Neil / Mark / religious content

[James Kruse]

Here are some snips, out of context, but you see the pattern.

on 4/12/02 2:41 AM, Neil Jones at neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk wrote:

(snip)
> This was signed with a name that used a reference to British
> slang which the Americans didn't understand.

(more snips)
> American and British people have a different cultural attitude towards nudity.

(more snips)
> Americans have a different and much more old-fashioned
> attitude towards religion than we British (and for that matter most western
> Europeans ) do.

(snippets from another post)
> Here in Britain we are generally not religious at all. One statistic that I
> saw recently is that less than 2% attend Christian churches.
> It is absolutely _normal_ not to be religious here.
> It is also not unusual amongst good American scientists.

You neglected to mention the cowboy hats, blue jeans and hamburgers.

I can't attribute the significance of these things to much of anything,
especially Leps-L. I am far from dispirited for not knowing British slang
for genitalia. Nor do I envy the 2% religious rating of your countrymen. I
am not particularly religious myself, but even so, I find that figure
somewhat lamentable.

I have had close and mutually useful collaborative working relationships
with the British in the past. I observe that your 'insights' into American
culture might occasionally ring of some vague degree of truth, however, the
polite British I have known might chide Americans that they know as friends,
but would never be seen overtly chastising all Americans on a public forum
merely for the sake of it. I think it has become much more in vogue to do
this sort of thing as memories of historic cooperation between our countries
fade and current ones are criticized and/or discounted. Anyhow, Neil, it is
not obvious what your intentions or motivations are by making such remarks,
yet you take every opportunity to do so.

I'd prefer to take additional exchanges on this matter offline. I really am
curious about Neil's response, if it doesn't include additional
stereotyping. Responses from 'America-haters' (especially the American ones)
are also interesting, if not predictable, but not specifically solicited.

Jim


 
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