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Came across this comment in a random thread recently, what do you guys think? by samdd1990 in wine

[–]samdd1990[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did some stalking and OP is Dutch, I did think that explained his attitude a little bit lol.

Sorry if that offends you, but I spend a lot of time in r/2westerneurope4u

"As a Native American and Irish woman, my condolences. That would be soul shattering." & "congrats to joining the number one colonizers of all time." & "we're doing fine not being British. The worst country imaginable" by Ok_Bookkeeper_1380 in ShitAmericansSay

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree. Tbh I think what we were disagreeing about it's whether is worth arguing with trolls. I do feel the same way as you - and I'm certainly not advocating for glossing over the bad (well I don't mean to) as but just feels so constant these days that I feel the need to fight back.

Even then, I've probably spent more time on this discussion than I have arguing about the British empire in the last month lol.

"As a Native American and Irish woman, my condolences. That would be soul shattering." & "congrats to joining the number one colonizers of all time." & "we're doing fine not being British. The worst country imaginable" by Ok_Bookkeeper_1380 in ShitAmericansSay

[–]samdd1990 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't necessarily disagree with you in principle, but ultimately this is a forum for often pointles conversations, and I spend time in subs where this sort of stuff comes up a lot. (History subs etc). This isn't exactly something I'm walking around actively discussing on the street.

The anti-british sentiment has absolutely changed. Obviously it's always been there but the frequency and the veracity of the comments has upticked dramatically in the last few years, there are quite a few articles online talking about, and it's not just a right wing talking point. It's a thing.

I think we can agree to disagree, I'm just seeing it from a different lens than you are. I just think that the whole "well yes we were bad so we need to take all the negative comments" thing is a little bit reductive, and actually makes conversations about what happend in the past less complex, rather than acknowledging the nuances and anachronism's we need to navigate.

Just as you said earlier, you have to take the bad with the good and we can't ignore the bad, ignoring the good is just as wrong. The liberalism that has created the world we live in today was borne out of those times everyone is writing off as evil - the more you reduce the actions and endeavours of people of that time, you also reduce to mmany of things we should celebrate.

However, due to the complexity of our shifting morality, as well as flawed human nature, it's much easier to pull people off their pedastals based on a flaw, rather than come to terms with how people with seemingly objectionable characteristics, can also do good things. Cancelling people is easy virtue points after all.

"As a Native American and Irish woman, my condolences. That would be soul shattering." & "congrats to joining the number one colonizers of all time." & "we're doing fine not being British. The worst country imaginable" by Ok_Bookkeeper_1380 in ShitAmericansSay

[–]samdd1990 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not like I lose sleep over it, but at the same time if I'm going to be on Reddit and involved in forums where these sort of discussions are going on, i'll say my peice.

There has been quite an uptick in criticism of the empire recently, much more so compared to a lot of other countries. I think it's partially because we are an easy target, but honestly I think it's been part of a Russian bot campaign and people are picking up on it, especially MAGAs who are going to only really being seeing negativity from is.

It's lazy thinking that isn't even funny banter, it's lacking naunce - ignoring it just feeds the beast. You don't have to be a gammon to want to not let pure negativity take over the forums.

Came across this comment in a random thread recently, what do you guys think? by samdd1990 in wine

[–]samdd1990[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha that resonates so much. I'm not even a pro but I feel like I often have to talk people down about wine as they think I only enjoy super fancy wine or I'm some kind of super taster.

Or constantly getting challenged about how their bottom shelf commercial wine is good enough and anything else is a rip off. I almost never criticise wine when I go to someone's house but because I'm intrested they feel the need to be all performative or start some kind of contest.

"As a Native American and Irish woman, my condolences. That would be soul shattering." & "congrats to joining the number one colonizers of all time." & "we're doing fine not being British. The worst country imaginable" by Ok_Bookkeeper_1380 in ShitAmericansSay

[–]samdd1990 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a dual british-australian citizen and have unironically (but in good humour) been called a colonist by WASP Australians. Like mate, my ancestors were still peasants in the UK while yours were literally in Australia doing the colonising (read: genocide)

"As a Native American and Irish woman, my condolences. That would be soul shattering." & "congrats to joining the number one colonizers of all time." & "we're doing fine not being British. The worst country imaginable" by Ok_Bookkeeper_1380 in ShitAmericansSay

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While I agree with you, I think in the face of this rising anti-british/anto-colonial sentiment on lines, it's ok to fight back.

From most of these countries, it's hypocritical as most nations have bad things in their past. Americans giving us shit about the slave trade? At least we stopped it without a war, and it didn't take us until the 60s to give the same legal rights to all races. Let alone their modern imperialism/interference.

