kimilseung

Don't be daft, no one is going to gaol for saying "U-S-A".
It is not just talking about a perception, To repeat myself, it is about what is communicated.

MarylandNed

No-one said otherwise. There is world class treatment in other countries too but there is more in the US than anywhere else. As for the UK, it's not even the best European example by a long way. It ranks behind quite a few other countries such as France and Germany.

MarylandNed

That is very true. I believe that US healthcare is the best in the world but when you combine it with a seriously broken health insurance system, the result is much less than it should be given the amount of money spent.

By the same measure, the UK system ranks lower than you might think considering it also has some good healthcare facilities. In terms of European rankings of healthcare systems, the UK is actually pretty average and ranks well below countries such as France and Germany.

Ichigo-chan

Well the US is bigger

civilservant

That's not forget that the only fusing most healthcare facilities on the UK receives is from the government. They receive a fixed fee for a fixed procedure as set down in contracts.

In the US a Dr, and their workplace, can charge what they want. It's no surprise they can afford better facilities when they can fleece their customer at will.

MarylandNed

An update on this. There was an article in the Washington Post recently containing an interview with the Boston police chief. He stated that facial recognition software was used on the photos but came up empty - this despite the fact that one of the bombers had a Mass. driving license, both had immigration photos on file, and one had been interviewed by the FBI. So facial recognition software really isn't that good yet....especially on photos of the quality they had available. Here's a link to the article:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...bing-suspects/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...f71_story.html

Davis said he was told that facial-recognition software did not identify the men in the ball caps. The technology came up empty even though both Tsarnaevs’ images exist in official databases: Dzhokhar had a Massachusetts driver’s license; the brothers had legally immigrated; and Tamerlan had been the subject of some FBI investigation.

MarylandNed

The UK is bigger than quite a few European countries it ranks behind in healthcare so size isn't the determining factor.

Hiro11

I think seeing the USA chant as an expression of jingoistic American exceptionalism is a reflection of your own prejudices and political sentiments. There's no way anyone can control how their actions are perceived.

MarylandNed

For some reason I can't quite explain, I found the "USA" chants really annoying. They also seemed inappropriate considering the fact that one of the bombers is a USC who has spent most of his life here, and the other was a GC holder who had previously been investigated by the FBI.

kimilseung

probably.

Ichigo-chan

Your argument here regards the US is quantative

SultanOfSwing

I think it's because they were so out of place, in this instance. It isn't a sporting event (which, as paddingtongreen correctly pointed out, is where the chant originated) and it wasn't the entire USA who brought the guy in.

As someone else pointed out earlier, chanting 'Boston' or 'BPD' or something more region-specific though, would have been understandable.

I mean, I know why they do it, it's pretty much become a standard response to something in the USA that goes well and I get it. That kind of patriotism (which my wife tells me has only really increased post 9/11 ), if directed in the right way could be a good thing, IMO.

I still agree with whoever posted about the bass tones of the 'U' being yelled by a crowd en masse. That's just a frequency/timbre thing but christ I find it a hard one to listen to

MarylandNed

Your perception of my use of the word "more" is subjective.

MarylandNed

So what will the fallout be?

Has this whole episode provided a blueprint and encouragement for others to go on a similar terror rampage? Or will the relatively swift death and apprehension of the 2 bombers deter others from trying something similar? Will the use of CCTV increase in the US? Seems to me that suicide bombers wouldn't care since the act is the be all and end all.

To be quite honest, I am simply amazed that there haven't been more of these incidents in the years since 9/11. Either the US authorities are doing an amazing job behind the scenes to stop stuff from happening or the enemies of the US are completely incompetent. Maybe a blend of both is true.

Ichigo-chan

So please clarify what you meant by "more"