SultanOfSwing

If I were to pick one thing, it would be that since moving here, this country that touts itself as the greatest in the world has done nothing to disappoint me at every turn.

You're led to believe that this, the land of opportunity is the greatest, freest place on earth. America produced great minds such as Edwin Hubble, Thomas Edison, Richard Feynmann, Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson. They put the first man on the moon, Boeing revolutionalised international travel in the 60s with the 747. There were many scientific, engineering, architectural and artisic achievements to be proud of. Americans invented heavier than air flight; won the space race; invented rock and roll ... Who wouldn't want to live here, right?

Then you get here and it really isn't this place at all anymore. Now, once you have sat through seventeen hours of mind numbing advertising, amidst much product placement you have a bunch of over-medicated, under challenged disrespectful children in schools that won't even let them fail a ****ing class because that might build some character. Don't worry - as long as you like to throw a bloody ovoid around and touch up other boys in the shower, you'll be looked after. You have a healthcare system that would make most other nations piss their pants. This isn't to say one can't find good care, but the method of delivery sucks harder than a room full of Dysons. You have a brainwashed population who thinks as long as they have god and their guns, nothing else matters. So afraid are they of the rest of the world that you can't even suggest a few things that might be wrong with the current state of affairs without being branded an 'un-American' outcast. How is any nation going to progress if its own population aren't allowed to speak out against that which is wrong? It's almost fifty years after the civil rights marches but yet we still have unchallenged institutionalised racism, we still have American citizens denied the right to marry whoever they want just because the religious right doesn't like where they put their sexual organs in the privacy of their own home. Yeah, that's nowhere near as bad as a wee bit of dog shit because you never get that here. No, my ****tard redneck neighbours never let their piece of shit dog crap all over my garden. Never happens.

Hyperbole (an important word) aside, if I were a natural-born American who lived through the 50s and 60s, I'd be sad at what I saw today. The nation who, after recovering from a depression, handled themselves with dignity in the second world war, went on to win the jet race and then the space race allowed paranoia to creep in and eat away at the fabric of the country. Paranoia that the Russians were out to get them, that communists would take over the world. All that money and energy spent 'policing other nations' and faffing around with the bloody UN and NATO could have been poured into the US's own pot. No, instead it's much more fun to let India and China rape us in the tech fields so we can go send our young men and women to die in some desert wasteland for reasons that could have been avoided in the first place.

So yeah, bang on about the UK's quirks all you like but the UK is over 1,000 years in the making. It is allowed to be a bit senile. The US has just gone through puberty. Now it's time to grow up.

ian-mstm

I hate that if I want a good fast-food hamburger, I have to drive to Windsor, ON to go to Harvey's.

Ian

Scouse Express

Just wait until you try "Culvers" - everything else is crap, compared to Culvers.


Jim.

SultanOfSwing

Dog n Suds is pretty good, too. Not sure if they're nationwide, though.

Scouse Express

Nope, never heard of them. But, I see that "Felony Franks" is closing its doors in Chicago.

Jim.

SultanOfSwing

Such an apt name for such a (cough, cough) law abiding and upstanding city ...

Scouse Express

and the Merry Band of Ex-Governors.

Jim.

SultanOfSwing

I am expecting 'Diamond' Joe Quimby from the Simpsons to be running for the next election

Sally Redux

Surgery doesn't take 18 months to get scheduled in the UK, Mallory.

Thanks for reminding me of my least favourite thing about the US, the 'Ra-ra-ra we're the best' attitude.

Egon

I was about to say the same thing - and nor is it always a short queue in the US.

Nutek

Vote Quimby!

SultanOfSwing

I always use this example - I've had A&E visits for broken bones on both side of the Atlantic. One for me in the UK, one for my son in the US.

Wait times were about the same, the level of care and standard of treatment were about the same. Only one visit cost me $250.00, though ...

Granted, $250.00 might not seem a lot but that's about half a week's pay for me. Plus, we had the cost of the X-rays on top of that to pay for, plus follow up care with the bone specialist and the physiotherapy (that wasn't even covered by our insurance ...)

All things being equal, I'd rather have the NHS myself.

kimilseung

1. They invented the Mexican Wave

2. They complain when it is called the Mexican Wave (and not the American Wave)

Scouse Express

Whilst we are on the subject of Sports - Are the Yanks pissed off because they can't take a "Time-Out" in the 100m Swimming or Hurdles during the Olympics?

Jim.

SultanOfSwing

Now, a time out during the hurdles would make for quite the spectacle, wouldn't it ... ?