[Saito]

NOTE THAT THIS VIDEO DOES NOT REPRESENT ALL OF THE RESIDENT'S OF THE USA.

It's supposed to be fun, so I hope that you can laugh at yourselves. :rolleyes:

I bet we all have heard how stupid average redneck yankies are, here is why:

http://www.shoutfile...cans_Are_Stupid

and one having them talking about Canada ;)

[nomedia][/nomedia]

[osric]

wee caint awl be smert!

[FeyraN]

that cracks me up

[plasma06]

good old Australians taking the **** out of the American's
p.s. dam French rofl

[Koji]

I wish England was more independant and not just go with whatever America do.

[Mark]

Umm, American here. I guess I'll have to watch this, just to refute whatever's in it while simultaneously making fun of the French. :rolleyes:

[EclipceR]

Nothing to refute, it's very VERY true. American's in general are very uneducated. BTW American's don't dominate the globe.. lol.

[osric]

americans aren't uneducated, that's a ridiculous thing to say. the videos are funny, duh, because stupid people are funny. however, you can go to any country in the world and put something like that together. it's popular to make fun of america right now, which is fine... but dont generalize an uneducated subset to the entire population

however, since there are MORE people in the U.S. than in Canada, or Australia, or any country in Europe we are bound to have more stupid people. and somehow they all seem to end up in front of me when i'm running late to work :( but i would imagine the percentages work out about the same no matter where you are :p

[plasma06]

their is some smart Americans just about 100mill are like that

[Empyreal Rhapsody]

EclipceR said:

BTW American's don't dominate the globe.. lol.

Yes they do. I'm not anti-American (not anti-American people -- I judge them on a case-by-case basis, I'm talking about the state and America as a unified entity), as I think that generally speaking, they've done a pretty good job of things prior to WW2, but post-war I don't think I like America very much, yet I'll still openly admit that, much to my dismay, America does dominate the globe. The USA is currently unassailable, its foreign influence is decisive, its economy is mighty, its culture permeates most of the world's other societies, and its corporations are transcending nationality. Romanticism and Imperialism, neither of which were the slightest bit embodied by America, are well and truly dead -- Capitalism is the (comparatively) new order of things.

[osric]

post world war 2 is a pretty broad time period.
american culture spreads because it has been molded from the myriad of cultures that make up our country. it appeals to a wide range of people because it isnt associated with a specific ethnic or cultural group. here in america we admire the long history of european and asian cultures, since we dont have a thousand years of background and ethno-centric development to give us a unique identity. it's why we study your history more than our own. it is longer and more distinct. it allows us to see the development of culture on a much larger scale. and i think on some levels we envy that. we don't have your history and culture and feel a need to prove ourselves, prove our relevance and importance in the past, present, and future.
america isnt perfect, but we're good-hearted people and all but a few of us genuinely care about the rest of the world.

to me romanticism and imperialism aren't really relevant to a people trying to forge a new country in a developing world. all our ancestors' energy was devoted to carving out a unified country that could stand on it's own.

as far as capitalism goes, you're right. it is the order of the day and i dont think it will change for a long, long time. money is power. and it is human nature to want it. many of us have ideals that go beyond the almighty dollar, but too many others don't. the human drive to excel and compete with our brothers and sisters works for good and evil. capitalism appeals to that innate drive and will continue to dominate international trade and politics for the foreseeable future. capitalism isn't american, it's human.

[Fuz]

Kinda reminds me of [ame=http://www.l2guru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62060]this[/ame] discussion on another forum.

It's true that you could make a video like that in any country. Just interview enough people and only include the stupid answers. Put enough pressure on someone (like pointing a camera at them) and they won't disagree with the "facts" you push on them, even though they're doubting it inside.

It's also true that the video is funny because stupid people are funny.

I'm from norway, and I must admit I've met my fair share of arrogant americans; the most common type being "admit it that we could win over you in a war" as if that's what defines a quality country, but you have to be a "believe what you want to believe" kinda person if you look at a video like that and assume that's what the average american is like.

Laughing at stupid people is funny, but laughing at a whole nation because you think they're all stupid is just elitist.

(also ibtl that comes a few pages after this develops into a huge political discussion followed by ninjaflames and bickering)

[Empyreal Rhapsody]

When I referred to imperialism, I was referring to the fact that before and during the nineteenth century, the balance of world power was controlled more by "who owned what". While this still has an impact today with regards to commodities such as oil and gas, corporations do seem to nullified territorialism and nationalism in an economic sense. Regardless of the country in which a resource lay, it can and will be traded between corporations, and eventually sold to an end-user. Business also seems to contribute more to a country's economic performance than natural resources. With these two points in mind, it seems to me that capitalism has transcended nationalism, meaning that imperialism is a very much spent and irrelevant force, which can only be a good thing.

