Can British people pretend to speak like Americans?

Ha ha - bloody Hollywood!!! I think that is one of the differences between British audiences because film makers wouldn't have to alter things like that to affect the public’s reaction to a film, were used to being baddies!!
In-fact, recently, British film makers are only too happy to portray ourselves as the ‘bad guys’ (these are normally left-wing apologists who feel we need to apologise for every toe this country has ever stepped on during this nation’s simply incredible history).

I can give you an example of this; recently a statue was unveiled of Nelson Mandela (terrorist!!!) in Parliament Square, London. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented this to Nelson Mandela. Nelson thanked the PM and said how great an occasion this was that he was being honoured by a country that had once been oppressors of his own country and then he effectively began a rant about how his people had vanquished the great oppressors that was Great Britain. All the while the British PM smiled and nodded approvingly. I mean, what a gutless git!!!!

Could you imagine the President of Vietnam talking to the US President, on US soil and basically revelling in victory over the USA i.e. the death of many of its own citizens??? And that the US President would smile approvingly while doing it??? I very much doubt that would happen. This country has become soooo spineless!!!!!

Like I said, I like the way the yanks have pride in their country so in a round about way I can sort of see why Hollywood would make such a change to that film. Americans, to me at-least, seem to really respect their country - good on them and all. If you have pride in your country here your a skinhead, Nazi loving, DM boot stomping racist.

Erm.....Sorry about all that!!!!

Oh, I believe the film was directed by an Aussie, but I'm sure it was a Hollywood production.

Why is my post inappropriate and this inflammatory racist rant is not? Please.

Racist?? In what way mate??? Name me a country or a race that I am being derogatory towards, and whilst your at it name me a country where that person would find my post insulting. I suppose saying Nelson Mandela is a terrorist (in my opinion he bloody well is) could be disagreed with, but found offensive??? Surely not. Get a backbone sunshine.

Well, if you believe Mandela is a terrorist you must be sympathetic with the Apartheid, which makes you a racist. Sweetheart.

Hang on a sec mate - because , in my personal opinion, I believe Mandela to be a terrorist then this must mean that I am sympathetic towards Apartheid? Holy shit mate, where do childish, ignorant, naive people such as yourself spring out from?? This is an argument that is going to go no-where.

Let me just say this, really educate yourself on Mandela and his crimes and the innocent people who died because of him and while your at it learn about his support of the convicted terrorist Abed Baset Ali, whom played his part in the Lockerbie disaster where over 260 people died.
Learn about the crimes of the ANC. If you still feel that he is this Supreme Being that most of the planet believe him to be, then sweet - you are entitled to your opinion, but for me, quite simply, terrorism is terrorism. You can't justify it.

Do you sympathise with the 9/11 terrorists?? Why not, they had a cause that they felt was just. They felt oppressed, and many would agree that the West and its meddling are responsible for their plight. So they were right to do what they did then where they?? Erm, the answers no mate.

Where the 7th July bombings in London justified?? After all, they were a direct response to the invasion of Iraq, and consequently the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people??? Many would agree that we were wrong to attack Iraq - so were these terrorists justified in what they did????

Judging by your criteria I could start accusing you of sympathising with some messed up regimes - couldn't I?? But your a bit of a wanker - I'm not.

Sorry but as disgusting as apartheid was there are ways of doing things -terrorism is not acceptable in any shape of form. Right or wrong.

Now sod of you child.

I agree with Pub Lunch.

Just because I believe bin Laden is a terrorist, does that mean I'm anti-Muslim?

Poppycock!

We scorn Mandela, bin Laden, and their ilk because of WHAT THEY DO, not because of WHO THEY ARE.

"Could you imagine the President of Vietnam talking to the US President, on US soil and basically revelling in victory over the USA i.e. the death of many of its own citizens??? And that the US President would smile approvingly while doing it??? "

No way. While most Americans do not necessarily approve of all of the governments actions, we are like squabbling siblings. We will argue amongst ourselves, but nobody else is allowed to say anything about us. That's why so many people think that we are so arogant. We won't listen to anything about our country from outsiders even if they are just saying what we are thinking. We know that not everything we have done was right, but we're not about to let anyone know that. It's a facade of American confidence really, but it serves its purpose. There, I've let you in on our dirty little secret- we don't really think we are all that great.

