10 Things Most Americans Don?t Know About America

Agayek

Ravenous Gormandizer
Oct 23, 2008
5,178
0
0
Wakikifudge said:
While I actually agree with your stance on the article, I have to ask. Are you a robot? You're telling me that if someone walked up to you in the street and called you a piece of shit to your face (and I don't think you are one btw), you wouldn't feel even a little offended even though their statement has no merit?
I might feel some small degree of offense, but the extent of my response to it will be to completely ignore them.
 

RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
4,896
0
0
Agayek said:
Wakikifudge said:
While I actually agree with your stance on the article, I have to ask. Are you a robot? You're telling me that if someone walked up to you in the street and called you a piece of shit to your face (and I don't think you are one btw), you wouldn't feel even a little offended even though their statement has no merit?
I might feel some small degree of offense, but the extent of my response to it will be to completely ignore them.
Ok yes I see what you're saying now. I was only skimming the posts and yours kind of popped out to be (probably because of the numbered bullet points). Further reading of your posts has made me realize that you are in fact human.
 

Starke

New member
Mar 6, 2008
3,877
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
Starke said:
You've got a slight typo there, it should read 'Gist of Article: "A mix of the painfully obvious and the kitchen sink crazy."'

A lot of it is pretty obvious stuff that can get lost in the recent jingoism, but a fair amount is just batshit nuts.
You're confusing the gist with the specifics.

The specifics are a combination of the painfully obvious and batshit nuts. The gist is "America, you're not all that and a bag of chips. The rest of the world does not obsess over you (for better or worse) like you think it does."
Nah, the whole article radiates that mix of unwashed crazy and stating the painfully obvious. That's the gist. The specifics would be all the places where it's specifically batshit nuts or epic obviousness.
 

ElPatron

New member
Jul 18, 2011
2,130
0
0
ZephrC said:
ElPatron said:
Did you reply to me just to tell me that you don't care enough to reply to me?

Umm... okay? Thanks for letting me know, I guess?
No I replied "Cool story bro, you haven't proven anything in three paragraphs, I hate opinion articles which are more about self-gratification than actual opinions" but without the part I became pedantic with all the "OHHH SCIENCE" thing.
 

silverhawk100

New member
Dec 17, 2009
80
0
0
It strikes me that this person is really just saying "I hate the Consumerist elements of American Culture."
 

DJjaffacake

New member
Jan 7, 2012
492
0
0
Semitendon said:
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great

Again bullshit. This question seems to be attacking the issue from a "happiness" standpoint rather than actual quality of life. Quality of Life refers to the ability to get what you need to survive ( food, water, healthcare) and the comforts provided ( shelter, transportation, power) which for America (and most other modern countries) is actually quite nice. Now obviously this is not universally true for every citizen or every area of country, but the average is more than adequate on quality of life. Third world countries and a few poorly run dictatorships are the only countries in which the average citizen might have what could be considered a "poor" quality of life.
Not to be pedantic, but Quality of Life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life] is pretty much a measure of happiness. That's a massive oversimpification, but true in essence. What you're talking about is Standard of Living [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_of_living], which is basically a measurement of material wealth (again, an oversimplification, but still valid).
 

Whodat

New member
Jul 14, 2009
358
0
0
Having loved outside of the US (Ireland) I can acknowledge the fact that we are very sheltered and a little too narcissistic.
Living in Ireland, the majority of people had the reaction of "Oh, you're American... cool." they were very indifferent about it, and are also much more polite than the majority of US citizens I've met. Drivers, pedestrians, shop-owners, etc. were all very courteous and always made you feel welcome, probably because the size of stores and such, making it much more personal.

To be honest, I would move back out of country in a heartbeat.
 

Semitendon

New member
Aug 4, 2009
359
0
0
DJjaffacake said:
Semitendon said:
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great

Again bullshit. This question seems to be attacking the issue from a "happiness" standpoint rather than actual quality of life. Quality of Life refers to the ability to get what you need to survive ( food, water, healthcare) and the comforts provided ( shelter, transportation, power) which for America (and most other modern countries) is actually quite nice. Now obviously this is not universally true for every citizen or every area of country, but the average is more than adequate on quality of life. Third world countries and a few poorly run dictatorships are the only countries in which the average citizen might have what could be considered a "poor" quality of life.
Not to be pedantic, but Quality of Life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life] is pretty much a measure of happiness. That's a massive oversimpification, but true in essence. What you're talking about is Standard of Living [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_of_living], which is basically a measurement of material wealth (again, an oversimplification, but still valid).
Eh, I guess you have a half point. I approached the term from it's medical standpoint( I work in the medical field) and not it's more generic version. ( since I didn't know there was a generic version) but it appears that the two are related, happiness and Standard of Living, in the generic version, which went largly unaddressed in the list.
 

Semitendon

New member
Aug 4, 2009
359
0
0
ElPatron said:
Semitendon said:
2. Few People Hate Us

Again, Duh. Politician and buisness competitors might get pissed at each other, but the average person is more concerned with living their life than being pissed at the people of another country.
Actually, there is a growing number of people who are proud to be hated "by the rest of the world". It means "we" are jealous and somehow proves that their country is better.
Umm, what? I have no idea what you are talking about. There have always been groups of people who want to be outsiders, but these are not the average, and are generally not in significant numbers.

