[Serenity@sea]

@ Babs!

I thought it was the opposite, Tex. I thought Americans have a horrible rep (sometimes rightly so) whenever they go abroad.

[backwoodsroamer]

Texaxile, on 09 June 2012 - 09:46 PM, said:

Hi,

Now- here's the crux- We see two differing sides of the USA here in the UK, one where people are friendly and interested in England, and another where they're hostile to anyone foreign. Is it a balance or more weighted towards hostility?

Well Tex, I haven't noticed anybody shouting "Down the British"  and burning the Union Jack lately.  The only time I've seen much animus against Great Britain in the U.S. was in Boston, which has a large Irish American population.

That being said every country has it's xenophobes and ignorant fools. Too many of them in the U.S. can be found in that vast wasteland we call "Talk Radio."  The stereotype of the Ugly American is not a pure myth. I got into it with a member on this forum once when I commented that the founding fathers of the U.S. at one point considered themselves Englishmen and that English culture greatly influenced U.S. culture.

It's coming up on the bicentennial of the British burning the White House. We did do some damage in Canada at the time though, so I think we can call that even.

There is a tendency here towards believing the U.S. policy is always right. This hasn't always made for cordial relations. I have always been treated very well by citizens of other countries. Well a few of them have tried to kill me, but I don't hold it against them. Even in hostile countries, I have encountered many friendly faces. I've always tried to reciprocate the sentiment.

Without having any religious connotations, I think the world would be a much better place if we could all abandon petty hatreds and learn to, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner."  

[Serenity@sea]

backwoodsroamer, on 09 June 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

Well Tex, I haven't noticed anybody shouting "Down the British"  and burning the Union Jack lately.  The only time I've seen much animus against Great Britain in the U.S. was in Boston, which has a large Irish American population.

That being said every country has it's xenophobes and ignorant fools. Too many of them in the U.S. can be found in that vast wasteland we call "Talk Radio."  The stereotype of the Ugly American is not a pure myth. I got into it with a member on this forum once when I commented that the founding fathers of the U.S. at one point considered themselves Englishmen and that English culture greatly influenced U.S. culture.

It's coming up on the bicentennial of the British burning the White House. We did do some damage in Canada at the time though, so I think we can call that even.

There is a tendency here towards believing the U.S. policy is always right. This hasn't always made for cordial relations. I have always been treated very well by citizens of other countries. Well a few of them have tried to kill me, but I don't hold it against them. Even in hostile countries, I have encountered many friendly faces. I've always tried to reciprocate the sentiment.

Without having any religious connotations, I think the world would be a much better place if we could all abandon petty hatreds and learn to, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner."  

Well said, BWR!

It sounds so simplistic but I always thought if we all just practiced tolerance, the world would be an entirely different place.

Edited by Serenity@sea, 10 June 2012 - 12:25 AM.

[OMEN]

Here is another Americanism I think

We teach our kiddos how to use weapons


My boys are in  Texas as I type on vacation
















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[Texaxile]

Yep...it's down to the good old media again, we see a few Tv shows this side of the pond where some Americans (I realise now they're either actors or put up to it by the Production team) show hostility to English people visiting.

Oddly in my relatively rural part of the UK (75 miles from London) and despite it being "constable country" (after the painter) we rarely see tourists from anywhere. Then again, on reflection we don't have a great deal to offer.

However, during the 80's we did have 3 large USAF bases locally, Bentwaters (where they saw the UFO), Lakenheath and Mildenhall (the latter two are still operational). Bentwaters apparetly had the longest runway in the UK. I know that the Personnel and families were fantastic , injected alot of cash and employment into the local coounity and their fun / open days were absolutely great. The Mildenhall Air Show was better than anything else in the UK at the time and even in our small street we had some American families who we shared some great times with.

I don't think Americans here are consdiered "loud", like BWR mentioned there are some strong feelings from the Anti War element who seem to hold anyone from the USA as responsible for it, that is very short sighted on their part unfortunately.
I do feel that any tourists however may go home feeling somewhat disappointed at the poor customer service industry we have, but as time goes on the Brits are learning lessons from the Americans on how to treat customers correctly.

I have another question, are all your Police officers armed? is this countrywide?. we have a few armed officers in our major cities, but locally our nearest ARV is about 7 miles away, and has , to date , never been used.

Edited by Texaxile, 10 June 2012 - 08:38 AM.

[OMEN]

Yes sir. If I am correct all police officers and sheriffs are armed.  

My wifes father is a retired police officer and her mother is retired detective for sherrifs department. I got my info from them


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[Barry Cade]

Texaxile, on 10 June 2012 - 08:37 AM, said:

Yep...it's down to the good old media again, we see a few Tv shows this side of the pond where some Americans (I realise now they're either actors or put up to it by the Production team) show hostility to English people visiting.

Oddly in my relatively rural part of the UK (75 miles from London) and despite it being "constable country" (after the painter) we rarely see tourists from anywhere. Then again, on reflection we don't have a great deal to offer.

However, during the 80's we did have 3 large USAF bases locally, Bentwaters (where they saw the UFO), Lakenheath and Mildenhall (the latter two are still operational). Bentwaters apparetly had the longest runway in the UK. I know that the Personnel and families were fantastic , injected alot of cash and employment into the local coounity and their fun / open days were absolutely great. The Mildenhall Air Show was better than anything else in the UK at the time and even in our small street we had some American families who we shared some great times with.

