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.

Two countries divided by a common language.

It is pretty much the only thing we do have in common, isn't it?

I agree OP, I think they have a very different culture to ours. They have a strange obsession about their rights regardless of what the consequence of those rights might be. eg the right to carry arms, the right to do their own thing. And they have a distrust of the state and dislike any state intervention, which is why a NHS would never work in the US. They somehow equate state intervention with communism. Of course not all Americans have those beliefs but many do.

He is the ultimate ‘perfect storm’ - ignorant, dangerous, narcissistic and in power - and I think he will unravel more and more from now to November

Have you not seen the eerie pictures of deserted NY? We have family and friends all over USA, they’re following the same rules as us.

The country is vast, many states are bigger than the uk and the distance is huge, of course they need more autonomy than little old U.K.

I hate this snobby we’re so much better in the U.K., no we’re not. The NHS is on its knees and before CV was frequently offering a shit service to many through no fault of its staff.

@Peppermintcapsules.....Showing your ignorance just a little bit....The Civil War happened everywhere throughout the US. Including California,Texas and Territories of Arizona,New Mexico,Dakotas. Lets not forget the major hot spot of Kansas and Missouri. None of those locations are anywhere near the East

For those people saying the UK has its own issues - well, yes we had panic buying

But since then - no protests, no demonstrations, nothing to be reported really.

And yet I have no doubt we have plenty of people with similar views to the protestors in the USA

(who are of course a small minority - and the US is of course different in size, population density)

I can sort of see how small towns in the USA can get back to 'normal' with good testing and track and trace)

America is founded on the concepts of personal freedom and personal responsibility. The culture is entirely different. I’m not sure why this 8s a surprise

There are big cultural differences, sometimes more evident than others. The general attitudes towards politics and religion for a start, far more extreme.

Who cares?

@Prairi3Fire Very good point. Whenever Universal Healthcare is brought up the UK and Canada are the first to be brought up. The failings of the NHS and the Canadian's Medicare system is what is a huge part reason keeping us from that goal. A 6 month wait to get a gall bladder removed in the UK. 9 month wait for hip replacement in Canada? That is scary for the US

That Ohio image does indeed look like a Still from a Zombie movie....
While the UK population were stockpiling bog roll, the Americans were stockpiling guns and ammo.
I mentioned to an American that ''one cannot wipe with a gun''....he retorted ''But with a gun we can protect our toilet paper''.

Very different Countries.

Of course there are profound cultural differences; we are two different countries separated by an ocean. But I think it is incorrect to say that the only thing we have in common is our language. Just as one example: every state in the US except for one is a common law jurisdiction, and English cases can and are used as authority in court cases. Law is a pervasive cultural influence and many of our basic notions of law, and especially equity, have English foundations.

And while Scots law has not been a big influence in the US, the Scottish educational system historically has. We even get the term "high school" from Scotland.

These are just a couple of examples; there are many more.

We can’t even give our frontline staff gowns to work in let alone protective equipment.

Not sure we have much to crow about.

I suppose what I'm saying is that instead of providing leadership on the lockdown measures, Trump is encouraging the "rights and freedoms matter most" types. That's not to say that lots of people aren't following the rules/guidelines - they are and of course the states also have their own leaders and systems. But a better president could have guided things a different way. Despite varying degrees of cooperation in both places, the UK isn't seeing protests by angry gun-waving people who want to be able to get their roots done, and the US is - I think cultural attitudes are behind that and Trump enourages them.

America is chock full of religious extremists. Religious extremists of any denomination are bad news for the rest of us.

Showing your ignorance just a little bit....The Civil War happened everywhere throughout the US. Including California,Texas and Territories of Arizona,New Mexico,Dakotas. Lets not forget the major hot spot of Kansas and Missouri. None of those locations are anywhere near the East

I'm well aware of that, my husband is American, but it was largely concentrated in the East as far as battles are concerned. There were no big battles in bloody California. But let's nitpick so we can carry on pointing fingers rather than dealing with our own issues. Texas, well, it's a bit of its own in a lot of ways. They actually learn a lot more about their own history in their schools than I find my own kids are learning about theirs in schools here.