Sorry, the above guest was me

I certainly do not believe that Mandela is a supreme being, but I believe that he fought for the right cause. There was a war and there were victims on both sides, most of them innocent. I make no difference between state terror and insurgent terror; it's terror from both sides and collateral damage, as they call it nowadays, is unacceptable. But it is you who takes sides; why is Mandela a terrorist and G. Brown who supports war in Iraq is not? Because he's yours mate, right? Why is Bush an inspiration for you? Is he not responsible for death of tens of thousands innocent civilians? Because he's doing dirty job for you, right? Sod off you, hypocrite!

Come on Guest, where in my post's have I said Gordon Brown is not a terrorist????? I haven't (in my post I pretty much make it clear I'm not to keen on the bloke). And where have I said George Bush is an inspiration to me??? I can assure you that he really isn't.

Please re-read my posts carefully before accusing me of being a hypocrite.

Look Guest, I'm not saying your wrong and I do not doubt the cause which Mandela fought for, it was a just cause, but the way he went about it, I don't think was just. In my book he is a terrorist - simple as. Delve deeper into Nelson Mandela's story (and the ANC - African National Council) and a lot of disturbing stuff comes to light, such as the surprising number of white people that were killed because, erm, well, because they were white. Good on ya Nelson - that's what I call justice mate. Oh, I am NOT white by the way (not that it should matter).

I am absolutely astonished at the huge iconic figure that he has become. I can't believe my eyes when I see celebs after celebs and politicians after politicians going out of their way to get photographed with the man, fawning all over him. It just shows how desperate people are to raise their own profiles, or do they really not know how much innocent blood he and the ANC spilled. They are no more heroes than the scum that destroy innocent lives in the name of Allah.

I just wish one of these celebrities, with the camera's rolling, would ask, "Mr Mandela, you are such a great man who fights the in-justices caused to the people of Africa, or "your people" as you call them. So Mr Mandela, the great man of love, who champions the Human Rights of the African people - where do you stand on President Mugabe and his utterly despicable regime?? Why Mr Mandela, when the whole world has been confronted with the blatant and incredibly appalling disregard of human rights to the people of Zimbabwe have you NOT come out and CONDEMNED him and his regime. Why Mr Mandela, when you have all this power at your disposal don’t you at-least try to help YOUR PEOPLE?? Isn't it true Mr Mandela that if Mr Mugabe happened to be white, you'd be the first person on the front of the papers and in the news alerting the world to these disgusting in-justices & calling for the saving of YOUR PEOPLE???".

Sorry mate, I have no time for Nelson Mandela.

Rene - in response to your email - that is why I love the yanks.

Jasper - exactly mate, terrorism is terrorism. Bin Laden thinks his cause is just, and many agree, but does that make his actions OK then??

Ah, the problem here is the word "terrorist", which is practically a meaningless term used to denote the weaker party in situations of asymmetric warfare by the stronger party. As for terror itself, do you realize that such is part of practically all warfare, despite any notions such as "laws of war" and whatnot; it just is that state forces are generally not referred to as "terrorist" even if its actions can easily be considered such from a formal standpoint (e.g. mass firebombing of areas of urban centers not involved in the conduct of war). Of course, such is very often highly political in nature; as they say, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". As for the whole "terrorism is terrorism" thing, well, war is war, and in war civilian casualties are almost always greater (and often much greater) than those of combatants no matter what the belligerent entities may happen to be.

