The Big Picture: Mailbag

hermes

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I always thought the rivalry between England and France was the reason to the animosity in America. After all, they shared the center of the civilized western world during centuries and there are even books dedicated to their rivalry (A Tale of Two Cities). When British emigrated to America and founded the US, they carry their prejudice with them.
 

hermes

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Gatx said:
Casual Shinji said:
No shit!

I actually preffered Ang Lee's Hulk to the new one.

Sure it was still bad, but it had more artistic merit in one single scene than The Incredible Hulk had in its entire running time.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the mention of Hulk. Honestly I never watched ALL of it but it seemed alright. It seemed most of the complaints were that it wasn't a mindless action movie (which seems completely at odds with the whole great superhero movies getting recognition as great movies in general thing).
I am of the opinion that the problem was not that it wasn't a mindless action movie, but that the parts that weren't were original of the movie (not adapted from the comic book) and were not very good.

While I don't think the origins story of the comic is very good, the changes were obviously introduced to add extra drama to the character, to make him closer to the movies Ang Lee usually directs and, above all, made very little sense. Think of it like a previous version of the whole debacle of Michael Bay making Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles.

Needless to say, I don't agree with Bob in that one.
 

hermes

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Vzzdak said:
anthony87 said:
Could someone help me out here and explain just what it is about American highschools that makes them so different and horrible compared to the equivalent level of schools in the rest of the world?
Reading [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(Toffler)"]The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler[/a] would probably provide some good explanation for you. Essentially, the criticism is that high school was primarily designed as a means to prepare children for factory and assembly line work. For example, get you accustomed to arriving at your desk at specific times, taking instruction from your teacher/supervisor, perform repetitive tasks, take scheduled breaks of specific duration, etc.

If you get caught up working in government bureaucracy, then you might find that "high school" dynamics continue to apply to you. So consider that a warning to think about your career, unless you're one of the ones that enjoyed high school and would like to continue that until retirement.
That sounds awfully close to any other high school, not restricted to Americans...

I think its mostly because they function as miniature social ecosystem, with some of the people that use these forums being placed at the bottom of the social pyramid (bellow the bullies, the shallow girls, etc). I know it sounds cliche, but its accurate at points and retroactively feeds the stereotypes. Also, I don't think its so different in other parts of the world.
 

Saibh

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Jul 15, 2010
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Actually, I'd like to expand upon that "why men are portrayed as idiots", and what I've come to feel:

In the '50s, TV portrayed the ideal family. A strong, supportive, bread-winning father; a nurturing (if sometimes prone to overstep her bounds) beautiful housewife and mother; and a few scamp kids. This was the idealistic portrayal of men and their family. They were, as the saying goes, king of the castle.

But I still think, to a degree, TV portrays a fantasy life. Rather than having a super dad and father, he's average. He's fat, he's slobby, he's lazy, he's not terribly bright--and yet he has a smoking hot wife (who also makes money now), a gorgeous house in a gorgeous neighborhood, lots of friends, and a comfortable income (even if he works for a low-paying menial job). He usually isn't very affectionate or caring for his family, and yet a single act of kindness will remind his family that, really, despite all his faults, they still love him. He slacks off at his job, but you'll only occasionally get an episode dealing with a job crisis (then everything is back to the status quo).

This is another kind of "idealism". A kind where the man doesn't have to work hard, be affectionate, can sit around and watch TV and drink beer, and yet have a wonderful life. The worst thing that happens is occasionally bratty kids and a nagging wife.
 

ReiverCorrupter

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Bluecho said:
The Great JT said:
High school should be abolished.
Or at the very least made optional. There are so many kids in high school that don't care about how well they do there, and would probably be better off going into the work force. They sure aren't interested in getting into college or learning anything more the state has to teach them, so why not just get them working?
1) Because they will probably sincerely regret it later on in life when they're stuck in a dead end job and have little-to-no upward mobility.

2) Because an education isn't just a means to making money but a requisite for being an informed member of a democratic society.

3) Because minors cannot legally make their own decisions for a reason, they're too immature. (This is obviously related to point #1, but is important enough to mention separately.)

4) The state has a say for the same reason that it is illegal to beat or starve your children. Children are people and not property of their parents, but they do not have the full rational capacity to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, so they are reliant upon their parents. The state is there to ensure that their rights are protected.

(Things like the limited education that Amish students get should be illegal, religious freedom doesn't trump a person's right to an education or health care, though it is still very important. That's also why children of Jehovah's witnesses should be given transfusions in spite of their parent's religious views, which is legal in the UK, but not as much in the US.)
 

rickthetrick

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I could have sworn Crayola didn't rename flesh to peach till damn near the 90's Or maybe I just had really really old crayons. meh whatever.
 

itsmeyouidiot

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While I do agree high school may be unpleasant compared to your later years in life, it's really hard to notice because it's still a vast improvement over what comes right before it.

