Dear Mr Gormley, you obviously feel very strongly about Britishness and
freedom, as do I, especially the latter. Certainly I am aware that wars
have been necessary to protect our freedom from fascism in our past but
surely the civilising influences of peace are to be preferred to
warmongering? The tone of your reply indicates you have made many
assumptions about my beliefs (wrongly) that I lack an education in history,
and indeed my current citizenship. I found this response fairly offensive
in its tone and akin almost to "flaming". I hope that you will re-read
my "offensive" post and think again about the central message: free speech
and a love of knowledge is something British people should love and protect
about their culture and I would encourage librarians to remind the public
of the value of public libraries. If you are reading the history of the
20th century - we have proof that many great things were done by Great
Britain's people to protect knowledge and freedom but it must also be
acknowledged, as my point about how others in the world see us, that these
isles are no longer the centre of a world wide empire. If you are unhappy
about that please don't take it out on me.
As you chose to reply to me directly and not to the list at large your tone
seems even more threatening I have copied your reply and this message to
the list owner.
-----Original Message-----
From: james gormley [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 January 2006 14:43
To: Angela Haynes
Subject: RE: Public Libraries
We wouldn't be a free nation if it wasn't for "war planes", perhaps a
British and I do mean British rather than English trait, is the ability to
stand-up against fascism! If you don't know the difference between Great
Britain Uk, Scotland or England read a history book!
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