Also, is being a "terrorist" even necessarily morally wrong to begin with? Consider the case of the French Resistance (simply because it is a very well-known example that shows such). They were called "terrorists" by Vichy France and Nazi Germany, and from a formal standpoint they easily qualified as such; a large portion of what they did was simply the assassination and extrajudicial execution of French civilians who sided with Vichy France and or Nazi Germany, as they were ineffective against regular military forces and risked reprisals if they targeted Germans. And yet, does that necessarily make what they did morally unjustified in their circumstances? Does that make the fascists of Vichy France and other Frenchpeople who collaborated with them and the Nazis (such as many businesspeople) morally better than them just because what they did was "legal" at that time?

Going back to Mandela, you do realize that South Africa was effectively in a state of low level civil war, and that the South African state was far worse in their actions than those of the ANC and like? You act as if the ANC were just some bunch of terrorists targetting innocent individuals, when in fact those responsible for apartheid and those who benefited from it had more than plenty blood on their hands. Yes, they did execute individuals who sided with the South African state or who otherwise benefited from such, but didn't the South African state repeatedly massacre unarmed demonstrators (and that is ignoring many other things such as the consequences of the South African Border Wars)?

And would apartheid have ended without actions such as theirs? It did not end just because the National Party decided to be nice all of a sudden. It ended because South Africa was the state was on the verge of losing control and that ending apartheid was necessary to stabilize South Africa. The economic costs and political turmoil resulting from apartheid came to the point where it was more worthwhile to make peace with the ANC and end apartheid and like than to try to maintain apartheid despite the resulting loss of formal privileges for whites. It may have been bloody, but in this light it can be judges as justifiable in retrospect even if many of the actions of the ANC were illegal from the standpoint of the law of war. If apartheid had only been opposed by people who limited themselves to purely legal means, such as Helen Suzman, it would have been unlikely to have ended.

If Mandela is a terrorist then where we would rank Geroge Bush the Great, the great saviour of the world! Pub Lunch, you make me laugh! Mandela has the guts to tell the truth in front of their oppressors. We can't smile like westerns and deep down we open Abu Gharibs and show our real identity!

<<I agree with Pub Lunch.>>

<<Just because I believe bin Laden is a terrorist, does that mean I'm anti-Muslim? >>


Dude, you need to fix your knowledge. Who trained Osama Bin laden against soviet union? why wasn't he a terrorist then? Why wasn't he hated by American people then?

To be honest, Americans are not friends of anyone. They are friends of themselves. Don't call me a trerrorist or racist please because I SPEAK THE TRUTH!

<<"Nuv-AH-duh"

Not that most Brits have occasion to include the name Nevada in any conversation at any given time. Same with, say, Montana. Do you want to know how most of us say that name? I think we're split down the middle here - depending on where you come from in the UK whether it's a short A or a long one. Same maybe with Alabama. I know some of us mis-pronounce the CH in Michigan.

While we're on this topic, what is the correct way of saying Hawaii? Do Hawaiians pronounce it differently from the way most people do?>>

Okay, here's the scoop: Nevada and Colorado are the only states where the A can go both ways. (What can I say? They're swingin' states!)

Montana and Alabama are always said with short A's -- Mon-TAN-a and Ala-BAM-a. You will never, ever, ever, hear MonTAHna or AlaBAHma. Ever!

Hawaii is properly said Havai'i, with a a V and little silent hitch between the I's. Okay, nobody OUTSIDE of Hawaii ever says it that way, but that's the "right" way.


<<(Confession: I actually liked Emilio Estevez in Young Guns and I have no idea why.) >>

Fallout from the Breakfast Club. Perfectly understandable. Pity he never lived up to that pinnacle again.....

And Rene, you will be properly amused to know that in the book that Master and Commander was based on (one of a large series), the ship that Our Heroes were chasing was not a French ship of American design, but an American ship with an American crew -- this would have been roughly around the time when the British and Americans were still fairly hostile toward each other, especially at sea. The War of 1812 would break out about 5 or 6 years later. Why they changed it I have no idea -- personally, I would have found it more interesting with the original plot!

How funny! A couple of days ago I randomly picked up movies like Master and Commander and Pearl Harbour without reading this thread, I wonder if I am going to waste my time watching these movies.