governed only by those whom we consent to govern us. So we don't willy-nilly turn power over to OTHER governments which will affect the liberties of OUR OWN citizens. This is a core value here...and it seems to butt heads with the more communitarian approach of a good part of the rest of the world. It's viewed there as "cowboy" and "maverick"....here it's revered by many. I suppose the irony is that the concepts of self-determination and self-rule from EUROPEAN gentlemen were so heavily influential on the United States. That's just one example from your posts of a misunderstanding that leads to some negative connotation that we don't participate in something or we respond in a certain fashion merely because of arrogance. And please please please don't pass judgment from Denmark on how we respond to governments, groups and individuals who would just love to use nukes on us and who have already inflicted a good deal of damage on us. And we'll be there for you again, I'm sure, as we are for the rest of the free world when it is threatened. Funny, I've never heard the French complain about the force we used liberating them...the Serbians don't seem to complain much about that either....nor the Kuwaitis. Of course, they'll all attack us on other grounds quite regularly.
Please don't bring WW2 in to this because european countries put up a fight and no one should say otherwise, and yes you were a contributing factor to the allied victory but you were also targets, it was not a case of you acting on behalf of europe. No we don't complain about you helping us out because why should we but please don't think that you saved the world by yourself. And don't answer critisicm by saying that you are basically made up by europeans, because I do think it is fair to say that there is a BIG difference in european and american mentality. And that your leaders are behaving more on behalf of the american people than leaders do in other countries is not true. When you elect you have only two candidates and they basically say the same thing imo. Money will decide who is able to win and the one who got the most votes didn't even win. Your voting percentage is horrible, but who can blame you with these candidates. So I don't think that your leaders are more in touch with people or that you are more democratic than european countries. And by the way the serbians were the ones you beat on And when you mention nukes don't forget that the cold war almost destroyed western civilization and you were as much a part of it as everyone else. If I misunderstood anything I have to say that english is not my first language, but I just can't stand the attitude about the USA being the one who is being the only reason we van live in a free world. That is just stupid when you look at your track record. Star Wars should stay a movie not a real attempt to show your superpower status
wow!! i wouldn't argue with ONE thing you posted above...you took every one of my arguments in my post and took them to such an extreme, that i would hate myself if i actually thought those things!!! again...seems like misunderstanding to me...and some real colored opinions on what my opinions must be since i'm an american and i think you're right about the serbian thing!! my bad!! wasn't the first time i made a mistake, and i can assure you it won't be the last!
I hate to quibble and it's all just conjecture, but what would have happened to Europe without the <b>American</b> landing on D-Day?
Originally posted by stra I don't know how a world without USA would be but I don't think it would be better! But c'mon there are flaws I already agreed with that. Democracy: using the foreign politics to take focus away from issues within the country itself. This is my own theory or what you want to call it, but where did the enron scandal go, wasn't Cheney involved. The world is not a playground like it was made out to be under the cold war. I am not writing anything more about this cuz it's not worth it The Enron scandal plays here hourly; it 'went' nowhere. Fight against terroism or fight against evil: The only country that has ever officialy been punished for doing terroism is the USA. Nicaragua is not a pretty spot in us history. Yes 9/11 was terrible but it didn't happen in a world of good and evil. You just can't call your enemies evil. There are explanations to everything and Osama bin laden is a psycho but why do you think USA has so many enemies. I don't know about the 'only country punished' part, but I hope that you are not insinuating that we are terrorists? bin laden is a psycho and many believe evil. Personally, I don't believe in 'evil' per se. I think that the Euopeans make too big a deal about Bush's 'Evil' statement. I agree that the us does many good things or at least have good intentions but just recently they were the ONLY country to veto an international court of human rights because the us think they are the biggest and the best so why should anyone tell them what they are allowed to do or not. They vetoed an environmental agreement about co2 I think it's called and are really not helping any development for environmental improvements. Again because there own interests comes before common interest. I disagree with the environmental veto in principle, but maybe there were some covenants that were particularly painful for the US and no or few other country's...I don't know the specifics...do you? I also know about none of the specifics of the human rights agreement. One or both may have been signed if the president was a democrat, so its no big deal. If it's good legislation, it will probably be signed under a different president. The gulf war was not a case of freeing an innocent country from evil forces of darkness as Bush would like us to believe. They don't care about Kuwait but they just wanted to protect their oil and let the world see how big and powerful they were. This is where you are very very wrong. Was the oil important? Yes, obviously. Maybe our government would not have gotten involved at all, but if you think that we would send our young soldiers into harm's way for purely financial reasons...or worse to show how 'big and powerful we were', you can go straight to h*ll. I cannot tell you how offensive that suggestion is. Our government had to 'sell' us the human side of the equation, or their would have been no war. We heard about