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Peter 
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 31 2004
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 9669
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 Posted: May 30 2005 at 23:13 |
As a Canadian, I naturally view Americans from above.
Seriously though, I view them as individuals, and thus --as with people everywhere -- as a mixed bag, with much more variety than is implied here.
I certainly don't view an individual as being equal to a government.
(That being said, I hope that next time Americans elect a government that seriously values consensus-building and acting within the constraints of international law. I could wish that such a US government were much more environmentally-responsible, and less driven by big oil, the military/industrial complex, and the religious right, than the current administration.)
I believe that most Americans are basically decent (if a bit navel-gazing) and friendly, and that I have more in common with them than there is that which divides us.
Edited by Peter
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Peter
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 31 2004
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 9669
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Posted: May 30 2005 at 22:53 |
[QUOTE= nacho]
Hey Borealis, that's not fair at all. I don't believe than in Québec "most people hate americans" (by "americans" I guess you mean people from the USA, I don't think you hate yourselves).
/QUOTE]
The continent that Canada, the USA, and Mexico share is not simply called "America," but North America. Canadians and Mexicans do not call themselves "Americans." On this continent, that word describes people from the USA only -- it is a political, not a geographic, designation. I know that in Europe the word "American" is sometimes (erroneously) used to describe any citizen of North, Central, or South America, but around here, "American" NEVER means Canadian or Mexican.
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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felixxx
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 15 2005
Location: Greece
Status: Offline
Points: 260
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Posted: May 30 2005 at 00:35 |
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undefinability
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 22 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 208
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Posted: May 29 2005 at 00:54 |
"obese, ignorant, blindly patriotic"
^ I agree with being obese and blindly patriotic, but I wouldn't be surprised many of the halfwits voting for ignorance are relying on the views of what our media deem us as, not what we really are. Not all of us are hicks, people, keep that in mind at all times.
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"Don't listen to me."
[IMG]http://www.freewebs.com/shahath/shadowid.jpg">
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ita_prog_fan
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 20 2005
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 258
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Posted: May 28 2005 at 04:58 |
I don't love'em and i don't hate'em
Sometimes they make great things... some other not.... so i do not vote
Actually i knew personally only 3 Americans and if you put them togheter you can easly obtain more than 400 kg... but saying the are, as a people, "obese, ignorant etc" is too much.
Must be said that they live in their own planet, in this regard they really are a "new Rome", sorrounded by billions of "barbarians" that, incredibly  , don't want to become Americans !
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Borealis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Neutral Zone
Status: Offline
Points: 599
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Posted: May 27 2005 at 20:36 |
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James Lee
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: June 05 2004
Status: Offline
Points: 3525
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Posted: May 27 2005 at 02:03 |
I visited Hull over ten years ago, and I can attest that the Québécoise hated Americans before it became trendy.
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nacho
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 18 2004
Location: Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 521
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Posted: May 26 2005 at 19:11 |
Hey Borealis, that's not fair at all. I don't believe than in Québec "most people hate americans" (by "americans" I guess you mean people from the USA, I don't think you hate yourselves). I can tell you for sure that here in Europe very few people hate americans. We can be, and usually are, very critical with the USA Government politics; we can also be very critical with some moral standards in the USA (Fox news devoted much more time to a certain nipple than to prisoners tortured in Iraq), but we DON'T hate americans.
It's that kind of comments that make people in the USA overreact at the minor criticism; I would do the same if I was continuously receiving the message that people in other country hates us Spaniards...
So my fellow "american" prog lovers: we will continue on being critical with your government and sometimes with you, but you are loved here  
Come visit whenever you want: you'll be welcomed!
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Borealis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Neutral Zone
Status: Offline
Points: 599
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Posted: May 26 2005 at 18:31 |
Voted for obese, ignorent and blindly patriotic. I live in Québec, just over the US (For the americans who doesn't knows it, there's a country over you called Canada, and Québec is the french part of it...) and even there, most people 'hate' americans, so imagine in Europe...
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Spanky
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 07 2004
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 389
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Posted: May 26 2005 at 18:20 |
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I voted obese, ignorant and blindly patriotic. I also happen to be an American.
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Coalinga knows how to party.
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Litl
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 09 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 112
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Posted: May 25 2005 at 12:18 |
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Hmmm... Being an American with a constant eye on human nature................
There is a gun shop down the street from me and on its sign outside it
says: Guns Save Lives. That, I'm afraid, is a statement
that is all too American right now: totally stupid but adhered to
because of ideals that allow for such stupidity. (I can't think of a
more clever or ornate word.)
Our conservative idealistic cadre of politicians got all in a huff
recently over a case of a woman who was in a 'persistant vegetative
state' and who the courts were going to allow to be taken off her
feeding tubes and allowed to die. They fumed over her right to
live, talked of the 'culture of life' they represent, the sanctity of
life, etc. This same group of politicians are the ones who most
fervently support the invasion of Iraq - which has claimed the lives of
between 22,000 and 109,000 innocent Iraqi civilians (depending on which
estimate you follow).
