[Prophet]

In a Los Angeles Times poll, 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said they thought it was legal to copy a CD they own and give it to a friend.

Americans are idiots. Seriously. If this goes on, I may have to exterminate every single american asshole once I have control of the planet...

Serves these people right to have created RIAA to **** themselves up in the ass with a dry dick.

[General Battuta]

Americans are idiots. Seriously. If this goes on, I may have to exterminate every single american asshole once I have control of the planet...

That stings more than a little, man. Watch the generalizations?

[Snail]

Americans are idiots. Seriously. If this goes on, I may have to exterminate every single american asshole once I have control of the planet...

Serves these people right to have created RIAA to **** themselves up in the ass with a dry dick.

EX-TER-MIN-ATE!! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!

(this is just to verify that I am not American.)

[Prophet]

Everyone is guilty until proven othervise. Similarly, every american is an idiot until proven othervise. Not that I have met much americans, so I don't have any experience about smart americans. You may be american since you got offended, but since this is teh interweb, I'll treat you as "generic something".

Anyway. I'm on a Yankbashing spree now on account of that another alien aircraft crashed on Earth. And once again it specifically targeted US of A. Lots of people got killed, yes. But I'm still annoyed because they all go in to the states and then get killed by teenagers who often seem to be socially inept, fashionable and beautiful.

So while americans are dumb and annoying. You mat take comfort on the fact that you are all fashion models and can take on anything in the universe and win.


(Disclaimer: As my previous post on the subject of stupid americans indicate, this is not personal. Nor do I think all americans gibbering drooling asswipes, you just put that image of yourself to the world. And so on and so on... So come to the internet and get offended whydontcha.)



And getting back on topic. The tenacity of RIAA makes their lawyers seem equal to suicide bombers. Both of which I have no real experience, since this is a really nice place to live. But I must say again how. seriously ****ed up are things across the puddle...

[Unknown Target]

Hey, Prophet, cut it - that behavior is unacceptable (to any country's citizens) and you know that - consider this a warning.
I know everyone wants to be hip and all and bash them, and you obviously admit your own ignorance on the subject by admitting that your cross-section of the American population that you've come in contact with is very little - never mind the fact that America is still one of the top if not the top sources of R+D, never mind that it's universities are still globally sought after for the sciences, never mind that many of their research depts are the most well-financed and best-equipped in the world, oh no, all Americans are idiots.

 And oh, if that random *****ing about the alien crash is about some movie, what do you expect? The American movie industry to make movies for Scandanavia? No, they're American, and they play to an American audience, hence, they make movies related to America. Show me another country's movie industry that makes films about exclusively about and set in other countries, and I'll show you a bankrupt firm.

Anyway, you saved that dreadful post with a plea to get back on topic, so do it. Random American bashing doesn't have a place in this topic, unless it's somehow related to the RIAA - and you can bash both intelligently and in a connected fashion, not just being a ravenous anti-American ignoramus from another country who hates Americans "just because".

[captain-custard]

mmmmmm...............
i think that bashing americans as a sport is to easy, its like clubbing baby seals on an ice pack ( in this I'm not saying there to fat and blubbery to run away)...... American society has huge faults as do so many other and as other ppl have pointed out.. The basic problem stems for me and many others with there stance that they speak for the freeworld (freeworld= anywhere they can patent something even your genetic material)

We can not condemn the american ppl for the actions of there government and foreign policy but we can condemn them for putting them there in the 1st place, i understand that it is difficult to make a choice between a 2 parties that are the same but the solution is there; just think!

We can not regard american society today without regarding where the controlling influences within this society came from, "the mayflower" etc.
the American society was based on  "fear" and now uses this "fear" to oppress its own ppl.

but then again where would we be without american society , no freespace , no Norm Chomsky etc etc etc

andi aka captain custard

[Unknown Target]

Now, see, there's the difference - you're taking a shot at the American government and society as a whole, and you're doing it intelligently. Prophet, meanwhile, is conducting a wholesale burning of the American people, revealing himself to be prejudiced and ignorant of the facts. The first is ok, the second is not. An analogy; andicirk, you attacked the argument, Prophet attacked the person. I'm going to split these two threads, though, as knowing HLP I don't see this staying on topic.

[Nuke]

i could care less about the america bashing, we deserve most of it

[IPAndrews]

If more people thought like that you probably wouldn't get based.

