tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post8571080023767170797..comments2024-03-15T20:52:26.967-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: The Americanization of BritainUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3271487634351136682010-10-29T12:05:50.945-07:002010-10-29T12:05:50.945-07:00I think it's important to note that it's j...I think it's important to note that it's just not the UK that's going all yankie, it's the whole world especially Europe. Most people in mainland Europe speak excellent English because of Friends or U.S. music or U.S. films. The U.S. culture is the most exported thing in the world. But I think it just takes a concious effort to stop doing American thing's and start doing British things. It a sad state of affairs when the average British teen know's who the American Security of Defence is, but is unsure of who is the Prime Minister, or their local MP, or what the house of lords does.<br />It's important to know about other culture's but it's more important to know about you're own culture, especially when it's as old and varied and exciting as the history of the British Isle's. <br />God Bless, the European State formally known as the UK.Simonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-15064383263890651662010-04-25T14:44:23.225-07:002010-04-25T14:44:23.225-07:00Totally off topic, but I think isteve readers will...Totally off topic, but I think isteve readers will appreciate this wikipedia 'entry'<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_Rebellionstari_momaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-82833911031870965362010-04-23T21:48:27.479-07:002010-04-23T21:48:27.479-07:00No, we didn't need US help per se, but the US ...<b>No, we didn't need US help per se, but the US could certainly have told us not to retake the islands and we'd have had to obey.</b><br /><br />What people don't stop to think about is that a nation's professed position isn't always the same as it's real one.<br /><br />For example, Turkey wants to be in the EU, which would effectively mean an open border between Turkey and the rest of Europe. Most European countries don't want this. The United States claims that the EU should let Turkey join. Does the US really want this, or is it just saying it so that the Turks keep granting us access to Incirlik, etc.?Captain Jack Aubreynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41013016281820752222010-04-23T13:58:27.236-07:002010-04-23T13:58:27.236-07:00corvinus:
"I don't think the Brits needed...corvinus:<br />"I don't think the Brits needed U.S. help in licking Argentina."<br /><br />No, we didn't need US help per se, but the US could certainly have told us not to retake the islands and we'd have had to obey. Our main foreign policy concern in 1982 was still preventing the Soviet conquest of Europe, so at the time we needed to keep the US friendly.Simonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6815891843964502622010-04-22T13:06:19.678-07:002010-04-22T13:06:19.678-07:00Speaking of Paleo. The libertarian movement is div...Speaking of Paleo. The libertarian movement is divided between paleos and cosmos. Paleos are represented by the Von Mises Inst. and Lew Rockwell, the Cosmos by Reason and Cato. The Paleos are more intellectual, southern, rural, anti-state, populist, anti-interventionist, culturally conservative. While the Paleos dismissively refer to Cato as “left”-libertarians, the cosmos are more “rightwing” on issues like Neocon intervention and support for the Republican Party.<br /><br />Gary North was a fellow at Von Mises and an adviser to Ron Paul. Gary, heir to Rousas John Rushdoony, is the leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Basing itself on old school Calvinism they hope to combine a theonomy with Austrian economics. They look to Cromwell’s Protectorate, Calvin’s Geneva, and Pilgrim New England as models.<br /><br />The link between laissez-fair economics and cultural conservatism has always been strong in the USA. It is true that European conservatives have always been fairly strong defenders of private property. But private property is not identical with the market. And so traditionalist conservatives have always been skeptical and at time out-right hostile to the corroding affect of the market on the old order. This has been reversed since the 1970s, but even today the US Republican Party is by far the most libertarian of Christian Conservative parties worldwide. On that same note the US Democratic Party is actually the most libertarian of “center-left” parties in the world. The USA and Canada are basically the only places in the world where liberalism means leftwing. England was similar until the 1910s when Labour overtook the Liberals. While “classical” liberals complain that progressive liberals have stolen their name, the grandaddy of libertarians Herbert Spencer recognized the extent to which Liberal statism was not a contradiction. While 18th century liberals at times did make their semi-minarchist ideas universal, a large part of their assumptions was built on the fact that the government was unelected. Thus it was not paradoxical that when liberalism became merged with democracy in the 19th century it began to take on more interventionist policies. Both the pre-capitalist Right and the post-capitalist Left have been submerged into Capitalist Liberalism, at least broadly understood. So it is correct to say that we are all liberals now.<br /><br />While Rothbard looked to Pat Buchanan as the savior of America, Hermans-Hoppe considered his conservative statism to be a paradox. It is taken for granted in the USA, outside the small Libertarian Party, that the Republican Party’s marriage of cultural conservatism with economic liberalism (Classical) is natural. To that extent Hoppe is actually defending the status quo although from his lens the Republicans would actually be “social democrats”.<br /><br />Still I see Rubert Murdoch as the icon of what it means to be a libertarian conservative. You have Fox News which is the flagship of cultural conservatism and family values. And yet most of Murdoch’s media empire peddles the smut that Fox News contributors rant about. His theoretical journal has consummated the marriage by now officially adapting Roissyist philosophy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-91920063488790248822010-04-22T11:43:15.952-07:002010-04-22T11:43:15.952-07:00Whiskey sez:
...broke from Israel,...