Please tell me specifically what " growing number of people" you are refering to. Bearing in mind that this group must focus on being hated by people of other countries. Which means that this group is large enough and noticible enough to be hated by other countries, and must actually have people in other countries that hate them, merely wishing or wanting to be hated is different than actually being hated.

Not that it matters much as this point is irrelevant twice over. Firstly the comment is "few people hate us" which means you would have to provide evidence that a significant number ( not a vocal minority) proves an alternative to be true to invalidate the list. Secondly, this number would have to match or be greater than average to invalidate what I said. There is no such group of people.

Still, I'd love to hear the explanation.
 

ElPatron

New member
Jul 18, 2011
2,130
0
0
Semitendon said:
Go to any YouTube video with "America", "4th of July", "American soldiers" or "American military".

Some times the front page of the comments is just a circle jerk of "Man, they hate America because of our FREEDOMZ" or "They know we are the best, so they use us as the scapegoat of the whole world - it ain't our fault", "Everyone hates us because they are too poor to buy a ticket to live here".


When there is a news channel broadcasting videos like these you know that they have something cooking.
 

Semitendon

New member
Aug 4, 2009
359
0
0
ElPatron said:
Semitendon said:
Go to any YouTube video with "America", "4th of July", "American soldiers" or "American military".

Some times the front page of the comments is just a circle jerk of "Man, they hate America because of our FREEDOMZ" or "They know we are the best, so they use us as the scapegoat of the whole world - it ain't our fault", "Everyone hates us because they are too poor to buy a ticket to live here"

When there is a news channel broadcasting videos like these you know that they have something cooking.
Okay. . . ??? Please remember I said that a "vocal minority" doesn't count, as it is not a representive of the average. Also, the idea that this group represents a "growing number of people" is laughable. And again, wishing to be hated, and actually being hated are two different things.

And, please go back and read my original critque of the list. In it you will find that I mention that the media survives on dramatizing minor problems/groups.

All your latest post does is reiterate what you said in your first one.
 

DJjaffacake

New member
Jan 7, 2012
492
0
0
ElPatron said:
Semitendon said:
Go to any YouTube video with "America", "4th of July", "American soldiers" or "American military".

Some times the front page of the comments is just a circle jerk of "Man, they hate America because of our FREEDOMZ" or "They know we are the best, so they use us as the scapegoat of the whole world - it ain't our fault", "Everyone hates us because they are too poor to buy a ticket to live here".

When there is a news channel broadcasting videos like these you know that they have something cooking.
In fairness, youtube is where you go for the lowest common denominator's opinion, not for a balanced view representative of the majority.
 

ElPatron

New member
Jul 18, 2011
2,130
0
0
DJjaffacake said:
In fairness, youtube is where you go for the lowest common denominator's opinion, not for a balanced view representative of the majority.
Replace "YouTube" by "the whole internet". There's just less videos outside youtube.
 

The Long Road

New member
Sep 3, 2010
189
0
0
This thread should be entitled 10 Things That Are True About Some People Living In New York City. Or the East Coast in general. The most vocal people from that region tend to think they are the focus of everybody in America, so they tend to think the same way about the world. Since the vocal ones are the ones who get heard, they're the ones who tend to set the stereotypes about everything.

Seems that this whole thing could be boiled down into "The United States is not Europe, therefore the US is inferior in these 10 ways..."
 

Wolf In A Bear Suit

New member
Jun 2, 2012
519
0
0
ElPatron said:
Semitendon said:
Go to any YouTube video with "America", "4th of July", "American soldiers" or "American military".

Some times the front page of the comments is just a circle jerk of "Man, they hate America because of our FREEDOMZ" or "They know we are the best, so they use us as the scapegoat of the whole world - it ain't our fault", "Everyone hates us because they are too poor to buy a ticket to live here".


When there is a news channel broadcasting videos like these you know that they have something cooking.
The idiocy of that video made me want to headbutt a wall, so I did. After I came to I registered that the man talking about the America related ignorance in Europe was making extremely ignorant statements and just proving the point. I live in Ireland and don't get me wrong I've met a lot of Americans and liked most of them. It's the minority that gives a bad name to the majority I feel and when you have an extremely vocal minority, who controls a lot of the media its always going to give your country a bad name if this shit is broadcast to the world
 

Catrixa

New member
May 21, 2011
209
0
0
Man, #2 is actually kind of comforting. Every time there is a thread on here or Reddit about America, a lot of people start ranting about how America is, quite possibly, the worst place ever and how damn tired they are of having to talk to anyone from there. I'm usually always left feeling bad for wanting to visit other countries (or, really, being alive in this one) because the existence of Americans seems to really piss some people off (I'm not saying they don't have good reasons, but I guess I don't want to go somewhere and be told I'm a waste of human life because I didn't pick a better country to be born in). But, I guess I've got to remember, these are Internet people. If I'm not pissing them off, someone else is. Internet people are, by far, not representative of all people :/
 

Adeptus Aspartem

New member
Jul 25, 2011
843
0
0
I'd say the "Knows nothing about the rest of the world" belong to all countries.

German television like to do random quizes on the streets with passerbys. They had to guess how long the border between Germany and Italy is.
They all gave answers.

Stupidity and ignorance have nothing to do with your nationality.. Alot of people are just pretty stupid and/or unenducated.
 

Khazoth

New member
Sep 4, 2008
1,229
0
0
...Okay, so. People do realize there is a difference between television stars, reality stars, and journalists.. and REAL PEOPLE, right?


God i'd hate to think what the rest of the world thinks about Japan if they judged them solely by television.