United States

Always interesting hearing people ni various threads comment about the US. I’m not too proud living here myself at the moment and have been thinking of leaving. Just not sure where I would want to go to.

about the US. I’m not too proud living here myself at the moment

Bear in mind that for anything to change someone has to be close to it to make the change.
Dropping pebbles in a pond creates ripples, if enough people time their ripples they make big waves.

I think you can see what happens to our citizens attempting peaceful protest this very moment. They are harassed, beaten, and thrown in jail.

pebbles, not rocks.

Subtlety takes longer, but results are more permanent.

Just not sure where I would want to go to.

Well there lies the problem. Everywhere has problems ¹, it comes down to which set of problems you are willing to tolerate.

¹ Apparently all of Britain’s immigrants are causing traffic chaos on the M4 . . . or is Nige just making up rubbish because he couldn’t be bothered to leave at a reasonable time?

Subtlety takes longer, but results are more permanent.

I really wanted to point out that the president is a black man and although it has been a slow and often painful process, America has come a long way since the days of slavery…

…then I remembered Ferguson. It seems that not everybody has received the memo.
<sigh>

I’m just glad I’m not Russian. I think things are going to get much worse in Russia and not just short term!
The affect on Europe and the rest of the world is going to be significant:-(

American hasn’t come any farther since the day of slavery, it’s just more hidden. Look how media describes every black victim as a Thug, which is white America’s current term for Nig&^%. Seriously, it’s a word they get to say publicly and at length, but the N word is what they mean.

But Russia is looking bad.

I just want to live someone I’m not afraid for my life anytime a cop is nearby.

I just want to live someone I’m not afraid for my life anytime a cop is nearby.

Unless you frequent Airports or Central London you are unlikely to see an armed policeman in the UK.

American hasn’t come any farther since the day of slavery, it’s just more hidden.

It is called Capitalism. The inexplicable rush to “have the most when you die”. Uh, yeah. A dead pauper will be just the same as a dead Warren Buffet (or that bloke with the fake hair) – a corpse. That isn’t to say the problem isn’t happening in a smaller scale this side of the pond. Prices are going up, but relatively speaking pay for the lower end is going down. The UK Basic State Pension is a joke, the NHS has practically collapsed (but nobody “in charge” has noticed), and in any case anything bad is the fault of foreigners.
France… isn’t much better. The socialist (sort of like a liberal kind of Democrat) party came to power to fix all the things that Sarkozy did wrong and were shocked to discover the coffers were pretty much empty. So all the great plans? Never really happened. No money. It’s hard to do much when you can’t tax the rich huge amounts and the general public won’t accept tax hikes.

Look how media describes every black victim as a Thug, which is white America’s current term for Nig&^%. Seriously, it’s a word they get to say publicly and at length, but the N word is what they mean.

From my experience, the word “nigger”¹ (or n-with-random-punctuation¹ if you prefer) is not one that I heard much when I was younger, perhaps in part due to the UK’s heritage of people from India (and that region) along with many many unpleasant pejorative words for them. That isn’t to say that the term doesn’t exist and that it isn’t offensive – just ask Jeremy Clarkson…

As an aside, something I notice that is different is what I consider to be “Asian” and what more mainstream British people think is Asian. For instance, this is what comes to mind, but if you look for Asian stations on Sky or what-have-you, it is mostly Bangla, Tamil, Punjabi… I think I may be used to the American definition of Asian. This is just randomly thrown in to demonstrate that there are differences between identical terms due to differing heritage. British English and American English is like that. Plus, hey, cute-girl-picture.

I think our “media sanctioned target” is that our news channels frequently talk about the “Islamic State” and “Islamic Fundamentalists” and when something bad happens, the guy is going to be called “Mohammed” or “something-Al-something”. You are being brainwashed to believe that black people (or n-hash-star-squiggle-at-exclamation¹) are bad, evil, scourge of the world, etc. For us, anything horrible that can’t be blamed on the EU (specifically The French) is the fault of Islam in some way or another.

I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t ultimately creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?

But Russia is looking bad.

