what does everyone think about australia as a whole!

as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:29 GMT
Have you ever been to Australia?

They drive on the left, they have the Queen as Head of State, it's full of Brits, they play Rugby and Cricket. They speak similiar type of English to Britain. British and Australian culture are very similiar.

If anything Australia/Canada/New Zealan/Ireland/UK all fall in the same category. Which according to you, leave the US on it's own.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:39 GMT
My father grew up in Australia but otherwise no.

Maybe, except that Canada, Australia, New Zealand are not in Europe and don't have historical parallels with the rest of Europe, like the UK does. Did the Black Death reach Australia? Did the Enlightenment affect Canada? Was the Pope ever an important political figure for New Zealand?

The United States does not do any of the Australian/British things mentioned above. America is out there on its own. I think a lot of the perceived similarity is due to the English language increasing the porosity of British culture in terms of American influence. Look at Britain in the 1960's or the Edwardian period. A lot like America???
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:45 GMT
The basic thing is Simon, is that you have no loqic, you just want to say "US and UK culture is not similiar" for what ever reasons you have.

I tried to find some examples on the internet of the similiarities, which isn't hard to find.

I came to a word "Anglosphere"

I then found this website
http://www.pattern.com/bennettj-anglosphereprimer.html

Which talks about Australia/Ireland/Canada/United States/United Kingdom becoming a distinct civilization in their own right. It also said and I quote..


"Geographically, the densest nodes of the Anglosphere are found in the United States and the United Kingdom, while Anglophone regions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa are powerful and populous outliers."


Apparently there are hundreds of these sites.
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:50 GMT
I figured that common values is what links France and Germany together in your logic (since you put them together). Otherwise why else would you put them in the same group and not Australia/Ireland/UK/New Zealand?. But then, Australia/Ireland/UK/New Zealand do share common values. So you have no logic. And Australia/UK are more similiar to each other in everyway to France/Germany.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:50 GMT
There are lots of porn sites on the internet too. This proves nothing.

Your quote is a statement. I see no argument there.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:56 GMT
Look. This is simple internet text. My "diagramme" was by necessity simplistic.

I've explained my logic. We allo share common values. This is the concept of the West or even of globalisation. What exactly are the values shared by British people and Americans that are not shared by British people and Belgians?

But you are arguing for close US/UK cultural proximity. I refute this for the reasons I have given. Would you like me to give more?
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 15:58 GMT
Oh I was going to quote that famous person who said

"Britain and America are two nations seperated by a common language"

But, ah, it's a statement.
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:01 GMT
But you are arguing for close US/UK cultural proximity. I refute this for the reasons I have given. Would you like me to give more?
--------------------

What reasons? You always contradict yourself.

You say America is a Republic, Britain is a monarchy. Cannot be the similiar for this reason. But then say Ireland and Britain are both culturally similiar. BUT....Ireland is a Republic. So I don't know where your coming from.

Now you think that Australia and Britain are not similiar.


Really, it's not logic you don't have. It's sense.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:01 GMT
They make a humorous point that may or may not be true. Empirical evidence would be needed ot prove or disprove it. It's a statement, like you said. Nothing more - nothing less.

It was either Shaw or Wilde anyway.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:03 GMT
Yes but Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom.

No I accept similarities between UK and Australia. I just don't think the US and the UK are tow cultural peas in a pod.

And why do you keep insulting me?
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:15 GMT
I don't think I'm going to change your opinion either way, I spent some time in the US (Boston) and I can tell you that I never once felt like a foreigner.

You reckon US and UK are do not share similiar culture, but France and Germany do, despite France and Germany speaking two totally different languages.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:17 GMT
Ah but you're talking about Boston. Try Dallas and tell me the same.

I live on the continent and feel totally at home. I don't sit drinking wine and eating bread and cheese, pinching women's bottoms.
Simon   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 16:23 GMT
Maybe Boston/UK/Brussels is not such a cultural distance to travel.

But Los Angeles/UK/Athens starts to encompass a very broad culture too diverse to be coherent.
mjd   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 19:49 GMT
A friend of mine (she's also from New Jersey) lived in Tennessee and then moved to London. The culture shock she got from living in the south of her own country was greater than that which she experienced when she moved to London.
Jordi   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 22:43 GMT
Could it be that there is a urban western culture that is more and more the same whether you are in Washington, Paris, Madrid, London,Berlin or Sydney? More and more, people tend to wear the same clothes, eat the same junk food and listen to the same music. There is the language barrier, of course, but western urban tribes get closer and closer and the model is pretty much the same. Furthermore, if they speak the same language the gap is even more narrower. That would explain the Tennessee difference. After all, it is the difference between traditional rural or semi-rural life and urban life. As far as I'm concerned I prefer city life with an old country flavour and, once in while, getting around your own country without forgetting to visit the rest. There's nothing like mum's good traditional cooking and stories.