From: John Francis
On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 03:46:44PM -0800, John Celio wrote:
>>> >> I don't realy think anyone in the USA has any right to
>>> call down any
>>> >> country
>>> >> in this manner.
>>> >
>>> > I was going to respond to the post in question, but I think it might
>>> > be best to sit back and watch Bob W...
>>> >
>>> > ;-)
>>>
>>> Perhaps he'll put an extra l in his post to make up for the
>>> one I'm missing.
>>>
>>> William Robb
>>>
>>
>> Welll, helll. America hasn't entirely been the land of the free recently,
>> and Britain isn't as supine as it looks, but it's certainly turning into a
>> spineless nation of rollovers.
>
> You don't have to remind me of the shit that came from the last
> administration, nor the fact that there is a large part of the American
> population who are still racist or bigoted and get their bullshit turned
> into law (*cough*Prop8*cough*cough*) from time to time, but I think we're
> a lot better off than many other countries nonetheless.
>
> John
Well, that's only natural.
People get so used to the habitual occurrences of their own country
that they never evaluate them in the same way they do things from
other countries. "That could never happen here!" can be a reassuring
way of thinking.
As to the relative freedoms in the UK vs. America - the UK has less
of an issue with "Big Brother" surveillance - many city centres have
full-time cameras, as does much public transport. On the other hand
it's still newsworthy in England if the police kill an unarmed member
of the public - something that is accepted as commonplace in the USA.
Funny you should mention that:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/world/europe/14britain.html
It is neither commonplace nor accepted in the U.S. It happens about as
often here as it does in Britain. Perhaps less often than was the case
in Northern Ireland.
But there's no Official Secrets Act in the United States to allow the
government to hush it up.
The Oakland case Marnie referenced upthread is newsworthy because it
looks as though there might actually be a real enquiry, not because
somebody got killed.
The officer in the Oakland case will almost certainly be charged and
tried for the killing.
Can you say the same regarding the still unidentified police officers
who murdered Charles de Menzes?
Personally I'd rather be photographed/filmed than shot (or tasered).
I wonder if the London Underground and Scotland Yard will ever release
the surveillance footage from the July 22, 2005 shooting.
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