In case you haven't had a look at my profile here, I'm American by birth and British by choice. My family has ancestry in the USA going back to the Mayflower, and I was born and lived in the USA until my twenties. So I'm not just some wild-eyed, communistic foreigner who hates the USA because of irrational, unthinking jealousy.
Your comment is almost entirely whataboutery.
You're correct about Britain having a very bloody history when it comes to killing people, particularly foreigners with darker skins. In recent times, that's usually been because there's a prevailing delusion in the UK that we must always clutch the USA's coattails when it comes to foreign interventions, and what's good for the USA is always good for Britain. In the more distant past, Britain slaughtered and pillaged for naked economic reasons.
What irks many on the left in Britain and the rest of the world is Americans' sanctimonious attitude when they fly off to stomp all over some other distant country. The window-dressing is that it's because the USA wants to spread democracy over the globe, when what it's really about is business and money. The USA's entanglement in the Middle East is the most obvious example. Nobody in the USA would have given a damn about Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait if those two countries and the surrounding ones had nothing but rock under the sand.
I'd never say the UK is perfect; Britain has loads of problems. When it comes down to it, this is a small island which doesn't have a particularly wonderful climate for growing stuff and has long since depleted most of its natural resources. Its history also means it suffers from a collective delusion that it's far more significant in the global scheme of things than it truly is.
The USA, on the other hand, is the most powerful economy in the world, and currently it's still just about clinging on to the title of the sole global superpower. That's what makes it disgraceful that so many newborns die there, that so many people live in poverty, that opioid addiction is a huge problem, that there's any homelessness at all, and that millions of families have been driven to bankruptcy due to medical bills. Saying other countries have other problems doesn't wipe those issues away.
As for the freedom of speech index you cited, I acknowledge that it seems to be from a credible source. I haven't dug in to the details, but I assume that the reason the UK has a lower score that the USA is because of the libel laws here. It's not uncommon for wealthy Americans and those from other countries to come to Britain to sue media organisations for libel because they know the law here gives them an excellent chance of winning. Also, it's possible for rich, powerful people to get gagging orders which prevent the British media from reporting on allegations made against them. Most people with any sense see that as wrong, and I suspect it will eventually change. Social media is already making the laws pretty much irrelevant. If the rules in the USA were the same as in Britain, we would probably never have heard of Stormy Daniels or any of the other examples of your President behaving like an ass, and that would indeed be a pity.
Is it true the average American woman is 5'4 165 pounds?
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In case you haven't had a look at my profile here, I'm American by birth and British by choice. My family has ancestry in the USA going back to the Mayflower, and I was born and lived in the USA until my twenties. So I'm not just some wild-eyed, communistic foreigner who hates the USA because of irrational, unthinking jealousy.
Your comment is almost entirely whataboutery.
You're correct about Britain having a very bloody history when it comes to killing people, particularly foreigners with darker skins. In recent times, that's usually been because there's a prevailing delusion in the UK that we must always clutch the USA's coattails when it comes to foreign interventions, and what's good for the USA is always good for Britain. In the more distant past, Britain slaughtered and pillaged for naked economic reasons.
What irks many on the left in Britain and the rest of the world is Americans' sanctimonious attitude when they fly off to stomp all over some other distant country. The window-dressing is that it's because the USA wants to spread democracy over the globe, when what it's really about is business and money. The USA's entanglement in the Middle East is the most obvious example. Nobody in the USA would have given a damn about Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait if those two countries and the surrounding ones had nothing but rock under the sand.
I'd never say the UK is perfect; Britain has loads of problems. When it comes down to it, this is a small island which doesn't have a particularly wonderful climate for growing stuff and has long since depleted most of its natural resources. Its history also means it suffers from a collective delusion that it's far more significant in the global scheme of things than it truly is.
The USA, on the other hand, is the most powerful economy in the world, and currently it's still just about clinging on to the title of the sole global superpower. That's what makes it disgraceful that so many newborns die there, that so many people live in poverty, that opioid addiction is a huge problem, that there's any homelessness at all, and that millions of families have been driven to bankruptcy due to medical bills. Saying other countries have other problems doesn't wipe those issues away.
As for the freedom of speech index you cited, I acknowledge that it seems to be from a credible source. I haven't dug in to the details, but I assume that the reason the UK has a lower score that the USA is because of the libel laws here. It's not uncommon for wealthy Americans and those from other countries to come to Britain to sue media organisations for libel because they know the law here gives them an excellent chance of winning. Also, it's possible for rich, powerful people to get gagging orders which prevent the British media from reporting on allegations made against them. Most people with any sense see that as wrong, and I suspect it will eventually change. Social media is already making the laws pretty much irrelevant. If the rules in the USA were the same as in Britain, we would probably never have heard of Stormy Daniels or any of the other examples of your President behaving like an ass, and that would indeed be a pity.
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McBean
4 years ago
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Good old Stormy. Every Little Red Riding Hood should get her 15 days of fame. (consequences are a good thing)