What has America ever done for us?

[xyzzyplugh]

Sorry Janetx if you're offended. This question was meant to promote some appreciation of USA by reminding us of the wonderful things they have done for us. However, as you can see from the replies; Seinfeld, e.r., sgt bilko, the simpsons, Well good grief! I was expecting something along the lines of Poe, Wright bros., A.G. Bell, or even Houdini. But really they're hardly helpfully innovative. We invented our own phones and televisions simultaneously, and there's nothing positive about Coca Cola or MacDonalds. So my question still stands, seriously, What have the Americans ever done for us? Apart from initiating the internet at M.I.T.?

[PaulYukochan]

Urm... have you heard of the Second World War? Some Americans died fighting in it on our side. I think maybe it would have been impossible for Britain to defeat Hitler without them, I know its hard for some old war verterans on our side to accept, and they were a little late etc etc but erm, I think this may be one thing that may answer your question.

[PaulYukochan]

Also at the end of the Second World War and for a few years after, America stopped Soviet Russia from spreading any further across Europe ( albeit through an Arms race.)

[sft42]

paul i think you've been watching to many US films of late U571 springs to mind while the US have some good points they have just as many faults and shameless self-promtion and ignorance of the facts of history and riding roughshod over other contries feelings when it comes to it are a coulpe of them. and i thought it was the US military who invented the net though it was a yank called ray tomlinson who sent the first email.

[Hamish]

Actually the internet was developed at Cern in Switzerland.

[PaulYukochan]

sft42, I am not sure what price you put on human life, but the fact that even one american died in the first or second world wars on european soil should be enough. It may not sound much to you, but for those who died it was perhaps the biggest event in their lives (apart from being born). I haven't seen U571, as I heard Bon Jovi was in it.

[froggequene]

I'm glad to see you've been reading your history Paul but I think you'll find the Russians were trying to contain Communism within their own borders. I believe they were more concerned with keeping the Europeans and the US out.

[PaulYukochan]

froggequene, Did you know that the Russians were supporting the communist party in china both financially and with technology. How could a true communist ever stop trying to spread the 'enlightenment' that they had found? Surely Marxist history states that the Communist revolution was an inevitable part of history....?

[PaulYukochan]

Frog - And why did Russia try and supply Cuba with medium range ballistic missiles durig the 'crisis'? I accept that America were being a little bit over the top ( as every major power has ever been - spain, portugal AND Britain included) but surely you must accept that the Communists were not actively trying to contain the revoulution within their own borders..... or did those M.I.G. made planes just fall into North Vietnam's hands???

[froggequene]

First I would like to apologise for xyzzyplugh for unnecessarily flagging you like this, I would also like to say if I had realised that you were serious I might actually have put some thought into my answer. Personally I always thought Teddy Roosevelt was rather cool but that's a different matter. What I really want to ask is, Paul are you an American or are you just playing Devil's Adovcate?

[froggequene]

Re containing Communism, examine Russian behaviour in Eastern Europe. Lending a helping hand to someone with a similar ideology isn't quite the same as ramming said ideology down their neck. I think you'll find that the Chinese and the Russians had a parting of the ways ideologically at one point. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a wind up, a nail biting, hair tearing wind up but a wind up none the less and the Americans took the bait. As for American participation in WW2, why don't we look at the causes of WW2? What would have happened if the Americans hadn't pulled their money out of Europe following the Wall Street Crash? What did the US gain exactly by ruining various national economies including the German one?

[Blender]

Paul if you check factual history you'll find that Churchill didn't want the communists to be first into Berlin, Roosevelt did, and he also wanted to continue the push to the Russian border to halt communism but Roosevelt objected so strongly to this that there was nearly a split in the Allies alliance. Until the Korean war started the only point of concern that the Americans had was to keep the A-bomb a secret from the Russians [and their allies the British] and it was the Korean war that caused the cold war

[xyzzyplugh]

Actually this thread has gone off kilter and opened a worm can but that's progress, que sera, have fun. And happy Samhain

[beweypm]

They gave the world McMillan and Wife - that must count for something, surely!

[Janetx]

Apology accepted xyzzyplugh. So, seriously, I'm not overly excited about vacuum cleaners or sewing machines, but, as the sister of a polio victim, I am forever grateful for the SALK Vaccine.

[dodgymanc]

Jeremy Clarkson once strapped two boards on him, one on the front and one on the back. On the front were a list of loads of useful British inventions, and on the back, there was a single useful American invention. I cant remember what it was, but he was walking round shouting pro-Britain slogans and stuff. He was soon bundled into the back of a police car!