From the Times-on-line this is very funny;
I know Britain is full of incompetent water board officials and stabbed Glaswegians but even so I fell on my knees this morning and kissed the ground, because I’ve just spent three weeks trying to work in America.
It’s known as the land of the free and I’m sure it is if you get up in the morning, go to work in a petrol station, eat nothing but double-egg burgers — with cheese — and take your children to little league. But if you step outside the loop, if you try to do something a bit zany, you will find that you’re in a police state.
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5 comments:
My experience of the U.S. was nothing like Clarkson describes. Brian hit the nail on the head, I think, when he mentioned that being a minor celebrity in Britain means nothing in the U.S.
Clarkson has become tiresome with his whiny America bashing snide remarks--maybe as a good Brit he just can't handle the level of freedom enjoyed by Americans?
And his "police state" comment is hilarious, coming from a Brit--damn near everything is banned there, from gun ownership to freedom of speech. Has he already forgotten his countrymen who were arrested for objecting to islamists threatening to bomb and behead citizens in London?
I posted his piece primarily because I thought it was funny:-) It's 15 years since I was in the States. Building flying hours because it was so cheap over there I was struck with how un-regulated the aviation environment was. Parts of the bible belt had some pretty archaic alcohol laws and NY felt repressive because of the high crime rate back then. As Al says you can't base your opinion of the US on exposure to only one part.
However I have read quite a few pieces from US citizens bemoaning the actions of authorities and loss of freedoms since 9/11. Is that just a myth?
Lindsay, I don't believe Americans have "lost freedoms" since 9/11 at all, despite the hysteria of people such as Cindy Sheehan.
What really sticks in my craw about Clarkson's sniping is that he lives in a borderline totalitarian country, one stifled by political correctness and nannying interference in the lives of its citizens, yet he feels free to criticize a country which is by any standards far freer.
I have to rubbish the people who rubbish the article. I am American and spend much time there. The facts are far worse than he described. Everytime I went through an airport there it was pure hell. I even took a bus to avoid this recently and the Feds stopped the bus mid trip, boarded it, and demanded identification from everyone on board. A woman on a public bus was arrested recently when a government agent stopped the bus, boarded it and demanded ID from everyone (no one is required by law to carry ID just to travel -- that is the equivalent to an internal passport). She was on the cell phone and said she would get it in a second. The phone was grabbed from her and smashed and she was dragged off the bus under arrest. This was in the news in the US when it happened.
People I've spoken to who work at the airports say it is far worse than most people realize. I was barked at by these people. And anyone who doesn't think Americans haven't lost freedoms obviously doesn't live in America and is just blind to reality. I tried recently to open a bank account and couldn't do it without getting a letter from the federal government because they just can't let anyone open accounts under the new regulations of the Patriot Act. I went without finally. I also know that is near on impossible for US citizens to open accounts overseas anymore and event he famous Swiss accounts are closed to Americans because if a foreign bank opens an account for an American it risks having all its US assets confiscated if the US govt. later declares the citizen to be a criminal. It then uses the asset forfeiture laws as a means of grabbing everything the bank owns in the US. To avoid that problem they simply decide not to open accounts for Americans. To open an overseas account I had to find a bank with no US assets. America is fast becoming a police state which is why so many freedom loving Americans are trying to find somewhere else to go.
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