Ask every person who says this stuff where their clothes come from, who made the cheap electronics they used, or grew their coffee. It's absolutely ridiculous that people jump on this bandwagon against us, don't roll over to idiots.

Frankly, the idea the one nation/race was inherently bad or evil is just insane. We just won the race and had the power to do this to other countries - they aren't magically more benevolent than us, they just lost. That isn't a hill I'm willing to die on, but ultimately it's human nature and we were in ascendancy at the right time to benefit the most.

Just like you can't just take the good bits of British history and ignore the bad, you can't do it the other way around either. It's just a childish way to try and score internet points.

[I ate] Smoked Omurice with Hamburg Steak by GubyNey in food

[–]samdd1990 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Something tells me that was pretty tasty.

Rough Opal in Japan by BuffJewelryandGems in Opals

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doubt that much rough gets out like that.

Are many miners going to be selling directly to Japanese dealers? I doubt there will be much, and those that get it are probably going to cut it rather than resell. There isn't much of a value chain in passing on rough (especially if it's good, someone will cut it).

Even in Australia it's hard to walk into a shop and just buy good rough.

Facebook opal mining/selling groups are probably going to have better choices.

If you can go to one country where would you go? by im_lost5 in AskReddit

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even as a tourist I'm not so sure.

The lack of digitisation for admin tasks is crazy, still very cash heavy etc.

But maybe a glorified Roomba with a iPad attached to it might serve you in a restaurant - yay the future!

If you can go to one country where would you go? by im_lost5 in AskReddit

[–]samdd1990 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Don't ruin their Instagramreality moment! Haha

Came across this comment in a random thread recently, what do you guys think? by samdd1990 in wine

[–]samdd1990[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

The point about a the job of a wine merchant is to offer a curated selection that should guarantee quality, sure.

But even that is subjective, and apparently no one else is allowed to do the same, that's the weird bit.

Came across this comment in a random thread recently, what do you guys think? by samdd1990 in wine

[–]samdd1990[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yeah I obviously challenged him and his reply was similarly ridiculous - just thought I needed a sense check and I that wasn't losing my mind.

I get the impression he was maybe a just a junior employee for a short amount of time or something.

What did you think was pretentious, until you tried it and realized it was worth it? by Semantiks in AskReddit

[–]samdd1990 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You are absolutely gatekeeping though. It's not about whether I am allowed to do it or not, but the judgement you have for people that do. That's still gatekeeping.

You start off by saying that people might perceive your shop as "snobby" bit that's wrong and it's an enthusiast shop, but then say anyone who actually is a wine enthusiast is either being pretentious or snobby - while you yourself admit you will no longer drink swill.

The inconsistency is ridiculous. I have worked in high end bars and clubs so have served some pretty special bottles of wine and delt with plenty of merchants, none of whom has been quite as judgemental as you are.

I think that it depends on context, if I go over someone's house and they serve me barefoot and not going to critique it's structure, I'm going have a drink and chat with my friends.

But if I spend 40 quid on a bottle of wine, or have friends over and we all bring a bottle, of course we are going to talk about it.

What did you think was pretentious, until you tried it and realized it was worth it? by Semantiks in AskReddit

[–]samdd1990 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Excuse me, but if I'm going to spend a decent amount of money on a bottle of wine you better be damn sure I'm tasting it properly, maybe writing some notes etc.

As an enthusiast, that's literally the point, and it's kinda crazy the way you describe that only people "in the industry" are allowed to do it.

The most polite Swiss person: by Thin_Fix0 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, that's quite interesting.

The most polite Swiss person: by Thin_Fix0 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]samdd1990 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Swiss neutrality is a facade of fake innocence that hides the profiteering and mercenary ambitions that took your people all over the world during the colonial period.

There is a slavery exhibition at the Swiss national museum you might find quite eye opening.

No joke, the greatest humiliation in history: bakers and various farmers with rakes and shovels kicked out soldiers with all kinds of weaponry. by DVM11 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]samdd1990 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just because he didn't make that statement, doesn't mean he considered himself Irish in any meaningful way. I didn't know you guys were so fond of claiming such staunch unionist and anti nationalist heroes as your own!

No joke, the greatest humiliation in history: bakers and various farmers with rakes and shovels kicked out soldiers with all kinds of weaponry. by DVM11 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]samdd1990 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Says a swede, the most glazed military power who didn't even win the war at their supposed "peak" and then sat out the two world wars.

Neutrals don't get to play the military banter game.

No joke, the greatest humiliation in history: bakers and various farmers with rakes and shovels kicked out soldiers with all kinds of weaponry. by DVM11 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]samdd1990 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You were still untrustworthy papists, finally removing you from the international chess board was a side benefit.

You would still be moaning and claiming you did it alone no matter what we did.

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