What an American said.

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Fix bayonets

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As you are all probably aware f there has been a recent investigation into a case of 'friendly fire' in Iraq 2003. A British soldier was killed (Lance Corporal Of Horse Matty Hull of the Household Cavalry). The other day the cockpit video of the attack from a US A-10 which was piloted by Colonel Kohntopp was released.

An ITV news crew went to visit one of Colonel Kohntopp's neighbours/friends; Eldon Anderson.

he said that Colonel Kohntopp was a hero, which maybe true as this was just one incident.

But then Mr Anderson went completely out of proportion in my opinion.

He said "It's a damn good thing we have heroes like him in the United States to do the fighting that we've gotta do against terrorists and around the world and you guys better get on board and that whole damn country of yours along with the rest of Europe you gonna go merrily sucking your thumbs like you did in World War Two."

On the point of us guys getting on bours, the entire point of the news reporter being there is because we are in Iraq and Afghanistan, so that statement was completely unjustified.

The statement about World War Two that was even worse I think he should read a history book or look on the internet and he will learn that Britain was at war for just over two years before America joined in. The rest of Europe who were involved in the war all joined before America did.

The news reporter then asked Mr. Anderson; That war time allies should be more conciliatory (meaning to overcome distrust, to regain friendship)?

Mr. Andersons reply was "We don't need your damn help we need your cooperation thats all we need out of you guys thats and it's hard even to get that. We know you can't shoot, move or communicate but we'd sure as hell like your cooperation anyway."

This was the part I really got angry about The British army is one the best in the world and we have suffered in this war on terror so may I suggest to this gentleman that he gets his facts right.
 
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Why do you let one uninformed person who can't control his own mouth upset you so much? I'm sure that the British military and the British people are held in high regard by the vast majority of Americans. His statements don't make sense to anyone but himself. Why did the reporter choose him? Maybe just to get the controversial statement that would upset the folks at home? It sounds like e typical news person's tactic. I'm not familiar with the reporter, you tell me.
 
Ah yes, winning the hearts and minds of our allies one faux pas at a time. A minority opinion he holds I would wager.
 
Most Americans do not have a passport.

As a teacher it is my opinion that American classrooms are entirely too text based in their pedagogy and that the textbooks are grossly lacking in data about the world outside the US. Let's not even touch the ethnocentric issues.

From an educational standpoint it is my opinion that the American public education system is responsible for the global myopia that many, but not all, of my fellow citizens suffer from. When I compared what I was taught about the world in history/social studies and what is in the books now the only difference is the level of PC driven drivel dumbing down and vannilizing the information offered. It is steeped in the myths of America, things like the Boston Tea party origins and the US single handedly saving the day in WWII for example.

Conversely my Aussie colleagues were taught virtually :cen: all about their own history but have a far greater knowledge about the histories of other countries in Asia and Europe. The textbooks confirm their reports as well.

This sets the stage for people to say the kind of things that this neighbor said. It doesn't excuse it but it might help explain it.
 
When I compared what I was taught about the world in history/social studies and what is in the books now the only difference is the level of PC driven drivel dumbing down and vannilizing the information offered. It is steeped in the myths of America, things like the Boston Tea party origins and the US single handedly saving the day in WWII for example.

Hey Bulldogg, the books wern't written in Hollywood by any chance were they???? :smil:
 
Movies from any country tend to pander to the myths and fantasies of the culture of the target audience. If they didn't they wouldn't sell. I have a theory that you can learn alot about a country from their popular movies-- not facts or even what life is like in that country but you can learn what the general populace believes in as a culture.
 
Most Americans do not have a passport.

This is because it is so expensive and time consuming to travel outside of the United States. Americans do not tend to have as many holidays as other countries so when they do travel, they visit the enormous piece of land that is the US.

I completely agree with you about the way history and culture is taught in the schools. The text books these kids get today is a laugh and a half.

As for Anderson, he's an idiot and always has been.
 
I think it also has something to do with the fact that until this new legislation we didn't need a passport to go to Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong etc. so why bother?
 
It is true that many kids dont have a passport, but its not too expensive and time consuming to travel abroad. My parents are just normal people, and I got my passport at the age of 4 months, left the country at the age of 7 months, and have since traveled to over 22 countries on every continent. Parents and teachers today just need to make it a priority to travel with their kids overseas.
 
A classic example of why I would opt to give more credence to the older member's posting. How many vacations overseas, at the ripe old age of 17, have you personally paid for that were affordable? A round trip ticket to China, just the friggin ticket is over one thousand US dollars for one adult.

Did you think about your post first??
 
Seeing by yourself is much closer to the truth than only hearing from others.

I ever travelled in many countries. I have a strong feeling, there is much misunderstanding between different area's people because of much reasons including goverments' propaganda with bias. We know each other so few.
 
Seeing by yourself is much closer to the truth than only hearing from others.

I ever travelled in many countries. I have a strong feeling, there is much misunderstanding between different area's people because of much reasons including goverments' propaganda with bias. We know each other so few.

Propaganda (official and unofficial) and bias is a major problem everywhere, on the Internet, in the Media, and in Real Life, in a one on one setting, although some people do tend to talk tougher on the Net.
 
A classic example of why I would opt to give more credence to the older member's posting. How many vacations overseas, at the ripe old age of 17, have you personally paid for that were affordable? A round trip ticket to China, just the friggin ticket is over one thousand US dollars for one adult.

Did you think about your post first??

Yeah because real life experience is irrelevant if you aren't 60, fought in 3 world wars and flown in space or at least pretended you did in your profile.
Anyway enough of the sarcasm what does not paying for a ticket have to do with the validity of his opinion on this topic?

I accept if this was a discussion on the price of airline tickets or maybe family economics your argument would be on target assuming of course the "older member" had been anywhere in their life if not then you would still be wrong.

So perhaps you should ask yourself " Did you think about your post first??"

:)
 
I think the problem with rogue's statement is that it was like walking in front of a group full of pregnant teens and telling them they are all sinners damned to spend an eternity in hell for their actions. It's not going to change anything, it just makes the ones who can't travel feel guilty for it like they are not doing their part. Plus his last sentence made the whole statement sound like it was saying "If you do this all your problems will be solved!" which we all know is just untrue. To quote a friend of mine who used to do a lot of traveling overseas as part of his business that arranged mergers between international corporations, "Traveling overseas is great, you get to discover the people everywhere are just arrogant as we are." we meaning Americans. He described how much he was heckled when he had to travel to Paris because his girlfriend is Indian (Asian, not native American) and apparently the French airport security assumed that meant she was a terrorist. Of course not a single one of the rent-a-cops could speak English.
 
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