yeah, that&#...Whiskey sez:<br /><i>...broke from Israel,...</i><br><br />yeah, that's a really bad thing to do, ain't it.snoozenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33007627829263351292010-04-22T06:53:42.491-07:002010-04-22T06:53:42.491-07:00I think the debate is an overdue addition to the b...I think the debate is an overdue addition to the british scene. I'm not sure how Prime minister's Questions could be fitted into the US Constitution but it would be worthwhile. The US Constitution is itself heavily borrowed from the 18thC British one with an elected President taking the place of a hereditary one. Over 2 centuries our hereditary leader's position has evolved to an almost purely symbolic one while yours has become more dominant.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-39677778671383581442010-04-22T00:02:28.231-07:002010-04-22T00:02:28.231-07:00American culture doesn't have the same monopol...American culture doesn't have the same monopoly it once did. <br /><br />The influence of American music is definitely on the wane.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-40705196757591559022010-04-21T22:24:09.714-07:002010-04-21T22:24:09.714-07:00There has also been a demographic Americanization ...There has also been a demographic Americanization of Britain too. They should have listened to Enoch Powell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-26173530664597286162010-04-21T19:19:29.010-07:002010-04-21T19:19:29.010-07:00This is America's revenge for the Beatles.This is America's revenge for the Beatles.John Seilerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03795977089953532965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-84652723402620895422010-04-21T14:17:26.909-07:002010-04-21T14:17:26.909-07:00But US help eventually led to Falklands victory
W...<i>But US help eventually led to Falklands victory<br /><br />Was there ever any real question about who the Falklands actually belonged to? Were the Falklanders actively begging for an Argentine takeover?<br /><br />It seems to me the Argentine claim to the islands rests on nothing but proximity, as the islands were unoccupied before the British started settling the place, and the population seems to be ~90% British by ethnicity.</i><br /><br />I don't think the Brits needed U.S. help in licking Argentina.corvinusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-79742638853266995822010-04-21T12:27:52.150-07:002010-04-21T12:27:52.150-07:00But US help eventually led to Falklands victory
W...<b>But US help eventually led to Falklands victory</b><br /><br />Was there ever any real question about who the Falklands actually belonged to? Were the Falklanders actively begging for an Argentine takeover?<br /><br />It seems to me the Argentine claim to the islands rests on nothing but proximity, as the islands were unoccupied before the British started settling the place, and the population seems to be ~90% British by ethnicity.Captain Jack Aubreynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4876360613317842662010-04-21T08:57:59.129-07:002010-04-21T08:57:59.129-07:00"Top Gear" ain't bad, though."Top Gear" ain't bad, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-12040138519883002952010-04-21T08:17:26.060-07:002010-04-21T08:17:26.060-07:00Presidential debates are not intrinsically absurd ...Presidential debates are not intrinsically absurd but the actual format used is worthless (a non-debate debate). Pat Buchanan once described a presidential debate as a pillow fight in which the two candidates agreed about pretty much everything except whether or not there should be a dinky tax cut.Dutch Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02687679491743923216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-59460559159741301952010-04-21T04:28:03.669-07:002010-04-21T04:28:03.669-07:00Cap'n Jack,
I think Cameron's Tories will...Cap'n Jack,<br /><br />I think Cameron's Tories will just about win the Election but the turnout will be less than 50% and his party will get only about 15% of the votes cast and less than 1/3rd of the potential vote. This will seriously undermine his legitmacy.<br /><br />BTW There is a lot more to the UK economy than the City. We do have an industrial base, especially in chemicals/pharmaceuticals etc.<br /><br />RichardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-35233792931305899982010-04-21T03:58:44.403-07:002010-04-21T03:58:44.403-07:00Cap'n Jack:
