We are going to kill you, not really, Yes we are, No we're not .. (Troy Davis)

[Sasaferrato]

No stay. WTF? How can anyone think this is the behaviour of a judicial system with any shred of humanity or justice within it. What a fucked up place the USA is.

Why then do so many Urbanites holiday there and sing its praises. Either you have a moral position, or you don't? I would not visit the USA, nor would I visit China. I do my very best not to buy Chinese goods, but it is very very difficult.

 

[dylans]

Why then do so many Urbanites holiday there and sing its praises. Either you have a moral position, or you don't? I would not visit the USA, nor would I visit China. I do my very best not to buy Chinese goods, but it is very very difficult.

I have never been but I would like to. I have visited lots of fucked up places in my time (I have been to Iran!) and I think its possible to distinguish between the people of a place and its institutions and system of government.

Oh and China is a great country to visit.

 

[DotCommunist]

The PRC is really suffering from your commercial embargo sass

 

[Yossarian]

Why then do so many Urbanites holiday there and sing its praises. Either you have a moral position, or you don't? I would not visit the USA, nor would I visit China. I do my very best not to buy Chinese goods, but it is very very difficult.

If thinking a place has shitty institutions or a fucked up foreign policy meant you had to shun it and its goods, there wouldn't be many Urbanites buying British...

 

[DrRingDing]

The PRC is really suffering from your commercial embargo sass

Aaww don't tease it's one of the more agreeable thing I've seen him write.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Justice is dished out on a case by case basis, and this case fails the JS Mills On lIberty test significantly.
Of course you may be right about the racial aspect, so presumably you can point me to statistically signifacnt number of caucasian dibble killers spared the death sentence, then I'll be in a position to make a judgement

you do understand that the death penalty is not given to all murder cases and violent crimes, right? I think the point is, who/why are they choosing it as a sentence in some cases and not others.

In many states, capital punishment is either banned or simply not used. IIRC in states where they do have the death penalty, they have to decide the crime was a certain type of offense or other in order to be able to set death as the punishment. So, the bias lies in how they make that decision.

 

[Miss Caphat]

I have never been but I would like to. I have visited lots of fucked up places in my time (I have been to Iran!) and I think its possible to distinguish between the people of a place and its institutions and system of government.

Oh and China is a great country to visit.

plus, most of America is not that fucked up. In fact it's very similar to Britain.

 

[Miss Caphat]

I've met a goodly number of soldiers who would do just that.

I think he/she was talking about the jurors.

 

[weltweit]

plus, most of America is not that fucked up. In fact it's very similar to Britain.

I found America to be a very strange place in which there is both the best to be had and also the worst.

 

[Miss Caphat]

I found America to be a very strange place in which there is both the best to be had and also the worst.

that describes New York City pretty much but not anywhere else I've lived/been to. Can't really see anyone saying that about Boston, for example.

 

[weltweit]

that describes New York City pretty much but not anywhere else I've lived/been too. Can't really see anyone saying that about Boston, for example.

Never visited Boston.

It is just an impression I came away with after a few travelling visits. There are puritan religious nutkakes and there is also a massive porn industry. There are cheapo drive through junk food places by the gazillion and even drive through banks how lazy is that? - but there are also diners with proper plates, metal cutlery and half decent food. Also I came across firstly a lot of very overweight people and then their polar oppostites, super fit ultra healthy types, there seemed to be a shortage of just "normal" people like me.

 

[Jackobi]

I found America to be a very strange place in which there is both the best to be had and also the worst.

The problem is that the UK adopts all of the worst policies of the US and none of the best.

 

[weltweit]

The problem is that the UK adopts all of the worst policies of the US and none of the best.

Britain needs a political leader with a vision of a better future for all, not the pathetic political managers we have at the moment.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Never visited Boston.

