Can I just say (as someone who lives in the UK and was born here) that your view of us is complete drivel?
Lets take the 'little vertical movement' bit.. how many of our current government are from the 'upper classes'? Or for that matter how many of our millionaires or big business people?
Precious few.
Secondly your bit about 'freedom of speech'. Complete rubbish. Sueing someone here is more expensive and less likely to produce a big payout than in the US (and anyone that tried to sue McD becasue the coffee was too hot would get laughed out of court!)
Guns - most people don't want them available. It's called democracy.
Privacy - 'The crown'? Do you mean the Government? We actually have tighter privacy laws than the US - for example you can sue newspapers for breach of privacy if they intrude into your private life.
The only *bad* breach (and that still requires a court order) is the RIP bill.
Cars - You try to pack 65 million people into somewhere the size of the UK (with 65% in the bottom 80 miles or so!) and see how well your road system works... It has its flaws (doesn't everything!) but to say 'insane and speed system' without any qualification is nonsense. Maybe you ought to come over here and drive for a while. (Oh and BTW - anywhere outside of the big cities has very little problem with traffic..)
I think your closing point about not having been here for a while is a telling one. You obviously have an impression left by a fleeting visit without bothering to find out really what it is like here.
As to freedom - which one would you prefer? A plutocratic system that devalues people except as bargaining chips or a socially responsible system that recognised that (sometimes) the individual is not the most important thing in society?. Both have the same end-result of disabling some people!
I do think it is funny for the following reason: I have been doing tech support for 8 years (ish). Some of the people I deal with have NO interest in finding out why the computer has gone wrong or even remembering that it did this a week ago and they did such-and-such to fix it. Instead, as a surrogate brain they pick up the phone and expect the person on the other end of the phone to fix the problem without being given the basic information needed. Sample: 'It doesn't work'! 'What doesn't work?' 'My computer' 'In what way?' 'It won't work and I want you to fix it now'! (Familiar to all tech support everywhere!) Now I agree that tech support are educators and that a ggod number of people who call or raise problem tickets are willing to learn from the experience. But to use a computer requires knowledge to start with and UF (and Dilbert to an extent) are showing up the people who get a highly-complex artifact (like a PC) and don't even bother to read the setup manual that comes with it, but would rather offload their problem onto someone else! As I always say: No question is stupid if being asked for the first time. It's after the 5th repetition by the same person that it becomes stupid. Phil.
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... which is exactly the same logic that the terrorists use to justify their atrocities.
Congratulations. You just became like them.
Can I just say (as someone who lives in the UK and was born here) that your view of us is complete drivel? Lets take the 'little vertical movement' bit.. how many of our current government are from the 'upper classes'? Or for that matter how many of our millionaires or big business people? Precious few. Secondly your bit about 'freedom of speech'. Complete rubbish. Sueing someone here is more expensive and less likely to produce a big payout than in the US (and anyone that tried to sue McD becasue the coffee was too hot would get laughed out of court!) Guns - most people don't want them available. It's called democracy. Privacy - 'The crown'? Do you mean the Government? We actually have tighter privacy laws than the US - for example you can sue newspapers for breach of privacy if they intrude into your private life. The only *bad* breach (and that still requires a court order) is the RIP bill. Cars - You try to pack 65 million people into somewhere the size of the UK (with 65% in the bottom 80 miles or so!) and see how well your road system works... It has its flaws (doesn't everything!) but to say 'insane and speed system' without any qualification is nonsense. Maybe you ought to come over here and drive for a while. (Oh and BTW - anywhere outside of the big cities has very little problem with traffic..) I think your closing point about not having been here for a while is a telling one. You obviously have an impression left by a fleeting visit without bothering to find out really what it is like here. As to freedom - which one would you prefer? A plutocratic system that devalues people except as bargaining chips or a socially responsible system that recognised that (sometimes) the individual is not the most important thing in society?. Both have the same end-result of disabling some people!
I do think it is funny for the following reason: I have been doing tech support for 8 years (ish). Some of the people I deal with have NO interest in finding out why the computer has gone wrong or even remembering that it did this a week ago and they did such-and-such to fix it. Instead, as a surrogate brain they pick up the phone and expect the person on the other end of the phone to fix the problem without being given the basic information needed. Sample: 'It doesn't work'! 'What doesn't work?' 'My computer' 'In what way?' 'It won't work and I want you to fix it now'! (Familiar to all tech support everywhere!) Now I agree that tech support are educators and that a ggod number of people who call or raise problem tickets are willing to learn from the experience. But to use a computer requires knowledge to start with and UF (and Dilbert to an extent) are showing up the people who get a highly-complex artifact (like a PC) and don't even bother to read the setup manual that comes with it, but would rather offload their problem onto someone else! As I always say: No question is stupid if being asked for the first time. It's after the 5th repetition by the same person that it becomes stupid. Phil.