He’d be lynched by some of our less tolerant American chums.
Time to go way off topic but…
I went to Las Vegas in early 2002, because, frankly, flights were a relative bargain because of the attacks.
Also, I’m shallow and am entertained by sparkling lights and water features…
Anyhoo, one of the casino’s there is modeled on the New York skyline, and is called, appropriately enough, “New York New York”.
As I walked down the strip on my first day, I was shocked, surprised and amazed to find that an impromptu shrine had grown on the sidewalk next to “New York New York”.
Flowers, teddy bears, t-shirts, flags… you name it, if it was tacky and pointless, it was there.
Now, two things struck me about this; firstly Las Vegas is 2500 miles from New York, so not exactly showing that much support to the victims, and secondly, and I think this is key, when “New York New York” was built, the twin towers were never incorporated into the design. So what the hell were they mourning in the desert…?
I’m sure it won’t shock anyone to learn that there were many people weeping, whilst stood at this pile of tat, stood next to a temple of capitalism, shrouded in an incomplete copy of a skyline of a city half a continent away.
It was one of those occasions where I felt utterly disconnected from the emotions of every other human around me.
Anyway, back to bad films…