It is just an impression I came away with after a few travelling visits. There are puritan religious nutkakes and there is also a massive porn industry. There are cheapo drive through junk food places by the gazillion and even drive through banks how lazy is that? - but there are also diners with proper plates, metal cutlery and half decent food. Also I came across firstly a lot of very overweight people and then their polar oppostites, super fit ultra healthy types, there seemed to be a shortage of just "normal" people like me.

you actually noticed the "massive porn industry" during your visit?
also, I'm a big fan of drive-thru banking, as I can't stand being behind a long line of people doing all kinds of long transactions.
you know, there are regular restaurants in the US too, that also have forks and knives and aren't diners. They're called restaurants.

 

[weltweit]

you actually noticed the "massive porn industry" during your visit?
also, I'm a big fan of drive-thru banking, as I can't stand being behind a long line of people doing all kinds of long transactions.
you know, there are regular restaurants in the US too, that also have forks and knives and aren't diners. They're called restaurants.

My impression is no more than that. I visited a number of times for only a week or two and was mostly travelling during my stays. Honestly the first visit I wondered if anyone in the USA ate with a metal knife and fork!! On the subsequent visits I was taken out to nice resteraunts by clients and saw the better side.

Also, the longest distances between places and the slowest speed limits (it was a while ago / 55mph).

As to the porn industry, my understanding is that it grosses as much or more than the mainstream Hollywood does, anyhow I met a bible basher who complained to me about sexism in British advertising to which I thought pot / kettle but she would not wear it, to her mind Britain's advertising industry was worse than anything in the whole of the USA.

 

[frogwoman]

I have never been but I would like to. I have visited lots of fucked up places in my time (I have been to Iran!) and I think its possible to distinguish between the people of a place and its institutions and system of government.

Oh and China is a great country to visit.

Blaming Americans for the crimes of their government and writing off an entire country is just the type of thing Sass etc would (rightly) oppose when it came to, say, Israel. It's perfectly OK to criticise a country's government and consistently oppose any attempts to link the actions of that government to the population as a whole. If you started saying that people should not go to any country on the basis of their human rights then you'd have to live on Sealand or something (and even then...)

 

[likesfish]

seems an odd way to go about it at least with the British system ti was quick but then its a small country you did not in the modern era have say bexhill magistrate court handing out the death penalty
with a part trained defence lawyer.

 

[Corax]

Abhorrent. Unfortunately, the death penalty is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the barbarity, prejudice and corruption of the practice of US justice.

 

[Mation]

that describes New York City pretty much but not anywhere else I've lived/been to. Can't really see anyone saying that about Boston, for example.

Depends on what you're looking at. Boston is clearly a great university town, with some of the world's finest minds there doing exciting and important things. It's also one of the more racist places I've ever had the misfortune to visit.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Depends on what you're looking at. Boston is clearly a great university town, with some of the world's finest minds there doing exciting and important things. It's also one of the more racist places I've ever had the misfortune to visit.

true, Boston does have a history of racism including the bussing incidents of the 70's , but on the other hand Massachusetts and Boston has just as much of a history of anti-racism as well.

this "the best and the worst" could also apply in many ways to Britain also.
It's not a competition though.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Depends on what you're looking at. Boston is clearly a great university town, with some of the world's finest minds there doing exciting and important things. It's also one of the more racist places I've ever had the misfortune to visit.

and by the way, places aren't racist. people are. And the vast majority in Boston aren't. I find that accusation pretty insulting and untrue.

 

[Miss Caphat]

My impression is no more than that. I visited a number of times for only a week or two and was mostly travelling during my stays. Honestly the first visit I wondered if anyone in the USA ate with a metal knife and fork!! On the subsequent visits I was taken out to nice resteraunts by clients and saw the better side.

Also, the longest distances between places and the slowest speed limits (it was a while ago / 55mph).

