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donfan
Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 217
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 Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:36 am Post subject: If ignorance is bliss.... |
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I've noticed reading through these threads, especially the ones concerning the top 3,5 etc that Americans only ever include things that are American whereas Aussies, Canadians and Brits have a mixture of different countries.
Is there some law in America that says you cannot appreciate things from another country?
To all Americans - get out, explore a bit and you might just discover that not all that is good orignates from the good old USA. |
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China Dim Drone
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 25
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:15 am Post subject: Re: If ignorance is bliss.... |
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| donfan wrote: |
| Is there some law in America that says you cannot appreciate things from another country? |
I do not rightly know if it is a law as such, but it is certainly enforced as one in the sense of 'self-enforcement'. One thing that struck me in my time in the bad old US was not so much the lack of foreign news as more its sheer absence. The world is America to Americans. Believe me, go down to Texas and experience for yourself all of the urban 'myths'. You will have people with college degrees ask you what part of Sweden Africa is in. You will have people ask you if there are computers in Europe, if camels walk from the Nile to the Thames, and so on and so forth. Had Bush ever been abroad before doing so on Airforce 1 (or whatever it is called)? I think not (we know for sure that he has never been anywhere near Vietnam, for example). Has any US president ever been abroad before taking up office?
Remember also that if you begin to appreciate things from different countries it only makes it harder if and when you begin to want to carpet-bomb them. |
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Ailian
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 192
Location: PRC!
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:19 am Post subject: Re: If ignorance is bliss.... |
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| donfan wrote: |
| Is there some law in America that says you cannot appreciate things from another country? |
It's a bit difficult to appreciate things that you don't -- or can't -- see, especially when you don't know of them in the first place. Considering the insane amount of anything having to do with entertainment (television programs and networks, movies, etc.) in the US, it's hardly surprising that few non-American shows are broadcast. Back home in New Orleans, the only non-American television shows that I could watch were old British comedies (PBS), one or two old British dramas (PBS), and one old French soap opera (local station). (All of these were on broadcast television -- we didn't have cable or satellite or whatnot.) When I was a student in Boston, I was able to access (if I were lucky!) a Spanish station or two, but, outside of that, it was all American shows or the same British comedies aired on PBS. If I were to want to watch anything else (I'm addicted to bad Japanese dramas [ah, Kimura Takuya...] and the SMAP variety shows), I would have to go to great lengths to get it (the sole Japanese market which also rented videos, downloads from the Internet, etc.). I'm sure that for many others -- assuming that they even know of the shows -- it's much the same. I assume that countries are just better with providing a wide range of television programs or films, for whatever reasons those may be.
(I should note that, from what I've seen at friends' homes and have heard, there are more selections available on satellite and cable these days. I know that Iron Chef is broadcast on the Food Network and that there is a station called "BBC America" that broadcasts various British shows [some old, some new from what I could tell], as well as a few speciality language channels and an "International Channel" which all broadcast various countries' programs, so who knows what's currently available?) |
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Seth
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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actually, a lot shows on the US airwaves these days tend to be british remakes, especially a lot of the reality TV garbage.
in which case, this is the 'international' forum where most american posters are posting from outside the US and are well aware of life on the outside. obviously every country has it's own sports stars and favorite tv shows, it's silly to judge people on that. if you want to start an america bashing thread, by all means, feel free. no need to make up excuses.
come now, we need to hear for the 1,762nd time all the theories about insularity and have 'well, not ALL americans are bad' occasionally thrown in for good measure. ludwig is already here being nasty, so that point is covered. moonraven should be here soon. too bad commie smurf and bindair aren't around to defend the fatherland. |
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Snoopy
Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 185
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| If ignorance is bliss, the Gulf Arabs must be constantly extatic. |
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Boy Wonder
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 453
Location: Clacton on sea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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Definition of complete ignorance =An americanised Gulf Arab.
A wonderful combination of hereditary death defying ignorance and inane stupidity. |
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lagerlout2006
Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 985
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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In Quebec (Cndn province) people are also like this. It' the whole world.
I recall a list of questions that were asked by Americans when crossing into Canada,,,not making this up.
Is Niagara Falls in walking distance of our hotel? (In Vancouver.)
And that was one of the more intelligent questions,,, |
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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, an ancient issue that we need not rework since obviously, some Americans don't fit into this kind of description.
But American unsplendid isolationism is at its worst when Americans start whining about ungrateful non-Americans heaping criticism on good ol' Usakistan.
Seriously - Americans ought to be broader-minded in accepting others' opinions on them.
Less like mimosas, always crying foul when hearing unflattering comments.
I am now reading LOLITA, a most wonderful book although less so for the seemingly obvious reason and much rather for its linguistic beauty; yet critics initially bewailed the imagined fact that Vladimir Nabokov (A Russian anti-American???) had shown unhygienic anti-American tendencies in this novel...