the horrible rape of Kuwait, and without public support due to that, no politicians could have ordered the invasion. And don't refer to it as 'our' oil. Surprise! Your economy would be impacted far more than ours if problems arose in the flow of oil from the middle east. We only import about 13% of our oil from there, but W Europe imports about 20% and Japan about 75% from the ME. And also don't refer to the Gulf War as 'ours'; if I recall, the Allied Coalition consisted of 34 countrys...including Denmark. You stated that we seem to have a black-and-white view of the world, but all of your opinions of US policy are 'black'. You say that you think we do many good thinks, but that seems like lip service. It appears that you have expended little energy to consider alternatives to your negative views about the US. My own country is not all that but we are the country giving the most money per capita in the world to underdeveloped countries, and we are in the very top of developing environmental friendly energy and setting new standards in the environmental thinking. How do you rank charity or 'environmental'? Do you incorporate the private sector into your equation? If you do, I bet we do quite well in global ranking ourselves. My personal opinion is that the USA does not do anything at all to protect the world or what you want to call it, but only cares about own interest. It sounds harsh and it probably is too harsh but I am only talking politics and business. I am not calling american people in general egocentric as we are all individuals who behave from individual morale. Why the heck did we help the Bosnians then? Bosnia has no oil, no financial rewards, no strategic significance to us. As Europe twiddled its thumbs, Serbia was committing genocide. You sat motionless until we took action. Why should our young people have to risk their lives to resolve a problem in EUROPE? You should be most appreciative of our resolve to protect inncent people, istead of maligning us. I just wrote this post to say that you are NOT being the only ones who fight for a better world and as far as european countries being hesitant. I only think that's a good thing. I bet the Bosnian muslims disagree, among others.
Originally posted by stra Please don't bring WW2 in to this because european countries put up a fight and no one should say otherwise, and yes you were a contributing factor to the allied victory but you were also targets, it was not a case of you acting on behalf of europe. We were THE factor, not just one. Europe was gone without the US, but the point is that without your European War II, we wouldn't have had to fight there at all. No we don't complain about you helping us out because why should we but please don't think that you saved the world by yourself. Nice revisionist history there. So, Britain was going to invade the German continent and free your country? And don't answer critisicm by saying that you are basically made up by europeans, because I do think it is fair to say that there is a BIG difference in european and american mentality. We are made up of peoples from all over the world, not just Europe..although much of our country's political and legal systems are derived from Europe. And that your leaders are behaving more on behalf of the american people than leaders do in other countries is not true. When you elect you have only two candidates and they basically say the same thing imo. Money will decide who is able to win and the one who got the most votes didn't even win. Your voting percentage is horrible, but who can blame you with these candidates. So I don't think that your leaders are more in touch with people or that you are more democratic than european countries. An issue in itself. And by the way the serbians were the ones you beat on And when you mention nukes don't forget that the cold war almost destroyed western civilization and you were as much a part of it as everyone else. Without our nuclear umbrella, you'd been speaking Russian right now. If I misunderstood anything I have to say that english is not my first language, but I just can't stand the attitude about the USA being the one who is being the only reason we van live in a free world. That is just stupid when you look at your track record. The track record is we saved Europe in WWII and we protected Western Eupope in the cold war. It is just plain stupid to ignore that. Star Wars should stay a movie not a real attempt to show your superpower status Again, you think that we have some desire to flex our muscle. I have never, ever heard some one say 'its just time we kick some ass for the hell of it'. Would you simply allow rogue nuclear nations to extort from their neighbors? As rogue states continue to develop more advanced delivery systems, it most likely will be some other country that we end up protecting other than ours. At least they'll be happy that we were so insecure with our manhood
I know that it is provoking to write what I just wrote and I just want to say that I don't think that I speak the truth or how you say it, but I'm merely questioning the noble motives of american politics. I think that there is a trace of patriotism in what you are writing and that is a good thing to have, but I just don't like the attitude of people thinking USA is far superior to the rest of the world because you are a big nation with a lot of money and that you are the only ones fighting to make the world better. Is it really way of to think that the government would use the army to make political statements. And thereby american soldiers and enemy soldiers die. That is what I mean. Johnson knew that the Vietnam war couldn't be won but he still sent soldiers. To use an example of the past. WW2 was 60 years ago. When you watch american movies you get the impression that only american soldiers were in involved in D-day. Saving private Ryan, Kellly's heroes and so on, but that was NOT the fact. We were allies it worked both ways. Stop writing otherwise it pisses me off. ( Well I am only asking you to.) And you didn't get involved with forces before you were attacked yourself by the way. Even though that doesn't necessarily mean anything. This thread has taken an ugly turn because of me and why not stop it now. I am perhaps too sceptic but once again I don't believe to have any final answers and will claim my rights to question.
