to be really irritated with comments like this

[Leati]

The other day I started a thread about gun policy in the US. I am from the US but agree with alot of you ladies about the US gun policy being to relaxes. One of the ladies suggested that we should change the law. I tried to explain that the law was protected by the United States constitution and therefor it was not very easy to change. Then someone who had not been part of conversation up until that point get on and starts writing outragously insulting comments

Copied from comments of previous

Of course the Americans want guns. They are a huge country with lots of space, animals, wilderness much much less sophisticated and indeed behind the times than the UK and most of Europe with their history of cow boys and some very simple people living there. Obviously they therefore hang on to their guns. Our police can police the 60m people here in the UK without guns on the whole and as there are few guns to be had we have fewer deaths and murders. This is one reason most of us choose to stay in the UK rather than move to the US.

and then the user writes this

Americans are often simple people a bit behind Europe, of course they are. You'll catch up eventually but you even have the death penalty. You and China... we despair over here and so many believing the planet is 6000 years old only. It's a kind of simpleness which in some ways is quite sweet but you've a long way to go to be in the same advanced mindset of most Europeans.

I just have to ask...where does she come up with this crap

Just so you know, I kinda hope you are joking about the water thing. Because telling you it is unsafe to drink water in an area, is totally different than stereotyping an entire nation of people. I have nothing against the Hispanic culture. I live in a predominantly Hispanic community and love most of my neighbors. When I initially made that comment, I was trying to make a joke because well it is common knowledge for anyone who visits Mexico that the tap water will make you sick.

this is the thread I am talking about.

as another american on here, i absolutely hate how lax the US gun laws are. they should be banned, but as Leati said, its in the US constitution and therefore it is not as easy as some many may think to just 'change the law'. but the laws have been amended (i.e.- 5 day waiting periods for hand guns in some states.) but its not enough. not by a long shot.

i'm american, i dont want a gun. nor do any americans i know. that first comment is outrageous and clearly posted to stir up the shit.
:laughs: at that comment, A LOT of British people move to the US every year.

insulting Americans, because, we for so many reasons can be easy targets (GWB for example!) but dont generalise us all. we arent all gun-loving, animal-killing, death-penalty loving idiots. c'mon now... really.

AmericanTrish

I think the part that most surprised me is that a large group of people on this thread believe that the vast majority of Americans believe the planet is only 6000 yrs old and that we believe that God sent dinosaurs here to test our faith. I have never heard anything like this and I live here...was very suprised. But I did along the way discover what some of the confusion was about.

leati> i've heard that about the dinosaurs before. i believe in evolution so to each their own really i dont bother with anyones faith as long as they dont bother with mine!

where are you from?

I am from California. I did eventually realize that it is a religion. I just had never heard of it before.

What part of the states did you move from?

i'm from pennsylvania, but lived in maryland for years before moving to england

What took you to England?

my partner at the time (well, now he's my husband

Leati, I have spent a good number of years in Mexico and have never suffered from tapeworm. During my time there I did not met anyone who got them, locals or foreigners, although I understand they can occur in any place either in Mexico, or the rest of the world. Without going further, my friend's DD has recently had them and she has never been out of England.

What I don't understand and certainly annoys me is your act of asking for empathy after Americans have been vilified for certain beliefs many American don't hold, and then do exactly the same crass generalisation about another country. If you want understanding and tolerance towards the diversity of your own country, perhaps you can start by practising it yourself.

IsabelWatchingItRainInMacondo

I have never villafied anyone. I said not to drink the water in Mexico. This is about the water supply in a country. It is not meant to be any more offensive then if I said, Africa has an HIV epidmic. I am seriously mortified if you don't understand the difference between calling an entire nation of people simple and saying, "never drink the water in Mexico." If you want to verify this, check at the link below...goes to BBC news.

www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A520868

Just to clarify, one person I personally knew got a tapeworm from drinking tap water in Mexico. Tons of people get sick from other organisms.

Regarding being surprised by how Americans are perceived by the rest of the world, I have my own theory. While attending university in the US I was in the then rare and privileged position of having access to the local news of a few countries and it always surprised me the differences between the way the same news were reported in the US and the other countries.

I particularly remember seeing a report of G. Bush (father) visiting Panama. In the news of the other countries you could see Panama's people burning American flags, massive demonstrations against American Imperialism, the American president stones thrown at him that day, etc. While the news in the US for that same day portrayed a bunch of school children from an American expat school waving hand made American flags.

Another thing that was interesting was the protrayal of events during the Gulf War, there were days when you could see that the American forces had really had a bad day, but that was barely mentioned (with the idea of not demoralising the country, or so I was told), instead every time they had a good day, the events were given prime position in the news.

If media is not objective, how can we expect the public to be objective and realise that they, as any other in any country in the world, are perceived negatively in some aspects? I don't blame the Americans, I blame the American media.
Having said that, things may be far different now being Internet widely available.

You hit the proverbial nail on the head with that last sentence KerryMujmbledore!

In your other post obviously!

KerryMumbledore even!

IsabelWatchingItRainInMacondo

I agree with you that the Media has a way of swaying public opinion. GW Bush used the media to strike fear into Americans during his second election. Many American bought the garbage he said about Iraq having "weapons of mass destruction" and protecting terrorist. I can honestly say, I wrote all my senators asked them to give diplomacy a chance and to let the UN inspectors do thier job. Apparently, I wasn't convincing enough.

But Leati... by saying "I am seriously mortified if you don't understand the difference between calling an entire nation of people simple and saying, "never drink the water in Mexico."

I never said you called an entire nation simple... is your subconcious playing games on your perceptions of my posts?

However, there is a crass generalisation on saying "never drink the water in Mexico."

no isabel-that's not what she means.

she started this thread in response to another thread saying that all americans were simple.

you then came on and said ' you're just as bad for saying don't drink the water in mexico'

that is where leati is making the comparison.

KerryMumbledore

I agree with you one-hundred percent. There is no need for any private individual to have such a gun. Seriously, I grew up in some rough neighborhoods and had gangs scatter thier bullets everywhere in just a few seconds. I also have reservations about other types of guns too. But the NRA is a powerful organization and they put money into politician pockets.