Friday, July 30, 2010

Number 32 – They propagated their convoluted system of measurement around the globe

It's true that Britain invented a very confusing system of weights and measures, however as Mr Grasse points out, we switched to metric in 1965. The main gripe Mr Grasse seems to have is that America has not yet switched, do something about it then, stop twittering on about how backward our country is when, quite obviously, we accept change a lot easier than our friends in the States.

Number 31 – They believe in Government through fear

Mr Grasse says that Thomas Hobbes most famous work, Leviathan, “our principal emotion is fear, and government is created not as the sum of our freedoms and aspirations be a giant King Kong stomping all over the country.” What Hobbes actually said was that life without political authority would be “nasty, brutish, and short” and that we needed a government elected by the people it was governing to make and uphold laws otherwise we would revert back to nature and basically fight for everything we wanted, without Hobbes, the western world (including America) would not be run the way it is now, we would be living in fear everyday as food, clothes, and any other possessions we had could be taken from us by anyone using whatever force they wanted.
Just to add, had it not been for Hobbes and his “every man is equal” philosophy then we would probably still allow slavery (abolished 1833 UK 1863 USA).

Number 30 – They tried to take over Antarctica

Again, wrong. In the early decades of the 20th century 7 nations announced territorial claims for Antarctica, they were, Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Norway.
In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed, that meant that no-one owned the Antarctic and it was for scientific purposes only.
Mr Grasse goes on to claim that Britain is to blame for global warming, well, just remind me who invented CFCs? That's right it was an American by the name of Thomas Midgley Jr. Not one to be beaten Mr Midgley then went on to invent leaded petrol! As one historian put it “he had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history.” 'nuff said.

Number 29 – They take credit for everything

Well that's rich, reading through this book it's quite clear Mr Grasse thinks that the US should take credit for everything good and let us British take the blame for everything bad.
The ONE example he comes up with is the Magna Carta, he is completely wrong about this document, he states that “all the Magna Carta says is that King John's power is not infinite.” well that's good enough for me, basically that means that the monarch is a figure head for the whole population, not the all powerful ruler they once were, that's called progress Mr Grasse, unlike our friends in the States we move forward, take a closer look at the Constitution, it states that you have the “right to keep and bear arms”, this was first used in the English Bill Of Rights 1689, and has subsequently been abolished in the UK (thankfully). The US can't seem to realise that the wording of the second amendment is very obscure and (probably) meant that the Militia (army) should be well armed to defend against attack from other countries, not that every man should have the right to keep a gun and use it for self defence.

Number 28 - They're run by the House of Lords (aka the axis of weevils)

Once again Mr Grasse shows his ignorance. Britain is not “run” by the House of Lords, it is run by the House of Commons (all of whom have been elected by the British people). The House of Lords debates legislation, and has some power to amend or reject bills. However, the power of the Lords to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons is severely restricted by the Parliament Acts.