Low Blow by the Brits?

[Charlotteman]

None of us believe American ignorance is limited to the South. We all know backwardness can be seen from coast to coast. It's extremely disheartening.

I don't blame all of it on poor public education though. I blame most of it on parents who don't give a damn about their kids' educations. Parents who think that teachers do all the teaching, so they can ignore the kids and sit in front of the TV.

America is in a deep decline.

[satalac]

America is in a deep decline.

[monsoon]

^I am glad things are going well for you. For tens of millions of Americas it is not. If you really want to understand this issue then you will want to look beyond your own personal situation and look at what is happening to others.

Since you gave yourself as an example, I will give another. I have a good friend that has 29 years and 3 months service at a major USA corporation. He was told a few weeks ago his job was being sent to Argentina and would be laid off in 30 days. He would not be receiving the benefits promised to him for 3 decades that he gets at 30 years service. He will also lose his medical benefits. This is someone who is college educated, pays his taxes, doesn't cause problems, and basically has done everything that society says it expects of a person. Yet his livelihood and retirement has now been destroyed to enrich the pockets of a few corporate executives.

While I don't expect someone younger to understand the kind of hit this means, it is an example of what has gone wrong in this country. The pursuit of money has been put ahead of the common good. A common good that built the USA in the first place. Some will say this is the "global economy" without understanding what that means.

This is the real America. It's one that a generation ago would have been deemed unacceptable. Its one that most other countries deem unacceptable today.

[nowensone]

is it really though? i find my life getting better and better. the only time i hear about the decline of america is when i turn on the tv. can we really believe in the media anymore? i'm starting to think i can't. i find the perception of the media to be one based on fear led by god knows who. i'm not saying it's one massive conspiracy, but come on, how come we never hear about what's right with america anymore. it's not because it isn't happening. i'm so sick of hearing the left and the right go at it when the real america is getting pushed out of the forefront. the america everyone loves is still here, we're just too blind to see it.

[rnc]

Nobody is advocating violence. You state right there in your comment that the entire episode was predicated on negative stereotypes -- since when is it ok to go around making fun of people based on negative stereotypes? Would you defend bunch of rednecks going into the ghetto driving pimped-out Cadillacs painted with slogans like "Hip-hop is garbage" and "Shut down the NBA" and, for that matter, "Man Love Rules Ok"? I'm sure they could bring along a TV crew and record plenty of examples of people reinforcing negative stereotypes, but nobody would find it funny because that kind of stunt is fundamentally unethical. Its only purpose is to exploit those at the bottom of the socio-economic food chain for the amusement of the self-righteous.

I have a great deal of respect for the British, particularly for the quality of their media -- but if this sort of thing is actually popular over there, perhaps I've simply overestimated them.

[Charlotteman]

America isn't in a deep decline? Try a few of these on for size:

A town in Texas just made it legal for public school teachers to pack heat in the classroom.

Criminals in Detroit are so desperate they steal highway barriers in the middle of the night, to sell for scrap.

Millions and millions of Americans aren't medically insured, and cannot get proper medical care.

The country rescinded Constitutional rights, based on a lie.

America is torturing POWs.

I could go on and on, but here's an interesting personal story: when I lived in Florida, my neighbors' new shrubbery was pulled out of the ground and stolen.....AND the criminals even climbed a fence to steal them.

It's much worse than a deep decline---the country is going to hell in a hand basket. And all the while America is pretending to be some great worldwide moral leader. I hope this British TV show flourishes, and continues to reveal the true America to the world.

[Miesian Corners]

It's much worse than a deep decline---the country is going to hell in a hand basket. And all the while America is pretending to be some great worldwide moral leader. I hope this British TV show flourishes, and continues to reveal the true America to the world.

[Justadude]

I would bet your chances of being shot in the ghetto would be significantly higher as well than in rural Alabama.

[monsoon]

In this particular program they had already established that America was the land of the guns and murders. This was from earlier where they were buying the cars in Miami.

[erdogs]

Crime is not just a problem here.

[Charlotteman]

In this particular program they had already established that America was the land of the guns and murders. This was from earlier where they were buying the cars in Miami.

[satalac]

^I am glad things are going well for you. For tens of millions of Americas it is not. If you really want to understand this issue then you will want to look beyond your own personal situation and look at what is happening to others.

Since you gave yourself as an example, I will give another. I have a good friend that has 29 years and 3 months service at a major USA corporation. He was told a few weeks ago his job was being sent to Argentina and would be laid off in 30 days. He would not be receiving the benefits promised to him for 3 decades that he gets at 30 years service. He will also lose his medical benefits. This is someone who is college educated, pays his taxes, doesn't cause problems, and basically has done everything that society says it expects of a person. Yet his livelihood and retirement has now been destroyed to enrich the pockets of a few corporate executives.

While I don't expect someone younger to understand the kind of hit this means, it is an example of what has gone wrong in this country. The pursuit of money has been put ahead of the common good. A common good that built the USA in the first place. Some will say this is the "global economy" without understanding what that means.

This is the real America. It's one that a generation ago would have been deemed unacceptable. Its one that most other countries deem unacceptable today.

[satalac]

These videos show the other side of the coin loud and clear.