It’s sad. Russia went through hell to evolve from a communist Soviet state to being a modern-day Russia which had money and a fair bit of political weight in the world. Now they have a somewhat mental leader who is determined to demonstrate that he’s a bigger badass than anything American can offer (stand aside Chuck Norris), who unfortunately also seems hell-bent on dragging the country back to the Soviet era. Fine, it’s perfectly acceptable to find fault in Capitalism. If you’re in any doubt, look to 2008.
But, you know, communist dictator or capitalist spirit? Isn’t there something useful in between?

I just want to live someone I’m not afraid for my life anytime a cop is nearby.

I think American cops have to overreact and shoot to kill for the basic reason that they cannot know who or what they are dealing with.
Here, the police with guns are (supposed to be) properly trained in order that not only do they know correct handling of the weapons, but also the psychology of the fact that their firearm will kill. I don’t think American police necessarily have the luxury of reasoned thought as it only takes a second for the perp to pull a weapon and “shoot the pig”. In a country with a guaranteed right to possess firearms, they must assume the worst. So what ought to be a “show of force” to end a situation can rapidly become a “them or us”. It is very easy in a court room to pick through mountains of detail, examine photos, listen to endless witness statements…all describing an incident in which a police officer had to assess a situation and make a judgement call in a matter of seconds. I’m not referring to Ferguson, I’m referring to “in general”.
But I do not feel the American police are the biggest threat.
It’s the American people themselves.
An event in the news right now, a woman blown away² in a Walmart by a two year old. I can only imagine that the gun in her handbag was loaded and ready with the safety off, as I can’t imagine a very young child would be able to figure out how to do all of that. That said, she had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. That is what disturbs me. How much training does a civilian receive?³ Are they morally and emotionally prepared for the reality of what happens when somebody is shot, or are they only really interested in the “I am okay” aspect?
I don’t think I would be that bothered by armed police (Gendarmes in France are armed – that’s pretty much what the word means), but the fact that an unknown number of people in a supermarket could be carrying weapons is enough for me to rule out America as a holiday destination.

Disclosure: I’m from Scotland, spent most of my life in southern England. My mother is from Baltimore. I went once when I was, like, four or five. Now we live in France.

¹ A masked racist term is no less offensive than the term itself, which is why I use the term itself. Somewhere in the ‘90s, it was the vogue thing to replace insults and terms of abuse with long complicated sounding phrases. The thing is, it doesn’t matter what words are used, it’s the intention behind them.

² Slight exaggeration for dramatic effect…

³ Obviously not enough to prevent it being used by a pre-toddler.

It’s not the Wild West here:

Officer deaths in 2014:

Line of Duty Deaths: 118
Assault: 2
Automobile accident: 26
Drowned: 1
Fire: 1
Gunfire: 47
Gunfire (Accidental): 2
Heart attack: 15
Motorcycle accident: 4
Struck by vehicle: 5
Vehicle pursuit: 5
Vehicular assault: 10

Read more: http://www.odmp.org/search/year#ixzz3NUqkwfSt

The Washinton Post shows for 2012, the FBI lists.

“The government does, however, keep a database of how many officers are killed in the line of duty. In 2012, the most recent year for which FBI data is available, it was 48 – 44 of them killed with firearms.”

Obviously it is not THAT dangerous a job.

How many citizens are killed yearly by police? No one knows, because those numbers are not tracked.

Even in the case of Eric Gardner (Youtube it) with video evidence of police choking him to death, they still not only haven’t been charged, they still have their jobs.

People don’t kill strangers that often. Firearm deaths are usually from someone you know.

The police here are the biggest threat.

Unless you frequent Airports or Central London you are unlikely to see an armed policeman in the UK.

Or a friends memorial service. Then again Bob did was the west midland P&CC. Lots of police in the service (guests) along with political bods and large numbers of us CAMRA types.

the NHS has practically collapsed (but nobody “in charge” has noticed)

Get rid of the current shower and the old dino¹ will recover. It will take a while, this lot are more vicious (and venal) than Thatcher.

As to those in charge not noticing – the political level want it to happen.

¹ Dinosaurs, being big beasts, tend to take a while to react to small wounds. However lots of small wounds can accumulate.

How many citizens are killed yearly by police? No one knows, because those numbers are not tracked.

UK forces are required to document the occasions when they unholster a taser, even if they don’t fire.
Having said that a guy tasered recently upped and died.