C'mon, now! Quit criticizing ...Cap'n Jack:<br /><br />C'mon, now! Quit criticizing the newspapers on this one. They do the job by omission: when they don't mention the race/color of the perps, they're telling you everything about the race/color of the perps. Slam dunk, ain't?Gene Bermannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-73388502961727547122010-04-21T02:08:05.957-07:002010-04-21T02:08:05.957-07:00Whiskey:
"The whole thrust of celebrity creat...Whiskey:<br />"The whole thrust of celebrity creating, junk reality shows with divas, washed up celebrities, social competitions for status, is an outgrowth of UK female and feminized culture."<br /><br />I'd say that if anyting your TV is even more feminised than ours is. It's certainly noticeable with drama; nearly all your shows seem to be written by women (even the sci-fi, *agh*) and the male characters nowadays show no understanding of men. I admit our stuff is only slightly better, and often worse written.Simon in UKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-87345518064350133262010-04-21T02:03:46.941-07:002010-04-21T02:03:46.941-07:00Whiskey/evil_neocon writes:
"But US help eve...Whiskey/evil_neocon writes:<br /><br />"But US help eventually led to Falklands victory (satellite intel and resupply)"<br /><br />As a fellow NATO member, shouldn't you have done a lot more than that when an ally's territory was invaded? And your State dept actively sided with the Argies. The French refusal to sell more Exocets to the Argies probably helped us more than you did: as it was 5 Exocets = 3 sunk British ships.<br /><br />And if the USA had been completely neutral/isolationist we'd have had a free hand to crush the Argies however we wanted - the plausible threat of mushroom clouds over Buenos Aires would have got them out of Port Stanley double-quick.<br /><br />What the US-UK alliance actually did was (a) help keep the USSR out of Western Europe, and (b) help maintain Anglo-Saxon global economic hegemony, to the benefit of British multinational corporations as well as US ones. Those are good reasons, but the stuff you actually cite is trivial.<br /><br />Looking forward, the Liberal Democrat (currently leading in the polls) party leader Nick Clegg says the 'Special Relationship' is over, and it seems he may well be right. The Neocon/'W' Bush/Tony Blair axis leading to the Iraq disaster did huge damage to the SR in British eyes, and Obama's open hatred and contempt for us doesn't help either, though the left-dominated media tend to downplay the latter when possible.Simon in UKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17229632104485751732010-04-21T01:53:36.118-07:002010-04-21T01:53:36.118-07:00You can lament the decline of industry and the ris...<i>You can lament the decline of industry and the rise of the financial sector in the U.S., but it's nothing compared to the de-industrialization of Britain. If it weren't for City of London I don't know how they could keep the grain ships coming.</i><br /><br />I'm sure I'm not the only one with a gut feeling that the City has distorted British politics and the economy for generations. Its at least part of the reason for de-industrialisation itself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-91045366326513590182010-04-21T01:46:27.526-07:002010-04-21T01:46:27.526-07:00China has even more ruthlessness, and Beijing and ...<i>China has even more ruthlessness, and Beijing and Shanghai and XianXing people are blown up on buses (little reported in the West) all the time by Uighurs ... and Hui.</i><br /><br />Not true. You've lied about this a bunch of times here at Steve's blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3912219891790645032010-04-20T23:00:30.670-07:002010-04-20T23:00:30.670-07:00because Britain is going to be the first Western c...<b>because Britain is going to be the first Western country to reject the whole multicultural white people bullshit politics that has been eating us alive for the last thirty odd years.</b> - Richard<br /><br />Reject it by voting for...who? David Cameron? Please.<br /><br />The one good thing about Nick Clegg's rise in the polls is that it may have stuck a poker in Cameron's ass. Maybe he'll finally move to the right on immigration, where the Brits seem to want him.<br /><br />Does Cameron have the ambition to do so, or is he just John McCain with an accent?<br /><br />Interestingly, Clegg seems to hardly be British in any real sense. His father is half Russian, his mother is Dutch, his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Dur%C3%A1ntez" rel="nofollow">wife</a> is a Spaniard. No wonder he makes no fracking sense <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaPh6oh-heM" rel="nofollow">when he talks about immigration</a>.