Rioting spreading through London & to other English cities.

@msolga,

Quote:

Please just try to ignore the posts of those who couldn't possibly understand what has happened over the past week. Those who do not live in your country & haven't a clue as to the reasons why & where to go from here.

By all means, WTF was Alexis de Tocqueville thinking when he decided to do Democracy in America? And why for almost 200 years have we considered it a extraordinary insightful look at the American Experiment?.....we should have our heads examined for thinking that an outsider could possibly have anything useful to say about our situation because msolga says so.

NOT.

2 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Hawkeye - you do make some reasonable points, then you do yourself a disservice when you start spewing crahp comparing what is happening in Libya and Syria with the looting/turmoil around our country. It is not the same.

If you start comparing what's going on in Philadelphia and the curfew in that city which is similar re flash mobs and rampaging - then folk may listen - but to compare as you are doing now - well, I just don't get it.

A lot of our problem here is about GREED. You cannot compare that to what is happening in countries like Syria and Libya - those folk are not fighting for some negative GREED, they are fighting for their lives, their aspirations.

Of course, you can say anything you wish, or be FASEESHUS like OmSig is being at the moment - but what's the point?

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

WTF was Alexis de Tocqueville thinking when he decided to do Democracy in America? And why for almost 200 years have we considered it a extraordinary insightful look at the American Experiment?...

He, at least, went to America to see what was going on. He didn't sit spouting bollocks from the other side of the Atlantic.

http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/13047.gif

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

No, I call you racist based on your previous anti British posts. The way you refer to the Palestinians as 'just arabs,' and your blanket categorisation of the working class as 'trash.'

No; I never made a "blanket categorisation of the working class as 'trash'." I was referring to "trash" as "trash." We all can't be aristocrats in a monarchy, or even can we all be middle class and "keeping up appearances."

But, I do not call you anything; however, you seem to think it is acceptable to make false judgements about me. By the way, "trash" comes in all races, so calling anyone trash is not "racist." And, the word "just" when preceding "Arab" is like saying we are "just Earthlings." No racism for "just" not thinking of Arabs as equals to Europeans, considering Europeans gave the world a culture that seems to have value to many people, more than those that subscribe to the Arab culture. We all cannot be equal in a subjective sense.

Finally, my supposed "anti British" posts just reflect my feeling that "American exceptionalism" does make America superior in many ways to Britain. Britain had a glorious past, longer than the U.S.A. has been top dog in the world; however, I still have my American right to an opinion that I do think the average American is endowed with a more inclusive sense than many Europeans, when it comes to accepting different peoples. Just my opinion. If you do not like my opinion, you should not retort; it will change nothing.

I really do not pander to the sensitivities of Europeans, in their belief that they have a culture/country equal to the U.S.A. My subjective belief is that Europe has big problems, economic and societal, and I personally do not think they have the ability to resolve them due to centuries of a superiority complex. Again, just my opinion.

2 Replies

@Foofie,

You still can't justify your use of racist stereotypes though. You can mealy mouth as much as you like, nobody over here is interested in anything you have to say.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Quote:
Would it stop the rioting if there were free showings of Pygmalion? Henry Higgins teaching elocution (The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.) might be helpful?

I have already stated why F is racist. The above posting is racist, as all my fellow Brits who have commented on this thread seem to agree. Interesting that you only dedcided to comment on this thread now. Did someone pm you?

My Pygmalion reference is not racist. I am just poking fun at the British pomposity in that their class system should supposedly be taught to everyone.

What is wrong with making fun of the Brits. After WWII there were people, including the episode in Fawlty Towers (where no one was supposed to "mention the war") that made fun of Germans for their heel clicking obeisance.

In fact, I'm going into the bathroom right now and talk to myself in the mirror, mimicking a British accent, that an occasional New Yorker can do quite well (Hear! Hear!).

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Quote:

I personally do not think they have the ability to resolve them due to centuries of a superiority complex.

You had better beware of getting a superiority complex then Foof. Unless you can make it last until you're dead and leave the damage to the next lot. And does anybody with a superiority complex ever think it might not last.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

You still can't justify your use of racist stereotypes though. You can mealy mouth as much as you like, nobody over here is interested in anything you have to say.

I am unable to believe you, since I do not believe you are a mind reader.

0 Replies

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:
I personally do not think they have the ability to resolve them due to centuries of a superiority complex.

You had better beware of getting a superiority complex then Foof. Unless you can make it last until you're dead and leave the damage to the next lot. And does anybody with a superiority complex ever think it might not last.

