Question to/about Americans.

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Scrotum
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Question to/about Americans.

Post #1

Post by Scrotum »

As you all know (oldies) i have not been very active during the last year or so. I apologize for this and wish to point out that i Love this site. I think Otseng, even the Theist (JOKE) scumm He is :D, has created a very FAIR and open debate forum for all of us, and I can find very few Forums like this.

As a starter, I will go on the General Chat and talk Americans, as most of you are americans, and simple ask some questions, and I would like to have Your, Honest View about it.


I was sitting and "watching" a movie called "War of the World" with a Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise (dont remember), i only remember the original book/movie, so this was "interesting" to watch. Several (Everything happen in the U.S) of the people stated "how could they defeat the greatest power in the World" several times, and it was clear they refered to the United States (As americans generally dont know anything about the rest of the World), and it came to me like a Flash, Could This be the reason why Americans believe they are the best in the world?

Historically we know the basis for the general ignorance about the World americans Hold (Note: The AVERAGE American), I do not know if americans themselves know this, as I understood american History is not very accurate, but as refreshment for the New Generation:

During the Beginning and End of Second World War, the american population had little or no knowledge about what was actually going on. The U.S, both people and Government had seen Chancellor Adolf Hitler as a great rolemodel, but as the War in Europe Began, all that was ignored/pretended never to have been said, and now Germany was "Evil", and Adolf Hitler was a "Bad Guy". The so called Holocaust was not known until after the war, which most contemporary americans have no knowledge about.

When the war finally "Finished" (Officially), the american government did not tell the american people that it was the Soviet Union whom actually dealt with the War, whiles the U.S only sent an equal amount of troops to the British. Actually, 80% of the German Army (The most powerfull and skilled Army in the World during this time) was fought by the Soviet Union, which was also seen as "Evil" (The Allies).

The Government instead avoided talking about it, and let the americna people believe They where the ones "taking care of business", and said nothing about the Soviets. 60 Years later, the people still believe this, and seemingly the American History books have been altered to fit the fale propaganda, and personally, I believe that the lied so much to themselves, Both choosen Government, as well as the people, that they seriously believe their own lies.


Could this be the case?

Americans rarely admits anyone else being "Better" then them, and simple ignore Reality. Especially when it comes to the Evil/Jealous Europeans. But at the Same time, BMW, Mercedes, Ferrary are all seen as a sign of "Best" / "Superiority" Etc, all European Cars. I know States and counties whom have the funds, would change their Police cars into Swedish Volvos instead, as they are of better quality then American Cars.

We should not even talk about the Mobile Phone Industries, which the U.S are years behind compared to Europe and Asia.


But this is no Bash, this is rather self-reflection, Could what i say be True !?



BIG NOTE: This is about the AVERAGE, General American, We all have Idiots and Morrons everywhere. Just a General View.
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Re: Question to/about Americans.

Post #31

Post by Goat »

katiej49 wrote:
goat wrote:
katiej49 wrote: what do we love about it? the freedom, the beauty, the people, the cities, the country, freedom to worship God, TEXAS of course :P its the best place on earth to live..

Different strokes for different folks. I BEEN to Texas.

didnt stay did you :lol:
To which I praise God himself.

katiej49

Re: Question to/about Americans.

Post #32

Post by katiej49 »

goat wrote:
katiej49 wrote:
goat wrote:
katiej49 wrote: what do we love about it? the freedom, the beauty, the people, the cities, the country, freedom to worship God, TEXAS of course :P its the best place on earth to live..

Different strokes for different folks. I BEEN to Texas.

didnt stay did you :lol:
To which I praise God himself.
what was it? the intense heat? the fire ants? tornados? it wasnt us here fine texas folks surely :eyebrow:

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Post #33

Post by WelshBoy »

In September 2005 myself and 3 of my friends drove the width of America from San Francisco to New York taking a northerly root to allow us to see Yellowstone National Park. The entire trip was excellent, and despite my oh-so-British fears of finding the american people to be annoyingly ingratiating, I actually found that the (perhaps forced) friendliness and (perhaps forced) helpfulness made trips to restaurants and stays in hotels a thousand times more pleasant than in the UK. Indeed coming back to the UK and experiencing 'customer service' for the first time made me want to fly straight back to the US.