You drive through a certain area of Miami and you will be shot. End of story.

[Charlotteman]

^^Sorry but I know better.

Even Jacksonville, in the extreme northern part of the state, has deadly crime-infested areas. The Davis Street area of north Jacksonville is such a place: snipers will sometimes shoot at unknown cars driving through (fearing a move into their drug sales zone)

But the piece de resistance of Jacksonville depravity is Emerson Arms. It's so dangerous that it has been fenced off, and the police run 24/7 checkpoints in and out of the complex. In the 1980s I told an Austrian friend about Emerson Arms and he didn't believe me. So he drove to the checkpoint one night and was swarmed by police officers who thought he was there to buy crack cocaine. The cops politely told him he could be shot by a sniper if he actually drove through!

My European friend said he felt like he was in a Third World country that night in Jacksonville. He said nothing even close to Emerson Arms exists in Europe. He was not allowed to enter a public street...very Third World when you think about it.

So hopefully people will start learning about this sort of gun culture depravity that's going on in the States. Too bad the American media doesn't report more of this stuff. When everyone has guns, this sort of lawlessness can become a crisis.

[erdogs]

Crime in the streets of the UK. You know what they say about those that live in glass houses.

[satalac]

^^Sorry but I know better.

Even Jacksonville, in the extreme northern part of the state, has deadly crime-infested areas. The Davis Street area of north Jacksonville is such a place: snipers will sometimes shoot at unknown cars driving through (fearing a move into their drug sales zone)

But the piece de resistance of Jacksonville depravity is Emerson Arms. It's so dangerous that it has been fenced off, and the police run 24/7 checkpoints in and out of the complex. In the 1980s I told an Austrian friend about Emerson Arms and he didn't believe me. So he drove to the checkpoint one night and was swarmed by police officers who thought he was there to buy crack cocaine. The cops politely told him he could be shot by a sniper if he actually drove through!

My European friend said he felt like he was in a Third World country that night in Jacksonville. He said nothing even close to Emerson Arms exists in Europe. He was not allowed to enter a public street...very Third World when you think about it.

So hopefully people will start learning about this sort of gun culture depravity that's going on in the States. Too bad the American media doesn't report more of this stuff. When everyone has guns, this sort of lawlessness can become a crisis.

[monsoon]

Crime in the streets of the UK. You know what they say about those that live in glass houses.

[monsoon]

let me ask you a question. do you think that this stuff is just now happening or that we just see more of it because the media and internet has given us access to information a lot quicker? these types of things have happened for a LONG time but there were no outlets to talk about all these problems. am i denying that there are problems? of course not. ....

[satalac]

I am in my 40s and I can tell you this kind of stuff has NOT been happening for a long time. The word "layoff" did not even come into common use until the 1980s as prior to that time, it was very very rare for an American company to mass fire people. We didn't become the greatest industrial and military power in the 20th century by sending jobs, technology and processes overseas. When I started in industry, American companies competed with their employees, now they complete against them.

I will also add there has been a significant dumbing down of America during this same period despite the inventions of the Internet, computers, mass media, etc. There has been a disappearance of common sense.

[monsoon]

these things happen in cycles. take a look at the great deppression. then black monday in 87. then the dot com bubble in 02. they may have different causes,....

[satalac]

Let's see, the great depression was 70 years ago, black monday (which only lasted a couple of weeks) 21 years ago, dot com bubble 6 years ago, and now the mess we have now. See a trend? We went 50 years, 1/2 century without any calamidies and now they are almost constant. Your own anecdote backs this up but you failed, for some reason, to notice it. This BTW is what I just said.

If you want another measurement, this generation will be the first on average to be less well off than their parents generation. This is the first time in American history this has happened. Their life spans are getting shorter, they are less educated, more subject to crime, and have a lower standard of living now than their peers in the other industrialized nations. I recommend that you take some trips to Japan and Europe if you want to see how far we have fallen behind.

[monsoon]

BTW, this is the end of the program of which this topic is about. Please ignore the Spanish subtitles as this is the version that was shown in Spain, but it was all that I could find. It seems the ones that were shown here in America were deleted again.

If you take the time to see where they end up (starting around 3:30) and what they find, I think it is a good footnote as to "how things are" in the United States. Let me know what you think.

[satalac]

monsoon, i will 100% agree with you that katrina was a horrible disaster and what has happened to the gulf coast is unforgivable. this administration completely and utterly failed it's people. this country is not perfect, far from it. that being said, we still have a lot to be proud of, which was my original point. should this things like katrina be in the media? yes, and it still should. but we also need to focus on positives as well. if we want to be respected, we need to respect others, but mainly respect ourselves.

[Charlotteman]

that's a bit of a chicken little response. "well if there is a block like this in jacksonville, then there must be one in EVERY american city". and there are no places like that in europe? have you not seen what's going on in russia and georgia? a bit worse than a drug deal zone there. and it's not a gun problem in which you talk of, it's a crime problem. there are millions of responsible gun owners in the united states. it's the criminals that don't follow the gun laws that give people with guns a bad name.

[Charlotte_native]

It's like I was always told growing up; if you go out looking for trouble, don't be surprised when you find it. These men went into this situation with their own stereotypes of the South and decided to poke the bear. They got what they deserved.