Vive la difference!They’re not France?
Special relationship UK & US (a myth?)
- Thread starter Nyotarules
- Start date
Canada didn’t have an Empire. It’s a Colony. It’s like the...quiet version of America that skipped the moody teenage stage.
That poll was taken back when Obama was President. I'd be interested to see what a comparable poll looks like today.
(I was referring to a poster from the UK).
No it didn't, we acted much the same in the days of colonialism and we made the same mistake of seeing it as our god given right. America is far from unique in that regard.
However, we don't live in the days of the Empire, I was born long after it and can bear no guilt for it's actions. For being a citizen of a country which keeps on slavishly following the U.S into bullying, self serving, inhumane wars which destroy millions of lives I do feel justified in feeling shame.
You might disagree, but I think the honest truth is you probably agree with me and don't want to say so. I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge how awful my country has been, but I can't change that. Americans are in a position to do so and there are millions of wonderful ones whose voices are being drowned out right now in the name of cultural regression and bigotry.
Ah, the quote looked like it was otherwise. XD
The Empire was an odd duck...it grew out of something relatively benign, grew into a beast, absorbed a few older Empires, then became something positive in some ways before dying, its embers becoming the commonwealth. It’s one of those things that people can have totally contradictory opinions of, and yet have both be essentially right. It was the model on which both the Japanese and US based their Empires on, amusingly.
Trump is not the American people. He's transient, like any president. Our generousity comes from our hearts, not our politics. Even when it comes to things like uhm, Global Climate Change, the only one in America who bailed out of that fight was Trump, himself. Businesses are still going green, because that's where technology is going. They're still supporting those alternatives, because they save them money.
Actually, it’s mostly in the name of money, somewhere in the mix.
It would be an interesting parallel to imagine a world without US participation. How WWII would have progressed. Any number of decisions and conflicts thereafter. For those who would prefer the alternatives so be it. As regards current and future 'positions' now I personally think the US is going to become more isolationist. So may be people will get what they wish for?
Dude, Americans are just people who happen to have been born in a certain place. You're no better or worse individually or on aggregate than anyone else. As a political entity you suck balls.
Hear, hear.
Our government is an experiment in democracy. That's all it is, that's all it ever was. And as such, it's an imperfect system. Who's going to deny that? But the American people, as a whole, are pretty much the best you're going to find anywhere on the planet.
That's actually not accurate in my opinion. The USA is a major political entity and the reason other countries and powers take heed is either because they agree or they don't want to cross them. However I think for the most part American values are shared by others in the world.
Oh you poor delusional man!
You are aware there are hundreds of democracies around the world, many of them much older than yours? You do realise pretty much everything in your system is borrowed from those other, more established systems?
You really believe what you are saying?
What values?
The ones where sick people go without medicine if they aren't working, where people die unnecessarily because it's unprofitable to treat them? The ones where unemployed people are largely left to find themselves living on the streets? The ones where the "freedom"to arm yourself trumps the rights of others to be safe? The ones where taking whatever you want from other countries by force is fine even if it essentially destroys all semblance of civilisation for whole nations whose people suffer for decades after?
We had those values once, in the days of the Empire, but we do our best to add truth to the hope we've moved forward and progressed. The shame lies in making ourselves the lackey of a nation which still holds the values we've tried so hard to cast aside for over a hundred years.
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Aussie is part of the Commonwealth - for now. Funny last time we had a vote to ditch it, we didn't. There is a lot of affection and lineage.
I would say that most American people I have met or encountered have been kind and decent people. I'm rather grateful for much of what has come from your country too. Um... especially the tech and entertainment, lol. Yay to Star Trek!
Democracy means that the people decide ... the age of said democracy is irrelevant when rights are protected or threatened on a generational basis. What the current generation values or discards is what matters, not what ancestors in Roman times found fashionable. And even though the UK's ownership of America was hundreds of years ago, we've always valued our ties to the UK, especially. That never went away.
Are you sure the feeling's mutual?
Yes, I am. Britons do not hate Americans. Like ourselves, they might dislike the current administration, but as nations, our ties are very close and that is absolutely not going to change. Especially as aggressive nations become increasingly powerful and terrorists become better equipped ... we're bound to eachother more than ever.