These threads are always our own snobbery couched under the pretext as 'I just don't understand' and 'I'm so surprised we're 2 different cultures' or some other bullshit pretext, the difference being that MN truly allows people to make huge negative generalisations about a country with over 350m people but any thread about other nations, groups, etc or travellers go poof in seconds (unless it's disabled people, those are usually allowed to stand as well).

It's a very British thing, though, to break out the cultural bunting.

I'm sure this will carry on the nature all these threads do, however.

Of course we do have our own people to try to imitate Trump

twitter.com/toadmeister/status/1251411860638838784Toby Young
@toadmeister
‘Where has the British love of liberty gone?' | In the @telegraph
I ask why we’re so enthusiastic about being placed under house arrest by the authorities compared to the people of other countries?

@Prairi3Fire No we aren't. Not at all. Very few people in the US are living under as strict lockdown rules as the UK. In most areas of the US life hasn't changed too badly for the citizens. The restrictions aren't as stringent. We are still visiting family, still having get togethers as long as it under 10 people. We don't have the rules you guys have about not mixing households. My area does not have arrows on the floors of the grocery stores. We don't care how many times someone goes to the store or what they buy. There are no rules about it. The only restrictions we had was a couple of weeks ago we could only buy 2 trays of raw meat from each species. Like we could buy 2 things of ground mince,2 packages of chicken,and 2 packages of Pork, 2 packages of fish product at a time. So at one grocery shop you can bring home 8 packages of meat. There was a shortage on loo rolls but resolved. We can still buy make up,clothes,shoes anything we want without being accused of it being unessential. So no you guys are under a lockdown most of the US are not. We don't even have a curfew. A lockdown like you are expericing most Americans are not

And

Katie Hopkins
@KTHopkins
·
7h
NEW:

In this strange Corona-world, my neighbor believes all he is told without challenge. He weeps on command at images of coffins, he sees lockdown as a state-funded vacation, he reports others not locked-down enough. He will not question. Only comply
twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/1251404275168804867

@peppermintcapsules No it wasn't largely centered around the East. More of the well known battles and atrocities happened in the South. Not the East. But westward expansion is the whole reason why the slavery issue and State rights kicked off to the point of Civil War. It was the admission of new states and whether or not they could be slave states that caused the Civil War

But some state’s are as stringent as us, our relations seem to be doing very similar where they live with not only fines but imprisonment as punishment if not adhered to. Most individual states are bigger than the U.K.

I think the only thing that links our culture is language. Most of our ancestry comes from European countries.

This. I love America and Americans but I have always felt more European and that is partly why Brexit felt so sad - I don't think we have a "special relationship" with the US whereas we do with Europe.

Interesting article on the protests in the Guardian - especially about the funding

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/18/coronavirus-americans-protest-stay-at-home

Dear god, Leann, I know. The Southeast then, if you want to nitpick and get personal. The American Civil War had several big causes. My h is from one of those states. I'd put him on here but he finds this type of pettiness to point score on internet threads boring and juvenile AF and he's outside teaching DD to putt as for once we're getting some nice weather here and she's horrible at golf so he has his work cut out for him.

As a PP has already said, there have only been a handful of these protests. It's a minuscule number of people involved (who are viewed as weirdos by the general population), and by far most Americans are following guidelines to the best of their abilities.

Religion can be a force for good as well as evil, an in the US, it generally is, believe it or not. Most religious organisations are encouraging their faithful to be safe and follow guidelines. Many are doing what they can to help care for the vulnerable in their communities. Yes, there are a few kooks, but they are a small minority. (Why is it okay to pick on the US and Christianity, I wonder... )

I'm off to score some more driftwood off the beach as the tide's out and I need a few more to make one of those Christmas tree looking things in our stairway now I've repainted the walls, think it'll add a nice touch.

Prai you're farting into the wind on any thread about America on MN. They're all gun-toting lunatics, we Brits know much better and are far more civilised and they're just a dying empire who will soon be dust in the wind. Best just leave 'em to it and get some DIY or a walk in before wine o'clock.