Comments on: The British Do Make Me Laugh http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/ Independent and alternative music in Scotland - with a shitload of gin. Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:26:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Oldguy http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-681 Oldguy Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:27:00 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-681 As an American, (not the George W. type of American, the other kind), I too find it interesting the difference in reaction between the Brits and the Americans. I think America, as a society, tends to be egocentric and thus their reactions tend to be more over the top. I also feel that the current regime wants people to live in fear so that they can justify more intrusion into our civil liberties. The Brits seem to know how tragic things are but tend to move on with life at a much better. Maybe this grew out of the tragedies from WW II. I prefer the British reaction, and their beer, so maybe I should slip across the Pond to live. As an American, (not the George W. type of American, the other kind), I too find it interesting the difference in reaction between the Brits and the Americans. I think America, as a society, tends to be egocentric and thus their reactions tend to be more over the top. I also feel that the current regime wants people to live in fear so that they can justify more intrusion into our civil liberties. The Brits seem to know how tragic things are but tend to move on with life at a much better. Maybe this grew out of the tragedies from WW II. I prefer the British reaction, and their beer, so maybe I should slip across the Pond to live.

]]> By: mjrc http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-682 mjrc Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:38:05 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-682 for god's sake, please don't watch any more fox news! it only encourages them. they are perhaps the most hideous, insidious side of america to get shown about the world--and they DON'T represent the majority of us. or put it this way--what they show is the most lop-sided, exaggerated part of how some people react, not the reality. that said, i think part of american culture is a tendency to think, "well, if we worry about it enough, it won't happen here," which we hope will act as a talisman against "evil," treating it as "other" rather than as a manifestation of or reaction to something we might have done elsewhere in the world that might cause others to *gasp* hate us. perhaps the indifference proferred by the british is just the other side of that coin--if you ignore or downplay the intensity of the hatred, you don't have to take responsibility for it either. neither approach, of course, is sensible or in any way about long-term problem solving. and i, for one, am ever so grateful to have a place to rant! for god’s sake, please don’t watch any more fox news! it only encourages them. they are perhaps the most hideous, insidious side of america to get shown about the world–and they DON’T represent the majority of us. or put it this way–what they show is the most lop-sided, exaggerated part of how some people react, not the reality.

that said, i think part of american culture is a tendency to think, “well, if we worry about it enough, it won’t happen here,” which we hope will act as a talisman against “evil,” treating it as “other” rather than as a manifestation of or reaction to something we might have done elsewhere in the world that might cause others to *gasp* hate us. perhaps the indifference proferred by the british is just the other side of that coin–if you ignore or downplay the intensity of the hatred, you don’t have to take responsibility for it either. neither approach, of course, is sensible or in any way about long-term problem solving.

and i, for one, am ever so grateful to have a place to rant!

]]> By: Matthew http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-683 Matthew Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:57:59 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-683 I'm certainly not saying any of it is anyone's fault - just laughing at how different the reactions are. My little brother lives in Boston and he also said the news coverage over there was really quite hysterical. Mind you, he also said that if you watch Fox News then you can pretty well guess what you're going to get. I didn't even hear about the bombs planted in London until the news about Glasgow Airport came through. But maybe that's a Scottish thing...! I’m certainly not saying any of it is anyone’s fault – just laughing at how different the reactions are.

My little brother lives in Boston and he also said the news coverage over there was really quite hysterical.

Mind you, he also said that if you watch Fox News then you can pretty well guess what you’re going to get.

I didn’t even hear about the bombs planted in London until the news about Glasgow Airport came through. But maybe that’s a Scottish thing…!

]]> By: elizabeth http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-684 elizabeth Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:33:46 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-684 Simon and I were in London at the end of last week, and we were quite delighted at the virtually empty tube stations on the Piccadilly lines (we got out at Knightsbridge and had a play on the deserted escalators) and didn't have a clue what was going on. We flew home, slept for nearly two days, and woke up to frantic messages from my mother, who had seen the incidents on Fox News (US) played out like the next Apocalypse. So yes, you're right. Americans do react differently, but it's not their faults really. But that's a rant for another day. Simon and I were in London at the end of last week, and we were quite delighted at the virtually empty tube stations on the Piccadilly lines (we got out at Knightsbridge and had a play on the deserted escalators) and didn’t have a clue what was going on.

We flew home, slept for nearly two days, and woke up to frantic messages from my mother, who had seen the incidents on Fox News (US) played out like the next Apocalypse. So yes, you’re right. Americans do react differently, but it’s not their faults really. But that’s a rant for another day.

