DFW Marc recounts a day in the life of a continental sophisticate

[Delmar]

Buried in a thread about primitives who are ashamed to be Americans and try to pass themselves off as Canadians when traveling abroad is this reply from the DFW primitive where he recounts--verbatim, albeit translated into English from the original French--a conversation with an Arab fruit seller that he had approximately 15 years ago.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213774244

Response to raccoon (Original post)Sun Jul 19, 2020, 09:42 AM
Star Member DFW (38,357 posts)
13. I don't mind. I even say I'm from Dallas

More than 90% of my time abroad, which is most of the year, I’m in a country whose language I speak well, so when they learn I’m American, they know I’m not a typical one.

About 15 years ago, I was at a fruit stand in Paris run by Arabs. I asked the guy checking me out to give me a good bag, as I was taking the apricots back to Germany. “Ah, you are from Germany.” I explained that no, I just lived there. This whole conversation was all in French, of course. I then said I was from Texas, USA. He frowned.

“Texas. Bush is from Texas. I am from Iraq,” he said. I said, “Yes, Bush is from Texas, but please don’t think that we all support his invasion of your country. Millions of us are opposed to it, and I am one of them. I am deeply sorry for what my country has done to yours.”

Maybe he had only been listening to an Arab version of Fox “News,” but he was shocked and said he had no idea that there was any kind of serious domestic opposition to Cheney’s Iraq invasion. He thanked me profusely for the news, and came out from behind the counter to shake my hand. That was one Iraqi who, from then on, anyway, would no longer automatically hate us for merely being American. OK, I’m just one jerk from Texas, but if a few million of us spread the word in the same manner, then the world slowly gets the idea that we are not all in step with the boorish clowns that sometimes end up in power. After Saddam, it’s a concept any Iraqi understands. They just need an American to explain it to them one on one.

[Texacon]

I’ve seen many people from abroad posting about how much the like DJT. I guess the experience is different if you’re actually there and you find that one person that you can’t confirm yet I can give actual posts ...

I can say when I’ve traveled out of the country I’ve met people who like Bush, Obama, and Trump. It is what it is. People have differences of opinion.

KC

[franksolich]

You know, Marc is an odd one.

He's affluent, he's a contributing editor at The Nation, and the consummate insider.

Why he hangs around with the primitives on Skins's island escapes one.

It's sort of like being a member of the Country Club set, and socializing with the trailer court crowd.

[SVPete]

Maybe it feeds his superiority complex.

[Carl]

Nobody gives a shit who you think you are Marc,you are a mongrel coin trader.

[franksolich]

Maybe it feeds his superiority complex.

If you've ever seen any of The Nation's staff interviewed on television (usually C-Span), I think you'll agree they certainly tend towards pompous assness.

[franksolich]

Nobody gives a shit who you think you are Marc,you are a mongrel coin trader.

But he does have his uses.

I suggest everyone keep a close eye on both Marc and Skins as the election nears.  Being insiders, they know what's going to happen before anybody else does.  One will have to read between the lines, because they'll try to cover up things.

[BamaMoose]

He just likes to flaunt his contacts in front of the unwashed masses.  He loves to show off pictures of him and Helen Thomas, even though he's been told dozens of times what a horrible anti-Semite she was.  Most of the rest of the time is just name dropping.  Brooklynite is the same, bragging about going to high dollar fundraisers and getting face time with various politicians.  Of course, neither of them have any real influence.  They just feel special for having a picture taken with someone famous.  But in DUmmieLand they expected to be revered.

[franksolich]

He just likes to flaunt his contacts in front of the unwashed masses.  He loves to show off pictures of him and Helen Thomas, even though he's been told dozens of times what a horrible anti-Semite she was.  Most of the rest of the time is just name dropping. 

Brooklynite is the same, bragging about going to high dollar fundraisers and getting face time with various politicians.  Of course, neither of them have any real influence.  They just feel special for having a picture taken with someone famous.  But in DUmmieLand they expect to be revered.

While there's no defense for Marc being a pompous ass, I do think the brooklynite primitive is much more palatable, even to those of us on this side.  Not least because of his tendency to irritate the other primitives by reminding them of plain stark facts they ignore.

[Texacon]

While there's no defense for Marc being a pompous ass, I do think the brooklynite primitive is much more palatable, even to those of us on this side.  Not least because of his tendency to irritate the other primitives by reminding them of plain stark facts they ignore.

Agreed!

KC