And they say Americans don’t understand irony…

November 10, 2008 on 6:17 pm | In Scotland | 7 Comments

Okay, so I’ve had this blog for a good many years, and I have occasionally used it to vent my frustrations with the country I live in. My main complaint has been that the people are rude and nasty. In my experience, I’ve been mocked and picked taunted by complete strangers on the bus, who treat the whole world like their own little junior high school. My former co-workers treated me like crap just because I was American. (The alpha female in the office had a son who was marrying an American, and no one is good enough for her little boy, so she turned the whole office against all Americans.) My house has been broken into. I’ve seen more public puddles of vomit here in three years than I did in over 20 years in the US. I’ve seen people fly into violent rages against strangers for virtually no reason. In short, I’ve seen a lot of assholes.

Unfortunately, some of these assholes have figured out how to use a computer and have found this blog. What I find interesting is that the initial gut reaction from these people is to email me or post in the comments about what a horrible stupid bitch I am, and how I should go f*** myself, and basically dump streams of profanity and insults on me. So to refute my claim that British people are nasty racist assholes, they email and comment, with nasty racist asshole remarks. How does this do anything but prove my point?

It reminds me of those cartoons from Denmark a few years ago. They made a political statement about the Muslims being violent and reactionary. In response, the Islamic community had violent riots and burning of effigies. They basically said to the world, “If you call me violent, I’ll kill you!”

I don’t have a good summary or punchline for this post. I’ve got a nasty cold involving a waterfall of snot. I can’t say I hate the British. Cause I don’t. I just hate assholes, and a lot of them seem to live here.

Alana

7 Comments »

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  1. Hi Alana

    I have dipped in & out of your blog for a while, and am sorry you find a lot of trouble with the UK

    I think part of the problem is you are in an “odd part” that is to say Scotland, you may find the same in North Wales, as they want Wales for the Welsh

    But if you were to live in the South of England [not London] then I am sure your experience would be much more pleasant, I know some Scots can be very grumpy, must be the weather and grim towns :-)

    Comment by Mike — 12 November 2008 #

  2. Hey Alana! I’ve never been to girlalive.com before, but I have seriously been bustin’ a gut laughing. You have a very interesting take on things.
    XO XO – your new reader,
    Jaime (Anderson) from high school

    Comment by Jaime — 16 November 2008 #

  3. Alana,
    I can totally understand how you are feeling. I too have to deal with some real choice people in my job. Working in a very small town in north Cumbria…Being American certainly does not help as I get the “that foreign one”, which to me, is a total cop out. Anyway, as much as I hate hearing that you are treated like that I also don’t feel so alone in all this.
    Thank you for having this blog.
    All my best, Pam

    Comment by Pam — 16 November 2008 #

  4. I’m quite disappointed that you don’t publish all your comments. What are you afraid of? Your blog is in the public domain, so we do have the right of reply.

    Comment by Henry — 23 November 2008 #

  5. Public Domain n.

    1. All lands and waters in the possession of the United States, and all lands owned by the several states, as distinguished from lands possessed by private individuals or corporations.

    2. Information, the source of which is available to anyone and is not subject to Copyright.

    Neither of those definitions apply to this blog. This is a privately-owned domain that I pay for, and it is copyrighted material that belongs to me. You have no monetary or proprietary rights to the content of this blog. I am the only owner of the content of girlalive.com, so I am the only person who has the right to decide what does and doesn’t get printed here.

    I’ve explained this to you before Henry, but I keep forgetting how thick and slow you are.

    Alana

    Comment by Alana — 23 November 2008 #

  6. Every country has their good and bad areas, it just unfortuante that you live in the ‘redneck’ part of Scotland.

    You should reconsider moving to a better location and you might find yourself feeling a bit happier?

    Life is too short to be miserable and hey it doesn’t have to hurt to smile a little each day.

    I wish you all the best and please do try be a bit more positive. Don’t listen to negative remarks, listen to the good ones. Not all scots are all that bad. Good luck!

    Comment by kermit — 25 November 2008 #

  7. Kermit, I can’t agree more. I’m actually in the long and slow process of looking for a new place to live. I would have written off all of Scotland long ago as a bunch if ignorant morons, if it hadn’t been for my current job. I’m working with smart, funny, interesting people who I genuinely like. So I know they’re here somewhere.

    Comment by Alana — 25 November 2008 #

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