h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

we british are sane in what we have done compared to the americans, they hae done a load of insane things over the years and they need to be sorted into line instead of skipping the "think first" queue as presidents (like bush) have over-protected themselves with mumbo jumboand god-knows-what when visiting different countries, what do you think?
no_deep_thught
over and out

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Contributing to the Guide' to 'Ask the h2g2 Community'.

I think one must remember the whole of the British Empire and what *that* did, before just launching into an "Americans are insane" debate.

And besides, Bush doesn't speak for all Americans (thank God), myself included.

Though I agree with you in saying that the lengths taken while Shrub has been visiting London are over the top (I live in London at the moment - so it's a big deal to me as it's just a plain inconvenience when trying to get somewhere), I can also see why some (though not all) were taken.

The British Empire was much cooler than America.

Yeah, y'don't see Americans going "out in the noonday sun" like "mad dogs and Englishmen". At least not without their portable air-conditioning units and plenty of fluids.


~jwf~

When shrub visited Australia recently, they banned the public from the parliamentary buildings in Canberra . Apparently this was the first time that Australians couldn't be in their own government's space since there has been a government there.



I think the whole of the West is insane. America as a culture is particularly insane, but the rest of us are insane too for our complicity (I'm talking countries here, not individuals). Unfortunately the non-western world seems to want to be as insane as the rest of us

So long as everyone stops blowing each other up I don't care how insane they are.

Mel

i think they are still insane what ever they say and us brits are much more chilled out the need to remember and chill out
no_deep_thought

----->american ( enters room, looks around.........)

'hm... i dont think they will kill me......'



Hi All,

Yea we are insane. But a few relevant thots.

1. We are a very diverse country. Big land mass and multiethnic.
So you can say we are crazy... but only parts of us are extreme.
(mostly ny and calif. says the georgia boy)

2. If you trace the development of civilization over time and track it around the globe....... well, the usa is so very young still.
Isnt it only natural we kinda like the rowdy teenagers to you calm europeons?

jj (ps the bbc rocks)

I think part of the problem is that you're at that teenager stage where you think you know everything and that you can fix everything.

I speak of the country as a whole, I have some lovely American friends and I wouldn't class them as teenagers in many ways.

I look on it in the same way that Britain has a stereotypical image of being dunken and yobbish, most of us aren't but the ones that are make the papers and that is what builds the stereotypes.

Mel

at least teenagers are idealistic and enthusiastic

oh dear there's a terrible generalistion still at least Im in good company here.

the bald eagle is in danger because americans are threatening its habitat, atleast the english are sane enough to choose national symbols one of which is mythical and the other lives on an entirely different continent so we cant be blamed for their extinction

yanks no saner or madder than anyone else.

what are you talking about Americans are the most idiotic and insane group of people the world has seen even if they are a young civilation they need to grow up quickly and chill out and remembering and be like the brits excluding Tony Blair.
no_deep_tought

So your not actually asking the question, you're just trying to tar all the Americans with the same brush. Maybe you ought to look at our country and ask yourself if we're as sane as you think we are.

Jerry Springer has a large following in England
MacDonalds is the staple diet of many of our teenagers.
Suing people excessive amounts for stupid reasons is on an increase.

I know you can try and blame America for that but we're still copying, if Americans all threw themselves of cliffs would we?

Mel

If they did it in the "right" shoes some people would.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3256493.stm

The above shows how easily duped people are into believing they are smarter and more special than other people.

Anyone who can start a thread is exhibiting stupidity of the highest order. Why dont we all go around making assumptions regarding subjects we know very little about? Because its ignorant prejudice thats why.

When we were in the same position the Yanks are in now (Number One Sole Undisputed World Power), it was over a hundred years ago and technologically speaking, we didn't have the wherewithal to blow the world up several times over.

If the British Empire had had nukes during one of its regular bouts of biffing Fritz or slapping the Frog - or if Frog and Fritz had got their hands on this technology in return - we'd have been every bit as crazy and insane as we're accusing the Yanks of being now.

Any bets that if we'd had nukes in, say, 1870, we wouldn't have chucked one at Berlin and one at Paris, or threatened to do so, in order to stop one of our major European competitors from getting ideas above their station? (France and Prussia locked in combat, the winner would emerge as undisputed challenger to British supremacy, in the event the Germans ewon, and look what happened next)

What makes America potentially dangerous now is not its mindset - we were every bit as bad if not worse - but its arsenal!

You know, I used to think the same thing about Americans myself too. Then I went there to work for a summer. And I met Americans. I lived in an American house, worked in an American company, ate their food, drove their cars, read their newspapers and saw their games.

In the past years I have worked and interacted regularly with American people.

And I don't think the same about America now. It's a great place, and the people are pretty much the same as you and I. A lot of the people I have met over there have impressed me by their openness, their tolerance and their basic common sense.

So rather than throwing out a facile "All Americans are insane" comment, why don't you do what I did and go there yourself? Otherwise all you are showing here is a heap of prejudice against people you don't really know all that well.

Woodpigeon

to Woodpigeon.

As I said I know several Americans all of whom I get on with and are sound people, the sterotypical 'America' however is something I want little to do with.

I will cite Jerry Springer again, how are we supposed to respect America as a nation when this is what it exports to us

Mel

Psst... Jerry Springer was born in England...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,881868,00.html



Woodpigeon

I know, but America gave him air time

Mel

I think the differences between US citizens and the rest of the world is largely one of circumstance and environment, not of ethnicity or of any other sort of "born" or inhereted traits. In other words, it's all nurture and no nature. From that perspective, a lot of what people do not like about Americans is what they would not like about themselves had they been American. Conversely, a lot of what Americans admire about themselves they would not like at all (perhaps even be ashamed of) if they were in others' shoes. Perhaps that's a large part of the reason for a lot of the feelings and views the rest of the world has towards the US and how the US views and feels about the rest of the world.

Sometimes it seems the more we "know" about each other, the less we actually learn. There is nothing like first hand experience with people in their own countries for that - I could list all the European countries I've visited and those of the North American continent, and how that's helped my own perspective of all the incredibly people I've met, but I can't type that much today.



- JD (speaking of food, it's Thanksgiving holiday here in the US - Happy Thanksgiving to all! )