<b>stra</b>: Who has made bigger sacrifices than the U.S? I guess this won't get answered because you seem to have signed off. We all have a right to question. That does not make one a troll or a scoundrel.
stra, I don't think that the US is far superior to other countries or that we are the only ones who do good, but that is a far stretch from having to defend ourselves against claims that we will send our young to die for oil industry profits. Americans constantly question our own political motives...ad nauseum. There is no offense in you doing that also. Re. WWII, I personally have never stated that we were the only ones fighting, only that we turned the tide and the war would have been lost without us. Although it was a risk to us, we were contributing resources to Britain through Canada prior to Hitler's declaration of War. Regardless, if Europe was not at war, we would not have had to fight there...right? No one here consider's Kelly's heroes to be a historically accurate , but there are a number of American WWII movies that show the major role played by the British, Canadians, French resistance, etc. Ever seen Patton? Your questioning of American motives is fine, but I personally found two of your claims to be demeaning to all Americans and I will respond to those statements. That's all. I'm not indicting you of anything. Let me also repeat giddyup's comment: expressing your ideas does not make one a troll here.
one final say. If you insist on using history as a way of showing US importance. Then don't just mention WW2. You could mention a whole bunch of other conflicts where the US played a less honourable role. Who made the bigger sacrifices? Impossible to say but it's a fact that after WW2 USA was the country with clearly the biggest economy, best infastructure and so on. England was bankrupt and a lot of cities had been bombed and so on. I don't know how to measure sacrifice. But an american soldiers life did not count more than a europeans. We can all agree on that but it's like that would be the only reasoning behind claiming your sacrifices were bigger. Yes your country was created by minority groups fleeing europe. But ironically those minority groups wiped out a whole continent of native americans, and used africans as slaves. That is just a way of showing how history can be used to support ones argument no matter what the argument is. However that is history and let us just leave it at that. Let's hope the rockets make history by winning the NBA title. On a sidenote: Last night I watched a documentary regarding the life and death of JFK. Man that was shocking. He had well-established connections to the mafia and the mafia even helped him win the election. Well it basically said the mafia ended up assasinating him. On one side he was a visionary leader but on the other side he was a cynical criminal. Is this common knowledge or what is it. I had the impression JFK is/was being idolized and made up to be some kind of saint. But it just shows there are 2 sides to sthe story
1. What's wrong with using history? It's a record though tinged wit subjectivity.... 2. Agreed no soldier's life is more valuable than another's, but we came across the ocean to save Europe at great expense when the US was in no imminent peril. Our soldiers died to preserve your freedom. When has anyone done that for the US? 3. We still have Native Americans. Was the US the only place in the world with incidence of slave ownership? Blame it on our European roots! 4. I'd say that the public here is pretty well-informed about Kennedy's background. He was a well-known philanderer. He was our youngest president with a beautiful exotic wife and toddler's in the White House. Jackie even lost a baby while in the White House. Another case of American excess.
