cruising the right
[Looks like I’ll be part of a group liveblogging The Nation cruise! I
doubt it’ll be much like this.]
Indepedent (London) - July 13, 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2766040.ece
Ship of fools: Johann Hari sets sail with America’s swashbuckling
neocons
The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a
myth – and as for Guantanamo Bay, it’s practically a holiday camp…
The annual cruise organised by the ‘National Review’, mouthpiece of
right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-
talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans.
By Johann Hari
I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, both chilling and
burning, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing
Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the
rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. “Is he your only
child?” I ask. “Yes,” she says. “Do you have a child back in
England?” she asks. No, I say. Her face darkens. “You’d better
start,” she says. “The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they’ll have the
whole of Europe.”
I am getting used to these moments – when gentle holiday geniality
bleeds into… what? I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty,
scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils
of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When
I hear her say, ” Of course, we need to execute some of these
people,” I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers
through the sand lazily. “A few of these prominent liberals who are
trying to demoralise the country,” she says. “Just take a couple of
these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if
you try to bring down America at a time of war, that’s what you’ll
get.” She squints at the sun and smiles. ” Then things’ll change.”
I am travelling on a bright white cruise ship with two restaurants,
five bars, a casino – and 500 readers of the National Review. Here,
the Iraq war has been “an amazing success”. Global warming is not
happening. The solitary black person claims, “If the Ku Klux Klan
supports equal rights, then God bless them.” And I have nowhere to run.
From time to time, National Review – the bible of American
conservatism – organises a cruise for its readers. I paid $1,200 to
join them. The rules I imposed on myself were simple: If any of the
conservative cruisers asked who I was, I answered honestly, telling
them I was a journalist. Mostly, I just tried to blend in – and find
out what American conservatives say when they think the rest of us
aren’t listening.
[…]