or are there a lot of experts on the states on mumsnet?

[SantasBigBaubles]

I've noticed a lot of people on mumsnet seem to think making massive sweeping statements about a fucking huuuge country is totally OK. As long as its america. I strongly suspect most are basing there shit generalisations on a 2 week holiday to Orlando once when they were 12 too. Its a big country. You are not an expert.

Echt, what? What has Australia got to do with this....? "So much easier to ask why is it American?" BECAUSE OF AMERICAN GUN LAWS!!! You really are making Australians look "isolated" now.

As a dual national who's spent more time in Europe than the US, I reserve the right to bash any and every country as and when I see fit.

That said, I've failed to warm to Obama but I felt distinctly proud of him when he spoke on the heinous crime that took place in Connecticut yesterday which, ftr, is a State with stricter gun laws than most.

It goes without saying it's unlikely the President wrote his speech but his delivery appeared to owe more to his heart than I've seen evinced by a British politician or a member of the Royal family when they've had cause to speak on not dissimilar tragedies.

RIP all the little children and their teachers who lost their lives yesterday and may god bless those they've left behind.

I have to keep checking the date of the posts. What is this? Are you all responding in light of today's tragedy? And are you saying that people other than Americans can't have an opinion? I truly don't understand the motivation behind this post, please enlighten me and I apologise if I have misunderstood

I'm saying that, regardless of place of birth, we're all free to bash any country we want any time we want and hold whatever opinion we see fit, Zadie Whiteteeth.

Mumsnet is a UK site, many people in the UK still feel a sense of superiority over former colonies and think their thoughts/opinions should carry weight simply because they are British.

Mumsnet is a UK site, many people in the UK still feel a sense of superiority over former colonies and think their thoughts/opinions should carry weight simply because they are British

I don't agree with this.

It's just that the way the media works - there is lots of footage of the US, and they speak english, so easy to put it on progs here in the UK. Therefore we think we know alot about the US.

A while back when I told someone in the uS I lived near London they asked if I knew Princess Di ! That was what the media showed them about us.

Izzyizin I think you are as confused as me. I also think everyone has the right to an opinion of forrin countries. Maybe 'bashing' is a bit jingoistic though, no?

Morloth. Really.....?

Morloth that's quite offensive.

It is an observation and an opinion I have formed over 6 years on Mumsnet as an Australian.

But how have you come to the conclusion that MNers believe their opinions have more worth because they are British? I can't recall ever seeing posters with that attitude.

Over many threads, that charming thread that effectively compared black athletes to racehorses comes to mind, as do many threads extolling just how much less racist all of England is compared to all of Australia.

There is an arrogance of opinion here.

I am an American, from America, still live there, not an expat. I do agree that there are sweeping generalizations about us on Mumsnet sometimes. But...

I don't know what's wrong with us sometimes.

I can't bear this latest tragedy, I just...it's too terrible.

A lot of people in Switzerland have guns and this doesn't happen, why? What the hell is wrong with us??

CY

No words...

I think youll find an awful lot of 'experts' on any group it is ok to bash: catholics, muslims, private schools

YANBU.
But it's not just MN, a lot of British people do this & always have. I've read no end of ignorant English newspaper columns about USA & Americans.

I was born & raised in California, more than 2 decades of my life, and I feel increasingly like I haven't a clue what the US is like, any more. I just can't say, and even when I could, I could only talk somewhat authoritatively about my own patch. How so many very British people feel they can opine about American culture & habits baffles me.

I was moaning to my dad about arrogant Brits recently & he laughed "You only just noticed?" He has a point.

Santa, MN is very left wing and the left love to hate the Americans.

I don't know why anyone bashes anyone else to be honest. In light of recent events, we are all united in grief - and surely united in the desire to avoid it happening again?

I, for one, don't feel at all superior - however I do feel massively relieved that I can send my bairns to school on Monday knowing that there won't be the risk of a gunman. I also feel relieved that they don't have to have "lockdown practice" or "drills"

However I remember that for that to happen, and for changes to the UK gun laws - Dunblaine was the price.

I do know that the US gun laws vary from state to state - and I think we forget just how massive it is over there. It is difficult to comprehend that each state is run a bit like a mini-country when there is only one President. I am certainly not an expert on the US and would never claim to be.

Morloth was it your intention to be so rude? Mumsnet is not the voice of an entire nation.

Op,I think people find it easier to criticise the US because as a nation it is so vocal. And large. That's all.

I've been to America a few times,to various places,including Orlando . Each place I've been to has been really quite different to the other. There's a lot of negatives in America,but as I've seen on my various repeat visits,thee are a lot of positives too.

I was moaning to my dad about arrogant Brits recently bit of a generalisation there. Isn't a statement like that just as much 'bashing' but just aimed at Bristish people rather than American?

lljkk - please tell me you can see irony in your post?

I think people are bashing America's gun laws really. Not America as a whole or every American.

There are an awful lot of other American policies I don't like. But some of them vary from state to state and I don't "bash" America as a whole or those states as a whole. Just the policies and the people who support them.

And there are some American's I dislike. As there are people from most countries.

This tragedy is horrific. Sweeping statements don't help but people are entitled to think the gun culture of the USA is a factor in events like this happening and to be angry about that.

I live here now, and how done for > 2 decades. I have even nationalised, so I have chosen to become one of you, I humbly submit that therefore I have thought about what it means to be British a lot more than many of the natives. So now, I think, maybe I do have a right to pronounce a little on defects in British culture as I see it. And that long held view of Americans that British people are all snooty... I rather belatedly think there's a grain of truth to it. At least that's not said from ignorance, or from having swallowed a popular view, it's born out of living in England > 2 decades.

If anyone who has lived in USA > last 2 decades wants to pronounce on USA culture, I will credit that too.

I think the most sweeping generalisations rarely come from such people, though.

• have done... (not how done)