Stop Generalising.
CplDavis
I hunt the arctic Snonos Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12097Members
I hunt the arctic Snonos Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12097Members
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">Stop labeling me b/c I live in the US</div> Ill put this simply.
Im not lazy, obese, arrogant, snobbish, and dumb to the world.
And neither are millions of other Americans.
obese, arrogant, snobbish, and dumb to the world people exist in every country.
Stop giving me dirty looks (for those that do) when I travel to other countries, and stop riddiculing me b/c my countries leadership is doing whatever.
Am I a perfect brain child of international society?
Of course not.
But do I choose to trash talk the populations of other countries based on stupid steryotypes?, No. I treat everyone to the best of my ability with the same respect on their indivdual basis as i want them to treat me.
My best friend is German lol. i dont go all crazy on him every time the German govt does something I dont agree with.
I, little 'ol Cpl.Davis do not decide on US foreign Policy etc.
i can protest/support petition, things all i want but that wont stop the govt from doing certain things anyways.
So dont ridicule me or start debates with me over what Bush happens to be doing recently.
While this message probably doesnt apply to the people who frequent these forums (thankfully)
I just had to say this.
People from every nation, stop generalising the populations of entire countries for the actions of its govt.
If you do, shame on you <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'><!--endemo--> and shame on me for laughing a canada joke. I told you I wasnt perfect either.
In fact i might move to canada if certain things keep going the way they do.
if you dont, thank you. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Im not lazy, obese, arrogant, snobbish, and dumb to the world.
And neither are millions of other Americans.
obese, arrogant, snobbish, and dumb to the world people exist in every country.
Stop giving me dirty looks (for those that do) when I travel to other countries, and stop riddiculing me b/c my countries leadership is doing whatever.
Am I a perfect brain child of international society?
Of course not.
But do I choose to trash talk the populations of other countries based on stupid steryotypes?, No. I treat everyone to the best of my ability with the same respect on their indivdual basis as i want them to treat me.
My best friend is German lol. i dont go all crazy on him every time the German govt does something I dont agree with.
I, little 'ol Cpl.Davis do not decide on US foreign Policy etc.
i can protest/support petition, things all i want but that wont stop the govt from doing certain things anyways.
So dont ridicule me or start debates with me over what Bush happens to be doing recently.
While this message probably doesnt apply to the people who frequent these forums (thankfully)
I just had to say this.
People from every nation, stop generalising the populations of entire countries for the actions of its govt.
If you do, shame on you <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'><!--endemo--> and shame on me for laughing a canada joke. I told you I wasnt perfect either.
In fact i might move to canada if certain things keep going the way they do.
if you dont, thank you. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
Stopgap Measure: Rough it
Why?: Humans are stupid stupid creatures. We simply generalise to make things simpler rather then imagine nations as conglomerates of individuals that dont necessarily think the same thing.
But...: Easy. Link everyone of every nation into national collectives. Therefore, any generalisation will be true since all the people of that nation will essentially think the same thing.
Wait...: Silence! You will be assimilated!
Errr...: Yes, I know. I am somewhat lacking in the sanity department. Please go to the benign insanity department to compensate...
And yes obese, snobbish and arrogant people exist everywhere, but Americans have a high profile. I have yet to meet one traveller in Australia who got back from a trip to Europe or around the world or whatever without a "OMG you wont believe what this yank did in "country X".
However, I have heard that people who visit Americans in their own country find them entirely amicable, very polite and very friendly people. Guess its just your tourists guys <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
ive not seen ANY post in here stating americans to be obese, or snobbish or whatever.
(i have seen lots of americans taking things to heart though).
I guess if you want to identify yourself by your nation before your person, your in for a tough time.
ive not seen ANY post in here stating americans to be obese, or snobbish or whatever.
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I dont care how much you in sult the government. And true there arnt many people who do say those things in these forums but then again I said there are thankfully few of these people in the NS forums.
I was looking at some UK bbc polls on what the world thinks of americans.
And some things from my old sociology classes.
I dont make them personal. Its when you can log into a server or chat room and get called moronic b.c your american. Or travel to another country and get treated in an unfriendly way b/c of your governemnt, that makes is personal.
yes i see it in most of my friends, its definatly is the 'in thing to do' at the moment.
that is of course just an observation, im not condoning the thoughtless hatred of Americans, not knowing any Americans personally i find these boards a great way of keeping myself from thinking like that also; there just isnt a clear definition between criticism of your government and you as a people.
rest assured though, i beleive it to be mostly the low brow/ tabloid reading (you get the drift) parts of our population (britain) that see the american people as 'bad', the opinions of these people dont merit your grief either.
its just sad that this anti-americanism colours peoples veiws of other <i>people</i>.
also though, and on a slightly more hijacked note, can i make the point that this kind of behaviour should be well seperated from actual criticism of American Government policies, which do require watching!
i see alot of people writing off important facts about bush etc as mindless anti-americanism
this difference between government and people should work BOTH WAYS!
<b>some</b> people do it because 'its the in thing to do'
and some do it because the American governemt does **** things.
simply saying something which criticises your governments practises is anti-american rubbish and should be ignored is not enough.
accusing people of anti-americanism should NOT be the magic end all to any argument thats its becomming around here.
