Aha brainwashed, I've been relishing the prospect of responding to this post since I had the pleasure of first reading it!
Yes indeed. I've repeatedly asserted that America is a third world country and not once in any post have I ever acknowledged any form of assistance that the US Government renders to the destitute. You must understand that as a Brit and a European (the worst of both worlds I'm sure you'll agree), my life revolves around dreaming up unsubstantiated criticisms to level at the United States. My favourite hobby is to crack open a bottle of red 'surrender monkey' wine and relax while picking fights with inhabitants of our ex-colonies.
Well you see this is the difference between you and me brainwashed. I actually
want to see more money spent on putting up the jobless in period housing. My sole regret in this world is that we don't have enough stately homes with commanding views of our best scenery to house them all in. Your unsubstantiated assertion that the UK has less accountability built in its welfare system than the US system is unquestionably correct. In actual fact, accountability is something we strive to avoid under any circumstances. In my 6 years as a benefits officer I've lost count of how many case-papers myself and my colleagues have folded into paper aeroplanes and competed for distance out of the 3rd floor window. If I'm being honest I'm not even sure my name's actually Eoin, much less who that unlikely character was who I signed off thousands of pounds of taxpayers money to last week.
One such as I wouldn't stoop so low as to question the intellectual integrity of a poster who takes a Daily Mail story about a handful of exceptional Housing Benefit claims, and then criticises the entirety of Europe for cherry picking statistics within the space of 3 sentences. As such I'll leave this issue to one side...
Now look here. Myself and every other European who has ever posted on this forum is fully aware of your plight. We know about the abuses you face at the hands of your corporate slave-drivers and we're just trying to make you aware of the tyranny you live under. It's not fair on you that when you emerge into daylight at the end of your 14 hour shift in the salt mine, that you have to stagger home to your trailer with aching limbs, worrying about the rising cost of your growth hormone microwave dinner. It's readily apparent to Europeans like me that we're more fit to assess your standard of living than you are, and that is why I go out of my way to avoid using
any statistical evidence to support arguments I make about the USA in any thread I've ever commented in.
You don't need to lecture us on what the USA is like, we know that you all sit on your porches in the evening plucking away at your banjo's and complimenting people on their purty mouths.
Ok I'll come clean. Every day when I'm pedalling 20 miles home from work on my European eco-tricycle, I peel my way through the rain and sweat soaked pages of my copy of the Guardian looking for something... anything in fact that I can post that reflects badly on America which will plug the void I feel at not having been born an American. I mean sure I spent 4 years studying economic and social history as an undergraduate, then 6 years working as a benefits officer for Glasgow City Council, but the
real reason I've chosen to get involved in a discussion over the merits of social mobility in the USA is because I'm an emotional trainwreck trying to reconcile what I see in Hollywood movies with the post-apocalyptic wasteland I read about in the Guardian.
Yours Sincerely,
Eoin
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
