Spider Scrawly On An Inky Page

I don’t have any respect for Andy Burnham’s ‘King in the North’ gimmick, and I don’t think an English politician who aspires to be the Prime Minister for the whole UK should talk about ‘the north’ as being the middle of it.

#I have already mustered all my strenght and willpower to make a phone call#and you have the unmitigated GALL to assign a chipper robot to tell me you've got information on your website?

#you noisome fool! if I could do this on your website I would have already#cease your prattle and bring me to a representative

"Only have one road"???

But no, you are absolutely not imagining things- USAmerican media is SUCH a huge export that it saturates global media and makes it difficult to AVOID learning about your political system and your country.

Shows like Law and Order or NCIS, for example, or X-Files to an extent- we've all seen these shows so we've all heard "first amendment rights" or "the declaration of independence" or "Miranda rights". We all know to "call 911" or "contact the FBI" or that we have "the right to remain silent".

But in Canada, for example, we don't have a "declaration" with "amendments". We have The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and if you get arrested here, you are told that "You are being charged with X crime, you have the right to retain and instruct counsel in private without delay, if you cannot afford a lawyer you have the right to contact legal aid for assistance free if charge, you cannot be compelled to speak in answer to the charge but be advised that anything you do say may be used against you in court, confirm if you understand, confirm if you wish to excersise your right to legal aid, do you wish to say anything in answer to the charge".

But in the UK you have to call 999, not 911. In Canada, you have the right to freedom of association, freedom of movement, and freedom of speech, but no "right to bear arms". And in Australia, a cybersex criminals account can be hijacked by law enforcement to track down other predators, and this isn't permitted in Canada OR the USA.

These are just examples, but it spreads further- EVERYONE in Canada knows about Trump and has opinions on your political system, but plenty of teens have no idea who our Prime Minister is.

Hell, *I* watch American news for coverage of global events, but through there I've also picked up on American immigration policy and climate crises.

It's such a huge thing that non-English speaking countries learn English to enjoy English media and read English books and perform international business- and in Canada, we actually have it written in law that a certain percentage of TV and Radio HAS to be Canadian, so that our citizens don't get fully absorbed by American culture and talking points and lose identity and focus on our own country's issues.

It's a big deal, and most USAmericans don't seem to notice.... which is why it seems to sort of get taken for granted that any english-speaking part of the internet is USAmerican.

Even though, you know.

This means, when I was up there today after looking after their cats, I got a baffled call from my father.

"honey". He said. "Why are you picking up sticks in the yard. Like go ahead but why."

Mom, in the background, as if this should explain everything; I told you sweetie it's the birch trees.

Dad; ......okay???

Mom; she probably wants them for dye.

Me; birch bark and twigs, dad. For dye.

Dad, sounding no less confused; my god you really just are your mother but younger