Why Does The World Think Americans Are Stupid?

[Fleetwood Mac]

Demand is created by marketing and isn't necessarily about real choice. In fact, we really don't have a lot of choice. Everything is just a slight variation of something that we already have seen. Cars, movies, TV shows, talk radio nuts, all the same. And we buy products that are all the same. It's a sad world really and I want to go back to wagons and summer and winter pastures.

Mike

I'd agree in part. Demand is created by marketing to an extent. There has to be a 'need' to be satisfied. Maybe it's more accurate to say that many people buy products and services to suit a need that has been distorted through advertising.

That's interesting about not having a great deal of choice. Again, I agree to an extent. You would have to compare our world with a world of choice to arrive at a conclusion. Maybe this is the best of all worlds when it comes to choice and it couldn't really get any better.

I would say, though, that the freedom to choose products is not the freedom that some assume. It's a negative kind of freedom designed to take our collective mind away from grand political ideas. One I believe that is neccessary for peace and order - human beings are extremely dangerous when they are allowed to believe they are virtuous and allowed to take action on this ill-conceived notion of 'changing the world for the benefit of everyone, they'll thank us for it later'.

[Fleetwood Mac]

It's funny. I was one of the only one of my friends to support the war, and I was told it was because I was "European" in thinking. There was no possible way that they could accuse me of buying into Bush's b.s., mostly because I was the one who informed them of it. They could not understand that people AND governments do the right thing for the wrong reasons. They could not understand that I thought the U.S. ought to have been shot by the international community for what we did to the Kurds in the first Gulf War. And they didn't understand that I thought that when you screw someone over to such a horrifying degree, you have an obligation to clean up the mess you made. And they couldn't understand that we got into WWII for the same reasons as Bush wanted into the gulf, that we SHOULD have gone in to stop the holocaust if nothing else. But we didn't. We liberated the concentration camps as an afterthought. Such an afterthought that they didn't even bother to warn officers that they might run into camps. But they did liberate them. The right thing for the wrong reasons.

And they thought that was terribly European thinking. Justifying after the fact. Rather "french occupation" thinking. Of course, being the only one of them who had in fact spent time in Europe... it's just sad to think that responsibility for fellow humans is a flaw now. But it is criminal to lie to someone about why they are being sent to die in a far off place. The very least you owe them other than a meager paycheck is the truth.

European school of thought? Certainly not since the United States's 1890s colonial ventures, which have been perioidic thereafter.

Is it really responsibility for other human beings? or is it pushing your values onto another human being? And what makes us so special that others should adopt our values?

And that's an interesting comment: right thing for the wrong reasons eh. Too pragmatic for my liking. For me, there are only principles; either you believe in something or don't, no matter the outcome.

[The Good Michael]

It's like Zeichen Theory that the Germans gave us. I believe it completely. The more I travel, the more unoriginal everything is.

Mike

[Limehouse]

Demand is created by marketing and isn't necessarily about real choice. In fact, we really don't have a lot of choice. Everything is just a slight variation of something that we already have seen. Cars, movies, TV shows, talk radio nuts, all the same. And we buy products that are all the same. It's a sad world really and I want to go back to wagons and summer and winter pastures.

Mike

There's a term for it - simulacra - in its simple form - a theory that arues there is no original version of anything and all things - particularly consumer goods -are a version of something that has gone before. Jean Boudrillard is its principle theorist. It's a bit heavy actually and - like most French philosophical ideas of the late 20th century - it sends you nuts trying to work it all out.

[The Good Michael]

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

Demand is created by marketing and isn't necessarily about real choice. In fact, we really don't have a lot of choice. Everything is just a slight variation of something that we already have seen. Cars, movies, TV shows, talk radio nuts, all the same. And we buy products that are all the same. It's a sad world really and I want to go back to wagons and summer and winter pastures.

Mike

[The Good Michael]

. But it is criminal to lie to someone about why they are being sent to die in a far off place. The very least you owe them other than a meager paycheck is the truth.

Actually, they get paid quite well. If we lowered pay to 50% and brought back the draft for men and women, we wouldn't go to war unnecessarily. It's the simple truth. As for WWII, most Americans didn't want to go. It was FDR who was bamboozled by British propaganda who got us into the war.

Mike

[c.d.]

On the other hand, we drink our beer cold the way God and nature intended.

c.d.

[c.d.]

I think it might have to do with our beer. I mean Bud Light???? C'mon.

c.d.

[sleekviper]

We don't make a variety of televisions either, which seems odd.

[DVV]

Iraq doesn't count.

The only shorcoming of Americans is that they don't play rugby.

[Errata]

I'm not American, I'm English, and I don't agree with stuff like waltzing into Iraq to rearrange someone else's furniture, but I'm a fan of the US and its history - once called the next step in human progress for very good reasons.

It's funny. I was one of the only one of my friends to support the war, and I was told it was because I was "European" in thinking. There was no possible way that they could accuse me of buying into Bush's b.s., mostly because I was the one who informed them of it. They could not understand that people AND governments do the right thing for the wrong reasons. They could not understand that I thought the U.S. ought to have been shot by the international community for what we did to the Kurds in the first Gulf War. And they didn't understand that I thought that when you screw someone over to such a horrifying degree, you have an obligation to clean up the mess you made. And they couldn't understand that we got into WWII for the same reasons as Bush wanted into the gulf, that we SHOULD have gone in to stop the holocaust if nothing else. But we didn't. We liberated the concentration camps as an afterthought. Such an afterthought that they didn't even bother to warn officers that they might run into camps. But they did liberate them. The right thing for the wrong reasons.

And they thought that was terribly European thinking. Justifying after the fact. Rather "french occupation" thinking. Of course, being the only one of them who had in fact spent time in Europe... it's just sad to think that responsibility for fellow humans is a flaw now. But it is criminal to lie to someone about why they are being sent to die in a far off place. The very least you owe them other than a meager paycheck is the truth.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Granted, there are some stupid people in the U.S. But I'd think that there are stupid people everywhere. So why do Americans have such a negative image around the world? Why do other parts of the world (Europe, for example) consider Americans to be so dumb?

The simplest explanation is often the correct one.

The US is the most visible country on the planet. It's also the one that has taken over from Britain as the nation that exports it's culture worldwide. A lot of people resent that, human nature, every one wants to be part of success, and what's left to throw back, the stupid tag.

This has been going on for centuries. The European elites scoffed at the United States as far back as the 1700s, into the 1800s etc, even though your average American was better educated, better fed, healthier and took a greater interest in civic duty than your average European.

I'm not American, I'm English, and I don't agree with stuff like waltzing into Iraq to rearrange someone else's furniture, but I'm a fan of the US and its history - once called the next step in human progress for very good reasons.

You'd be surprised at how little Europeans know of the US (much of the opinions come from television), and possibly surprised that you have a far more robust political scene than we have over here.

[Robert]

I watched a lot of American TV as a kid, and at a certain point all the old westerns like Gunsmoke and Bonanza were replaced by Charlie's Angels and Banacek. Ugh! What a decline.

[The Good Michael]

Similarly, one would not think that Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" represented all Americans, and nor that Alf Garnett of "'Til Death Do Us Part" -- the British series on which the Bunker show was modelled -- was typical of all Brits.

What about the Pythons in drag. Surely thet were representative.

Mike

[ChrisGeorge]

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. . . .

Similarly, one would not think that Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" represented all Americans, and nor that Alf Garnett of "'Til Death Do Us Part" -- the British series on which the Bunker show was modelled -- was typical of all Brits.

Chris