to think we really are 2 completely different cultures - the USA and the UK - just looking at the 'rebellion' taking place

[chomalungma]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8228769/Bleak-figures-China-US-economic-hit-virus.html

I know it's only some Americans. I know that it's a massive country with many many more people than the UK

But these scenes are astounding. People flocking to beaches. Protesting about lockdown.
Protesting with guns about lockdown

You just can't imagine these scenes in the UK at the moment.
Especially not the Ohio Zombie picture

It just amazes me - sometimes you think we are very similar to the USA, and then many times, you realise we are completely different.

Yeah I know about Russian election interference, we had it here with Brexit as well.
Reading about Aaron Banks grifter of a Russian Bride that married and beat up an elderly English sailor to get her visa was an eye opener. Also about Zader who set up meetings in St Petersburg to drum up Saudi funding for a Russian style dirty trucks election campaign for Trump through PSy Group.
I’m aware.
There are a lot of fake FB and social media accounts steering the narrative. That’s why I don’t like posters who trot out anti Semitic fat right conspiracy theories and Go USA! Narratives.

Excuse my spelling, I don’t have my glasses on!

Dirty Tricks and far right!
Not Dirty trucks and fat right!
👀👀👀👀

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/31/want-proof-that-republicans-want-suppress-voters-just-ask-trump/

www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/politics/republicans-vote-by-mail.html

www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/27/us/politics/ap-us-ap-poll-virus-outbreak-voting.html

Quote from the WA Post article above:

"The sick irony of a populism that fears the people and overtly relies on voter suppression for its survival seems to be lost on that bunch.”

The French have about 120,000 homeless, compared to 350,000 in the UK and around 600,000 in the USA.

The difference between the USA and France is a bleach-dunked chicken versus a Poulet Bresse. One is cheaper. The other is better in every possible way.

Just remember that the USA has a population of 350 million, make sure you are comparing like with like. You would need to include all the homelessness in Europe, not just France (or at the very least, Western Europe) for a fairer comparison.

Over Brexit and the last election a lot of far right profiles appeared online that pretended to be black and tried to sow division and racism against polish immigrants etc. To get the U.K. BAME community to vote Tory/Brexit. Unfortunately a lot of second generation immigrants in the U.K. do want to pull up the ladder and are quite anti immigration.
Classic divide and rule.

Also about Joel Zamel who set up meetings in St Petersburg to drum up Saudi funding for a Russian style dirty trucks election campaign for Trump through PSy Group.

Correction!

France is not perfect. France has social problems and a structural economic time bomb with its unsustainably generous welfare state.

The fact remains that France is a kinder, gentler, more civilised country than the USA, not least because it regularly tears up its constitution and starts again. Currently on its Fifth Republic.

The USA has 50 states so compare it with homelessness with ALL these countries:
The UK
Ireland
France
Holland
Belgium
Germany
Spain
Portugal
Italy
Greece
Czech Rep
Slovenia
Bosnia
Croatia
Serbia
Sweden
Denmark

OK that is just 17 countries, but you get the idea. It's like when the UK compares its numbers to the USA or CHINA, unless they are similar in size and demographics or you are doing homelessness per million of the population, the comparison is meaningless. I think Boris' crew do hope no-one thinks too hard sometimes with some of their comparisons.

My main caution would be please don't get your political news and impression about the USA from the Daily Mail. Just as I am sure you won't consider it a neutral or even serious news source for British politics and society.

Womanlywiles,
MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing,
Chomalunga

My comment about the French also having homelessness, drug abuse and poverty was in response to a specific comment regarding it being superior due to people working less (paraphrase). Not to compare it negatively with any other country or disparage.

I love France, the people and their culture. I do not see it as the perfect place to live due to a little experience working there occasionally and first hand accounts from friends.

I don’t think most Americans could move from the US and be comfortable there due to the cultural differences. But same could be said in reverse. I think most of us in all of these countries like our own cultures and countries, despite any flaws.

Also. That’s the important word above.

I don't think american school children learn about the native americans much.

