You should have shot him. That would have cleared up any misunderstandings regarding guns *and *health care in our country.
You know what, I agree with your politics.
However, if you are a guest in someone else’s country, what a lady or gentleman does about their politics is they shut the fuck up about it unless they’re only talking to people who want to hear it. I live in Canada, which IMHO has better policy regarding guns and health care, but we aren’t perfect. The state of aboriginal people in Canada is a disgrace, for instance. And the UK has its problems, and France has its problems, and Japan and Sweden and Italy and insert any country you care for.
To go work in another country and insult them in the workplace is vulgar and contemptible and I don’t give a damn what you think about a particular political issue. It is of course fine to discuss issues like an intelligent adult, at the appropriate place and time, though I would suggest a smart person is careful about political arguments at work. But to cast insults and jokes at the citizens of a country that has been kind and welcoming to you, and allowed you to reside and work there, is disgracefully rude.
Hey, that was one of my favorite solo acts from back in the days of Jethro Tull.
Are you sure? I thought Oregon seceded in a tizzy over GM labeling.
Anyway, Texas is bigger than France.
And you should cut the Brits a break. Life is obviously so dull over there that they ha e little to do but get falling-down drunk, riot at soccer games and obsess over their favorite anti-American stereotypes.
:dubious: Oh, really? Do tell.
Emulate whomever you want, but you really can’t see a reason why the US should change its gun laws? Really?
(Hint: All the dead people)
I don’t really discuss the issue with people who have no stake in it. In practice, that means I don’t debate US gun laws with non-citizens. However the issue ends up being resolved, it is a US issue that will be decided by the people of the US. However you handle the issue in Ireland is your business, just as it is our business how we handle it here.
Humans are the top of a food chain. An individual may be put at risk by other animals, especially in that animals native environment, but as a whole, no other animal can compare to humans ability to adapt, overcome, and destroy its opposition.
What we can do is find systems that work better, then nitpick their faults (because there is no perfect system) to make it seem like any other system is a worse idea. Despite nationalized healthcare being a better choice, we use their shortcomings to pretend that we Americans don’t need reform.
QFT
QFT *2. I say this as an American who thinks we get more right than wrong and would rather live nowhere else, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want things here to improve. We can learn from others and adapt. Sadly we are learning how to adopt England’s surveillance state and speech & press restrictions far more than their healthcare policies.
That said, size does matter in some things, especially culturally. England (130,395 km[sup]2[/sup]) can fit inside Oregon (255,026 km[sup]2[/sup]2). It’s easier for England to have a more homogeneous culture than America. Think of how different European countries can be from one to another despite their proximity, and apply that to Oregon and Alabama. It is much more difficult to get national consensus here dues to size and population.
Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry pizza? No thanks.
Our gun culture has a little to do with bears.
I blame their famously awful food. I’d want something to distract me from chipolatas that taste like dentists’ fingers and jellied eels too.
We’re going to have to agree to disagree. I like my pizza wood-fired and not the size of a car tyre.
The part I object to is the assumption of superiority. Unfortunately, this is not limited to Americans. The fact is that the British in particular have been pissing local populations of much of the world with their bloody smugness and presumed superiority for hundreds of years.
For a group of intelligent people, I find it laughable that your best argument is gosh, these things are stupid and Americans are stupid. Really? England was quite the developed country when America was discovered. WRT guns, the fact is that there has been a long developed historical tradition (not to mention that pesky Constitution) that necessitated firearms. That many Americans do not want to change that Constitution might be for the same reason that the NYT got into bed with Larry Flynt over the 1st amendment. There are long historical and political realities behind these issues that make them far less than the simple solution.
As regards the two smug assholes at work on healthcare, what they did was rude. You come to this country with your smug, condescending attitude and then act as if every American were simply stupid? Rude, rude, rude. STFU. For being such a place full of stupid, much of the world is still trying to find a way to get here. I am sure that many British would dearly love if I came there and spend all my time pointing out their flaws and stupidities as there are many.
Uh, hello? Right to bear arms?
Don’t be excessively hard on the Brits. I am married to an immigrant from Ukraine and, as a result, have a social circle that includes people from all over eastern Europe and several of the -stans. They are bonded by having grown up in the Soviet Union. Anyway, many of them display the same attitude toward the US as you are complaining about from Brits. Never about guns, though. They love shooting and eagerly accept any invitations to the range. They bitch about other things.
[satire on]
When I saw this, I wanted to ask for a cite because the average number of U.S. deaths attributed to black or brown bears averaged less than 1.0 per year during the GWB Administration. However the same webpage shows one death from black bear just in 2014 AND one death from brown bear in 2014, two altogether. :eek: With more than 3 weeks left in the year, the threat of THREE deaths in a single calendar year is a real threat. Thanks for calling this problem to our attention, Cheesesteak. Damn that gun-grabbing Obama!
[/satire]
Smug superiority is a common trait; if you doubt that Americans overseas are among the worst offenders then you’ve never traveled.
Anyway, you’d have gotten a much more sympathetic reception from me if you’d come up with examples where the ideas smugly thought to be superior weren’t … superior.
Are you parsing my language, in the pit? How preciously pedantic of you.
Do not lecture me on the virtues of moving from country to country or continent to continent, or one culture to another, in search of better opportunities. I’ve done my share and more than once. In doing so, I’ve reached the conclusion that sometimes you leave for change and sometimes you stay and advocate for change. With respect to the gun culture in the US, I advocate for change.
Oh my. You’re adorable.
You are at liberty to ignore my posts if you find having your weaknesses in thought and language pointed out to you makes you uncomfortable.
…and you’re Irish. You have no stake in US gun law. Other than as a passtime, for which purpose I already have several hobbies, why would I want to discuss it with you? Persuading you to share my beliefs would accomplish what, exactly, that would make it worth my time?
You’d be most welcome. We like to laugh at ourselves. Weinvented satire (and soccer, of course) and exported them both world-wide. Well, not so much to the US, who don’t seem to grasp either terribly well. I can’t understand why, they’re quite simple ideas really…
But please, don’t bring any of your tastelessly cold beers, your substandard cheeses and chocolate, your entrenched racism (intelligent racism, I’m sure) or, above all, your regulated militia’s arsenal of assault weapons.