I am quite aware of who I am superior to, and also quite aware of who I am inferior to. Nothing wrong with knowing one's place in society; it makes for an easier trip through this existence. The canard that we are all equal makes for much misery, in my opinion. I am giving this wisdom pro bono.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Quote:

I am quite aware of who I am superior to, and also quite aware of who I am inferior to.

In what respects?

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

My Pygmalion reference is not racist. I am just poking fun at the British pomposity in that their class system should supposedly be taught to everyone.

It is racist and dated, as is your assertion that we think the class system should be taught to everyone. Most of us want to get rid of it.

You seem to be constructing your own system in your head anyway, without any help from us. We don't need any 'pro-bono wisdom' from someone whose view of England seems as accurate as Dick Van Dyke's accent.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

I can't say that I agree with you that most of us want to get rid of the class system. I don't see how it is possible. Even Madame Mao had her standard uniform tailored Saville Row style. Tibetan asparagus and a cabbage picked out of the gutter in a wholesale fruit and veg market deliver roughly the same nutrient. Possibly the latter is superior nutritionally.

If you see Nigella tell her to do a programme about a soup from the leavings in such a market at closing time and to have some toffs sample it unaware of the source of the veggies. Her bending down to pick a large carrot off the grid the water from the hospipe is running down would be quite funny. When she placed it on her chopping board later would be even funnier. A Germaine Greer joke.

1 Reply

@spendius,

Most commentators speak about the value of a meritocracy though. Just because something may not be possible does not mean it isn't desired.

I had no idea Thatcher had her suits done at Saville Row, but it doesn't surprise me.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Power dressing can be very subtle.

Most commentators are meritocrats. Swots.

Up at Edgbaston in an idyllic English setting one of the Indians had the temerity to smack Mr Swann into the grandstand. An English gentleman of the better sort tried to catch it with a pint of beer in one hand. The glass got smashed.

Mr Hussein pointed out, in a drollery of some style, that Sir Ian would be over there after close of play to lick the spilled beer up. Obviously Sir Ian is not known for getting the drinks in.

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Power dressing can be very subtle.

Most commentators are meritocrats. Swots.

Up at Edgbaston in an idyllic English setting one of the Indians had the temerity to smack Mr Swann into the grandstand. An English gentleman of the better sort tried to catch it with a pint of beer in one hand. The glass got smashed.

Mr Hussein pointed out, in a drollery of some style, that Sir Ian would be over there after close of play to lick the spilled beer up. Obviously Sir Ian is not known for getting the drinks in.

I don't think that was what Hussein was suggesting. "Beefy" Botham, is well known for liking a drop or two. He was famous for his benders at one time and tells a story about being introduced to wine as an apprentice at Somerset at the age of 16 by John Arlott. After Arlott died, Sir Ian would go regularly to his grave, drink a bottle of something fine in tribute and leave the cork. “I built up quite a pile,” he says. He has his own wine company. He is well liked; does a lot of charity work and has no "side" at all.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01683/p_ian-botham_1683906c.jpg

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

"Methinks I see the Tiber foaming with much blood."

In the famous "Rivers of Blood Speech" Enoch Powell was arguing that immigration by black races was storing up problems, which would end in bloodshed.

Well maybe. But this was not a black-on white series of riots....

Powell spoke of uncontrolled immigration by persons of color, specifically excluding persons of the Far East - he never split it into "whites v. blacks". The Foreign Office at the time mostly agreed with him, having learned from the horrible bloodbath following the Indo-Pakistani split, not to mention any number of African "newly independent" countries collapsing into anarchy. Chris Patten never made the same mistake in Hong Kong. Out of curiosity, how many of the 1,000-plus persons arrested in this fracas so far were actually white or orientals? There must be some statistics somewhere.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

Cop: May I enter your house to look for illegal items?
Citizen: Yes
Cop: thank you *enters*

Let's go back to this for a moment.

It was apparently written with irony intended, but it all depends on your relationship with the local police.
The relationship between the law-abiding citizenry and the police should be one of trust and cooperation.

My reply would be "Of course, I have nothing to hide. Be careful to wipe your feet, and don't wake the dog."

3 Replies

@McTag,

Quote:

law-abiding citizenry and the police should be one of trust and cooperation

.

NONSENSE................

1 Reply

@BillRM,

That man is a lawyer. I was referring to human beings.

3 Replies

@McTag,

You probably know that a ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures" is enshrined in the US Constitution - as is free speech; the limitations placed on social media in the UK would never be allowed here. If you're interested in Powell's predictions on immigration, see lively online debate at The Economist:

Quote:

Immigration

"This house believes that immigration is endangering European society"

http://www.economist.com/debate/debates/overview/210

1 Reply

Rioting spreading through London & to other English cities.

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