[Nuclear1]

Hey, Prophet, cut it - that behavior is unacceptable (to any country's citizens) and you know that - consider this a warning.
I know everyone wants to be hip and all and bash them, and you obviously admit your own ignorance on the subject by admitting that your cross-section of the American population that you've come in contact with is very little - never mind the fact that America is still one of the top if not the top sources of R+D, never mind that it's universities are still globally sought after for the sciences, never mind that many of their research depts are the most well-financed and best-equipped in the world, oh no, all Americans are idiots.

 And oh, if that random *****ing about the alien crash is about some movie, what do you expect? The American movie industry to make movies for Scandanavia? No, they're American, and they play to an American audience, hence, they make movies related to America. Show me another country's movie industry that makes films about exclusively about and set in other countries, and I'll show you a bankrupt firm.

Anyway, you saved that dreadful post with a plea to get back on topic, so do it. Random American bashing doesn't have a place in this topic, unless it's somehow related to the RIAA - and you can bash both intelligently and in a connected fashion, not just being a ravenous anti-American ignoramus from another country who hates Americans "just because".

*agrees*

It would be the same if I started calling the French people surrender monkeys or the Germans Nazis.   It's stupid and ignorant and gets real old real fast.

If more people thought like that you probably wouldn't get based.

Well there is such a thing as acknowledging that we have faults in our society, and then there is having very little self-respect or not acknowledging what our country does right.

While I don't think we as Americans should be particularly arrogant, I don't think we need Europe and Australia telling us how to run our society.

[karajorma]

Actually I think that the subject of anti-americanism is actually the more interesting of the two so let's thrash it out once and for all.

1. It's not acceptable to say all Americans are idiots. There are plenty of Americans on this board who aren't idiots and I don't blame them one iota for taking exception at you saying they are.

2. While America may not be a land full of idiots I know of no other culture which celebrates idiocy to such a large degree. And that is largely what causes America to be viewed as a land of idiots. Cause many presume that only a land of idiots would be proud of their idiocy.

 For instance you have a president who is an idiot and who was still voted in by people who presumably aren't. And he's not the only example of this. Look at Dan Quayle. Now I can't see that happening over here in the UK. Blair and Brown might be slimy bastards but that is about standard for politicians. I can't think of a British politician I can say is actually stupid. Their policies might be idiotic but usually that's for self serving reasons rather than actual idiocy on their part. Any politician who was an idiot wouldn't get far.

But it's not just politics. America has a culture that celebrates stupidity. Look at Jerry Springer as exhibit A of that. I can't see that show lasting more than a season in the UK. While we have our own shows in the same genre there is nothing even remotely close because no one over here is prepared to humiliate themselves that way because they know everyone will take the piss out of them when they get back home. In America though being on Jerry Springer seems to be a badge of honour for some.


Now I'm not saying America stands alone in this. There is a trend towards idiocy over here too but America is still the world leader in this. And that's why you get this reputation.

[General Battuta]

I don't watch television, I don't give my (scarce) money to the media, and I was too young to vote until this year. I read news from all over the world and post it on a blog so that my friends (who might otherwise remain ignorant) will be informed.

I'm an atheist, a transhumanist, and a science fiction writer. In all these respects I think I defy the stereotype of the idiotic American. Moreover, I think that a large minority, and perhaps even the majority, of Americans defy that stereotype.

To hold me responsible for actions I had no way of affecting is unjust.

It's fine to assault American culture and politics, but remember that a lot of America (again, maybe a majority, particularly in regions like the Northeast and the Pacific coast) don't buy into that culture and work against the politics.

So clearly not all Americans can be idiots.

These points have all been made already, I suppose. I apologize if I'm redundant.

[captain-custard]

mmmmmmmmmmm part 2

While I don't think we as Americans should be particularly arrogant, I don't think we need Europe and Australia telling us how to run our society.

i think as americans your just going to have to accept the rest of the world telling you how to run your society as long as you as a people continue to dictate international politics, destroy "unfriendly" regimes and in the name of god and country put 6 billion life's at risk!

 And at the end of the day why?

a/ for some higher moral purpose
b/ to stop poverty
c/ for a better environment for the children of the world

or just maybe for the bottom dollar !!!!!

over the last 60 years we have seen the rise of the american colonialism, your country in terms of a society is still in its teens and as such suffers from its impulsive actions , its arrogance and its ability to just walk away and leave a problem because it no longer "interests" it.