Mrs. Smith, who needs government assistance to raise her kids, is seen
as a lazy pariah and leech sucking on the public dole. Money from
the same pot is freely and effusively handed out to multi-billion
dollar corporations and this is seen as necessary.
I could go on with the contradictions but I won't. We are a
highly contradicted society. Keep in mind though (and I have to
constantly remind myself) the above represents only just over half of
us. (Unfortunately a voting majority.) So if we are seen
in the world as militaristic, greedy, and blinded by idealism
then I can't blame you for thinking so. At the same time half of
us truly care and put other things first before ignorant ideals and
greed.
Pax
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Garion81
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: May 22 2004
Location: So Cal, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 4338
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Posted: May 25 2005 at 00:06 |
If all three of your dogs hit the windshield when you slam on the brakes you just might be a red neck uh I mean an American. 
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"What are you going to do when that damn thing rusts?"
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spectral
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 04 2005
Location: Vatican City State
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
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Posted: May 24 2005 at 18:30 |
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My dog's an american, but I can't stop it sh1tting all over the floor. Just as I am making progress in dividing up the kitchen and making peace with the new linoleum, he wanders in and cr*ps all over the kitchen. Ends up taking all the best cookies too.
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"...misty halos made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine."
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Heptade
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 19 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 427
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Posted: May 24 2005 at 18:24 |
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Well, Yanks, as a Canuck, I can say that we like you
and we don't...but you could say that about anyone.
Generalization is a bit pointless...some of my best
friends are American (honest!)
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maddog
Forum Newbie
Joined: December 23 2004
Location: Greece
Status: Offline
Points: 26
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Posted: May 24 2005 at 18:13 |
 nacho wrote:
I cannot answer to this poll: I haven't personally met all the Americans.
I think there are a couple of Brasilians, four or five Canadians and maybe three Peruvians that don't even know I exist... |
Do you know their names?Because, exactly the same amount of americans and one gold-digger in Alaska named Frank don't know notihng about me...anyway,i think it's something we can do about it, if they don't live i Amazon area...(if they do i am afraid it will be more difficult to reach them)
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Vielleicht irrte sich der general-general-general
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spectral
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 04 2005
Location: Vatican City State
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
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Posted: May 18 2005 at 18:12 |
what country is properly represented by its government? just look at Britain! I believe both US and UK have the same "first past the post" electoral system. until proportional representation is introduced (as if that will ever happen), we'll never have a truly representative government of the people.
politics sucks, thank god for music!
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"...misty halos made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine."
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King of Loss
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 21 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Status: Offline
Points: 16412
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Posted: May 18 2005 at 18:05 |
George W. Bush is not a typical American. The typical American is well, Conservative, but not as Conservative as him or the many Neo-Conservatives in his Cabinet like Gonzales, Cheney or the ultra-warhawk Rumsfeld. America is not very well represented, folks because the government is MILES MILES more Conservative than the rest of the people.
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spectral
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 04 2005
Location: Vatican City State
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
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Posted: May 18 2005 at 18:00 |
If George W. Bush is a typical American, then heaven help us!
I like America - the geography, culture, the people I've come in contact with. But I despise their current foreign policy; I think it reflects badly on how the rest of the world views the average American - which is the essence of this topic. It's a shame how the actions of the few affects the perception of the masses.
Get rid of Bush and the neo-cons and more people will like America.
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"...misty halos made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine."
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King of Loss
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 21 2005
Location: Boston, MA
Status: Offline
Points: 16412
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Posted: May 18 2005 at 17:51 |
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Wow, this thread seems like its turning into another politics thread. Really interesting isn't it?
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Trotsky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 25 2004
Location: Malaysia
Status: Offline
Points: 2771
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Posted: May 17 2005 at 22:23 |
Yup, Gleam, caning is still practised in Malaysia, and our politicians also practise the art of dismissing history with glib, inane one-liners ... I'm not fond of either concept in general ... I don't think the caning has helped reduce the rape/abuse crimes for which its use is probably most justified
Re: gun control ... as music and gun fans what did you guys make of that Judas Priest case? I remember I was barely into my teens, when some kids were listening to some music and blew the brains out ... and half of America was up in arms about the subliminal music ... and all the time I wuz thinking "my God, nobody even questions how those kids got access to guns" ... how subliminal was that ...
Malaysia has an interesting scenario with guns ... After the Japanese surrendered, the Brits came back, and the (almost wholly Chinese) Malayan Communists fled to the jungle to wage a guerilla war (killing two of my family members incidentally). As part of an attempt to control guns, it became a capital offence to own an unregistered firearm. This law dating back to the 1940s was never changed, and to date, I've never met a private Malaysian citizen who owns a gun. Of course, it probably hasn't worked because Malaysian cities are still topping murder per capita rates on a global scale ...
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"Death to Utopia! Death to faith! Death to love! Death to hope?" thunders the 20th century. "Surrender, you pathetic dreamer.”
"No" replies the unhumbled optimist "You are only the present."
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How do you view the American?
