You lot

---

[[Before you post make sure you read most of it, and importantly the bottom few paragraphs. This post starts as a joke, moves on to a dig and then the 'how it is' of it all]]I was gonna do a post called 'culture shock' about our cultural difference, something meaningful 'n' all but i decided i couldan't be arsed so i fort i'd show some stuff off 2DTV.Wanna see The Bush meets Arnie sketch, its pretty funny and 1 of many reasons that us Brits enjoy mocking America, your political system or whatever you call it is a shambles.http://www.2dtv.co.uk/movie/arnie_and_bush.htmIts only 1.2mb total or summit, if your on broadband it'll stream nicely.Gonna say though that we just have different humor, mocking other people is part of British culture, this 2DTV stuff will help you understand us www.2DTV.co.ukLook through it it's pretty funny and prehaps it'll help you understand us.But your sports are poop American Football, yeh, its Rugby with pads (England are world champians at Rugby (woo)) And you hardly even use your foot in it do ya? It should be called handball or summit.You have that 'race' when cars that look like formulea 1 cars drive round in circles...boring.We don't have baseball we have a sport played by girls called rounders, basically the same thing except with a smaller bat. And as long as you can reach up and down to ya mascare/lipstick/eye shadow you'll be fit enough.Your beer tastes like piss.Your cars are the worst looking/driving and fuel inefficient in the world.A fanny pack in the UK is called a bumbag because a fanny is another name for a womans fishbits.You have very little of your own history. Face it, you are us but all you do is eat macdonalds and watch TV and are obese.The US lost over 10x more soldiers in the iraq war...so far than we have and nearly half of our soldiers were killed do to American friendly fire.Your next president will be the one with the whitest smile regardless of his political ablities.Your oblivious regarding the world around you.I'm not digging personally at people, as although people who have oppinions on this board are shunned and given 1 star, coz lets face it more than 1 star is just greedy anyhow....whatever.... This is how the world sees America. There is actually a book called 'Why the world hates America' i saw it in HMV a few months ago.But i would say that one of the biggest hates of America is how it thinks it rules the world. It is a powerful country, one of the most powerful in the world but its nieve too. I found a quote here..."Unconstrained by any superpower rival or system of global governance, the US giant has rewritten the global financial and trading system in its own interest; ripped up a string of treaties it finds inconvenient; sent troops to every corner of the globe; bombed Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia and Iraq without troubling the United Nations; maintained a string of murderous embargos against recalcitrant regimes; and recklessly thrown its weight behind Israel's 34-year illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as the Palestinian intifada rages." "They can't see why they are hated" article in The Guardian. Seumas Milne. Thursday September 13, 2001Also the fact that America harbours more terrorists than any country in the world, i think it was summit like 75% of terrorists are from USA, and America has created some of the biggest atrocities the world has known, cough Hiroshima coughGoing back the Kyoto, America is the worlds biggest polluter but is reluctant to improve so it said it would pay other countries to burdern their pollution levels, if ya remember the case y'know what i mean.America has a tendency to self Glorify and is on an everlasting ego trip regarding WW2. Russia won the war in Europe. I only learnt this a sec ago but apparently 'Saving Private Ryan' is based on a true story but it wasn't an American story but a Brisish one.Also your rediculour crime rate and the fact that just about anybody can own a gun and murder is promoted. As one of the most unstable countries which basically eats every word the media throws your way leads you to think that things are worse than they are, so some kid gets hold of one and starts killing everyone at school. Its ok, shit happens, guns are great etc. hmm.Regarding forign aid, US is one of the stingiest consideing its size.The list is fairly endless.I'm prone to ranting but it helps me think too. ITs not that we dislike Americans, thats simply not true, its the country moreso how it perceives itself to be superior to the world. If it was a more modest country it'd prehaps build respect, America has done great things for this world, even though America really exagerated its significance during WW2 it did lift the burdern off the UK and Russia, i've been to America, the people are nice and friendly, it realy is a lovely place and i will undoutedly go again sometime. I know that we aren't all that great, we have done some evil things and there have been rulers of our country who were evil but as a socially advanced society with soo much history, as with the rest of europe we do look and act differently to America also, but it is a culture thing really, America has put itself in a position where most of the world dislikes ie because how it acts.I just wanna make sure that these 'anti-american' remarks on many posts aren't personal, at the time i was just using very common place British humour, it is hard to understand but it is only one of many things that we culturally are different.I think i've ranted enough for one day. Just come back from reading this and reflect a little, you'll understand why the world is as it is but again....!!Nothing Personal!! Its America we have a problem with not Americans

In reply to: America has put itself in a position where most of the world dislikes ie because how it acts Because how we act? I think it has to do with America being the last superpower left in the world.

