# American jackboot crushing the UK??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 18, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931 "2003-11-18T17:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/1 "2003-11-18T17:13:47Z")
> [@](#): > > I arrive back in Blairland to find that for these past three years my son Marley has been lying on the green sofa in the basement in his Reeboks watching Eminem on MTV eating Big Macs, drinking Coke and surfing the internet for anything with Britney Spears on it. > > What do all these have in common? Right first time, Georgie, baby. Country of origin: US of A. > > What do you plan to do about it, then? Frankly, we in this country have been living under the American jackboot for far too long. > **[While we have your attention, Mr President...](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/nov/18/usa.iraq)** > > It's not often that we get the chance to speak directly to the most powerful man in the world. So as George Bush lands in Britain for his first state visit, we asked 60 Brits and Americans to make the most of it. So, is this stupidity really so common in the UK? Are there really many Britons so brain-dead as to think that it’s a “jackboot” if they let their popular society be bought by another country? If we’re putting our “jackboot” all over the UK, it’s because the UK sold themselves to us quite willingly. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/2 "2003-11-18T17:20:37Z")
Ah the American/irony interface again. It’s always a joy. Will we tell him who Bel Littlejohn is? Or shall we leave it? ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/3 "2003-11-18T17:21:50Z")
Damn Americans, always oppressing people by giving them what they ask for. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/4 "2003-11-18T17:24:39Z")
Then again … dude, they named their kid “Marley.” You expect rationality? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/5 "2003-11-18T17:28:35Z")
[QUOTE] I arrive back in Blairland to find that for these past three years my son Marley has been lying on **the green sofa** in the basement in his Reeboks watching Eminem on MTV eating Big Macs, drinking Coke and surfing the internet for anything with Britney Spears on it. **What do all these have in common?** Right first time, Georgie, baby. Country of origin: US of A. What do you plan to do about it, then? Frankly, we in this country have been living under the American jackboot for far too long.QUOTE] Green sofas are exclusively American? 🙂 Damn, I never knew. Pot calling the kettle black you ask me…if you went back in time, say a century, my guess is that, examining other countries you’d be hard pressed not to find a prevalence of British culture strewn throughout the world. However, I’d say this is probably not the main attitude in Britian, Dogface. I have several friends scattered from South England to Wales and Scottland, and I’ve never heard they talk seriously about such things. I’d say there are always a few blokes out there that want to bitch and moan, reguardless of the country…we certainly have more than our share here in the states. 🙂 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/6 "2003-11-18T17:28:39Z")
FWIW, I went to the Museum of TV and Radio’s University Satellite Seminar last night on journalism worldwide, with people from the BBC, India, France, Mexico, Turkey, Nigeria, etc. and they said that (except for France, whom they all kidded) the battle has largely been settled. American influence has been absorbed and filtered and assimilated to match the country’s sensibilities and it’s a non-issue except for professional muckrakers and dumber politicans and characters like it looks ‘Bel Littlejohn’ is. ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/7 "2003-11-18T17:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Will we tell him who Bel Littlejohn is? Or shall we leave it? Nah, lets leave it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/8 "2003-11-18T17:46:00Z")
Dear, sweet, sincere American cousins. Thanks for the best laugh I’ve had all day. Houston? We’re having an irony interface problem. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/9 "2003-11-18T17:48:42Z")
From that same letter: > [@](#): > > The single human being I most admire in the world right now is Michael Moore. The guy’s a genius. Talk about brave. If it wasn’t for Moore, we’d never have discovered the link between Lee Harvey Oswald, the Osmonds, the tobacco multinationals, Pee-Wee Herman, Mark Chapman and Spiro Agnew. Nor would we now know that for four years in the 1980s Osama bin Laden was a fully paid-up member of the Disney Corporation, working first as a stoker on the Casey Jones Railroad Experience in Disneyland Florida, and finally as a key member of the Three Bears in the Goldilocks House in Disneyland Paris. The author is being satirical. And isn’t Reebok a British company? And aren’t they made in China? ---
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/10 "2003-11-18T17:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Dear, sweet, sincere American cousins. Thanks for the best laugh I’ve had all day. > > Houston? We’re having an irony interface problem. \*\* Tell him, for God’s sake. I have to live in the same country as this guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/11 "2003-11-18T17:55:15Z")
\ \ You wacky Brits! \ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/12 "2003-11-18T17:55:21Z")
I posted this in the other UK thread, but it might also be of interest here. [The Guardian Poll on UK attitudes toward the US, Bush and the Iraq War](http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2003/11/17/1711icm.pdf). Paints a different picture than you’d get by reading this message board. Sample: Iraq war justified: 47% Not justified: 41% Don’t know: 12% ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/13 "2003-11-18T17:59:40Z")
Why do you think I put in this part? 🙂 > [@](#): > > Green sofas are exclusively American? Damn, I never knew. lol guys. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/14 "2003-11-18T18:05:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*I posted this in the other UK thread, but it might also be of interest here. > > [The Guardian Poll on UK attitudes toward the US, Bush and the Iraq War](http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2003/11/17/1711icm.pdf). > > Paints a different picture than you’d get by reading this message board. Sample: > > Iraq war justified: 47% > Not justified: 41% > Don’t know: 12% \*\* And I posted [this link](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-525-895529,00.html) in the other thread: > [@](#): > > Respondents were opposed to this week’s state visit by 26% to 21%. Half, however, did not care. Perhaps surprisingly, given the record of violence associated with anti-globalisation protests, there was sympathy with those who plan to protest against Bush’s visit and the war. By 53% to 41%, respondents said they had sympathy with the protesters. The polls aren’t accurate is all either poll proves. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/15 "2003-11-18T19:24:05Z")
One can only hope, now that we CAN do it. Not like in 1783 or 1814 when we managed our independence but lacked the power to conquer the bastards. And certainly not when we wimped out in 1917 and 1941 and ALLIED with them–that 20th century is a blot on our record! No, the time has come for us to assert our masterhood of the entire English-speaking world. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/16 "2003-11-18T19:40:19Z")
I always wanted to invade England (can we spare the Welsh and Scotts though??)!! Its really for their own good anyway. We will invade them to bring them…dentistry!! Think of it as our service to the world…conquering them in the name of humanity and good teeth! I’m getting all misty eyed here just thinking about it… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/17 "2003-11-18T19:49:30Z")
We don’t have dentists…then who was that man with the big drill…:eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![spogga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@spogga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spogga)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/18 "2003-11-19T11:55:54Z")
I think xtisme was referring to the fact that unlike Americans who ALL have sets of perfectly matched pearly whites we Brits normally have teeth which resemble old headstones. Mine don’t but I guess I’m just an awkward bastard 😃 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/19 "2003-11-19T11:56:12Z")
God bless americans. Best laugh I’ve had all day. I am suprsised that they didn’t also ask Wallace Arnold for his opinion. As a counterpoint. ---
**Author:** ![spogga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@spogga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spogga)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931/20 "2003-11-19T11:57:26Z")
Oh! and the bloke with the big drill was that asshole who is always digging up the sodding m/way [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-jackboot-crushing-the-uk/213931.md?page=2)