Bruce Dickinson on BBC Radio 4 "Any Questions" (2nd November)

Zare I agree with most of what you said. But the thing is, Bruce did not say it like that. Maybe we wish he did, but he didn't. I also feel he'd be a good employer for the workers serving under him, but I rather not see him as a prime minister of the UK.

Especially Bruce's simple and unsubtle overall condemnations of the EU and Euro (one big spending machine) I find most dissatisfying. Before this happened, I always saw him as a subtle person who can explain well what is on his mind. Instead, his commentary comes across as someone as ignorant, shallow and asocial as Wilders.

It sounds like he disqualifies the EU and Euro only for is own (country's) good.
Be it left or right wing, that doesn't matter much. It's the nationalistic view that I fail to ignore in a favourite artist of mine.

I guess I was naive, thinking that a person who played for millions in dozens of nations, for decades, and who flew thousands of people in jets, would not be so anti-Europe. Being anti EU and anti Euro, is for me not much different from anti-Europe, since the Europe in the year 2012 needs rules and control. If someone would disagree with that, then I would not be surprised if this could (unconsciously) help that person not being bothered by Bruce's political view.
 
Once again, I'm speaking from an American perspective, but as I understand it, in Europe right now this is a time when several nations are struggling economically (Greece, Spain), and the rest of the countries are being asked to subsidize their recovery. It doesn't even seem to occur to a lot of people that this can easily be viewed as unfair, especially by a businessman. Maybe it is not fair that the people of one country be coerced into paying for the economic mistakes of those from another country.

Again, I don't know as much about the Europe situation as someone who lives there, but from here in America, a lot of us see what's going on in Europe as something to avoid, economically, while many American liberals see current Europe as something to emulate.

In this day and age, there seems to be a great deal of intolerance to the idea that the governments should do less and that people should have more economic freedom. In America, a major argument over healthcare essentially says "Every other western nation has universal healthcare, it's embarrassing that we don't have it." People say this without even considering the notion that "every other western nation" could be wrong. I don't really want to start a healthcare debate, but merely to point out an example of growing intolerance for economic freedom. If I understand correctly, Bruce is basically saying that a British businessman should not be coerced into paying for the mistakes of the Greek government. That is definitely a valid statement to make, whether you agree or disagree.

Again, Forostar, you seem to be missing the possibility that Bruce believes that individuals from nations around the world can and should be friends with each other without believing that their governments should coerce them into paying for the mistakes of other governments. You really need to check your premises here. As a person who converses online with people from all around the world, I agree with Bruce on economics.

Yes, if Bruce was going around asserting that the British are a superior people to other Europeans, or if he was holding intolerant social views, I can see that distracting you from supporting his music. But this is not that. This is him having a different view on whether or not a government should tax its citizens to pay for the economic mistakes of another country. Not exactly the same thing.
 
Well what I've seen is that many persons from outside the EU don't seem to view the situation in a clear way. The EU isn't even half as bad as the usanian conservatives say so, but they don't seem to view that. Yes they have a problem with Greece and Spain but the situation could be a lot, lot worse, and I think that they have protected themselves pretty well for a case like that.
 
If you guys lived in Germany, you'd think the apocalypse is on us. I know maybe one or two people of my age who support the EU, everyone else condemns it with harsher words than Bruce could ever find. Incidentally, I am very often confronted with the idea that the EU and the Euro are doing more to divide Europe than divide it. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry at the fact that in this of all countries, people forgot the value of solidarity. So please forgive me if I can't be bothered by what Bruce says there.
 
I think Bruce didn't say quite a lot --but Forostar can't help (rightly or wrongly) extrapolating from this position; this just so happens to lead to a place that he doesn't like much. Which is fair enough.

My guess (not saying this is my own personal opinion) would be the majority of people in Europe see very little to emulate in America, full stop.
 
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