"And the Yanks wonder why we point and laugh at em...."

[caty]

This is the title of a thread that is on the "Digital Spy" forum in the U.K.

I am offended and disappointed. Sometimes I post on other forums--I like the ones in Scotland and England, because it gives me a chance to chat with people from a different country.

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=416857

They start out making fun of an American girl in a graduation picture and then a few start ridiculing us because of our government. Like their's is so great.

"In fact I don't think there's anything remotely amusing about the Americans and how they're conducting themselves in the world, far from it."

But, it certainly gives us a view of what the rest of the world thinks of us. Americans are being looked down on because of what our government is doing. They must not pay attention to the approval rating polls. Am I surprised? No. It will take decades for us to get our good reputation back--if we can just get the best people in office and keep them there, that is.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Hee hee hee - "her sisters, Gaping and Dripping"

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Deja Q]

2. From the people saying it.

What do the official governments have to say?

And, either way, we can never get the truth.

For all we know, they're quietly applauding what's going on despite publically showing "concern".

[caty]

3. Oh no, he didn't just say that:

"There are some SERIOUS moonbats on the Democratic Underground forum. Hardly a place to show normal thinking Americans. They make some of the left wingers on here look positively BNP!"

[jobycom]

8. LOL I think he proved his point!

:rofl:

There are some serious moonbats here!

[tjwmason]

4. Do you want me to find the various comments on here.

The "isn't British food terrible" ones, the "all British people have bad teeth" ones - need I continue?

Making rude comments about others is a pretty standard and constant practice the world over, we Brits do engage in it and do so about America more than most other countries (but I think that the French still have the edge on you).

Do we pay attention to Bush's approval ratings? For the most part no, why the hell should we? Do you know the approval rating of the Prime Minister Zapateros? Eejit Poodle Boy Blair? President Chirac?

Are Brits rude about Americans? Yes. Do many Americans deserve it? Probably. Are most of the criticisms equally applicable to our own position? Definitely. Does that make the actual critique less accurate? No.

[caty]

5. I've never seen any---

but I'm sure there have been some. No matter what country these remarks come from, they do not help the situation any. We are all going through political changes that have most of us shaking our heads and wondering how things could have gotten so messed up. All we can do is keep voting and working together to improve things the best we can. We are allies and we should treat each other with the respect we all deserve.

[bettyellen]

7. i always thought there was UK resenmtment RE: they invented imperialism

well, built their fortunes on it, anyway. so you know, the minute they stop occupying other countries (ops, they haven't) , that's the proper time to point fingers at others. i always got the impression they hated tourists because it seems one way or another, their income has been dependent on outsiders, starting with the colonies, then tourists. can't be good for the ego, to be so dependent on people they'd prefer to look down on.

[tjwmason]

15. We invented imperialism?

Did we then invent a time-machine to make just about every major power which preceeded us adopt this new invention of ours?

I'm sorry, but the rest of your commentary is about the same level. If we decide that imperialism is a bad thing and we should stop it, wouldn't it also follow that we'd oppose others engaging in it too? We didn't really make much money from the colonies, by about a century ago that was considered to be terribly uncouth - the empire was a net drain on our resources for a long time. Tourism is a very small part of our current economy.

We hate tourists because we hate everybody; and those we hate, we also love.

[bettyellen]

17. my point was, the brits did it better. more widespread imperialism

had not been seen prior or since. time machine or not, you know this. maybe that's the root of this charming "hating everybody"?
but brits never acknowledge this (or minimize the impact- saying it wasn't all that profitable) when they are pointing fingers at others.
like it or not, it;s a huge part of your country's early economy and history, and it's a history of exploiting others for profit. by and large britain left the colonies only because it was forced to, not because they got tired of the "financial drain", not because they thought it "uncouth".

[tjwmason]

21. My point was that this isn't really anything more than is found with

anybody.

You obviously didn't note the irony in my little "we hate everybody" you also chose to ignore the part about loving those whom we hate.

My original message was essentially to say that everybody (not just Brits) do this sort of thing, I've seen it done even on D.U.

You decided to drag in various (moderately inaccurate) points about the empire, which I think are all pretty irrelevant.

Oh and Britain left the colonies because we were bankrupted by the First and Second World Wars. In several individual cases there were independence movements, but these were nothing new and had been got over in the past - but we had imperial fatigue, were bankrupt, and by that point had mostly come to realise the immorality of empire.