My reason for stating that romanticism is dead was that with the overwhelming power of capitalism, the world is a very cold place, often reduced to pure numbers, and so any notion of adventure, conquest etc. is moot and a waste of time.

I agree that post-WW2 is a very broad time period, but you have to understand that I was being very general. I'm by no means knowledgeable about American history, but I think it's reasonable to think that Vietnam was despicable and unnecessary. I also don't like the emerging America; one that, in my opinion, is overly assertive (Iraq?). I also think that politics should remain absolutely and unequivocally secular. I understand that there is currently a misconception regarding just how deep the religious bias of Bush's politics runs, but it is still there, and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that this contravenes one of the values that the USA was founded upon, and a very noble and commendable value it is at that.

I think that your opinion on why American culture has been so widely embraced across the world is valid, but I also think there are other factors, such as overwhelming economic power -- in that American corporations assert American culture overseas, and that other nations aspire to be as successful as America, and therefore admire and consume American cultural exports -- and the pioneering and enormously effective fashion in which Americans utilised emerging media (i.e. cinema, TV, radio, etc.).

I don't think that Americans really need to have a feeling a sense of inferiority or insecurity in regard to their cultural heritage. Europe is a really **** place. It is now, and it always has been. My generalised view of European history is that of a collision between Latinate and Germanic (and thus Nordic and Scandinavian, and so forth until you hit Tibet) culture, which I suppose lies on the border between Germany and France. At the turn of the last century Europe was the absolute height of world power. It's citizens then spent the first half of that century ripping each other to pieces. I'd be willing to wager that a very significant amount of the today's problems stem from Europe (poverty in Africa, tensions in the middle east, divisions between blacks and whites in America and Europe). I think the only two places in Europe that I like are Britain, because I live there (and we have achieved quite a lot in the past), and Germany, because I like philosophy, and the only worthwhile philosophers I can think of right now were Germanic.

So yeah, in summary, America is a pretty cool place. If I had to bestow upon one country, other than Britain, a power so enormous that the balance of the world depended on it, it would probably be America (I may even choose it over Britain, despite my obvious bias). Maybe it's because I trust American values, maybe it's because that, to my knowledge, despite its military expeditions, America has never claimed foreign soil as its own, or maybe it's because I've been conditioned to think like that by the American culture that has been long imposed upon Britain :P Just don't let the zealots get into power, don't let your economy fail, and don't cut back on defence spending (but curb the CIA :P ).

[EclipceR]

My statement still stands, the American educational system is a joke in comparison to other countries. It's fact.

I'll also point out that America's empire is coming to an end. China IS the next super power. With a population that ovewhelms and an economy that is growing through the roof. I wish I knew cantonese and/or mandarin because working in China is a great opportunity.

Germany FTW btw. <- is very proud of his German heritage and the accomplishments over history.

[osric]

@empyreal : well said. your expansion on your earlier points is eloquent and i agree with your views on imperialism losing it's economic relevance and that the world is a colder place. when money replaces morality there's little room left for community. our history and policy hasn't been perfect, and there's no point in discussing it any more here, since then we'd just be trading essays :p thanks for being respectful. makes me want to visit the UK :)

EclipceR said:

My statement still stands, the American educational system is a joke in comparison to other countries. It's fact.

I'll also point out that America's empire is coming to an end. China IS the next super power. With a population that ovewhelms and an economy that is growing through the roof. I wish I knew cantonese and/or mandarin because working in China is a great opportunity.

Germany FTW btw. <- is very proud of his German heritage and the accomplishments over history.

i suppose you're just trying to stir up trouble... which is unfortunate. think what you want about america, but to me it's a wonderful country.

[Dez]

I like american stuff like games, movies and all that stuff they're famous for.. But I'm not for that attitude of theirs, so freaking patriotic. Hope I didn't offend anyone on the board here, was generally speaking :P

[EclipceR]

Dez, that is exactly where my sour feelings for America come from. The "patriotic" attitude which has affected most of my online gaming. I'm so sick of it, I can be considered a patriotic canadian, but I sure won't take it to the extreme.. EH! This is coming from what I've experienced with online, the racist, foolish comments about other nations, and the overwhelming idea that the american army stands over all..

I'm not saying I hate all Americans, some are fantastic people, and I can see a change for the better in most Americans. Especially those closest to our border. But unfortunatly there is still about 50% of them I can't stand.

roflcoptor

[Mark]

I tend to think differently about Americans. The further north you go in America (California should have been right above Maine, imho), the more liberal the majority of people are. Liberalism in America is a mental disorder. I try to avoid it.

[EclipceR]

Nothing wrong with some Liberals when compared to people like *cough* Bush *cough* Liberals ****ed up big time in my province so we've avoided voting them in for the most part, but there were some good and some bad on either end of the scale. Liberals btw are becoming a more popular idear in my province then before.

[Saito]

long vid on the american educational system..

[nomedia][/nomedia]