You have stated many valid points there. I do want to add that every great power that has ruled some corner of this world throughout known history has eventually expanded and then collapsed. I'm afraid that the US is nearing a peak. What that timeframe is, I have no idea. Decades? A century? Anyways, there is an author (a political scientist and former CIA consultant) who wrote a book on this subject. I can't remember his name but i want to get that book. Anyone know the name? He predicted the following for the USA.1. A perpetual state of war in some corner of the world.2. Financial collapse3. Moral collapse4. and the degradation of the Constitution.Not a rosy picture if you buy into his theory

Let's just hope for the best. The U.S. Constitution is the longest lasting written document that has played the major role in any government, let just hope it doesn't end soon.

China is the greatest superpower in the world i think you'll find I don't think anyone would mess with their 2billion population

According to text books the only superpower in the world is the US. I was kind of hesitant to believe it at first.

I always thought that UK and China were both superpowers also, but lately i here otherwise. The US shouldn't be to cocky tho as all superpowers have fallen who says we wont be next. To me it seems inevitible even if it is way way way into the furture (or is it?)

yeah, i would think that another country is a superpower also, but supposedly the US is the only one left. The text book I got this from clarifies what it takes to be a superpower.Although, who knows. The glory of the US constitution is its ability to change in the way it's perceived in order to so along with the times. Maybe one day the whole world will be converted to the system of government as the US does, but to be truthful, I hope not. I'm look forward to a future where all of mankind is united, like star trek. I guess it will only take the discovery of aliens to do that though. On a side note, I don't watch star trek all that much, but I did watch a few of the movies. They had no money and concentration was on just bettering the human race. Ah, dreams.

Many good points. I don't think the US has used its power very responsibly. I'm definitely with you on the foreign aid and unilateral military aggression bit.Sadly, selfish arrogance may be par for the course. Extremely powerful countries are rarely modest or benevolent. Recall that Britain's once vast colonial empire was built on the tip of a sword- wars were fought entirely for conquest and unilateral self interest (see the Opium War for a poignant example). Not a drop of modesty could be found there either. I'm not saying this attitude is justified, but I am saying that no one should be shocked by the US's arrogance. Unfortunately, I also think that reactionary European anger tends to alienate Americans in a wholly unconstructive fashion. Unnecessary “how dare you” rhetoric and cheap shots (McDonalds quips, for example) dull otherwise good points. Clearly this is what happened to Franco-American relations. If other countries really want to change American policy, they either need to make a unified and coherent statement (the UK has seriously failed here), or they need to form a powerful pole of opposition (like what the EU could be, but has thus far failed to be). But I should add that I too think that we Americans should seriously reflect on and re-evaluate our current foreign policy.

The USA will be a mere city on a floating island which is now Baja California. The Sea of Cortez wil continue splitting upwards until theres just a strip of land left and on that land there will be a city: The United States of America. Just like Rome is just a city in Italy.

No it won't. I'm gonna buy that island.

I think US as a superpower is a rather scary thing. Sometimes when i'm put in charge of something and i'm left responsible i'm just thinking wow is everyone a moron to leave me in charge and thats sort of how i feel about the US.

