In case you don't recognize it, it's the Declaration of Independence. I saw something today that really made me sad.In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.
-Yahoo News reporting on British perceptions of the US
I think this is mainly misconception, altough some of these things are just flat out wrong, as evidenced by the next quotes.
Violent crime rates declined since 1994, reaching the lowest level ever recorded in 2004.
-BJS National Crime Victimization Survey
The risk of being a victim of a violent crime in the US in 2004 was 2.1 percent.
-US Dept. of Justice Statistics
Compare that to Britain, which is well over 50% higher.
The risk of being a victim of violent crime in the 2004/05 BCS was 3.6 per cent.
-Crime Rates in England and Wales from homeoffice.gov.uk
Also, while our government doesn't give as high of a proportion of our GDP in foreign aid as some countries, we do give a huge amount overall. I know that many people think that it should be measured on a per capita basis, but I don't think either is completely fair.
For instance, many people complain about the expense of the US military. Whatever your feelings are on Iraq, a strong US military is vital to many other nations, who therefore don't have to spend as much in comparison. I'm pretty sure South Korea and Japan would agree, especially right now. It's sad that we need to build bombs and jets, but if the only people doing it were Syria and North Korea, we'd probably have more problems than we do now.
Racial tension? Sadly, I agree. There is a lot bubbling under the surface, but then again, what country doesn't have these problems? Canada has issues with the native population, Australia has issues with their native population, and surely no one forgets the French/Muslim riots last year.
It's a shame that things have come to this.
Posts
1 comment:
Interesting article you put together there. My thoughts:
Yes, you're probably right; a lot of these feelings are probably overblown. As a country, we do a lot of good things. We have our problems, as does everyone else. But the fact remains that the British, historically a reasonably compassionate bunch (especially considering that we rebelled from them and kicked their rears), have a major beef with the US.
All these worldly people can't be flat out wrong, can they?
There are many factors which unfairly spin this against us; the press, jealousy, resentment, etc.
But at the end of the day, if we have any belief in polling, the results of the British poll are very concerning. Not that we should take it too seriously...as Steven Colbert said: "We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking 'in reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias."
. . .
I know we can do better. And I believe that eventually we will. But in the meantime, we must be very careful not to dismiss what people in other countries are thinking. In my opinion, that's half the reason why they're so annoyed in the first place.
Post a Comment