It was however patently obvious that the Americans loved their country beyond almost all things. The downside of this was the INCREDIBLY inward looking attitude of the media. The TV news is truly appalling :D with the merest hint of world affairs. While I disagree with that view of things, I began to understand that since the Americans had a 'whole world' in their country, it was hard for them to need to think beyond their borders. Why go on holiday elsewhere when you have superb mountains, lakes, deserts, national parks, beaches, canyons, rivers all in your own country? Why concern yourself over world affairs when you can largely be sustained by your own natural resources, agriculture and industry? This is increasingly not the case of course...

Of course for many europeans this absence of desire to experience new cultures, and absence of regard for other countries is hard to understand, and travelling abroad is a major activity because of this. In addition smaller countries depend on each other for trade of resources.

What I did find was that the people at the coasts were ten times friendlier than the middle of the country (the flyover states), with the exception of the supremely unfriendly New York. I put this down to the increased cosmopolitan nature of the coasts, compared to the homogenous distrustful central states.


On a related but separate note, patriotism is an odd concept for me and I feel no love for my home country. People often consider natural things within the man made borders of their country as being worthy of pride - to me the fact that such and such a mountain range is part of your country is an accident of history. Neither you nor your countrymen made any of the natural features of your homeland. Another positive attribute that people use as a source of pride is the accomplishments of certain fellow countrymen past and present. Again, I neither had any input into the invention of the train nor the telephone, nor the process of the industrial revolution. I didn't hum the tune of Zadok the Priest to Handel, nor tell Shakespeare an anecdote which he modified into one of his plays.

We may be quick to paint ourselves with the same brush as our best countrymen, but no-one does the same with our mass-murderers and criminals.
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Post #34

Post by Goat »

WelshBoy wrote:
What I did find was that the people at the coasts were ten times friendlier than the middle of the country (the flyover states), with the exception of the supremely unfriendly New York. I put this down to the increased cosmopolitan nature of the coasts, compared to the homogenous distrustful central states.
NYC is rather frantic. You will find the obnoxiousness factor inversely proportional to the proximity of NYC. I think you would find going upstate in New York State a whole different experiance.

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Post #35

Post by methylatedghosts »

Ok, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I'm just throwing down a few thoughts.

I was talking to a guy from the US (Florida I think) who had come to New Zealand for a few months. He is majoring in poilitics and he wanted to get out of America to get an "outsiders" view of the country.

So we started having a chat. Several things came up. He said that our news coverage was better. That not many Americans actually watch the news or read the papers, and that the news channels were more focused on entertainement than actual news. He commented that our news coverage here seemed to be more to the point and less biased towards any issues.

He also said that many Americans still believe that Saddam was involved with Al Qaeda.

He also mentioned something about several people in key places were put there by George Bush Sr. to help the current president get in. But I'm not 100% sure on who or where.....

And he also explained to me a little more about how the US government works :D

He said many Americans were much more friendly than most other countries would imagine.

So.... there's my two cents.
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katiej49

Post #36

Post by katiej49 »

WelshBoy wrote:In September 2005 myself and 3 of my friends drove the width of America from San Francisco to New York taking a northerly root to allow us to see Yellowstone National Park. The entire trip was excellent, and despite my oh-so-British fears of finding the american people to be annoyingly ingratiating, I actually found that the (perhaps forced) friendliness and (perhaps forced) helpfulness made trips to restaurants and stays in hotels a thousand times more pleasant than in the UK. Indeed coming back to the UK and experiencing 'customer service' for the first time made me want to fly straight back to the US.

It was however patently obvious that the Americans loved their country beyond almost all things. The downside of this was the INCREDIBLY inward looking attitude of the media. The TV news is truly appalling :D with the merest hint of world affairs. While I disagree with that view of things, I began to understand that since the Americans had a 'whole world' in their country, it was hard for them to need to think beyond their borders. Why go on holiday elsewhere when you have superb mountains, lakes, deserts, national parks, beaches, canyons, rivers all in your own country?

thats nonsense considering hundreds of thousand of American travel abroad each day.....heck i'd be in Ireland right now on vacation if i had the moneyWhy concern yourself over world affairs when you can largely be sustained by your own natural resources, agriculture and industry? This is increasingly not the case of course...

