I know what you mean, but I've always felt that you knew the yanks were up to something a bit smart by the fact that they avoided the flattening you quite eloquently wrote about. It is rather like in Risk when you gee up Africa to have a go at Europe while you sit there in Aussie counting the 5 deployments.Titanic wrote:You've named 4 things, only 1 of which was definitely an American invention, and even that (nuclear energy) was through cooperation with other countries. Btw, the USA saved the world in both World Wars and suffered great losses? Who the hell are you trying to kid. How did America suffer great losses when you compare them to Britain, France, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Ottoman Empire or Russia during WWI? Also, how did America suffer great losses during WWII when you compare what Britain, Japan, China, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands lost? America came out best from WWII whilst every other industrialised nation in the world had been flattened by millions of bombs. Britain was literally bankrupt, France was defeated, Germany was bombed to annihilation, Russia lost tens of millions of men, Japan had two nuclear bombs dropped on it, and almost every European nation had cities which had been devastated by the warfare. Btw, your "way of life, your culture", is all imported from Europe, so don't try taking all the credit already.GabonX wrote: We neither want nor need your advice as we lead the civilized world. The United States has brought the world automobiles, telephones, nuclear energy, the internet which you are using as a platform to criticize us and countless other technologies which you are now dependant on.
In addition, the United States has saved the world from itself three times in the last century (WW1, WW2, and the Cold War). Each time the United States suffered great losses and had to expend great resources because of conflicts which were largely not our fault.
Our way of life, our culture if you will, has created the strongest nation in the world today, if not in all of history..
So pardon us if we don't give a damn about your opinion.
Thank you
The fact that they stayed out till '43 pretty much did for the British Empire...clever stuff indeed as it was their greatest long-term threat. I've always believed that, on some level at least, they realised Britain could hold on against Germany, Italy and Japan for just long enough, so that Britain would be, well, fucked... post '45. Never forget that the Americans watched the British lord it up through the 18th and 19th centuries. Can't really blame them for wanting to take over.
While I've always believed that the British, as a race, hit their peak in the 19th century, the Americans seemed to do reach their zenith in the 20th. The question I suppose here is whether they are now falling back into a more ignorent version of themselves. Their media often gives the impression that they are, but most of the Americans I know are unfailingly polite, well-balanced, curious and educated.
From the perspective of the third world, The EU, Canada, US, Australia are still literally light years away in terms of cultural/intellectual development...there is no contender coming from here for a very long time yet. The 21st Century will be yet another of anglo-american domination. So the US is fine, but I would like to see them get behind Obama and wipe away the previous 8 years of madness. A lot of the anti-Obama crap you can read here is but a hangover from the Bush years...it will dissipate over time. It rather reminds me of the infantalising of the debate that went on in China in the 50's or Germany in the 30's-40's. The 'them against us' narrative is so facile when you really consider it, but also so attractive to those who are out of work, feeling threatened by a globalised economy that seems to have no place for them and bombarded by a '3 minute attention span media' that prides fancy graphics and soundbites over actual news.
So I'd say this American retardation is but a blip. They'll pull round, wake up, see sense etc etc. However, we'll know they are in serious trouble if they elect that hag Palin in 2012 (or even put her up as a candidate for the Republican Party). Then we might start having to consider the possibility that history WILL judge the US as one of the most pathetic attempts at empire...1945-2016...bit short that!
