Fireside Chats, Episode 77: Being British
Added 2019-02-20 17:01:00 +0000 UTCI've always had an immense fascination with and respect for the British people. Their history, their customs, and the Special Relationship we here in America share with our kindred spirits across the pond. But what's it like actually being British? What is it like growing up there and living there? What do British people think of the rest of the world, and what do British people think about what the rest of the world thinks of them? (Got all that?!) To get some insight, I invited my Brilliant British Buddy Paul Joyce onto the show. He was visiting the States a while ago, so we went and grabbed dinner, had some drinks, joked around, and ended up recording this show, too. I hope you find it as enlightening as it is self-deprecating.
Comments
So you're telling me you guys never experienced the joys of playing games off cassette tapes ?... lucky. Lol.
Craig Mcguire
2019-03-01 23:03:52 +0000 UTCSee, no one in the States had that PC. LOL.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-01 22:55:25 +0000 UTCWe had an Amstrad CPC 464 before we got the NES, I seem to remember the NES being quite popular though when I was a kid here in the UK.
Craig Mcguire
2019-02-28 21:37:08 +0000 UTCI used to love playing Chucky Egg! What a game! Glad you enjoyed the show.
Paul Joyce
2019-02-28 09:49:09 +0000 UTCYeah. A revote would be a disgrace. Certain remainers are bad losers.
Peter Campbell
2019-02-28 07:24:47 +0000 UTC“Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home” Arsene Wenger :)
Dan Parsons
2019-02-27 23:50:03 +0000 UTCWe love Winston here in the States, but he obviously has a sordid and complicated past that deserves to be discussed. Thank you for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:26:36 +0000 UTCI'd be interested to see how a revote would go, though I'm also of the mind that you already voted, and so that would basically be stealing the election.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:26:16 +0000 UTCThank you for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:25:53 +0000 UTCYou are always welcome back on the show when you next find yourself Stateside!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:25:38 +0000 UTCThank you for listening, and for your kind words!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:25:24 +0000 UTC$5 million is an immense amount of wealth?! I'm not too into arguing about the wealth tax here in the States because it's almost certainly unconstitutional. So even if it passed, SCOTUS would kill it.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:25:07 +0000 UTCThat's another conversation that could certainly happen in the future!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:24:38 +0000 UTCI stand by American cuisine being some of the best in the world. And, I stand by the death penalty as something that should be used, perhaps more than it is now.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:24:19 +0000 UTCMaybe it's an American point of view (well, it is), but we hold so much cultural and technological sway over the rest of the world that I think we should own it as our identity. It's something we should embrace, and work to make even better.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:23:48 +0000 UTCI'd be perfectly happy to have a conversation just about that, if anyone is willing and able.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:22:48 +0000 UTCI've always loved British humor. That's on my dad, for introducing me to so much of it (i.e. Monty Python) as a kid.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-27 22:22:32 +0000 UTCWith the EU there's been lots of reports of decisions and laws voted on without many voters knowing the details or having complex discussion of the consequences of the actions. For example article 13. I am getting more and more cynical about the operations of the EU.
Peter Campbell
2019-02-24 17:36:59 +0000 UTCWhich decisions do you think lacked discussion? Which part of the discussion was lacking in your opinion? Which element of the process do you feel failed? The council? The committees? The parliament?
Always86
2019-02-24 16:33:07 +0000 UTCAnother interesting ep with different perspectives. Especially how America sees Churchill. As a Scot, Churchill was no hero. He abandoned thousands of Scots behind enemy lines to die during Dunkirk and after WW1 sent military (inc tanks) into Glasgow to deal with thousands of protestors. Even though I was born and raised in England and my mum is English, I've struggled to identify myself as British the last few years (I did vote for Scottish independence) with the way the government acts towards Scotland. We provide much capitol to Westminster but don't see much of it back. Anyway, great ep and keep getting those diverse opinions on.
Duncan Leishman
2019-02-23 10:25:00 +0000 UTCEnjoyed the episode. I'm in a weird position with Brexit. I voted stay but now would vote leave. I just think the EU is getting crazy and is making increasingly bad decisions without enough discussion. I don't think I am alone on that and that it would still be a leave vote on a revote. In regards to old computers, I once owned a Commodore Vic 20, the working man's commodore 64. Yep, it was useless except for the chess game and frogger (and I am bad at both of those).
Peter Campbell
2019-02-22 13:52:44 +0000 UTCFantastic show , I'm with you Paul and voted to stay in the EU , mostly personally reasons being that my girlfriend is Spanish and leaving the EU will cause a myriad of problems for her as she has only been living in the UK for the last two years . My first computer was an acorn electron and was very fond of a game called Chucky egg :-) great show Colin and hope you have Paul on again in the near future
Matthew Perry
2019-02-22 07:21:49 +0000 UTCThanks for all the positive comments guys! I would have loved longer to chat with Colin - I feel there’s a broader discussion about the differing political landscape between the US and the UK, particularly given this week’s events. You guys make this community what it is!
