Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Why are people so pre-occupied with America

Options
124»

Comments

  • Options
    #92
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    mr_fegelien wrote: »
    The GOP's tend to be religious conservatives who have a track record of climate skepticism.


    The GOP are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. It has nothing to do with religion. Koch Industries and all the other oil corporations pay massive bribes (euphemistically called "campaign contributions") to politicians of all stripes, but predominantly GOP members to resist any measures such as emissions standards and environmental protections that might possibly eat into their profits.


  • Options
    #93
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    rossie1977 wrote: »
    We get the Americanised version of the PlayStation not the Japanese one.

    How many French musical acts do we listen to or when was the last French movie we went to cinema en masse to watch. What French TV programs do we consume. What French sport do people watch in Ireland.


    Well I'd say more people watch France in the 6 nations in Ireland than would watch the Superbowl.


  • Options
    #94
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    rossie1977 wrote: »
    Again we get the American versions of these products not the Japanese ones.



    We are close to the UK but their culture is not in our face like the US culture is. You picked a few things out but far far more American products/services etc influence our lives than British ones.

    Our version of Santa Claus is based off Coca Colas ad. Irish kids could identify Ronald McDonald or John Cena before they could Boris Johnson.


    Well that's hardly surprising. Kids are more interested in clowns and fast food than they are in politics. Yes I know BoJo is also a clown.


  • Options
    #95
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    cj maxx wrote: »
    It has everything you'd want for a holiday.
    Gambling, go to Vegas.
    Sun/ sea Florida California or for more exotic Hawaii.
    Mountain climbing,hikes, sling Rockies or Alaska plus desert and vast plains. The US has everything given its huge size


    You could say that about dozens of countries.


    There's many things that US lacks that are de rigeur in other countries.


    If I wanted to take a luxury high speed rail journey there's no way I could in the US. Decrepit, rickety Amtrak is all they have to offer.

    Can't see the Northern Lights there or penguins or giant turtles in their natural habitat.
    American airports are the worst I've ever experienced. The airport in Tangiers, Morocco is better.

    Sure, the US has a bit of everything but that bit of everything that it does have is by no means the best.


  • Options
    #96
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    theguzman wrote: »
    America is Manifest Destiny, proper freedom, lower taxes and less government regulations, freedom to buy as many guns as you like, freedom to defend yourself and your property by lethal force if required. Cars are part of the freedom loving culture, no high fuel taxes like here. A police system that actually has a hand on crime and will fight back and kill criminals, a legal and judicial system that will execute criminals. Trump emboldens the American capitalist spirirt of manifest destiny. The best health service in the world, you can choose what you want without socialist policies here, if you want a hip operation or some surgery you can have it done in a week, in Ireland you might get called 4 years later off a waiting list by such time you'd be well dead.


    :pac:


    Comedy gold.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #97
    ShatterAlan
    Registered Users Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭ShatterAlan


    cj maxx wrote: »
    So you prefer to just lump the tax into the price like here ?
    Lots of things here are price + Vat ( a tax) And like vat you can claim the tax back on leaving the country.
    The tipping culture is also why dining out is so cheap compared to here where wages and overheads are again written into the exorbitant price. If you're happy left a decent tip if you have a problem with the service don't..
    As for automatic doors they're pretty standard in most modern buildings and I never had much problem with immigration and the 3/4 times I went through them , no pre clearance, and I was an actual illegal immigrant.
    Pretty petty reasons to dislike a country imo


    The tipping culture is NOT why dining out is so cheap, which it isn't. I was in Kansas City and New Orleans last October and I used to live in New York. A greasy spoon cafe in London is a hell of a lot cheaper than your equivalent diner in the US. And dinking in a pub is about the same or more expensive.
    The tipping culture is a scam to shift the burden of paying a waitress from the restaurant onto the punters.


  • Options
    #98
    faceman
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 16,586 CMod ✭✭✭✭faceman


    I love the US and many of the people there. Some are among my closest friends. I visit regularly and get to be off the beaten path too.

