Posted on 08/11/2007 4:28:35 PM PDT by bnelson44
Can I just say, the vast majority of Brits have nothing but admiration for the US and the US military. Most of the postings you have seen are probably just stupid teenagers or the usual shouty left-wingers common around the world! The UK unfortunately doesn’t seem to have an equivalent to FreeRepublic.
Regards,
UK
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What have I written that is convoluted?
I have tried to defend my country from your insults. I have done this in a clear fashion.
On the other hand, you have hurled insults at me. You have called my country ‘little England’, said that I’m probably called Mohammed, said that I’ve whined. Etc. Where is your argument?
The UK has the BBC message boards, the Daily Telegraph “your view” comments, Daily Mail, The Sun, The Guardian, The Times etc. Even if one was to spend a minimum of time at anyone of these places a certain theme emerges and that is the same regardless of the venue.
I know what you mean mate. But the same number of posters attack their own country just as much as the US on those sort of message boards. In my experience, the vocal minority dominate these sorts of discussions in the UK. I have frinds across the political spectrum. But all of them are united in their praise for the US and the American ideals etc. Many US posters on the British sites are rabidly anti-Bush/ Blair etc but aren’t represenatative of general US opinion.
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you are mistaken. our forces in and around basra conduct offensive operations and urban patrolling all the time. our increase in casualties over the past six months is proof of such.
you said it mate. there is much knee-jerk reaction on these threads to bad headlines about our troops. its obvious that you boys, and girls, are getting the job done.
There is no comparison, none whatsoever. I have heard Americans criticize your government on very rarest of occasions, but never anything like the abuse George Bush and Americans take from the average Brit. Do you remember "How Can 60,000,000 People be so Stupid?" This insult appeared in one of your daily newspapers. How dare you (and by you I mean a collective "you")? Maybe we just have better manners than you, but I could never imagine a similar headline appearing in one of our major dailies questioning the intelligence of the British people, never. But in Britain you are very comfortable with this there wasn't even a ripple of discontent.
There was the "weasel" front page of the New York Post when they portrayed the UN ambassadors from Germany and France as weasels and the outcry from the American public was so great that nothing like that has ever happened again. We give much more respect than we get that's for sure. I don't consider people who insult me at every turn to be a friend or an ally. The perception becomes the truth, and perception is that Brits insult and berate Americans constantly and never miss an opportunity to do so. Perhaps all those American loving Brits should start speaking up once and a while and change the perception.
Well, the British people/government/ military are abused on this forum (a right-of- centre website) every single day. Some articles posted on this site are entirely devoted to denigrating Britain. Even positive threads about the UK on this site are often turned into another opportunity to bash the UK.
With regards to the British Press: I completely agree with you that the US press (with the exception of the New York Post) is far more polite. British tabloids (such as the one that printed the headline that you mention) are really awful and are joked about in the UK for being rubbish. However, you are right that there was no excuse for such rudeness about Bush’s reelection. It’s the gutter press in the UK.
The US is the world’s only superpower and is admired widely. But success also brings jealously. Similarly, the UK is widely ridiculed by the rest of the world for being a ‘poodle’ of the US. There are people in every country, including the US’s closest allies, that will seek to attack the US (jokingly or otherwise).
The British people are cynical about everything. However, when push comes to shove the British people feel much more of a kinship to the US than to Europe (you should hear the daily rants in the UK, in the mainstream, against the Continent.)
The true test of friendship, however, are actions not words. Britain is the only country to have deployed (and maintained) its troops to heavy combat on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan other than the US. The British like to heckle at other countries in the world. As a people, we aren’t good at showing positive emotions towards anyone. But the British love US culture and love the US. Some comments aimed at the US are meant as jokes. The British only joke around with mates.
Don’t be too sure about that....things can happen between now and then....and Brown will have little choice but to reverse the UK’s plans...
You are mistaken; Basra is a mess.
Articles "entirely devoted to denigrating Britain" are generated from where? Usually Britain, and usually with sneers and jeers aimed at America and Americans for some gratuitous reason thrown in. (If you have an article from a US newspaper denigrating Britain, please share it, as I have missed it.) No one on this side of the Atlantic called you a poodle, you came up with that one all on your own.
Americans don't treat their friends like cr@p and then expect them to smile and just accept it as just jokes. You are making enemies where friends used to be with your special brand of humor. Words mean things, and when insults are hurled our way do expect a reaction. It's on its way.
Gordon Brown's tomfoolery is about to see France become predominant in Europe, with the help of the USA.
Britain has to go to the Islamic dogs, literally, before the British public wakes up to the real threat in their society, and the threat of Islamic Fascism to the world.
See yah, Gordy, hate ta be yah!
So’s most of Iraq
Yes, sorry, I didn’t phrase my post very well. A couple of points:
1) The British are frequently labelled ‘appeasers’ and ‘cowards’ on this forum (daily probably), despite the exact opposite being clearly true. I wouldn’t descibe this as mild in the least. In comparison, most anti-US postings that I have seen on British boards have been along the lines that ‘Bush is a moron’ and Americans are overweight.
2)Here’s an anti-British article:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1879398/posts It’s especially bad, I feel, as it completely disrespects the hundreds of British troops killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
3)The British don’t treat the US ‘like crap’. In the latest polls, 51% of Brits were very positive about the US (this was the highest rating amongst countries in the European survey). These are very good statistics given the Brits’ natural cynical nature and the fact that we are engaged in an very controversial war at the moment in which we’ve suffered significant casualties.
4) I phrased my ‘joke’ argument badly. I was mainly referring to comments about Bush. In the UK, politicians are seen as the lowest of the low and untrustwothy. As I see it, attacks on Bush are just an extension of this. The British attack themselves far more than the US. You should hear the insults hurled at British politicians all the time on British TV etc.
If the British didn’t truly like the US, then they wouldn’t have embraced so much of its culture. Cinemas are packed out for US movies and US TV shows are on all the time over here.
I’m sure your information reports are directly from in county sources so I’m sure that you know the difference between what is going on in southern Iraq and the rest of the country, right? My information doesn’t have any political agenda hence no reputations to smear or protect.
i believe the assertion was if UK forces conduct offensive operations and patrolling in and around Basra. My answer to this is ‘yes’. Whether or not the conditions on the ground are in a good or dire situation has nothing to do with the question as asked, so your comment of Basra being ‘a mess’, while potentially accurate, is irrelevent in the conversation in its present context.
So, in this context, it is you who are mistaken, and myself vindicated.
Thats fine. As long as the PM looks after MY interests. We have other allies in Europe, such as the Scandanavian countries and so our alliance with the US, while prudent in the post 9-11 days, is now a hinderance.
Our troops will continue to fullfil their duties in Basra and withdraw when our military commanders deem it necessary. Of course their is going to be a power vacuum when we leave, but this is the case forthe US as well, unless they intend to leave an army of occupation indefinately inside Iraq. And if that were the case, I would have based my embassy in Basra or Kirkuk, as there is nothing in the middle of Iraq except lots of sand.
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