As to the porn industry, my understanding is that it grosses as much or more than the mainstream Hollywood does, anyhow I met a bible basher who complained to me about sexism in British advertising to which I thought pot / kettle but she would not wear it, to her mind Britain's advertising industry was worse than anything in the whole of the USA.

a) I believe you but still think that's an odd impression. It's not that difficult to tell the difference between a fast food restaurant and a normal one. I've never been anywhere that didn't have normal restaurants.

b) not sure what your point is but I certainly don't advocate raising the speed limit.

c) again, don't really see your point. It's not as if porn is broadcast on tv here. On the whole, media here is more puritanical/censored than in Europe or the Uk. I also don't know where you got that figure. Porn sales total at most (including internet, etc) $7 billion per year, whereas broadcast television $32.3 billion in 1999 revenue, cable television ($45.5 billion), the newspaper business ($27.5 billion), Hollywood ($31 billion)"

 

[Pickman's model]

a) I believe you but still think that's an odd impression. It's not that difficult to tell the difference between a fast food restaurant and a normal one. I've never been anywhere that didn't have normal restaurants.

b) not sure what your point is but I certainly don't advocate raising the speed limit.

c) again, don't really see your point. It's not as if porn is broadcast on tv here. On the whole, media here is more puritanical/censored than in Europe or the Uk. I also don't know where you got that figure. Porn sales total at most (including internet, etc) $7 billion per year, whereas broadcast television $32.3 billion in 1999 revenue, cable television ($45.5 billion), the newspaper business ($27.5 billion), Hollywood ($31 billion)"

this 2001 forbes article http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html puts the size of the market around $10bn. so it's likely more now.

 

[Miss Caphat]

this 2001 forbes article http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html puts the size of the market around $10bn. so it's likely more now.

lol, read the article. It's point is that the $10 billion claim is bogus.

 

[Pickman's model]

lol, read the article. It's point is that the $10 billion claim is bogus.

that'll teach me to just scan the first couple of paragraphs

 

[Mation]

true, Boston does have a history of racism including the bussing incidents of the 70's , but on the other hand Massachusetts and Boston has just as much of a history of anti-racism as well.

this "the best and the worst" could also apply in many ways to Britain also.
It's not a competition though.

It's not meant to be insulting. I automatically assume that wherever I am there will be some people who aren't racist, often lots of them, sometimes the majority of them.

What I mean when I say that such and such a place is racist is that I've experienced racism there on a more than just 'one-off incident' type thing than I have in other places. For example, I live in London. There is racism here. I was born and brought up here however, so it's hard for me to evaluate it (ok, judge it) properly on equal footing with places I didn't grow up in. But... I can mentally compare the places I've been to, UK and abroad, that I don't have such a biased personal connection with, and look at things like the way I was treated, where and how people lived, what I heard said etc... And I won't come up with an accurate picture for any of them, given that I don't know anywhere but London natively well, but I can compare my experience of places as a visitor and say that Boston is one of the more racist places I've visited. Again, that is not meant to suggest that everyone there is a cunt.

e2a: oops - I mean to quote your post just below the one I actually did quote!

 

[Miss Caphat]

that'll teach me to just scan the first couple of paragraphs

.

Question: how much of the porn watched in the UK is made in the US?

 

[Pickman's model]

.

Question: how much of the porn watched in the UK is made in the US?

quite a bit i'd have thought.

 

[Miss Caphat]

It's not meant to be insulting. I automatically assume that wherever I am there will be some people who aren't racist, often lots of them, sometimes the majority of them.

What I mean when I say that such and such a place is racist is that I've experienced racism there on a more than just 'one-off/ incident' type thing than I have in other places. For example, I live in London. There is racism here. I was born and brought up here however, so it's hard for me to evaluate it (ok, judge it) properly on equal footing with places I didn't grow up in. But... I can mentally compare the places I've been to, UK and abroad, that I don't have such a biased personal connection with, and look at things like the way I was treated, where and how people lived, what I heard said etc... And I won't come up with an accurate picture for any of them, given that I don't know anywhere but London natively well, but I can compare my experience of places as a visitor and say that Boston is one of the more racist places I've visited. Again, that is not meant to suggest that everyone there is a cunt.

I'm very sorry that you had a bad experience here, honestly.
On balance, though, I lived for a few years in a predominantly black section of the city and don't remember witnessing any incidents of racism (but then again I'm white). And never heard that opinion (that Boston is especially racist) from anyone other than you.
Anyway, the point is that's your opinion and you're completely entitled to it. I simply took offense at you stating it as a fact, on a message board that is read by 1000's of non-Americans.

 

[Miss Caphat]

quite a bit i'd have thought.

but, like, what percent? 99%? 90%? 75%?