Poor President Zelensky. Not only must he risk constant assassination attempts and an effort by the Russian military to take over his entire country. On top of that, when he appeals to his friends and allies he seems to imagine that we are something we are not.

On Wednesday morning, when the Ukrainian president addressed the US Congress he tried to appeal to Americans. He spoke of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. And he tried to summon up the foundational ideals of this country.

He said that “Just like anyone else in the United States I remember your national memorial in Rushmore, the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America as it is today.”

The reference was touching, but wildly outdated. Clearly President Zelensky does not realize that in the last few years America has been trying to rid itself of these foundational figures. Statues of Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln have been pulled down across this country. Only last November Thomas Jefferson was crated up and humiliatingly wheeled out the back door of New York’s Council chamber.

Sticking with this city, only the other week the statue of Theodore Roosevelt was hauled away in the dead of night from its position in front of the American Museum of Natural History. And who can forget how CNN’s correspondent described Mount Rushmore just a couple of Independence Day weekends ago. According to CNN, Mount Rushmore is “a monument of two slave owners” positioned on “land wrestled away from Native Americans.”

It is wonderful that Zelensky admires the foundations of America. But the country, and politicians, he was addressing seem not to share that admiration. In fact they seem to be actively trying to shrug off the history that Zelensky was appealing to.

The Ukrainian also referenced Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech” without seeming to realize that this generation of Americans have been busily inverting King’s dream. So much so that today we live in a society which is not color-blind, as Dr. King hoped, but color hyper-aware.

President Zelensky committed the same mistake the week before when he addressed the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. There he again made a strong speech, appealing to what he imagined on that occasion to be the character of the British Parliament and its people. He quoted Winston Churchill and his World War II speech about resisting the Nazis. “We will fight until the end” said Zelensky. “At sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.”

The House of Commons got to their feet weepily, with many MPs wearing the colors of Ukraine’s flag on their lapels. But they no longer live in a country which reveres Churchill, as Zelensky seemed to think. Today when Britain’s state broadcaster, the BBC, mentions Churchill they prioritize the case for the prosecution. Academics and others have assailed Churchill’s reputation for a couple of generations now. He is a “racist,” “imperialist” and much more. For much of 2020 the statue of Churchill outside Parliament in Westminster had to be boarded up because it was repeatedly attacked by anti-Churchill activists.

It is wonderful to see Zelensky standing firm. But it is sad to be reminded of the gap that now exists. The gap between an image that our friends have of us (especially when they are in need) and the image that we now have of ourselves.

As though to cement the point, this past week a poll asked American voters what they might do in a situation similar that which Ukraine is currently undergoing. Asked what they would do if America was invaded in similar circumstances, an amazing 52% of Democrats said that they would flee the country. A quarter of Republicans said the same thing. Only 55% of all respondents said they would stay and fight, with a total of 38% saying they would flee.

There are many things that are horrifying about these figures. Not the least of which is that this number may be optimistic. After all, most people try to make themselves look good to pollsters. So what would the true figures actually be?

Hopefully we will never have any reason to find out. But it is a reminder of a truth that Zelensky and his countrymen and women have learned. If you know what you are fighting for then you will fight. People fight for their families and their friends when a war of invasion is happening. But they also fight for another idea: the idea of nation.

For more than a generation Americans, like Britons, have been encouraged to disdain their nation. Especially to disdain the heroic figures who lie at its roots. Over time the corrosive effect of this can be all too clearly seen.

I am touched by the image Zelensky has of Britain and America. But how I wish it was accurate.

A few weeks back I aggravated some in theater-world by relating what a right royal pain it is to visit Broadway at the moment. Even while masks are being discarded everywhere else, entertainment venues in New York remain stuck in mask madness. Whilst even airlines are finally giving up on them, New York’s theaters seem to have a fetish for masks that would amaze a sexologist.

And it´s not just Broadway. Carnegie Hall and the Met now demand audience members produce evidence of no less than three vaccines before being allowed in. On a visit to the Whitney the other day, heavies at the door demanded vaccine evidence and mask-over-nostril wearing at all times as though we were entering an operating theater. Though frankly the contents of an operating theater would have been infinitely more arresting than any of the art on display.

Why are they still doing this? It is pure theater. Everybody knows that come closing time or curtain-down the employees and performers at these establishments head to bars around the corner and mingle maskless for the rest of the evening. Often engaging in activities far riskier than a bit of slow remasking between sips.

Enough already. The cultural spaces of New York need liberating.