Granny Danger Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 From the BBC website, it’s almost hard to believe these figures: The Gun Violence Archive puts the number of gun violence deaths from all causes at 12,395 so far this year in the US, of which 147 were in mass shootings. Last year saw a total of 43.549 deaths, and 610 in mass shootings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 There's a lot which is admirable about the USA, but societally it's a shambles. I've no idea why people in the UK fetishise the place so much. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Steele Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Biden saying the recent recent spate of multiple shootings is a 'national embarrassment'. Naw, Boris Johnson stuck on a wire and waving flags is a national embarrassment. US gun laws are a national and international disgrace. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 (edited) On 16/04/2021 at 19:01, DiegoDiego said: There's a lot which is admirable about the USA, but societally it's a shambles. I've no idea why people in the UK fetishise the place so much. I've mentioned this on here before, possibly on this thread but I've been to America three times and each time I've gone I've been surprised by how foreign it feels. I think because they predominantly speak English and we get so much American media culture over here, we think (even if we haven't been) that we know it quite well, but we don't know it well at all. Edited April 17, 2021 by Highland Capital 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 6 minutes ago, Highland Capital said: I've mentioned this on here before, possibly on this thread but I've been to America three times and each time I've gone I've been surprised by how foreign it feels. I think because they predominantly speak English and we get so much American media culture over here, we think (even if we haven't been) that we know it quite well, but we don't know it well at all. Same. If you're looking for somewhere that's like the America you imagined from watching TV, you're probably better off going to Canada. There's something unsettlingly familiar yet slightly alien about the US. It's strange...I still know a few folk that aspire to live there one day, but I wouldn't in a million years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 14 minutes ago, Hillonearth said: Same. If you're looking for somewhere that's like the America you imagined from watching TV, you're probably better off going to Canada. There's something unsettlingly familiar yet slightly alien about the US. It's strange...I still know a few folk that aspire to live there one day, but I wouldn't in a million years. It might just be my imagination to some degree but there's something about America at night that doesn't sit well with me. It could the fact it's not so well lit, but I just got the feeling sometimes that things could go sour very quickly. The fact that they don't have a public health service so people with obvious mental health issues are essentially left wandering the streets also doesn't help things. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 8 minutes ago, Highland Capital said: It might just be my imagination to some degree but there's something about America at night that doesn't sit well with me. It could the fact it's not so well lit, but I just got the feeling sometimes that things could go sour very quickly. The fact that they don't have a public health service so people with obvious mental health issues are essentially left wandering the streets also doesn't help things. Yeah - in big cities over there you've got that undercurrent of latent violence a lot of the time, whereas in suburbia a lot of the time there's a kind of Stepford Wives vibe...everything's TOO calm and ordered. Rural America can be scary as well, especially if you watched as many slasher films as I did in my formative years. I remember travelling through rural Maryland...pretty much where Blair Witch was filmed...and catching sight of a single light on in a cabin maybe a mile deep into the woods. Chances are it wasn't inhabited by a family of cannibals, but I sure as f**k wasn't going to chap their door and ask for directions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTJohnboy Posted April 17, 2021 Author Share Posted April 17, 2021 20 minutes ago, Highland Capital said: It might just be my imagination to some degree but there's something about America at night that doesn't sit well with me. It could the fact it's not so well lit, but I just got the feeling sometimes that things could go sour very quickly. The fact that they don't have a public health service so people with obvious mental health issues are essentially left wandering the streets also doesn't help things. A few years ago I had connections with a hotel in Inverness. I was often asked by visiting Americans if it was safe to walk the streets around the town at night. My reply was always the same : "You'll be fine if you just take a claymore with you" The fact that so many just didn't get the joke spoke volumes for me as to what life must be like in parts of the US. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Aye I cycled across the US back in2014. I thought it would be a bit fucked up but I was a bit unprepared. The attitudes, the patriotism (flags absolutely everywhere, especially the south) and others that would turn this post into an essay. The southern politeness was pretty unsettling to me. Growing up in Glasgow/Lanarkshire doesn't prepare you for the practised duplicity that is constant politeness. And aye, the fear was everywhere. I ken Hillonearth was being jovial but I actually got the police called on me after chapping on a couple of doors in Alabama. It really isn't the done thing. The third world poverty in Mississippi and on the reservations is utterly disgusting too. I found a nation of scared people mostly trying to numb it through working loads (shops stayed open til 9pm in Orlando), eating utter shite (the prevalence and acceptability of shitty fast food was baffling), buying shit and watching the worst TV. It's also a country of people who don't belong there and they jar with the landscape a bit I think. But aye, wouldn't live there unless I was utterly loaded. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lofarl Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 It's the constant fake politeness that really gets to me. Walk into a Starbucks and you think wow everyone here is so polite and nice. A few days later you have to play along while screaming in your head "Just hand me over the packet of fucking chewing gum you utter twat". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binos Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 15 hours ago, ICTJohnboy said: A few years ago I had connections with a hotel in Inverness. I was often asked by visiting Americans if it was safe to walk the streets around the town at night. My reply was always the same : "You'll be fine if you just take a claymore with you" The fact that so many just didn't get the joke spoke volumes for me as to what life must be like in parts of the US. Was it a joke? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inanimate Carbon Rod Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 56 minutes ago, Lofarl said: It's the constant fake politeness that really gets to me. Walk into a Starbucks and you think wow everyone here is so polite and nice. A few days later you have to play along while screaming in your head "Just hand me over the packet of fucking chewing gum you utter twat". Ive spent a wee bit of time in the south, they’ve even got a way of being polite but telling you to f**k off at the same time, if a texan says ‘bless your heart’ they’re essentially telling you to f**k off. It depends where you go re the politeness, ive found Californian people to be really friendly but not the over fake polite way. In New York everyone’s in a hurry so its a wee bit more normal. If you go shopping somewhere like Orlando the folks are generally friendly but not overly fake. However if you visit Tennessee everyone outside Nashville does that good christian, sir/ma’am stuff. Shite drivers which ever part you visit though. What does absolutely happen all over is in restaurants where its tip driven the fake ‘ill be taking care of you’ over enthusiastic stuff just gets a bit much, aye ok you refilled my drink cheers. But i kinda get why they are like that given you can be fired essentially with no notice or any real reason, so being perceived to be rude the manager might fire you on the spot. So they have to maximise all the positive stuff to avoid loosing their job or to actually make a tip because the wage is shit. Usually if theres somewhere we go to regularly on holiday the staff for breakfast (say your hotel has a Denny’s beside it) or whatever get to know what you like and kinda calm down over the piece and realise youre not bothered about the fuss and will still tip. Americans are really quick to complain about the slightest wee thing, quite often beyond the control of the waiter and they seem to constantly be walking on egg-shells. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 The shooter in the FedEx one was a Brony, as in an adult male fan of Ky Little Pony. In his suicide note posted online he said that he wanted to go and live with Applejack. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTJohnboy Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Binos said: Was it a joke? Not entirely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 1 hour ago, ICTChris said: The shooter in the FedEx one was a Brony, as in an adult male fan of Ky Little Pony. In his suicide note posted online he said that he wanted to go and live with Applejack. A subset of incels then? No way that young man is getting his Nat King. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 10 minutes ago, velo army said: A subset of incels then? No way that young man is getting his Nat King. Not now, obviously. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Ongoing in Austin, Texas, at least 3 so far. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/shooting-austin-texas-leaves-least-three-dead-authorities-say-2021-04-18/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 5 dead including 2 polis in North Carolina https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/north-carolina-watauga-county-deputies-shot/index.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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