    As much as I love my friends the US is incredibly flawed country. Aside from the obvious with politics, I have friends who are proud gun owners. There’s no talking to them.

    Some cities have been down right neglected by the government, Detroit being an example. It’s like something from a dystopian movies in certain parts and has been like that for decades. Very easy to see how Trump won the state.

    Their healthcare system is shocking. Without insurance forget it. The equivalent of a €60 GP here costs hundreds of dollars there. Health insurance policies costs thousands and even 5 figures in some cases. The cost of maternity cover is insane.

    Some insurance policies are only good for your home state. You’re not covered if you’re somewhere else.

    It’s pricey over there too. The exchange is goosed now so it’s dollar for euro almost. A pint is $9+ dollars and tip in some places.

    Tipping is an excuse for bars and restaurants not to have to pay staff minimum wage.

    Satisfactory public transport is non existent in most places.

    While the whole planet is racist America and it’s relationship with violence and police brutality is shocking. A black friend got locked out of his house one day. Told me he could sit on his porch and wait for his missus as it could be assumed he was burglar and the cops would turn up. This is in California, one of the more progressive states.

    Social welfare is a beauracratic process with minimal supports. Employment rights are non existent.

    The lack of censorship means people are more or less free to do as they wish. Look at the KKK and those Westboro Baptist church lunatics.

    California does have some good stuff that Ireland could learn from. People take petitions and voting very seriously. Propositions are an easier way for new bills to be considered for law. People vote on them rather than politicians.

    But aside from that we love American pop culture. Movies. Music. Art. Some of the natural beauty in the US is breath taking. I’d take Yosemite or the Pacific Coast any day over the Cliffs of Moher or Connemara.

    People are friendly and our Irish accents travel well. There’s a lovely openness with many people there that our Irish cynical nature doesn’t do so well.

    I would diss Irish influence though. What we achieve internationally with Paddy’a Day is something no other country can boast of. Even America doesn’t achieve that with their national holiday. Our politicians’ jollies abroad for Paddy’s week show how we can exercise influence at times if we want to.

    I’ve rambled so much I’ve forgotten the purpose of my post


  • Options
    #99
    Electric Sheep
    Registered Users Posts: 2,104 ✭✭✭Electric Sheep


    Kylta wrote: »
    I personally have no interest in America, but an awful of irish people seem to have an interest in America and I curious to as why?
    Grow up


  • Options
    #100
    goose2005
    Registered Users Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭goose2005


    _Whimsical_ wrote: »
    Our preoccupation with the US, particularly in recent years, is fed by our media.

    Rte have ran Donald Trump stories as the main headline on numerous occasions here with little obvious justification other than distracting from what's actually going on in our own country and within the EU where our vote and voice might make a slight difference.

    We rally in hysteria around Black Lives Matter over isolated US incidents while we pack hundreds and thousands of women and child refugees into dangerous squalid camps around Europe without a single hashtag or bended knee.
    We are lathered up over Donald Trump mispronouncing something or his silly hairdo while our own people are homeless, dying in A&E waiting rooms, while we are planning for programs of mass immigration when we can't provide a life for those who are already here.

    Our fascination with the US is an engineered phenomenon to ensure we never open our eyes to the issues on our own front door that we could control that cause just as much suffering as any of Trumps antics.
    RTE have a full-time washington correspondent so they have to justify that expense by running american news constantly


  • Options
    #101
    odyssey06
    Registered Users Posts: 28,293 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    goose2005 wrote: »
    RTE have a full-time washington correspondent so they have to justify that expense by running american news constantly

    True but they also have Tony Connelly in Brussels but if it hadn't been for Brexit you'd hardly know it (on which he has been first rate).
    And the decisions in Brussels have probably more impact on our everyday lives.

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #102
    coinop
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 315 ✭✭coinop


    ShatterAlan wrote: »
    Can you point to a piece of legislation that has been passed in the last 30 years in the US that has substantially benefitted the public?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990

    Thank you George Bush Sr. This is why we have elevators in buildings, why we have disabled parking spaces in front of restaurants. Check your ableist privilege and try to see the world from someone else's perspective..


Advertisement