[bettyellen]

25. Gahndi gave you all a case of imperial fatigue, LOL.

i understand it;s a mixed bag over there, same as here. but glossing over it, calling the empire "irrelevant" is pretty damned dismissive. it sounds like you think itf you had the money, you would have "got over" again. but lacking funds, you instead call it taking a moral high ground?
britain would like that part of history to be irrelevant, but millions suffered at the hands of the empire and it is a lot more significant than a list as an asset or liability on a balance sheet.
i'm just saying, it's human nature that brits would hate us for behaving like they did in their own, very embarrassing and not so distant past.
and the love/ hate thing? i thought it was irrelevant.

[mr blur]

20. You got that right.

You forgot the other slurs which have cropped up regularly around DU. Still, they seem to like Monty Python, so we must have got something right.

[jobycom]

6. I don't get it

I guess her name is some British slang, probably sexual judging from the level of excitement over it (and the fact that all good puns are sexual).

As for the name calling and silly picture gazing, pretend for a moment you are from the South, then visit DU. See? It's always less noticable when you aren't the object of the joke.

[texas1928]

9. I don't get it.

:shrug:

I guess I am dense.

[bettyellen]

10. means she has red pubic hair. and brits generally look down on redheads

because the scots/ irish have red hair and there's a history, you know... they largely believe they are superior to "Gingers" as they call them.
wow, i can't believe the ethnic slurs on that forum. ick.

[mr blur]

19. Sorry, absolute nonsense.

"Seperior to 'Gingers'"? What on earth are you talking about?

You must have been watching too much of that appalling sexist/racist/stupid crap like "Are You Being Served?" which you Americans seem to love so much but which to the average Brit is merely a source of deep embarrassment.

[bettyellen]

23. actually it was spending months there that did it. if i never hear another

irish joke, or ginger joke again, i'll be happy. and this was from college professors, lawyers, healthcare professionals. all self proclaimed lefties.
i'm sure it's no worse than i'd encounter in much of the us. but i'm from nyc, so i was kinda shocked.
and i guess you didn;t read the thread because it proves my point.

[texanwitch]

11. Me either,

What is so funny.

:shrug:

[caty]

12. I guess that is why

it is said the "British humor" is different from ours. A little more slapstick and bawdy.

[bettyellen]

13. and racist.

i hate when they refer to them as "gingers" .
:puke:

[lynne]

26. I am a GINGER and I have a GINGER KID -

- and it doesn't bother us at all. We consider it a compliment as (natural) redheads are the smallest minority of hair colors on the entire planet. The largest concentration of redheads can be found in Scotland and the last stats I saw indicated that only 14% of the population there were "Gingers".

My daughter dated a Brit and he loved to make fun of our accent and referred to us as "Ginger's". Considering that this was coming from someone who thought Marmite was fine cuisine, I just considered the source! ;)

[Schema Thing]

14. LOL, I think it's all in the name: Ginger Minge(r)

I've read enough Brit banter to know they are being set off by the idea of someone named "Ginger" and "Minge" (they are mentally adding an "r" to Minger), but I can't tell you exactly what those words mean to them. I'm sure a bit of googling would tell me.

[bettyellen]

18. minge= twat, ginger= red head

and they love to make fun of redheads, so it;s so much funnier than brunette to a brit.

[billyskank]

16. It's not acceptable

let me make that quite clear. Although please remember that the old relationship pre-1776 has been reversed: we are now effectively your slaves. Our government basically does what yours tells it to do: it fears the consequences of not doing so. Under those circumstances it is difficult not to feel resentment.

But as for approval ratings, his approval ratings were pretty diabolical in late 2004, yet he was still reelected and that is what most people care about. And frankly I am far from convinced that the Democrats are going to make a strong showing this year (they seem determined not to).

[hfojvt]

24. not only the determination, but two more things

First, Bush and Cheney are still raising beaucoup bucks as taxpayers pay to fly them all over the country.
Second, the system is rigged against Democrats, see the 2nd half of this:
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh062006.shtml

[chaska]

22. "get the best people in office and keep them there"...

I don't think that's going to do much really. It'd be just tinkering at the edges of a thoroughly corrupt system.

Lately, I think we have just start over. But of course that won't be possible without some sort of terrible conflict. This corporate gov't is dug in deep. And it won't come soon. The sheep are fast asleep, and the dodos are dead from the neck up (that's a majority, I'm afraid).