Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap

Brad Pitt, who hangs with the usual Hollywood crowd, and shares his life with anti-War expert Jolie, expressed surprise at the fruits of his peers’ efforts:

BRAD PITT discovered how unpopular America is across the globe when a group of drunk Dutchmen threatened to kill him because of his nationality. Pitt ran into the partygoers while he was in Amsterdam shooting OCEAN’S TWELVE, and the incident shocked him. He says, “I get a bike wherever I go and I went for a midnight ride around Amsterdam. There were some guys coming out of a bar having a good time. I said, ‘Excuse me,’ and swerved out of the way and they started screaming, ‘You f**king American. We’ll f**king kill you.’ “I’d never come face to face with that before – that turn in the way we are perceived in other countries.”

I’m sure, though, that we’ll soon hear Pitt, or some of his friends, opine about this being Bush’s fault.  He may well be right, of course.  Bush’s determined efforts to challenge jihadism, while Europe has for so long been determined to deny the problem, makes him as disliked as the little boy who first declared that the Emperor had no clothes.  While he spoke the truth, the courtiers bitterly resented having their self-deception pointed out.

By the way, apropos Brad Pitt, check out this funny blog entry.