More British than the British in Off Topic

ID:7488
 
Jan 12 2006, 7:18 pm
A British general has published criticism of the U.S. Army's performance in Iraq, suggesting among other things that it displays "institutional racism".

We've had the French call us arrogant, the Germans call us militaristic, and now the British are saying we suffer from institutional racism. Now all we need is to get Russia to call us too authoritarian and Italy to declare us corrupt.
#1 Jan 12 2006, 8:17 pm
Well now, it seems that countries like to bounce back their own descriptions to describe other nations, now doesn't it?
#2 Jan 12 2006, 11:16 pm
Actually, I think I'd go with all those descriptions at once, for America.

Then the question becomes - What are Australians supposed to call you? (Probably racist too. We're turning into the 52nd state of america at the moment, anyway).
#3 Jan 13 2006, 12:41 am
What, you are institutional racists. :P (some, of course, not all) We've known that for a long time.

High levels of nationalism, white power, anti-arab anti-muslim, and rule breaking. Sure, us europeans have a little of that too, but its not quite as noticable or as popular.

#4 Jan 13 2006, 2:42 am
High levels of nationalism, white power, anti-arab anti-muslim, and rule breaking. Sure, us europeans have a little of that too, but its not quite as noticable or as popular.

Right... I don't think it's a problem with America, it's a problem with humanity.

America blows over and the next powerful country hurting/helping the world will get the wrap. And the next, and the next, etc.
#5 Jan 13 2006, 3:03 am
Oh we complain about France, the EU, China, Russia and Australia too, we dont let them get away with it :P
#6 Jan 13 2006, 6:06 am
You mean "Europeans have a little of that too, but don't have the pull to get away with as much of it as the U.S. does." It's a power issue; the U.S. has the power to do crap that it shouldn't be doing, so it goes ahead and does it. It's how things were when European powers were running the show, it's how things are now, and it's how things will be when the next big dog takes charge (hello China!)
#7 Jan 13 2006, 6:16 am
No, its not. The French rioting not so long ago, it was going to happen at some point, a lot of French politicians are pro-white. The way Russia treats its citizens, especialy the ones that want to break away from Russia, we know and complain about that too, the fact that most North Koreans want change, they dont want their leader (I mean who would ?) the blocking of Turkey joining the EU because Islamic ways are too different from the Christian Europe to bother to compensate. Us british are getting bad too, the British National Party was one of the strongest small parties, came 2nd and 3rd I believe in some constituencies.

We all complain about each other, America isnt the only fucked up country in the world.
#8 Jan 13 2006, 6:47 am
Hiead wrote:
Well now, it seems that countries like to bounce back their own descriptions to describe other nations, now doesn't it?

I don't see America calling other nations "fat and wasteful"... =p
#9 Jan 13 2006, 6:48 am
That's because we don't see that as an insult...lol
#10 Jan 13 2006, 7:31 am
That's because Americans do suffer from institutional racism.

It's true. At least we don't have a problem with Asians invading our country. Look at you, when Black people first came to your country you were like "WTF BBQ LOL SLAVEZ PLZ".

My point is made.
#11 Jan 13 2006, 7:46 am
Well, just so long as Canadians don't call us kanucks we are okay :-)
#12 Jan 13 2006, 8:26 am
AZA...while it is true that it took a long while for black people to get equal rights and there is still a good deal of racism in America (personally I blame the whole free-speech thing that Yanks seem to boast about), but Europe was just as involved with the slave trade as America.

There was the Slave Trade Triangle (can't remember the proper name) going from West Africa to Britain to America.
Bristol (my home town) was very much involved in dealing with slaves, and you can find grave-stones of slaves.
#13 Jan 13 2006, 3:46 pm
Canadians call you guys backwards. Socially, it's true. ;-)
#14 Jan 13 2006, 8:19 pm
Australia was fairly deep into racism too (And still is). Ever heard of the stolen generation? White people, who'd come into this nation that the Aborigines had lived in for centuries and just taken it over (On the basis that because the Aborigines didn't build permanent structures, they weren't really using the land), then decided that the Aborigines weren't bringing up their kids right, so they took all the aboriginal children they could find and sent them out to white families. Forced adoption. The children were often treated more like pets then people, and an entire culture was almost destroyed.

And the Australian government has never officially apologised.

This wasn't that long ago, either. Fifty years, maybe.
#15 Jan 14 2006, 4:24 am
There's racism everywhere, you can't really stop it unfortunatly. Infact, I went to a "Pro-White" message board, full of racists. Tried to make them see sense because I was very bored but all they gave me were statistics on aids and crime by the Black population, I went on to say its not the whole population. And the person who boasted about being a racist, went on to say "oh I know there are some good Blacks". It shows you can't be civilized and intelligent by being racist. Just plain stupid.
#16 Jan 14 2006, 4:32 am (Edited on Jan 14 2006, 8:59 am)
It shows you can't be civilized and intelligent by being racist.

I'd have to agree there.

*edit*
Except for those damn Welsh people taking South-West England's jobs! >:|

_>