High school may be Hell, but compared to middle school it's Heaven.
 

bdcjacko

Gone Fonzy
Jun 9, 2010
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Maybe it was just me, but high school wasn't bad. I had a friends and a part time job, and things to do and I was by no means a "cool kid." But then again I didn't and still don't let stress get to me all that bad.
 

blackrave

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High school is tolerable if you remember few things
1. Numbers=strength
2. Fear is their weapon of choice (even when it gets physical)
3. Humor is best way to deal with most things
4. Sooner or later it ends, so don't do anything stupid
So as long as you follow these simple guidelines you should be ok.
 

Finalplayerryu

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Jul 21, 2011
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Sorry Bob, Highschool sure does suck, but only if you live in the US. In Austria for example, a bully would get expelled pretty fast if a few complains come in and there is no social pressure from other students.
 

Hugga_Bear

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May 13, 2010
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Finalplayerryu said:
Sorry Bob, Highschool sure does suck, but only if you live in the US. In Austria for example, a bully would get expelled pretty fast if a few complains come in and there is no social pressure from other students.
My feelings too. 90+% of the complaints I hear are US based, the majority of the rest of the world seems to be a-okay. I'm from the UK and there were three bullies in my school that I ever knew of, one was expelled, one reformed after about a year (primarily by me) and the other one attempted to bully me, we had an ongoing mini-war for about a year and then he finally backed down and grudgingly backed off trying to hurt others.

As for us and France, well it's more like a sports rivalry but you'll often find them being negatively portrayed, it's mostly tongue in cheek but that can be hard to miss and sometimes it's a genuine negative sentiment, left over from the centuries of war between us and their behaviour in WW2 (which wasn't quite as gallant as modern media portrays).
 

lowkey_jotunn

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Feb 23, 2011
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Maybe things have changed a bit in the decade+ since I graduated, but even for a scrawny, geeky, marching bando like me, High School was pretty fun. I had friends in the band, natch, made friends on the football team, since we played their halftime shows, and shared a practice field. In hanging out with the football guys, spent time hanging out with the cheerleaders.

So yeah, good times.
 

James Ennever

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Jul 11, 2011
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to amswer Matthew Anderson in th FB comments and to vent some steam

I have no victim complex, And Matthew, How many people did you actually help? The Nuremberg defence is the one most commonly associated with bullies who while in there ivory towers of social acceptance ignore the plight of the downtrodden Allen Probably was berated by people like your friends and you watched, you were just blind to the reality of what you were doing.
If you got through HS with out any emotional scars then congratulations just do not call every one who got mother F#c#%$ PTSD a person with a ?victim complex???.


ReiverCorrupter said:
Bluecho said:
The Great JT said:
High school should be abolished.
Or at the very least made optional. There are so many kids in high school that don't care about how well they do there, and would probably be better off going into the work force. They sure aren't interested in getting into college or learning anything more the state has to teach them, so why not just get them working?
1) Because they will probably sincerely regret it later on in life when they're stuck in a dead end job and have little-to-no upward mobility.

2) Because an education isn't just a means to making money but a requisite for being an informed member of a democratic society.

3) Because minors cannot legally make their own decisions for a reason, they're too immature. (This is obviously related to point #1, but is important enough to mention separately.)

4) The state has a say for the same reason that it is illegal to beat or starve your children. Children are people and not property of their parents, but they do not have the full rational capacity to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, so they are reliant upon their parents. The state is there to ensure that their rights are protected.

(Things like the limited education that Amish students get should be illegal, religious freedom doesn't trump a person's right to an education or health care, though it is still very important. That's also why children of Jehovah's witnesses should be given transfusions in spite of their parent's religious views, which is legal in the UK, but not as much in the US.)
Well the hsc is not that hard to get, as long as you can read, add 15 + 70 then you are ready for college in Australia? It is only after college when your marks are what make you?..
 

Harry Mason

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Mar 7, 2011
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I don't know, Bob. I think you could maturely handle doing an episode about Lost Girls.

There's certainly enough interesting material there. Look at it as a challenge!
 

mrhateful

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Apr 8, 2010
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I went to a nerd focused high school so high school it was some of my best years. It was there are learned how important being yourself is.
 

Durgiun

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Dec 25, 2008
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I don't know which high school Bob went to, but mine was rather pleasant. Sure, there was the crazy-ass teacher here and there, but otherwise it was pretty sane and nice. No bullies, no assholes (unless you count the crazy-ass teachers) or rampant stupidity. Just laziness. Lots and lots of laziness.
 

00slash00

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Dec 29, 2009
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junior year of high school sucked, senior year was pretty fun, but the rest of high school was just meh. not awesome or terrible, just school. by senior year i wasnt super popular but most people either liked me or felt neutral about me. i was well known amongst people i actually cared about and most people knew my name. a couple times i was singled out by assholes but for the most part high school was just school. i cant really relate to people who loved or hated high school