Us Damned Americans

[Amaris]

Iguana & CountZ should either be the name of an ice cream shop or a law firm.

Sounds more like a hip hop combo to me.

So not a cookie, er, biscuit shop either.

 

[JarodRussell]

(American) reactions to the earthquake in Japan.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/5238813/img/Anonymous/1299914762468.jpg

56 people. Including at least one duplicate person.

Out of over 100 million people in the United States on Facebook.

It's true. The monolithic group mind of America thinks like this.

Yes. This represents absolutely EVERYBODY in America. Everybody said exactly this when they saw the videos of Japan burning.

Seriously. You judge an entire nation based on a little over 50 people? And other nations say we're arrogant...

Those are quite interesting reactions. In no way did JarodRussell state that those comments are representative of all Americans or even a majority, yet you all jumped to this conclusion.
On the other hand, the OP started this thread after seeing possibly anti-American comments on YouTube, which we hopefully all agree don't represent the whole rest of the world or even a majority of it, and drew the conclusion that everyone must hate America from those comments.

The whole point is that some people have terrible, prejudiced and moronic opinions and say them on the internet, that such opinions are levelled by people of all nationalities against any other nationality and that such comments are by no means representative of the majority opinion.

I thank you.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Ah. Sorry - the opening post, especially those bolded bits, was idiotic too for the same reason. My bad.

All is good. I just try to keep things in perspective, which is admittedly not easy when dealing with this kind of stuff.

There was nothing in the OP that suggests he was deceitful, as he openly admitted his perspective might be skewed. He just sounded confused and angry to me.

He is applying a critical standard to others that he has not applied to himself, and if he did he would have failed to live up to it, criticising ALL Europeans for making assumptions about ALL Americans. One doesn't require perspective to realise that one cannot make assumptions about a whole continent of people based on what you see on TV, only common sense, the common sense he criticises others for not possessing.

Hypocrisy may be the wrong word, if anyone can come up with a better one, i'm open to suggestions

I would say "lack of self-awareness" or something to that effect.

Iguana & CountZ should either be the name of an ice cream shop or a law firm.

Sounds more like a hip hop combo to me.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Actually, I think considering that the point of the thread is to criticise people for thinking that all Americans are bigoted, it's easy to see why people might take such a comment attributed to simply "Americans" as being intended to re-enforce the idea that perhaps such a generalisation is in fact true.

In fact I doubt that was the intention, but I can see why people interpreted it that way.

So what do you think the purpose was of a Post about hideous comments on the disaster in Japan attributed specifically to Americans in a Thread about anti-Americanism?

 

[Itisnotlogical]

^^

This. Thank you RJDiogenes, I had meant to say something like that but couldn't find out how to say it in a way that made sense.

 

[Pingfah]

Actually, I think considering that the point of the thread is to criticise people for thinking that all Americans are bigoted, it's easy to see why people might take such a comment attributed to simply "Americans" as being intended to re-enforce the idea that perhaps such a generalisation is in fact true.

In fact I doubt that was the intention, but I can see why people interpreted it that way.

So what do you think the purpose was of a Post about hideous comments on the disaster in Japan attributed specifically to Americans in a Thread about anti-Americanism?

I dunno, maybe he just didn't think it through. Seems unlikely he would really believe that given his general attitude around here, BOD and all that

 

[JarodRussell]

Actually, I think considering that the point of the thread is to criticise people for thinking that all Americans are bigoted, it's easy to see why people might take such a comment attributed to simply "Americans" as being intended to re-enforce the idea that perhaps such a generalisation is in fact true.

In fact I doubt that was the intention, but I can see why people interpreted it that way.

So what do you think the purpose was of a Post about hideous comments on the disaster in Japan attributed specifically to Americans in a Thread about anti-Americanism?

The OP was wondering why an anti-american world view could even exist. And he also blamed the Politicians in Power for that. All I did was posting one example why someone could possibly perceive Americans as dumbasses.

Did I say they are in the majority? No.

The whole point is that some people have terrible, prejudiced and moronic opinions and say them on the internet, that such opinions are levelled by people of all nationalities against any other nationality and that such comments are by no means representative of the majority opinion.

Exactly.

 

[Subcommander R.]

The OP was wondering why an anti-american world view could even exist. And he also blamed the Politicians in Power for that. All I did was posting one example why someone could possibly perceive Americans as dumbasses.

Did I say they are in the majority? No.

Thats the sort of thing you really should provide context and commentary with to prevent misunderstandings.

Your intentions may have been noble, but it has caused some to take offense.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yes, of course, saying anything negative about any Americans automatically means you hate all Americans. Always assume the worst, it's just logical.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

^^

Read the comments in the video. Read the comments in similar videos. Read the comments on songs like "The Sound of Silence" and "Amerika".

It seems an awful lot like those people dismiss America and its people as simply being arrogant, ignorant and/or just plain stupid because of the actions of it's government.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yeah, a lot of people outside the USA are idiots too. Although I think you'd have to search very hard to find a more stupid ignorant group of people than youtube commenters, regardless of their nationality.