Such beliefs by mainstream Usakis make me shudder and doubt their rationalism! |
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jpvanderwerf2001
Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Ignorance knows no national boundaries. I've met ignorant (and insular) people in every country I've been. It's just another universal problem that people seem only to cite in regards to Americans. Why that is might be an interesting topic... |
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leeroy
Joined: 30 Jan 2003
Posts: 777
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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May I?
Most people in the world are ignorant.
The only difference is that Americans (as in, citizens of the USA) are under far greater scrutiny than citizens of Any Other Country. Also bear in mind that it would be "Racist" to state that "Most Nigerians/Indians/Peruvians are stupid" - whereas it is considered to be positively polictically savvy to state (with some authority) that "Americans are politically naive and/or ignorant (and thus, implicitly, stupid)".
(I dare anyone to create a paragraph with more punctuation symbols, errors and issues than the one above!)
The problem is that the President of the United States is by far the Most Powerful Man in the World. By a Long, Long way... So - it's cool for a bunch of people from (say...) Bhutan to be ignorant, because it has no real effect on the real world (outside of Bhutan). But when a hundred million (and that is a conservative estimate) people vote for a muppet like Bush - the effect is far greater, thus, the focus on the people that have voted on him is far more, um.., focused..
I am drunk, but deep down somewhere, I have a point.
Tomorrow, I shall erase this post and re-phrase it more articulately. |
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Aramas
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 874
Location: Slightly left of Centre
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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Bah! Americans are so ignorant that they call trance "Euro-trance", and reserve the original term for the pathetic hip-hop/trance b@stardized hybrid form that seems to be the best they can do. Dumb fokker barbarians miss the point entirely. There's no place for d*ck-swinging egotism in trance, and that pretty much rules America out 
There's not one American track in my entire playlist!  And yet there's over a dozen Canadian ones! 
And what can you say about a country that drinks kid-strength cat piss and calls it 'beer'? 
America: Taking the short bus all the way to the top!  |
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Seth
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile
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| Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:50 pm Post subject: all i wanna do is do it |
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| Aramas wrote: |
| Bah! Americans are so ignorant that they call trance "Euro-trance", and reserve the original term for the pathetic hip-hop/trance b@stardized hybrid form that seems to be the best they can do. Dumb fokker barbarians miss the point entirely. There's no place for d*ck-swinging egotism in trance, and that pretty much rules America out |
that's probably the most retarded critique of america i've heard yet. trance music? come on, we can do better than this. this further edifies my position that london DJs are w*nkers (think 'kevin and perry go large'). you can critique the US on a lot of things but music isn't one of them. i expect better next time!
i'm disappointed by the lack of spite in this thread. roger came close, but it's not enough yet. we need to make this the very best anti-american thread EVAR. we still need someone to say 'once i walked into a restaurant and the americans were talking too loud.' we also need a few 'i taught at this school once and this american teacher thought he knew everything.' we also need some more examples of geographical impairment, followed up by 'but there's ignorance in every country' a few more times. we also need a few more 'bush is an idiot and so are people who vote for him' to stir it up. i haven't heard anyone say yanks are fat obese pigs yet, either. some canadian lefties would be nice, too. any volunteers?
this will be a fabulous production. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 1:17 am Post subject: |
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What nobody had mentioned here is that American-made movies and television programs are so SUPERIOR to fare found in other countries!
(Bring it on!) |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 1:25 am Post subject: |
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. . . but the reality is I would rather watch a movie that I don't have to read (there are exceptions, of course: The Passion of the Christ and Dances With Wolves to name a couple). I would guess that there are French that MUCH prefer movies that are featured in their own language and Chinese would like to watch movies presented in their language. (I've seen my fair share of dubbed movies - - still not quite the same, are they?) I watch American movies that are filmed in locations around the world. Sure, the perspective of the characters are from an American sensibility, but I get an idea of cultures and behaviorisms by watching these movies. If I want the REAL culture, then I read a book or (in a perfect world) go to visit the country. For example, I had a 'general' idea of what China was all about (lots of people, kids are super-intelligent, everyone was friendly and/or a communist) before I came here - - - now I know a lot better. I would have never gotten that from a Chinese-made movie.
As for watching English programs from England or Australia or whatever, I've certainly watched a few, but it is sometimes a chore to wade through local dialects and slang, so I go with something that is entertaining and relaxing to ME. As an American, that would be American-made movies and programs. |
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Aramas
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 874
Location: Slightly left of Centre
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 3:28 am Post subject: |
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Cheeses, Seth! Who sewed up your arse? Didn't the gratuitous overuse of emoticons give you a wee hint? And no, having one's 'tongue-in-cheek' is not gay foreplay.
Egregious tosser, I say! Flaccid bottom-feeder! O shaver of gerbils and bather in wee-wee, methinks you overestimate the importance of being earnest 
And a note for our special American friends: This is not serious!
Last edited by Aramas on Fri Oct 29, 2004 3:52 am; edited 2 times in total |
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