I disagree. American history is required in every state and children encounter it several times during their schooling. Slavery and treatment of Native Americans is covered. In addition, most states also require courses in history of the state and that also has content about Native Americans.

It's when you hear about books being removed from the curriculum for strange reasons that you wonder about part of America and what influences it.

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1194436

I think that article clearly states that that particular school felt some of the topics covered were beyond what the teachers in those grades could adequately/appropriately discuss with the students.

There was a student in my College English class that expressed being very upset to read and discuss Huckleberry Finn. 20 students, he was the only black man. It made sense to me that he felt that way about the book.

And there are infinite books from which we could learn so....

I will be so happy when we move forward from the government "to govern over" system.

It is not working for anyone.

We could have a much better system, where everyone in the country runs the country

Annamarie14 can you describe what you mean?

@hannayeah.

Really, just that I have a feeling that we will begin to break up the old system of government after this, and we will bring in new and better ways to run countries.

HannaYeah thanks for your comment, I jumped into the convo last night without reading the whole thread so made a few assumptions. I think its important to remember the same country that gave us Trump also gave us Obama. I attended uni in the UK in the 90s. Our female American professor explained how the 20th century was the American Century and that China would rise to be the supreme world power in the 21st, it's just happening even quicker than expected. At the same time American Demographics would produce profound changes within the USA as we moved through the 21st century. As well as the rise of the Latina/o populations, UK readers may be surprised to learn that the biggest immigration in this century to the US has come from Asia. Asian populations may not get the same attention in the British media but they also are making a very large impact on US society. The two coasts generally have the most populated cities with the greatest diversity. The center of the nation is sparser in population. North Dakota for example has a population of 900,000 in a State with a bigger land mass than either Greece, Hungary or Portugal. The USA is also able to feed its population easily as long as water conservation kicks in within the next couple of decades. The younger generations of the USA are much more diverse and have not been raised on the myths of the 1950s. That is very much a white fantasy that is dying out with the older generation. Trump has not been able to attract talent for obvious reasons. So despite having many of the best universities and minds in the world, the USA has mediocre governance at Federal level right now. However, this Pandemic is quickly curing people of the desire to elect media stars to the Presidency. I would say don't count the US out too soon and only look at dystopian visions of the future. The majority of women, people of color and younger voters have no interest in the America of Trumpian fantasies.

It is not a contest. There is no teddybear for the winner.

(Unlike Coronavirus Briefing Bingo, soon starting again, but even that's only a virtual prize.)

I am a Francophile and an Americaphile. On balance, I like Americans more, but on balance I like France more, and cannot think of a level of social deprivation or social advantage at which I would prefer to be American over French. It is a country with a better quality of life.

@mockers have you lived/worked in brother countries?

Mockers I have not lived in France but I lived in Germany for 6 years 2009-2015 and the standard of living for the average person is much higher in Germany than the US or the UK in my opinion. On the other hand Germans definitely live up to some of their stereotypes and can be pessimistic and enjoy a good moan even more than the Brits. All my American neighbors where ever I have lived have been incredibly welcoming and kind, offering lots of practical and pragmatic help of all kinds. When we moved in here in 2017 at least 5 different neighbors came over and welcomed us to the neighborhood, most bearing gifts. The majority of Americans are open and willing to change and in my area at least many are highly educated and focused on solutions. I think the US and UK have the disadvantages (and advantages) of the two party system, while Germany has many more parties and strong regional and local government. Both the US and the UK have created less equal societies since the 1980s and both have substantial poverty. Contrary to expectations the very poor have access to free healthcare in the US (Medicaid) it's those working without insurance that fall through the cracks. At the moment a universal living wage and universal health care are both being talked about openly by the most senior of Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, COVID-19 has opened up the possibility of those coming to the US very soon. I will be very interested to see Biden's manifesto for this Fall. I think it will be much more progressive, taking ideas from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Wang, among others, than Europeans will expect.

Re: the man that died from the fish tank cleaner:

news.yahoo.com/woman-blamed-trump-giving-her-133613382.html