I think it's scary what we're supposed to be the big dawg of everything. I mean, being who we are we're expected to mind our own business militarily, yet help everyone humanitarian wise.

yup, doesn't make much sense to me.

agreed

I analyzed your post: "But your sports are poop American Football, yeh, its Rugby with pads (England are world champians at Rugby (woo)) And you hardly even use your foot in it do ya? It should be called handball or summit." What's wrong with having a different sport from the rest of the world if we enjoy it? There's something wrong with that? "Face it, you are us but all you do is eat macdonalds and watch TV and are obese." The percentage of obese adults in England is three times what it was two decades ago, making it the fastest-growing rate in Western Europe. Some 21 percent of men and 23.5 percent of women are considered obese in Britain, compared to the 27 percent of men and 34 percent of women in America. Keep in mind we have more people...but still, I wouldn't be talking. "The US lost over 10x more soldiers in the iraq war..."Gee, I wonder why? A recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations notes that only about 25,000 troops in Iraq are not American, and about half of those are British."Your oblivious regarding the world around you." You're stereotyping for what reason? Many of America's residents are of foreign decent... why would we ignore some of the things going on back home or in other locations? "This is how the world sees America. There is actually a book called 'Why the world hates America' i saw it in HMV a few months ago." The world hated the British when they were a superpower in the 1700s, lest you forget. "Also the fact that America harbours more terrorists than any country in the world, i think it was summit like 75% of terrorists are from USA,..."FROM the US? The only US terrorist group I can think of off-hand are the Weathermen, and they've since dissolved. Most, if not all terrorists in the US are from the 7 countries that support terrorism (Sudan, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, N. Korea, etc). "...and America has created some of the biggest atrocities the world has known, cough Hiroshima cough" How was Hiroshima an atrocity? We did what had to be done--yes, it was awful that a lot of citizens were killed, but look at the circumstances. The Japanese WOULD not surrender. The US and other countries were suffering heavy losses...in the end it worked out for the best. Had we not bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Allies would have lost more soldiers than we did. Put yourself in the shoes of the families--wouldn't you want them home as soon as possible? Would you like me to bring up the list of the worst atrocities England has commited? "Going back the Kyoto, America is the worlds biggest polluter but is reluctant to improve so it said it would pay other countries to burdern their pollution levels, if ya remember the case y'know what i mean." Actually, China is the world's biggest polluter. In a recent 20/20 study (American News program on ABC), America's polution has decreased by leaps and bounds from 30 years ago. "America has a tendency to self Glorify and is on an everlasting ego trip regarding WW2. Russia won the war in Europe. I only learnt this a sec ago but apparently 'Saving Private Ryan' is based on a true story but it wasn't an American story but a Brisish one."Russia alone won the war in Europe? Are you sure about that? Hmm, what in the world were our soldiers doing there while Russia conquered all of Europe without anyone's help, especially the US's. The movie is actually based upon the true story of the Niland brothers. One was killed on D-Day while in the 82nd Airborne, one was killed on Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division, and a third was killed that same week in Burma. Mrs. Niland received all three death notification telegrams on the same day. The fourth son was serving with the 101st Airborne and was pulled out of the front lines. They were NOT British."Also your rediculour crime rate and the fact that just about anybody can own a gun and murder is promoted. As one of the most unstable countries which basically eats every word the media throws your way leads you to think that things are worse than they are, so some kid gets hold of one and starts killing everyone at school. Its ok, shit happens, guns are great etc. hmm." Not that you've noticed or done any research on the matter, but America's crime rate has been the lowest it's ever been in 37 years. And if you've even been to the country, you would notice that murder is indeed NOT promoted. What in the world did you mean by 'promoted' anyways? And as far as school killings go, the US isn't the only one. Look at Germany and many other countries, including your own (Does Gemma Dimmick ring a bell?). "Regarding forign aid, US is one of the stingiest consideing its size." Since 1992, Japan had been the largest donor of aid, in terms of raw dollars. That was until 2001 when the United States reclaimed that position, a year that also saw Japan's amount of aid drop by nearly 4 billion dollars. I fail to see how the country that gives the most in foreign aid is "one of the stingiest". "Its America we have a problem with not Americans" Ah, so you have a problem with just the country itself, and none of the people that run the country, causing some of the situations/things you hate? Interesting, because the rest of your post tells me otherwise. I mean no offense to you or the UK (I'm Irish after all), I just wanted you to make sure you knew some of the facts.

Bravo!A well-thought out, well-written post that makes some wonderful points!The US could do with some improving of course- but every country needs improving somewhere. None is without their problems, so maybe before you pick at others Max, you should work to improve your own first.And again, Wonderful Points Irish!

good job. I called another member an idiot for a post similar and yet different than this one, but I wasn't going to try and get into anything.

Very good post Irish!

dam u no ur stuff.