]]> By: Matthew http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-687 Matthew Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:40:05 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-687 All I mean, C&B is that if an American and a Englishman were involved in exactly the same incident and were equally scared, you'd hear two completely different accounts from them, along the sort of lines I mentioned above. I don't mean showing how brave you are in an ostentatious show-off sort of a way, I mean internally, to yourself, to gird your own loins as it were. (And if you can't rant here, where can you rant!) Jamila - well exactly. No point getting stressed. And if 'Beatz' can't save the world no-one can. Although actually, dropping a bunch of DJs into the middle of a war zone has a definite appeal... All I mean, C&B is that if an American and a Englishman were involved in exactly the same incident and were equally scared, you’d hear two completely different accounts from them, along the sort of lines I mentioned above.

I don’t mean showing how brave you are in an ostentatious show-off sort of a way, I mean internally, to yourself, to gird your own loins as it were.

(And if you can’t rant here, where can you rant!)

Jamila – well exactly. No point getting stressed. And if ‘Beatz’ can’t save the world no-one can. Although actually, dropping a bunch of DJs into the middle of a war zone has a definite appeal…

]]> By: Jamila Fucking Dance http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-686 Jamila Fucking Dance Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:03:56 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-686 my indifference comes from knowing that no matter what, people are always going to be blowing each other up. whether it's 3000 at a time or none due to messed up plans. scary, but that's the world we live in. saying that, i'd rather die than be one of these people wearing those annoying 'drop beats not bombs' tshirts. my indifference comes from knowing that no matter what, people are always going to be blowing each other up. whether it’s 3000 at a time or none due to messed up plans.
scary, but that’s the world we live in. saying that, i’d rather die than be one of these people wearing those annoying ‘drop beats not bombs’ tshirts.

]]> By: Campfires & Battlefields http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-685 Campfires & Battlefields Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:23:30 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-685 Sorry about the rant. One too many glasses of Pinot Noir at dinner I'm afraid. And grilled asparagus always make me bellicose. Sorry about the rant. One too many glasses of Pinot Noir at dinner I’m afraid. And grilled asparagus always make me bellicose.

]]> By: Campfires & Battlefields http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-689 Campfires & Battlefields Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:56:58 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-689 Hmm. I'm sorry that this happened to you. Again. And I'm glad no lives were lost. I absolutely take issue with the characterization that Americans tend to view their own catastrophes as somehow worse than yours. No offense, but it sounds to me like most of the Americans you know are cocksuckers. That said, the 9-11 attacks did kill more than 3000 people and bring down the World Trade Center Towers. On national television. It was a pretty fucking incredible, unprecedented tragedy, and I don't really feel like apologizing for being enraged and terribly frightened by it. I have no intention of over-dramatizing to show how brave I am. I was working in a tall building about 5 miles away from the Pentagon when 9-11 happened, the woman across the hall from me was screaming as she watched the plane go in (we already knew about the NYC attacks), and many of the people around me--tolerant, charitable people by and large--thought they were going to be killed. I don't recall anyone focusing, then or later, on how brave they looked. I do recall the self-contempt, though. That I was spending my time obsessing about CDs and tuning in to see who was going to be voted off the island next week while there were people in our midst who were plotting to kill us and our kids and our parents and our friends, violently and indiscriminately. Hmm. I’m sorry that this happened to you. Again. And I’m glad no lives were lost. I absolutely take issue with the characterization that Americans tend to view their own catastrophes as somehow worse than yours. No offense, but it sounds to me like most of the Americans you know are cocksuckers. That said, the 9-11 attacks did kill more than 3000 people and bring down the World Trade Center Towers. On national television. It was a pretty fucking incredible, unprecedented tragedy, and I don’t really feel like apologizing for being enraged and terribly frightened by it. I have no intention of over-dramatizing to show how brave I am. I was working in a tall building about 5 miles away from the Pentagon when 9-11 happened, the woman across the hall from me was screaming as she watched the plane go in (we already knew about the NYC attacks), and many of the people around me–tolerant, charitable people by and large–thought they were going to be killed. I don’t recall anyone focusing, then or later, on how brave they looked. I do recall the self-contempt, though. That I was spending my time obsessing about CDs and tuning in to see who was going to be voted off the island next week while there were people in our midst who were plotting to kill us and our kids and our parents and our friends, violently and indiscriminately.

]]> By: Matthew http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-690 Matthew Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:55:57 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-690 Well I remember hearing someone saying that the UK was a soft touch for terrorists. This is in a sense true because the terrorists are virtually all British, but one would hope this would make the racial aspect of the whole conflict less prominent. Doesn't seem to be the case though. Well I remember hearing someone saying that the UK was a soft touch for terrorists. This is in a sense true because the terrorists are virtually all British, but one would hope this would make the racial aspect of the whole conflict less prominent. Doesn’t seem to be the case though.

]]> By: Ben http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-688 Ben Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:08:57 +0000 http://songbytoad.com/2007/07/02/the-british-do-make-me-laugh/#comment-688 The irony of it is that the Americans went bloody nuts. All manner of interviewing paniced English people and "Terror Plot Nightmare" headlines. The irony of it is that the Americans went bloody nuts. All manner of interviewing paniced English people and “Terror Plot Nightmare” headlines.

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