USA vs the Rest of the World...

[idahoblues]

I think a lot of it just comes down to media. How much attention does America get in the UK media? And then compare that to the other way around. Most Brits know more about American politics than they do about any European country, partly because of a lazy media that can't be bothered with pesky things like translation. A comparison for us though might be how little the average Brit knows about Ireland compared to how much the average Irish person knows about the UK. Every now and again, I look up how to pronounce Taoiseach and every time I read it, I forget, because it's just never mentioned in UK media.

But with America, one that really spelled it out for me was when I was watching a little news feature back in the day about the success of Bob the Builder. It was talking about how many countries it had been exported to and showed a few clips in different languages. And one of them was Bob speaking in an American accent, as if American children couldn't possibly handle a British accent in their cartoons, so they had to dub it. Of course Peppa Pig has ruined that now.

Also remember that English spoken in England is little more than grunts and me ducks, we have refined it for the rest of the world :)

 

[idahoblues]

@Ric how does one change their username?

Don’t give into a bunch of elitist Brits, they’re just jealous

 

[urban genie]

@Ric how does one change their username?

Don't wory ric loves you septics you will be a mod by christmas, you are less a hassle than the locals numpties on here

 

[toddluvzgta]

The ones over here do that as well. Usually eyebrow dodging women. They also say "sowwey" insread of "sorry" for some reason.

Must be the teeth, again

 

[Javi Garcia's Hairstylist]

Grew up and now live in the US. But fortunate enough to have spent a decent chunk of my life living and working in several other countries due to my occupation at the time.

For me, I have found that there are morons, imbeciles, and malicious people everywhere you go. Can't really tab any one place as better or worse for that. There are good and giving and wonderful people everywhere you go as well. Some thing. People are so similar wherever you go.

(Stupid) people here throw around "American exceptionalism" and for me the most exceptional thing here is the predatory hellscape of our so-called health care system. Which is basically a wealth extraction scheme perpetuated by the pharma and insurance industries and maintained in place forever by their paid lackeys in DC.

So that's exceptionally bad. Better here in Massachusetts than most places. But better in most other countries than most other places here.

Have a friend who is Persian. It was significantly cheaper for her to FLY TO TEHRAN and get some basic eye surgery done (and visit the family to boot) than to have it done in Texas under her terrible insurance plan. I had a similar terrible plan at the time and was on schedule for a work project in Russia. So yeah, I waited until I was over there to have some shit done as the tests required were literally 1/10th as much and the required drugs were 1/20th the cost.

A lot of people I know in south Texas just go over to Mexico to have a lot of things done. The tier 2 Mexican hospitals are fine in comparison to what you get in the US especially when considering the immense cost difference.

Good friend I had got cancer while self-employed and, well, would likely still be my good friend and alive today if he had been born in most other parts of the world.

Yeah I get that there are rich assholes embedded in the Professional Managerial Class and above who just love their premium health plans and option to see whatever doctor they want in Palo Alto fucking California. That's not most people.

Rant over. This issue just pisses me off to no end even though I personally have it pretty decent.

 

[jimharri]

@Ric how does one change their username?

Not totally convinced you're being serious here, but I'll bite. In answer to your question, you can't change your username. Only @Ric can do that. But I would urge you not to rush into something you may wish you hadn't done at a later date. Don't let some idiots on here push you in that direction.