Of course for many europeans this absence of desire to experience new cultures, and absence of regard for other countries is hard to understand, and travelling abroad is a major activity because of this. In addition smaller countries depend on each other for trade of resources.

What I did find was that the people at the coasts were ten times friendlier than the middle of the country (the flyover states), with the exception of the supremely unfriendly New York. I put this down to the increased cosmopolitan nature of the coasts, compared to the homogenous distrustful central states.


On a related but separate note, patriotism is an odd concept for me and I feel no love for my home country. People often consider natural things within the man made borders of their country as being worthy of pride - to me the fact that such and such a mountain range is part of your country is an accident of history. Neither you nor your countrymen made any of the natural features of your homeland. Another positive attribute that people use as a source of pride is the accomplishments of certain fellow countrymen past and present. Again, I neither had any input into the invention of the train nor the telephone, nor the process of the industrial revolution. I didn't hum the tune of Zadok the Priest to Handel, nor tell Shakespeare an anecdote which he modified into one of his plays.

patriotism is, to me, quite simply loving my fellow Americans. We are family ya know:)i thank God for the blessings He has given my country. I didnt know this was an "American" thing...patriotism....surely others are proud of their countries...?!
We may be quick to paint ourselves with the same brush as our best countrymen, but no-one does the same with our mass-murderers and criminals.
i dont get that statement....there are nuts in every country...

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Post #37

Post by AClockWorkOrange »

i have a had time feeling inclined to "defend" america's history. its just another country.

to paraphrase Mark Twain, patriotism is antithetical to brotherhood.

we are a world culture, grow up.

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Post #38

Post by WelshBoy »

i dont get that statement....there are nuts in every country...

No don't worry I wasn't claiming that Americans are the only patriots, I was having a stab at ALL patriots. That's why I put:

"On a related but separate note"

at the beginning of the paragraph. O:)
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Post #39

Post by ST88 »

WelshBoy wrote:On a related but separate note, patriotism is an odd concept for me and I feel no love for my home country. People often consider natural things within the man made borders of their country as being worthy of pride - to me the fact that such and such a mountain range is part of your country is an accident of history. Neither you nor your countrymen made any of the natural features of your homeland. Another positive attribute that people use as a source of pride is the accomplishments of certain fellow countrymen past and present. Again, I neither had any input into the invention of the train nor the telephone, nor the process of the industrial revolution. I didn't hum the tune of Zadok the Priest to Handel, nor tell Shakespeare an anecdote which he modified into one of his plays.
I feel I have to add here that the borders of most nations are and "accident of history", either culturally specific or language-specific groups or geographic features in and of themselves. Many Americans see America as being very different in terms of the way the nation was founded. There was a specific point in history at which there was a philosophy as to what it means to be from this country. There are (semi-malleable) documents that say what the U.S. means and why it was created. You may hear references to "Old Europe" from less enlightened persons over here, and it stems from this. The U.S. was founded on an idea whereas other nations were founded on, as you say, geographical or political accidents. I would therefore say that patriotism in the U.S. is a bit different than it is in other places. I feel damn lucky to be living in a country that is founded on a set of such ideas and ideals rather than birthright -- people who think there should be a "cultural" America (White, English Speakers, read "Parade" every Sunday) are kidding themselves.
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Post #40

Post by McCulloch »

ST88 wrote:I feel I have to add here that the borders of most nations are and "accident of history", either culturally specific or language-specific groups or geographic features in and of themselves.
That straight line that runs across the prairie dividing my country from the USA is an arbitrary accident of history.
ST88 wrote:Many Americans see America as being very different in terms of the way the nation was founded. There was a specific point in history at which there was a philosophy as to what it means to be from this country. There are (semi-malleable) documents that say what the U.S. means and why it was created. You may hear references to "Old Europe" from less enlightened persons over here, and it stems from this. The U.S. was founded on an idea whereas other nations were founded on, as you say, geographical or political accidents.
Ideas like freedom of speech and religion, separation of church and state, no taxation without representation, government directly responsible to the electorate, human rights. While many countries (including mine) may not have been founded on these principles, we have come to appreciate and adopt them. At the same time, certain forces in the USA seem to be trying to erode them.
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