Spanko jokes

Maybe it was advice for Britain, telling them not to get involved in a domestic dispute (i.e. the civil war)?

The British almost got involved in the war, after the US committed an act of war against them. The British sent an ultimatum on a slow ship with an "unofficial" copy on a fast ship - allowing the US to work on the response before they got the ultimatum. Thus a war with Britain was averted.

Search on the Trent Affair for more information.

I know it well. There are two sides to the Trent affair. Most historians think the act of war was committed by the English. Both Great Britain’s political parties thought it in Britain’s interest for the USA to be split up. Lincoln’s direct communication to Great Britain’s citizens who were very anti slavery kept them out. Great Britain never gets enough credit for ending slavery world wide.

That's probably because the British Empire conquered and exploited many millions of native peoples across the globe, who were mistreated as 'colonials,' employed as forced labor, conscripted into the British army and had English culture brutally imposed on them.

That they weren't technically owned as slaves, I'm doubtful that was of much comfort to those conquered peoples.

(Not that I'm praising the U.S.A., which maintained slavery well after other westernized nations had formally abolished it, and carried out a policy of near-genocide against Native Americans while stealing their land.)

Every Independence Day (July 4th), I'm deeply grateful for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, etc.... --C.K.

For 'brutally imposing their English culture on America?'

P.S.

The Washington family arrived in the Colony of Virginia from England 1657

The Adams family migrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1636

The Jefferson family also migrated from England and had probably arrived in America by the middle of the seventeenth century.

I think that in 1776 their English heritage was still very much part of their make-up. The Washington Family can actually trace their English roots back to the 12th century. It is said that over 200 years later, the country is still in the hands of "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants". I do hope I'm not opening up a can of WASPS by suggesting such as thing.

For taking the American people out of the British Empire, obviously. (It's unfortunate that the religious 'crazies' couldn't be sent back to England, at least from the American perspective.)

I'm assuming that the Iroquois, Algonquins, etc. didn't especially appreciate the imposition of English culture on their societies.

Of course, that doesn't justify the U.S.A. doing the same to other Native Americans with American culture either... --C.K.

I'm sure that we have quite enough "religious crazies" already, thank you. Probably did then too, the ones that yours were trying to get away from.

Though I must admit that the ones that you got from us (or at least their descendants) seem to have become crazier than ours.

Agree with most comments above about the evils of the British Empire, but am pleased to say that we seem finally to be acknowledging it.

Geoffrey Stirling.

PS I thought we were discussing spanko jokes!

Well said, sir. All these graduates from the Hollywood school of history (CK passing summa cum laude) have been making me feel utterly uneducated.

My favourite is an old chestnut.

Two blokes chatting over a pint.
Sid: Going to watch Rovers this afternoon?
Alf: Nah, I've got to go shopping with the wife.
Sid: You're under the thumb, mate. You want to do what I do. Tell her that you're going to the match and if she kicks up a fuss do what I do. Put her over your knee, pull down her knicks and tan her bare arse!"
Alf: Thanks mate. I'll try that when I get home.

Next day and they're back in the pub.

Sid: Didn't see you at the match yesterday. What happened? Chicken out did you?"
Alf: Not a bit, Sid. I marched in and told her right off that I was going to the match and when she said 'oh no you're not' I did what you said. I grabbed hold of her, dragged her to a chair, turned her over my knee, and pulled her pants down to her knees ..."
Sid: And then?
Alf: Then, when I saw her bare arse I thought 'who the fuck wants to go a football match anyway?'

Love it!

Sorry for unintentional bringing to politics to the site.