 

[BlobVanDam]

(American) reactions to the earthquake in Japan.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/5238813/img/Anonymous/1299914762468.jpg

Trust Facebook to breed idiots like this. Reading comments like this makes my blood boil.
I have a fair proportion of Americans on my Facebook friends list, and luckily none of them have been this stupid, so I don't consider this any reflection on America as a whole. In fact, everyone I've seen personally on FB has had genuine well wishes for Japan, as I'd imagine the majority do.
But I can't help but want to do evil things to people like this. But would that be a bad reflection on my country?

 

[RJDiogenes]

The OP was wondering why an anti-american world view could even exist. And he also blamed the Politicians in Power for that. All I did was posting one example why someone could possibly perceive Americans as dumbasses.

Did I say they are in the majority? No.

Okay, I'll take your word for that.

 

[Amaris]

(American) reactions to the earthquake in Japan.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/5238813/img/Anonymous/1299914762468.jpg

Trust Facebook to breed idiots like this. Reading comments like this makes my blood boil.
I have a fair proportion of Americans on my Facebook friends list, and luckily none of them have been this stupid, so I don't consider this any reflection on America as a whole. In fact, everyone I've seen personally on FB has had genuine well wishes for Japan, as I'd imagine the majority do.
But I can't help but want to do evil things to people like this. But would that be a bad reflection on my country?

Yeah, it takes someone mind blowingly stupid to make comments like those on Youtube and Facebook. I love the internet, but it also allows amazingly ignorant people to congregate, and that much stupid can be dangerous for anyone.

 

[siskokid888]

It's because we deserve it. We have caused so much pain and misery throughout the world we derserve to be the target of universal derision. And blaming it on "our leaders" is disingenuous. Don't we, "the people", in this "great democracy", select our leaders? Well, 35% of us do anyway. The worst thing that ever happened to the world was the North winning the civil war. If we had let the south go and form their desired racist mysogynistict illiterate jesus land, this country's power would not have become what it has, and our influence would have been much less around the world. Our "America first and best" bullshit and our actions to that end have caused almost unimaginable suffering. And the occasional band-aids we apply hardly make up for it.

 

[iguana_tonante]

^ I dunno if that was sarcasm, but as a non-American I disagree with that.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's because we deserve it. We have caused so much pain and misery throughout the world we derserve to be the target of universal derision. And blaming it on "our leaders" is disingenuous. Don't we, "the people", in this "great democracy", select our leaders? Well, 35% of us do anyway. The worst thing that ever happened to the world was the North winning the civil war. If we had let the south go and form their desired racist mysogynistict illiterate jesus land, this country's power would not have become what it has, and our influence would have been much less around the world. Our "America first and best" bullshit and our actions to that end have caused almost unimaginable suffering. And the occasional band-aids we apply hardly make up for it.

As an American, I disagree with almost all of this.

 

[Amaris]

It's because we deserve it. We have caused so much pain and misery throughout the world we derserve to be the target of universal derision. And blaming it on "our leaders" is disingenuous. Don't we, "the people", in this "great democracy", select our leaders? Well, 35% of us do anyway. The worst thing that ever happened to the world was the North winning the civil war. If we had let the south go and form their desired racist mysogynistict illiterate jesus land, this country's power would not have become what it has, and our influence would have been much less around the world. Our "America first and best" bullshit and our actions to that end have caused almost unimaginable suffering. And the occasional band-aids we apply hardly make up for it.

As an American, I disagree with this. I don't hold the whole citizenry of any country accountable for the actions of a few, or for the actions of a government that doesn't have 100% of it's people's support. I believe in personal responsibility, and I apply that to every situation. It is not my fault that some of my ancestors were assholes. I also cannot take credit for their accomplishments, so it balances out. All I can do is take responsibility for my actions. To do anything else is to take on guilt that doesn't belong to me, and can't be resolved by me.

 

[B.J.]

If we had let the south go and form their desired racist mysogynistict illiterate jesus land

Excuse me? Racist, yes, but where the hell did the rest of that come from? I don't believe the South was any more or less misogynistic, illiterate, or religious than the North at that point in time (discounting the oppressed slave population, obviously). Prove to me otherwise.

 

[Subcommander R.]

Yeah, a lot of people outside the USA are idiots too. Although I think you'd have to search very hard to find a more stupid ignorant group of people than youtube commenters, regardless of their nationality.

Yahoo news story commenters.

It's because we deserve it. We have caused so much pain and misery throughout the world we derserve to be the target of universal derision. And blaming it on "our leaders" is disingenuous. Don't we, "the people", in this "great democracy", select our leaders? Well, 35% of us do anyway. The worst thing that ever happened to the world was the North winning the civil war. If we had let the south go and form their desired racist mysogynistict illiterate jesus land, this country's power would not have become what it has, and our influence would have been much less around the world. Our "America first and best" bullshit and our actions to that end have caused almost unimaginable suffering. And the occasional band-aids we apply hardly make up for it.

Lacking the patience to create a pithy response, here's a picture of a raccoon with a lightsaber.