|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
 Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| gang ah jee wrote: |
| By the way, Hawking is British. |
Ah....but his voice machine has an American accent.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| That is to help him not sound like a drunken soccer thug. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
An Experiment.
I've created 2 threads:
Thread A and Thread B
One doesn't mention America at all, and one is all about them. Let's see which one gets the most hits... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| gang ah jee wrote: |
| By the way, Hawking is British. |
Ah....but his voice machine has an American accent. |
Obviously yet another example of those inconsiderate USA Imperial Hegemons trying to put their imperial stamp on everything under the sun or something like that.   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Adventurer wrote: |
| ...and if someone is going to claim someone slamming Bush is being anti-American that is ridiculous. |
| Daskalos wrote: |
| The greater number of anti-US threads on this board is merely a reflection of the fact that official US policy these days... |
This does not fly, Adventurer and Daskalos.
I critique the W. Bush Administration. Others here, like Kuros and Plig, critique the W. Bush Administration on the same grounds: we do not approve of much of anything at all that comes from the W. Bush White House. I think we all agree that the Iraqi War was and remains wrong as well.
Those whom BJWD references here, though...W. Bush makes a nice pretext. He enables them to denounce America and the American system and govt as rotten to the core and a plague upon the Earth -- something they have done since far before Jan. 2001.
World of difference, gentlemen.
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| ...his voice machine has an American accent. |
He explains this in Black Holes and Baby Universes. An American company invented the technology and gave him a prototype. By the time the British caught up with the technology, Hawking had grown accustomed to the American accent and considered it his own "voice." Would not change accents.
His choice. Wise choice, I might add. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:07 am Post subject: Re: Right now |
|
|
| BJWD wrote: |
Right now, as I type this, 12 of the 14 top topics on CE are about America. Of the other two, one is about an American (S.H.) and the other beer.
Hows that for balance! |
How about a new rule. You can only discuss America is you're actually an American. No Canadians, Kiwis, Brits, Aussies, or whomever else may begin or enter into a discussion about America (except for travel) and American policy. In exchange, us Americans will stay out of all discussions regarding Canada, NZ, Australia, and Britain. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:41 am Post subject: Re: Right now |
|
|
| huffdaddy wrote: |
| BJWD wrote: |
Right now, as I type this, 12 of the 14 top topics on CE are about America. Of the other two, one is about an American (S.H.) and the other beer.
Hows that for balance! |
How about a new rule. You can only discuss America is you're actually an American. No Canadians, Kiwis, Brits, Aussies, or whomever else may begin or enter into a discussion about America (except for travel) and American policy. In exchange, us Americans will stay out of all discussions regarding Canada, NZ, Australia, and Britain. |
I wouldn't support such a rule. After all, the U.S. is the world's major superpower, economic entity, and since many of the teachers here are
Canadians, America is their neighbour. And England is one of America's main allies, so the people of the U.K. are affected. Those who say non-Americans shouldn't talk about the U.S. (I don't think you are one of them, you were making a point) know that U.S.'s influence will encourage people to discuss the U.S. a lot. I wish more people on this board would talk about issues related to Africa, the Indian-subcontinent rather than how bad either Americans or Muslims are or Jews. It is so old. It feels like eating corn bread everyday like during the Great Depression.
How about people trying to promote talking about different regions rather than focusing too much on the U.S., Islam, Israel, or whatever...
I am for more variety and also an attempt at balance, hearing what others have to say without getting into personal attacks, so the CE forum doesn't look like a garbage dump full of horse and cow manure. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| ...his voice machine has an American accent. |
He explains this in Black Holes and Baby Universes. An American company invented the technology and gave him a prototype. By the time the British caught up with the technology, Hawking had grown accustomed to the American accent and considered it his own "voice." Would not change accents.
His choice. Wise choice, I might add. |
Damn him!  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Adventurer wrote: |
| I think Gopher has also been pitching in with variety. |
I love how you say that with a straight face. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| ...and if someone is going to claim someone slamming Bush is being anti-American that is ridiculous. |
| Daskalos wrote: |
| The greater number of anti-US threads on this board is merely a reflection of the fact that official US policy these days... |
This does not fly, Adventurer and Daskalos.
I critique the W. Bush Administration. Others here, like Kuros and Plig, critique the W. Bush Administration on the same grounds: we do not approve of much of anything at all that comes from the W. Bush White House. I think we all agree that the Iraqi War was and remains wrong as well.
Those whom BJWD references here, though...W. Bush makes a nice pretext. He enables them to denounce America and the American system and govt as rotten to the core and a plague upon the Earth -- something they have done since far before Jan. 2001.
World of difference, gentlemen. |
Oh, maybe a neighborhood of difference, but surely not a world. It's not as though the bad things the U.S. government has done in world affairs started with GWB. And it's not surprising that a country that touts itself as the first and last best hope for humanity comes under such scrutiny, especially during such tmes as the reign of GWB.
Misguided American foreign policy of the last 100 years is to blame for many of the things wrong with the world today (e.g., Cyprus). Well-guided American policy should also get the credit for many things that are right in the world today (e.g., the EU), but they don't.
Can I blame non-Americans (or Americans for that matter) who blame everything wrong in the world today on America? No, because our hands are filthy. Do I think that, as often as not, America gets it right? Yes, I do. Maybe even more often than not. But when you set yourself up as the arbiter of what is good and right and just in the world, a maybe 50 percent track record isn't good enough to keep most people from hating you, especially when the things you've done wrong are as wrong as some of the things America has done.
It is ludicrous to expect that the victims of US foreign policy should share my view that, on balance, we have done as much or more good than ill. In their admittedly parochial experience, this is demonstrably not so.
At any rate, despite the always present resentment against Goliath, I maintain that the greater number of threads (though not all) on this board that villify the US is due to the fact that current US policy, in most areas, is heinous. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
|
| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thinking about some of the topics I've almost posted, and then shelved, I remembered this thread. I think one of the reasons we end up discussing America so much is because of the high percentage of North Americans who frequent this forum. There's things about the EU or Britain I'd love to discuss. But I always decide against posting them, because I know there aren't enough Britishers or Europeans to make it a worthwhile debate. The only non-British European I'm aware of is Jurgen, and do enjoy his perspective the few times he posts here.
I've also tried animal rights a few times, but there's only so much mileage you can go with that, again because of the interests of the posters here.
Gender issues are often a lot of fun, but there's not a wide enough variety of posters for it to really take off. I almost posted about the politics of the female orgasm (very political stuff believe it or not) the other day, but declined because for that to have worked we need more women, including a couple of 'feminazis' and at least one fullblown female apologist for patriarchy ( ) and a few opinions in between. I think perhaps Chimpum would have had some interesting stuff to say about it, but otherwise the thread would have been a dud, with posters like BJWD going:  , and jinju accusing me of being a feminazi... which I don't mind...I'll be your feminazi  Afterall, I'm already the resident 'terrorist sympathiser' (for those who are too lazy to properly consider my posts).
If this forum had a few more Europeans, a few more non-American/Canadian English speakers, a few more women and a few more non-whites this place would rock a lot more. But for the moment, it's mostly only issues involving the US, the Middle East and Islamaphobia that make the top of the hit parade. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
