The best American, according to us British

[Entsuropi]

Someone posted this on a msg board i read... enjoy

The Beeb recently put on another one of their greatest Brit of all time polls, but with one rather subtle difference...it was the greatest american of all time.

Now, aside from the bemused looks, and inocent questions of "Greatest...american? As in a...'great'...american?", the results were somewhat interesting.

Of 37'000 votes:

George Washington - 5%

Martin Luther King - 8.5%

Abraham Lincon - 9.7%

Homer Simson - 47%

Now, to be fair to the british public, ive only heard of two out of those four anyways...i just find it rather amusing that the greatest yank in our view is a cartoon.

Oh, and the fact that Matt Groening is quoted as saying that he based the character on his dad. So the greatest american of all time (acording to the british), is in fact, a Canadian. That i find very amusing.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Or since Homer is as much a product of his voice actor (accoring to inside the actors studio) as the writer the best American is an American (Dan Castalanetta)

[Brian]

So if I understand correctly, 47% of Brits think that the greatest American is a beer-guzzling, pot-bellied, dysfunctional imbecile with a mild speech impediment?

I'm actually not sure if this reflects poorly on Americans... or on Brits.

[EUOL]

Now, to be fair to the british public, ive only heard of two out of those four anyways...i just find it rather amusing that the greatest yank in our view is a cartoon.

Wait a sec...is he being serious?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

So if I understand correctly, 47% of Brits think that the greatest American is a beer-guzzling, pot-bellied, dysfunctional imbecile with a mild speech impediment?

I'm actually not sure if this reflects poorly on Americans... or on Brits.

Or perhaps the Brits are just more right than we want to admit. Remember, they're talking average American, not you or me.

just like we think the average Brit is Mr. Bean.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Actually I like to think of the average brit as the characters in any of the various Monte Python skits.

I'd like to think they actually do have a Ministry of Silly Walks.

[Entsuropi]

Yeah, we do. The department in control of immigration.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

You mean they DON'T?!

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

And just to clarify the point of the poll they arn't saying the average American, but rather the greatest American. It would be like saying the greatest Britain was Mr. Bean over Churchill or Lord Nelson.

[Spriggan]

hear hear

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I can understand thinking that Homer's greater than Washington, if you're British anyway. But Lincoln and MLKj? Sorry, looks like no one took the poll seriously.

And are you telling me that Mr. Bean ISN'T greater than Churchill?

[Entsuropi]

We british were on the side of the south... we never got involved, but thats where our symphies lied (due to the produce coming from the south mainly). I think we got rid of slavery after you guys, but we made everyone else give it up so what we lacked in punctuality we made up for in bulk.  

Down with Lincoln!

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Britain gave up the slave trade in the early 1800's ,... 1815 I think. Because they did (and began an age of imperialism ) they refused to interviene on the side of the south during the AMerican Civil War. Officially they never sided with anyone (gun running not withstanding)

Having said that I wouldn't have made Lincoln the greatest American.  Still the long line of serious over achivers from Ben Franklin to MLK junior with a stop off with Eisenhower, George Marshall, Thomas Edison or even Elvis Pressly or Leadbelly. It makes me wonder how the original question was framed. I saw this touted in the papers as an insult to Americans when really its an insult to Britains. It would be an american poll that said the greatest Brit was paddington bear.

[Entsuropi]

It probably was an insult to america. It is the beeb after all.

[House of Mustard]

Slavery was abolished in England in 1772.  The slave trade ended there in 1807.  

I'm not sure what Entropy is refering to about Britain supporting the South: In 1862, the North and Britain signed a treaty condemning slave trade everywhere.  While that in itself isn't really supporting the North, it doesn't seem like the type of thing one of the South's supporters would do.

There are, on the other hand, many reports of British ships running blockades to take supplies to the South, but there were just as many ships taking supplies to the North.  It appears to me (and I admit to having only a minimal knowledge of it) that England was officially in support of the North, but British business continued as it always had, regardless of politics.