I don't think Americans here are consdiered "loud", like BWR mentioned there are some strong feelings from the Anti War element who seem to hold anyone from the USA as responsible for it, that is very short sighted on their part unfortunately.
I do feel that any tourists however may go home feeling somewhat disappointed at the poor customer service industry we have, but as time goes on the Brits are learning lessons from the Americans on how to treat customers correctly.

I have another question, are all your Police officers armed? is this countrywide?. we have a few armed officers in our major cities, but locally our nearest ARV is about 7 miles away, and has , to date , never been used.

Those ARVs are plenty fast, however. The ones here are based in a small town in Northumberland (Ponteland) where the Northumbria force has its headquarters; this town is about 7 miles outside of Newcastle. Those estate cars (shooting brakes) have to be able to be anywhere within the force region in <18 minutes (this is with the caveat 'apparently', as I only have a Police officer's word for this )  and they're supposed to be very, very good at meeting this service level. These Northumbria ARVs have been used, most notably recently in the Raoul Moat case... The police officer was shot only five minutes from our house...

[Ansceniiiic]

OMEN, on 10 June 2012 - 12:48 AM, said:

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My weapon knowledge is crap, may I ask what kind of Rifle he is firing? It's like half of an M1 Garand and a Kalashnikov

[leon the pig farmer]

Looks like an SKS.

My friend has one over here, gives a nasty kick.  7.62

Ansceniiiic, on 10 June 2012 - 03:55 PM, said:

My weapon knowledge is crap, may I ask what kind of Rifle he is firing? It's like half of an M1 Garand and a Kalashnikov

[backwoodsroamer]

Ansceniiiic, on 10 June 2012 - 03:55 PM, said:

My weapon knowledge is crap, may I ask what kind of Rifle he is firing? It's like half of an M1 Garand and a Kalashnikov

Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, commonly called an SKS. It actually does have some mechanical similarities to both the weapons mentioned. Original design is Soviet from the waning days of WW2. It has been manufactured by many countries. In the late 80s here in the U.S. a Chinese made SKS could be purchased for 60-70 dollars. A 1,000 round case of 7.62 x 39 went for 50 dollars. They are extremely common all over the world.      

[Ansceniiiic]

leon the pig farmer, on 10 June 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

Looks like an SKS.

My friend has one over here, gives a nasty kick.  7.62

So it is! Cheers!

backwoodsroamer, on 10 June 2012 - 08:51 PM, said:

Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, commonly called an SKS. It actually does have some mechanical similarities to both the weapons mentioned. Original design is Soviet from the waning days of WW2. It has been manufactured by many countries. In the late 80s here in the U.S. a Chinese made SKS could be purchased for 60-70 dollars. A 1,000 round case of 7.62 x 39 went for 50 dollars. They are extremely common all over the world.  

Knowledgeable as always! Thank you kind sir.

[backwoodsroamer]

Texaxile, on 10 June 2012 - 08:37 AM, said:

I have another question, are all your Police officers armed? is this countrywide?. we have a few armed officers in our major cities, but locally our nearest ARV is about 7 miles away, and has , to date , never been used.

Not only are all the police armed Tex, a majority of the citizens are too. I'll drag out my old facts I've used so many time. The most recent study done by the U.S. government found that excluding military, police, and security weapons there are enough functioning firearms in the U.S. for every man, woman, and child to have 2.6 firearms. I will also use my tired joke by saying I have no idea what one does with .6 percent of a firearm.

It's not just the wide availability of firearms that cause our police to be armed. There are fundamental differences in our societies. We have a long history of violence, self sufficiency, and defiance of authority. I'm not saying we are a nation of barbaric savages, but an unarmed police force would not be a viable option in the U.S.      

[OMEN]

You fellas are correct it's a SKS.  Kick wasn't too bad for my boys. The kick from the hunting rifle had more kick


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[Major Tom]

Regarding the question about American animosity toward UK. There are far more anglophiles than anglophobes. We share the same language and there is a natural affinity for our British cousins. We do have thin skins and if we sense rejection or dislike, we might be likely to return it twofold. All of my friends and relatives who have visited UK found none of that and had a wonderful time.

There was that Axis of Weasels thing awhile back but it did not include UK. France Germany and Belgium were the culprits and France bore the brunt of most of our scorn.

We have long felt contempt from the French. For decades they have treated us like shit in their country and they barely tolerate our existence when they visit us. We have responded by generally disliking the French and having lots of fun with them by referring to them as Surrender Monkeys and worse.

I can certainly understand how countries that have suffered mass civilian casualties in countless wars over the last 200 years might see us as a threat to peace by our interventions. This attitude is also found to some extent in our own Blue States. The Red State population is very protective of our warriors, right or wrong, and we hold their service in the highest esteem.

I doubt that any resentment in the UK is worse than we hear from many of our own people and we still manage to get along with them. We have always been allies with the Brits and we can stand a bit of chiding from them as we do from our own.

Some of us like you so much we are keeping a spot warm for the UK as a 51st State.

[leon the pig farmer]

hey BWR ive read that the US war of independence was  effectively a classic civil war with both sides figjting for governance.

ive also read the the US civil war was in fact not a civil war but a war of secession.

[leon the pig farmer]

excuse bad spelling, im tapping away on a phone keyboard made for spider sized fingers