<br /><br /><b>but it's nothing compared to the de-industrialization of Britain. If it weren't for City of London I don't know how they could keep the grain ships coming</b><br /><br />People never seem to connect the rise of one to the decline of the other, do they?<br /><br />It's amazing how the manufacture of profits by clever financial tricks manages to suck all the air out of the rest of the economy. What is it, 2/3rds of Ivy League graduates going into the finance industry, now? 40% of all profits earned by the finanicial industry (it was about 15% in the 70s).<br /><br />Think of all that talent, wasted. But can you blame them?Captain Jack Aubreynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-62926513366499510542010-04-20T21:49:04.803-07:002010-04-20T21:49:04.803-07:00"Tony Blair and his money-hungry wife Cheri w..."Tony Blair and his money-hungry wife Cheri were the first to indulge fully in American superstaritis."<br /><br />It's interesting how leftists, the supposed tribunes of the people, are so wowed by the trappings of imperial power. In this country, the democrats have built up Jack Kennedy into a mythic figure not equalled since King Arthur. And they revered Bill Clinton like the blackshirts revered Mussolini. The republicans are not entirely innocent of this either, but they don't hold a candle to the democrats when it comes to slobbering over politicians.<br /><br />In days past, powerful men were often braver and more humble than they are today. Harry Truman would often go for early morning walks around the White House, accompanied only by one bodyguard with a revolver. In the early days of WWII, thinking it quite likely that german paratroopers might try to capture or kill him, Churchill kept a Bren gun with him in the back seat of his car. If they did get him, he was resolved not to go down without taking a few Bosch with him. These were men.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10435528143512022912010-04-20T17:34:15.703-07:002010-04-20T17:34:15.703-07:00Britain has been Europeanised not Americanised.
...Britain has been Europeanised not Americanised. <br /><br />Whiskey<br /><i>Let me add that America has also been Britain-ized. Which is merely the transfer of Britain's ugly, feminized culture to the US.<br /><br />Witness, American Idol (originally Pop Idol in the UK), Big Brother (OK, originally Dutch), the Office, Dancing With The Stars, and more.<br /><br />The whole thrust of celebrity creating, junk reality shows with divas, washed up celebrities, social competitions for status, is an outgrowth of UK female and feminized culture. Even Survivor is the creation of Brit Mark Burnett. Which is very feminine.</i><br /><br />That's interesting. You also may know that our political system and the way it is reported in the media have been feminised. The media is reporting <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/vote_2010/cameron+confronts+chicken+on+campaign+trail/3620607" rel="nofollow">trivial events</a> instead of policies, with personal relationships, whom is wearing what jacket or dress, what the wives think. Prime Minister's Question Time is a juvenile affair of empty status posturing (the important decisions were decided in Brussels) and political blogs and journalists report it with metaphors suitable for a sports event.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-79522588925716284362010-04-20T16:46:19.888-07:002010-04-20T16:46:19.888-07:00You can lament the decline of industry and the ris...You can lament the decline of industry and the rise of the financial sector in the U.S., but it's nothing compared to the de-industrialization of Britain. If it weren't for City of London I don't know how they could keep the grain ships coming. They would have the economy of Southern Italy without the nice weather.Chief Seattlenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6782979069877423432010-04-20T16:29:15.267-07:002010-04-20T16:29:15.267-07:00Let me add that America has also been Britain-ized...Let me add that America has also been Britain-ized. Which is merely the transfer of Britain's ugly, feminized culture to the US.<br /><br />Witness, American Idol (originally Pop Idol in the UK), Big Brother (OK, originally Dutch), the Office, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_with_the_Stars" rel="nofollow">Dancing With The Stars</a>, and more.<br /><br />The whole thrust of celebrity creating, junk reality shows with divas, washed up celebrities, social competitions for status, is an outgrowth of UK female and feminized culture. Even Survivor is the creation of Brit Mark Burnett. Which is very feminine.Whiskeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01854764809682029464noreply@blogger.com