The other thing that I see happen a lot is people declaring the US government's actions to be hypocritical because of what some earlier administration did. Our government does change. You can't really hold one administration accountable for the actions of earlier administrations.
For the people in poor countries, this is a wonderful scapegoat. What better way to release your frustration of being broke by swearing to stick a pitchfork through an American's throat someday? It makes wonderful coffee talk. I guarantee you that for ever stereotype out there, there is someone out there who believes it.
What I do have a problem with, is the stereotypical patriotic American. Nothing wrong with being patriotic though. It's just that I feel some people are the type who are insanely proud of their country, and think it's perfect, flawless, greatest place in the world. Those type of patriots I have a problem with. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Think about it... lets say that if you take the average populations of all the countries and 60% of them were complete jerks. Now try and think about the people you meet on the net that don't come from america. Not a lot is it? =P
If most people you meet are from america and over half the general populace of anywhere is ignorant and annoying you're not gonna have a great view of america. It's not america's fault really, it's just the amount of people on the net from there with the general logic of annoying people percentages XD
The 2nd point isn't really a big one and I never hold it against anyone until they personally do it, but of all the people who call 'UK/Britain', ENGLAND, 100% of them are american.
I don't think some people understand what this is like for a scot... it's like calling an american a canadian, or a chinese person japanese or visa versa in those situations. It's not just confined to UK, it seems like a sort of general lack of knowledge and, more importantly, care about things outside of the big bad united states.
I could understand to some degree if this was a more common thing all around but it just doesn't seem to happen with online people from other countries. Don't get me wrong; I'm friends with lots of american people online who know the difference but of those who don't why the heck are they all from the US? It just helps to paint the idea of 'ignorance' more firmly in peoples minds when stuff like that happens and I'm actually kinda curious why it's so confined to one country, albeit a damn big one...
ick. Sounds a bit more flamey than I meant but I hope you get my point ^^;
I don't generalise anyone if I can help it and I try to keep an open mind but there's a lot of silly people out there and it's hard not to form some sort of opinion based on them =/
He's got a point, America is a good place for all the fat, lazy, and ignorant to gather. One of the only countries where wasting food and other items isn't looked down upon much and in some cases, is even encouraged. It's really a pity because in reality most Americans aren't like this; (lazy and ignorant, it's true that alot of Americans are fat) our school systems aren't nearly as bad as they are made out to be and most of us aren't lazy. This small percentage of Americans give the entire country a very bad name, if only there weren't so many than I think we wouldn't be looked down on as much because it's not just an unsupported stereotype keeping alot of people **** at us.
I don't think some people understand what this is like for a scot... it's like calling an american a canadian, or a chinese person japanese or visa versa in those situations. It's not just confined to UK, it seems like a sort of general lack of knowledge and, more importantly, care about things outside of the big bad united states. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
O, shiznats... Hehe, I'll just go back and... edit a few... posts.... <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Didn't really think it bothered you that much but now that you mention it I can see why some people living in the UK could get upset. Though I think there is a difference in calling an America Canadian and calling a Scot English b/c Scottland is part of the UK, they are in the same country, arent' they? (plz don't tell me I'm wrong, I'll feel like such a dumb***) Well, in the future I will use the UK when talking about Great Britain.
through democracy the people have some small kind of control as to who governs them, so perhaps the people are indirectly to blame for all the crap the US governments get upto..?
well, the people over voting age anyway...
I've got lots of english friends and stuff so it's no biggy, it's just that some dormant part of our kilt-wearing, corpse-eating (yup, we did... probably one of the reasons the romans wouldn't come near us XD ), caber-tossing forefathers still demands recognition as our land being a wild and different place from england that's all <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
now back to our regularly scheduled topic... ^~
I don't think some people understand what this is like for a scot... it's like calling an american a canadian, or a chinese person japanese or visa versa in those situations. It's not just confined to UK, it seems like a sort of general lack of knowledge and, more importantly, care about things outside of the big bad united states.
I could understand to some degree if this was a more common thing all around but it just doesn't seem to happen with online people from other countries. Don't get me wrong; I'm friends with lots of american people online who know the difference but of those who don't why the heck are they all from the US? It just helps to paint the idea of 'ignorance' more firmly in peoples minds when stuff like that happens and I'm actually kinda curious why it's so confined to one country, albeit a damn big one... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd say its just about as bad as being from mexico or canada and hearing people talk about "Americans" as being only US citizens. It is called "North <i>America</i>" folks.
Sure if you talk about america as a continent it holds true but for the candians they seem pretty happy with the idea that they're not part of it. Can't speak for the mexicans though because in all honesty I've never actually met one o.O
Well of course, because they don't. But I've seen people get very incensed when they ask US citizens about their nationality, and they reply, "I'm an American", or "I'm from America". It gives the impression that you think the US is the only country on the continent.
did you typo that or do you honestly mean that I seem to think the US is only country on the continent? If i said anything that gives anyone an impression like that then it's news to me o.O
I suppose sarcasm does have trouble getting across the internet sometimes, but other than that I don't know what you're getting at <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<b>edit:</b> I think boggle summed it up best =P
That is the impression it gives whether you you intend it or not. (to eliminate the colloquialism, it gives the impression that you think the US is the only significant country in the continent.)
they live in america, so calling themselves american is totally acceptable.
if you read in things about discounting other nations, i think your just looking for pointless things to argue about.
He's making me paranoid =s