Why Does The World Think Americans Are Stupid?

[martin wilson]

Hi all
I went to New York years back, I thought the people were great, one teenager gave my young daughter a bangle while we were watching the St Patricks day parade, and generally they were like people everywhere are,no better or worse.
It takes a peculiar mindset to think that satirical shows like Family guys are specifc to Americans, they are universal and I recognise plenty of stuff that applies to my own country as well.
The only real problem I have with America is the feeling,right or wrong that their politics is drivfen by special interest,particularly corporate business, something we seem to be importing over here as well.
All the best.

[Roy Corduroy]

Richard, I've got an idea which is smart for America. Get China to extinguish our trillion dollar debt to them in exchange for San Francisco. That's right, just give it to them. Throw in Oakland, too. It would be worth it to get out of debt.

And it would be good for the citizens of the Bay Area. Put a little structure into their daily lives. Wanna be gay, smoke a joint, have a baby out of wedlock, hit a lick? No problem. Red China has rules for all that.

A win-win situation.

Roy

[protohistorian]

True enough DVV. I suspect that the combination of the ease of seeing others faults combined with the aggressiveness of the exporting of American culture might be playing a part also. I would not say That Americans are more stupid, rather it is easier for a Frenchman or Italian to see the American stupidity than their own. Americans are hands down the most aggressive at demonstrating their stupidity to others. Just are foreign conflicts alone provide a global saturation of disjointed American thought. Dave

[DVV]

You're right, Dave, although every country could be blamed for the same reasons.
Sarah Palin is called Berlusconi in Italia, and her French name could be Sarkozy.
I thus wouldn't blame Americans more than those who systematically mock them.

Bestest

[protohistorian]

While judging a culture solely on it's media is speculative at best, America is a capitalist society and the media reflects market demand. If there were no demand for Larry the Cable Guy on the History Channel, he would not be there. If 45% of the population did not consider Sara Palin competent, McCain would not have garnered 45% of the vote. There is more than good reason to speculate that nearly half of America is in fact just that way. Dave

[DVV]

What is sure is that anti-americanism comes from a superficial knowledge of America.
Europe should shut its tiny mouth, sometimes.

[Errata]

So I guess that you are all much nicer in the flesh than on the screen.

Rgds
John

Yeah, we really don't showcase the best of ourselves in the media. Except New Yorkers. They really are like that.

[John Savage]

Why Does The World Think Americans Are Stupid?

Like many others much of my knowledge of the USA comes from what I have seen on the television, thus US television comedies tend to show that Americans have no sense of humour and will laugh at anything, whilst cops and robbers programmes always end in a ludicrous car chase that suggests the average life of a police car would probably be about three weeks! Your politicians, I am sorry to say, often give a bad impression (although I freely admit our are not much better).

However travel, as the saying goes, broadens the mind, and a couple of years ago I found myself paying an all too short visit to San Francisco - what a revalation. People were so friendly and courteous, waiters and shop assistants, hotel staff and even the immigration officers at the airport, all of them polite and eager to help. When uttering that old cliche "have a nice day" they sounded as though they meant it; even a beggar on the street (of whom there seemed to be many) was polite when his request for funds was met by a Yorkshire repost of B*gger Off!

So I guess that you are all much nicer in the flesh than on the screen.

Rgds
John

[DVV]

Let's weep and mourn together.

[Rubyretro]

[QUOTE][QUOTE]

Happy casebookers....who don't know about who are Christine Angot, Bernard-Henri Levy and Jamel Debbouze....[/QUOTE

I do.

[Robert]

We have upper class twits over here. Monty Python did a sketch about them.

[DVV]

Chilling it is, David. I briefly thought of pairing them up with their French (or European) equivalent, but it wouldn't make much sense on this forum. ;-)

Happy casebookers....who don't know about who are Christine Angot, Bernard-Henri Levy and Jamel Debbouze....

[Robert]

We used to run the world, and we weren't all that popular. Now it's the Americans' turn. Power is a double-edged sword. It provides a kind of security, but the more power one has the more interests one has, and so the power is exercised in support of those interests which either leads to overstretching or the acquisition of yet more power....

[mariab]

Chilling it is, David. I briefly thought of pairing them up with their French (or European) equivalent, but it wouldn't make much sense on this forum. ;-)

[DVV]

A most chilling list, Maria !

To be fair, we have the same nuts in Europe, but they're less famous.