BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 06:14 PM

(gnu... I did consider how many years of UK history to refer to. 900 seemed to cover most of the recent setup... ;>).. The Picts, Saxons, Vikings, Romans...etc. aren't exactly identifiable as such today)

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 05:59 PM

That may be true of Americans where you live, Dan, and that's sad - but it certainly doesn't describe the people I know in Juneau, Alaska. We tend to be very aware and involved.

If you were speaking to me, Bruce, I'm fine, thanks. Still haven't gotten under a roof of my own but very comfortable with friends. All in good time...

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: olddude
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 05:53 PM

Most American's would say here is a quarter call someone you think cares. That is the truth ... most are too wrapped up in their own lives trying to make a living to give a crap actually. People in politics care I am sure, but most American's could care less actually unless it directly impacts them

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 05:21 PM

Well, I am runnin out of ales, 9. Ya wanna make a run?

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 05:11 PM

Hey, honey, how's things?

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 05:01 PM

I sometimes thought of contemporary UKers and Europeans and Asians as having been alive all of those thousands of years, and that they/you were therefore wiser than we with our paltry history. The Mudcat has forever disabused me of that notion. :)

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 04:51 PM

"800-900 years of history"

Oh, shit! HERE comes some serious thread drift. Bill... gee whiz, man!... get yer oil clothes on.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 04:50 PM

That article exposes a deep rift between two peoples but also reveals profound connections. I suspect that there is really no way of totally knowing, and therefore fully understanding, each other. But then, do the English actually understand the Scots? The Irish? The Welsh?(Well, maybe the Welsh. :)

Maybe we don't need to understand more than just the recognition that we are alike in essence. Maybe with a healthy application of tolerance and bemusement we can live forever alongside each other. Kind of like inlaws.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 04:06 PM

With substantially more than that land area and 1/10th the population, we Canadians do know how you feel.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 03:11 PM

Over 10-15 years of Mudcat, I have seen numerous Brits make 'remarks' (often critical) about the USA or its policies, characteristics, attitudes..etc. In most of those remarks I detect a basic unfamiliarity or lack of comprehension of just how large & diverse this country is!
Yes.. I know... the UK is quite diverse also: but the differences are not so large when carefully considered. The UK has a variety of dialects, food preferences, music, etc...etc... but because the country is fairly small,they mostly seem to recognizable to each other.... and there are 800-900 years of history to 'set' many concepts.

It is hard to comprehend how varied and widely separated US places & people are. It is only in the last 100 years that relatively easy travel was possible... and regional differences were even more extreme until paved highways and radio & TV in the 30s, 40s & 50s made it possible to really 'share'.

The USA, due to distance & the way the Constitution was worded, has this history of "states rights" that further serves to avoid 'being like THEM' (up there-down there...etc.)

Sometimes I think the image of "herding cats" was invented to characterize the effort to get Americans to agree on anything.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 03:01 PM

One of many reasons I have always liked you is that even when we argue we agree.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:55 PM

9... THE situation. And, that "situation" IS important. It, as I have posted about MANY times, is skewed. I believe it seriously detracts from the perceptions of most people ALL over this earth, beyond Brits and Yanks and Canucks and Indians and and and... literally - everyone.

I have been taken to task and denegrated because of my views. John points to a "situation" that is gravely needed to be thought about... mulled over... discussed and certainly not given short shrift. To say, "Who gives a shit?" is a typical attitude of no particular citizen but of the masses who don't give a shit or cannot see why this shit matters. After all, we are all in this together. Understanding each other is the only way we can can STAY IN IT together.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:52 PM

I always find it interesting to see how I/we are perceived by other folks. No sleep lost, just healthy curiosity. As Rabbie Burns said.

"O wad some powr, the giftie gie us,
Tae see oorselves as ithers see us"

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:46 PM

Yeah!

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:42 PM

Wow. Those are really...

Deep Thoughts

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:39 PM

We Americans probably have the same view of us... Yeah, the parts of America that we love, we love but...

...the parts we hate, we hate...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:34 PM

Not really, Wesley, but then again perception is one's introduction to the reality of any situation.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:28 PM

Is there some reason why one country should care how another country feels about them? Are you concerned about how Americans perceive England?

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:25 PM

I had some native American friends when I lived in Ottawa. A lot of their older brothers and sisters served in the US military during that war.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:17 PM

I know that Australia DID send troops to Vietnam and Canada did not. But then I intended to do a Masters in history about the war there. I recall having over 250 paperbacks written by vets who served in Vietnam, and with those books was Stanley Karnow's excellent book on the war. I'd intended to write my thesis on the affect of war on personality. Unfortunately, I got a teaching job and dropped out after receiving my B Ed.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 02:08 PM

As an alien permanent resident of the USA, I can give the opinion of the small sample of US Americans, a few dozen in various walks of life, I have talked to about such things.

They don't know about subtleties like "ambivalent attitudes" they don't care. They do care about trade relationships. They care about people in other countries burning the flag. They care about whether or not countries go to war with them but they don't really keep track of which ones did. For example many think that Canada sent soldiers to Viet Nam and Australia didn't.

You want to talk about ambivalent attitudes? Most Americans know a lot more about the Beatles than The Lend/lease program.

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 01:28 PM

"Americans" here, used by itself, means USA-ers. If we mean Mexicans or Canadians or anybody in Central America or the South American landmass, then we specify as such ~~

~~ as you, Mr 9, well know. You are just being roguish!.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 01:19 PM

I knew some smart ass would come back with that comment. ;)

Subject: RE: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 01:13 PM

Do you mean North, Central and South Americans or USA people?

Subject: BS: So Americans, what do you think of this?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 12:59 PM

An analysis by one of my favourite writers, Will Self. Of the somewhat ambivalent attitude of us the Brits, to you, the Americans.


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