Re: American and British (English)

Peter Duncanson (BrE) <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:26:20 +0200, nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (J.
J. Lodder) wrote:

Jim Karatassos <jim.karatassos@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Aug 2, 4:37 pm, nos...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (J. J. Lodder) wrote:
Hatunen <hatu...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 2 Aug 2008 14:04:56 , nos...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (J. J.
Lodder) wrote:

Chuck Riggs <chri...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Not to ask a simplistic question, but why are such distinctions
important if we're all Americans?

Needless distinction.
We are all humans,

"American" is a culture, not a species.

For better or worse, though, it appears that much of the world is
trying to be American.

Americans are such strange people.
On one hand they believe that anti-Americanism is rife,
all over the world, and that 'everybody' despises Americans.
(see elsewhere in this very thread)

On the other hand they like to believe
that everybody is trying to be American.

Jan- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Jan, not all of us believe that everyone is trying to be American. On
the other hand, I certainly do believe that if all Americans went to
the gas chamber tomorrow, there wouldn't be that many tears all over
the world, and there would be a certain amount of dancing.

You are almost certainly wrong about the first,
and no doubt right about the second.

I can't believe that we would see the same in the USA if it happened
to any other ethnic group.

Someone here sometime ago mentioned
the reaction of American audiences to Hiroshima footage,
when it became available months later.

Extatic cheering,

That was completely understandable in the context of a war
against an aggressor.

That war had ended moths before.
But that's beside the point.

Americans too have danced with joy
at the sight of mass murder of people
whose lives they considered to be worthless.

Jan

--
"Now we have known sin." (J. Robert Oppenheimer)
.

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