How the USA is regarded from the rest of the world

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Rick Mercer of Canada had a popular TV called "Talking to Americans"

You can find assorted clips on YouTube:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZpjtagJ-0w&feature=related[/youtube]

Australians also seem to enjoy the "Talking with Americans" approach

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YggugRaaEY&feature=related[/youtube]

Even American quizz shows are dumbed down

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4M-K9iA4R0&feature=related[/youtube]

that last clip is from a show meant to make fun of stupid people. i'm sure you could find enough stupid/ignorant people to fill up clip shows like the others in other countries as well.


we do seem to make for easy targets, though.

calling french fries "freedom fries" is one of my favorite. like... seriously? it's not bad enough that we mislabel stuff already? no one finds it odd that "fish and chips" means the same thing in los angeles, boston, or london... yet ordering "a side of chips" will get you different results. that said, many more americans than a lot of us would like to admit will take offense to someone calling fries "chips" or chips "crisps" or even just speaking in a different accent.

it's not like other countries don't have people like this.
it's more like we've got a sample of everyone, and stupid people are almost always louder than smart people.

also: football.

on superbowl sunday (american football championship game), i walked across the street to the liquor store to buy some avocados. the store is run by algerian immigrants and i had to try very hard not to laugh at the conversation i witnessed upon entering the store. two middle-aged white people, a woman and a man, were loudly condemning the man running the store for not having a sale on beer for the superbowl. they sounded angry when the man admitted he didn't even know what the superbowl was. he explained to them that he was a big football fan (real football, not american football) and that football meant something else everywhere but here. the woman kept trying to tell him that "that sport's called soccer. you can't just call your sport football because football does so good here." they told the man that "you and yours need to figure out why america's so great and stop trying to muck up good sports like football by using the name for pansy sports like soccer." they stopped talking to him and continued their conversation out the door, still laughing about how ignorant the man was and how "soccer is for pansies."

i hate it when other people make me look stupid-by-association. i noticed an FAF poster low on a wall behind the counter so i asked which club he roots for. he said he doesn't actually care about football, he only watches when the algerian team does good, internationally. he just likes the ridiculous things "rednecks" say, when given the slightest opportunity.

then he rang up my avocados and beer for less than he charged the previous couple for their beer. same beer but he said they were right about the superbowl beer sale and that he'd just forgotten to put the sign up that morning when he came in.



i don't see why it's such a big deal that nonamericans dislike ignorant americans. i'd say people generally dislike ignorant people.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Draft_Riots

At the start of the war, yes, there was a lot of volunteers. But they expected the woah to be over in a few weeks. It was only afterwards that they had to draft. You could get out of it by paying $300 to hire a substitute (a statute that was still on the books during the Vietnam war, and yes, someone did try it...

It wasn't W, was it?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HhYE7KCXCg[/youtube]

About half way through, Stephen Amos talks about one of his experiences in the USA.

Nah, W already had 'people'...

12 pages worth of discussion and all i can sum it up with is:

USA > world

We are 'mercans and we don't care what the rest of the world thinks. Since we can beat up anyone we don't have to care.

ruveyn

Considering Vietnam and the current endless war in the Middle East where a bunch of military primitives have held the US at bay far longer than WWII, you must have some other nation in mind.

They did not win. Our leaders lost their nerve. We could have busted the dykes in No. Vietnam and they would have starved to death. But Landslide Lyndon wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to be loved. Under Johnson and MacNamarra the war was not fought to lead to a victory. How unfortunate for us.

If our people had the nerve we could have ended the war in a week.

ruveyn

Orly?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO42gvCSPI&feature=related[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO42gvC ... re=related