Paul Joyce
2019-02-21 22:53:59 +0000 UTCThis was a nice listen! I moved from the UK to Ontario w my family nearly a decade ago so it was cool to get some lost familiarity from hearing from Paul :) And Colin I was surprised at how nuanced your perspective on Britain is! Also, Farage a badass for that speech; one of the great youtube clips out there for sure
Ross Tarren
2019-02-21 20:43:03 +0000 UTCOooh, I would have loved a wealth tax conversation. I would be cool with one as long as it was marginal/progressive and only kicked in at immense amounts of wealth (> 5 mil)
desperateLuck
2019-02-21 19:32:30 +0000 UTCGreat episode, wish it was longer, would have loved to hear more of a British perspective on American culture. We spent a week in London on vacation and being an Oklahoman I’ve never been in such a diverse multicultural city, never seen McDonald’s so packed in my life, food was subpar at best outside of the markets.
Ryan McCarthy
2019-02-21 16:07:59 +0000 UTCInteresting to me that anyone can think that killing someone can ever be the right thing to do, whatever they have done. Personally I see the death penalty as an easy way out, life imprisonment is a far worse punishment than capital punishment. Also interesting that American's think their cuisine is anything other than terribly regarded by the rest of the world :)
Dan Parsons
2019-02-21 14:00:25 +0000 UTCBoy, nationalism is something I'm deeply conflicted about. On the one hand, its benefits are clear when people need to be brought together and work toward a common goal and be productive as a large community. On the other hand, I feel like its sanctity and immutable nature are often massively overstated, leaning toward the kind of orthodoxy that I'm against just on general principle. In being extremely protective about our national identity, we are trying to shield ourselves from what we see as negative influences, but at the same time, we prevent any kind of positive development as well. A person changes constantly over the course of one life, so do relationships, as does everything else. Why then should national identity of all things be considered completely untouchable? I see attempts at holding on to these things as signs of extreme personal fragility. I dunno. My two cents.
Michal Dudic
2019-02-21 08:39:31 +0000 UTCCool episode Colin although i would of preferred a longer discussion on the political aspects of the UK and EU. You brought up the connotations of nationalism but didn't go much further. The UK is at it's least united time right now which is what the title evokes in me.
Scott MacLure
2019-02-21 05:57:27 +0000 UTCGreat episode as always! We love Americans like you Colin, you get our dry humour. Dickhead :)
Russell Garrett
2019-02-20 23:15:44 +0000 UTCI'm quite fascinated by old British gaming/computer culture. It is, as you said, markedly different from our experience here in the States.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 23:00:43 +0000 UTCThank you so much! As I've said many times, if I were British, I would have voted Leave.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 23:00:23 +0000 UTCFantastic podcast episode, Colin. Paul was a great guest to have on and being British myself, I could relate to so much of what he said. The part where Paul was talking about video games in the late 80’s and 90’s was so true as the NES was a very niche console in the UK and most people would game (if you can call it that!) on a ZX Spectrum, Atari ST or a an Commodore 64 until the 16-bit era came to fruition. As for the food discussion where we Brits have this stigma attached about our food being crap (I sort of agree in some ways), I could be wrong, but I’m sure that there are more Michelin star restaurants in the UK than any other country. All in all, like I said, fantastic podcast and keep up the amazing work my friend. Take care Colin.
Gari Clark
2019-02-20 22:51:28 +0000 UTCReally enjoyable guest and topic - as a Brexit voting brit, I was worried my side in the Eu debate was going to be savaged and misrepresented but think leavers were reasonably well represented. Good stuff!
Martin Bradford Gago
2019-02-20 22:16:22 +0000 UTCThanks for listening! (British Parliament videos rule!)
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 21:28:14 +0000 UTCI'm totally open to that.
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 21:27:57 +0000 UTCThank you!
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 21:27:50 +0000 UTCI hope you enjoy. =)
Colin Moriarty
2019-02-20 21:27:46 +0000 UTCI've actually watched a lot of the British Parliament meetings over Brexit over the past few months and found it fascinating. I've seen some of Nigel Farage talks and interviews before too and he is pretty humorous. I'm not familiar though with which speech you're talking about though when he is addressing the EU. Anyway you could provide a link to it? Would be very interested to see it if I haven't already. Loved the interview though. Been to UK (GB and Scotland) once and loved every second of the country and its people. Ireland is next on the places to visit.
Barrett Boswell
2019-02-20 20:41:38 +0000 UTCYou should get someone from Ireland/Northern Ireland on.... Have a few choice words regarding the Brits lol
Kyle Martin
2019-02-20 18:06:34 +0000 UTCCool topic!
Marius Skarsem Pedersen
2019-02-20 18:05:48 +0000 UTCAwww shit, this is going to be an interesting one
Martin Bradford Gago
2019-02-20 17:08:52 +0000 UTC
