In a message dated 10/03/00 18:16:28 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
<< Gosh how the hell did American Culture build the largest and
strongest economy and country in the world? Where did that Internet
start? How many musical acts have we given you.. Wait, what war did
thousands of Americans die in just to save your Island from invasion.
Who rebuilt London? (Cough ack cough.. thats a hard one to swallow I
know.. but come on.. our taxes in someway rebuilt your damn city.) >>
God - I hate this; this argument was started off by provocative anti-American
statements I found a tad embarrassing to be honest with you but you've hardly
dignified yourself with that tirade of confused crap which I would swear was
straight from the keyboard of a 14-year-old who has just opened an AOL
account. Your answers...
1. We're in a no-win situation here - if you're (and if you're going to
generalise then so will I) feeling persecuted over errors of your past you
blame us for the way 'we' treated the Native Americans (for example) but then
when you want to crow about something then it's all thanks to 'your'
structures which you see as not at all influenced by factors such as British
traditions of parliamentary democracy or that pesky capitalist system we
started. Still...even that's coupled with factors like density of population
and natural resources that have more to do with luck than with merit. ('the
largest country in the world'???? Is that a real boast? I thought that was
Canada anyway).
2. And where did that computer start? In the UK. Telephone invented by a Scot
you claim as your own of course... I'm told we took our own part in building
the user interface of the World Wide Web though. Still - thanks for making us
all feel a bit humble. Whenever I type a domain name (or use a zip or eat
cornflakes) I will issue thanks and ask God to bless your great country.
3. Thanks once again. It's hardly a competition but I like to think we've
produced at least one listenable beat combo.
4. Please spare us that 'to save your island from invasion' shite please,
it's vastly insulting and we don't really want to ask you what you were doing
three years prior to actually getting off your arses. So why exactly did you
get involved in World War II? Absolutely nothing to do with self-interest I'm
sure. I was under the impression that Britain and the U.S. were only two of
the nations that paid a huge price in saving THE WORLD from Nazism. Who
exactly feeds you this preposterous crap that you were the bleeding hearts of
the world somehow doing us a huge favour? Is it a superior educational
system? You are only talking about our grandparents' generation and this is
still really, really offensive. Wash your mouth out young man.
5. We did. Thanks for lending us that money, though, which we're still paying
you back today (with interest). Did your taxes build all your own cities? If
so, why haven't you got one as good as London?
By the way, WE work longer hours than everyone in Europe as well. I'm an
adopted Londoner (of two years). There are only two things worth moaning
about - the amount of calcium carbonate in the water and the dearth of decent
pie shops.* I am constantly impressed by its beauty and even aspects of its
ugliness (which seems to prove that it isn't a dead theme park city like
er...Venice, for example). Still - I'd be pissed off if I didn't live here
too (I was for twenty-five years).
Agh and to the bloke who made the lunatic statement about curry - talk about
missing the point! The curry doesn't represent us 'losing our own culture',
it's a great British dish! The Asian people in this country are British too -
what is different about so many Americanisms is that they haven't been
brought in by immigrants but by a distant popular culture. I find that's a
really bland and tedious process as it seems to involve the wholescale
imposition of crass cultural trends, whereas immigrants contribute to the
environment whilst being influenced by it (that's what makes the English
language so special). Why can't people get their heads around this
distinction?
Natalie
*No! A third - Mods May Day.
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