From: Paul-not@Mills-USA.com   
      
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   Knowleman wrote:   
   | I was driving home about a month ago, late at night down an empty   
   | motorway (freeway), in my home country, England. I was surfing the   
   | channels on the radio and completely unexpectedly, heard this great   
   | music. Turns out it was Alison Krauss, as the radio announcer informed   
   | me.   
   |   
   | Next day, we ordered Alison's latest album. My wife and I loved it,   
   | and we ordered another. Our interest prompted us to do a little   
   | research on the internet and we discovered the term "bluegrass" for   
   | the first time. This then led us to a bunch of additional artists that   
   | we thought might be interesting but we have now put our new found   
   | musical interest on hold.   
   |   
   | The reason for this is because we regard ourselves as relatively well   
   | informed Europeans and as such, have some serious concerns about the   
   | culture within the american states with which bluegrass is naturally   
   | associated. We dislike George Bush and his politics, we dislike racism   
   | and we dislike religious fundamentalism in any form, whether it be   
   | islamic from the middle east or evangelical christian from the   
   | central/southern states of the USA. We believe all of these things are   
   | bad news for the planet and for the future of our kids.   
      
   Lots of people like bluegrass music.   
      
   1. Some support George Bush, some do not.   
      
   2. Only a very small percentage of people I come into contact with are   
   racist -- have there been problems here, yes, still problems, but that   
   does not make this country as a whole racist.   
      
   3. Not sure what you mean about religious fundamentalism. Perhaps, you   
   would think I was one. Perhaps, if you got to know me, you would   
   actually find that you like me. Now that would not be good would it ;-)   
      
   4. Perhaps, you should come to a bluegrass festival. Maybe you would   
   find out what we are really like.   
      
   | My wife is so concerned about the association of bluegrass with these   
   | things that despite the fact that we love the music, she is unhappy   
   | for us to pursue the interest further.   
      
   This makes me think you misunderstand those who play/listen to   
   bluegrass, as well as the general population of the USA.   
      
   | Finding this forum and seeing a thread of discussion started by a   
   | racist bigot has only served to fuel our fears.   
   |   
   | We would be interested your opinions of our views and concerns. From   
   | the responses, we hope to determine whether bluegrass is really   
   | hard-wired to a culture of bigotry, racism and fundamentalist   
   | christianity or whether there are bluegrass fans out there that we can   
   | relate to.   
      
   Best I can tell, the person you were talking about is not a regular   
   poster to this group. Nor were those who responded. This message was   
   crossposted to several groups by a "troll."   
      
   Love the music.   
   Paul   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   - --   
   /********************** Running Debian Linux ************************   
   * For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son,    *   
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   ********** W. Paul Mills ********** http://Mills-USA.com/ **********/   
      
      
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