Please do not read this as a hatred of americans  as a teacher who works with people with difficulties , b4 they can make changes for the "better" it is necessary that they first know there faults and except them b4 they can make the changes that are for the "better"

andi  aka captain custard

[Prophet]

(Disclaimer: As my previous post on the subject of stupid americans indicate, this is not personal. Nor do I think all americans gibbering drooling asswipes, you just put that image of yourself to the world. And so on and so on... So come to the internet and get offended whydontcha.)

Nice work on ignoring the inconvenient part of my post UT. Hey, you happen to american by any chance...?

Like we all know, this topic has been discussed before. And I have taken part in those discussions. And I have stated how nice and wonderful many yanks may be after one gets to know them. Too bad they aren't interested on me knowing them so I'm stuck with these idiots who get be on the news. Let me make this clear. I'm not anti-american ( I think there actually are good things that have come out of the good ol rebellious hive that became the US of A. Like Penn & Teller for example), but I most certainly am anti-idiocy (you can imagine the daily mental distress this causes me). And since the states supply the world with much of her entertainment and also enforces its laws, views and culture, often by force, people around the globe are exposed to considerable amount of american idiocy. Often more than their own native brand of peculiarity (is that a word?).

And I see this trend  continuing. And that means people continue to lose it and give some back. And if you like living in that best god damn country in the whole wide universe (that was a sarcastic remark, just to be clear), you might want to get used to it. Or you may feel pride about it. Or you may mark me as the leading face of the current anti-american party and crucify me for all to see. Wotevar.


(DISCLAIMER which Unknown Target will ignore again: Everything I had said above is completely known to everyone. I just wasted my time by typing something everybody knows. Common sense I think it is. If you are an american and find it to rouse some feeling in you, then there's hope for you yet.)

I'm also pleased how I unintentinally created a topic with heated philosophical debate and hate. If I could lure some loud mouth in here to ignite a flame war (I'm too much of a wuss), that would be something...

[Unknown Target]

i think as americans your just going to have to accept the rest of the world telling you how to run your society as long as you as a people continue to dictate international politics, destroy "unfriendly" regimes and in the name of god and country put 6 billion life's at risk!
[/quote]

I can't really say that we don't tell other countries how to run themselves either, so it's all fair game. But by the way, notice that you say "how you run your society" - if it was up to me, I wouldn't do any of that stuff, as would a large portion of the American public. You need to learn to differentiate between hating Americans and hating American policies.

And at the end of the day why?

a/ for some higher moral purpose
b/ to stop poverty
c/ for a better environment for the children of the world

or just maybe for the bottom dollar !!!!!

Or maybe;

A) Because our bonehead president and cowardly Congress gave it the ok.
B) Because our bonehead president and cowardly Congress gave it the ok.
C) Because our bonehead president and cowardly Congress gave it the ok.

or, just to throw things out of whack,

D) Because our bonehead president and cowardly Congress gave it the ok.

Once again, learn to differentiate between the politics and the people. I've heard that, generally, Europeans find American tourists some of the friendliest folks that travel over there, yet they still are citizens of the US, so you have to learn to dislike the politics but give the people a fair chance. To not do so is to display racism and ignorance (which I'm not saying you're racist or ignorant, I'm just saying).

over the last 60 years we have seen the rise of the american colonialism, your country in terms of a society is still in its teens and as such suffers from its impulsive actions , its arrogance and its ability to just walk away and leave a problem because it no longer "interests" it.

Britain leaving Iraq. Russia leaving Iraq (in the 80s). Darfur and the UN. The US isn't the only one guilty of "walking away". They just catch the most flak because they're the only superpower left in the world, and everyone likes to peck at the big guy and root for the underdogs - it's human nature.

Please do not read this as a hatred of americans  as a teacher who works with people with difficulties , b4 they can make changes for the "better" it is necessary that they first know there faults and except them b4 they can make the changes that are for the "better"

I don't see it as hatred, and I'm not being hostile in any way Let's try and keep this thread as clinical as possible

---------------

Edited after Prophet replied:

Nice work on ignoring the inconvenient part of my post UT. Hey, you happen to american by any chance...?

What part, exactly, did I ignore? I simply got on your case for being ignorant and hateful - which you just displayed again in that comment. If I'm American or not, what's it matter?

Like we all know, this topic has been discussed before. And I have taken part in those discussions. And I have stated how nice and wonderful many yanks may be after one gets to know them. Too bad they aren't interested on me knowing them so I'm stuck with these idiots who get be on the news. Let me make this clear. I'm not anti-american ( I think there actually are good things that have come out of the good ol rebellious hive that became the US of A. Like Penn & Teller for example), but I most certainly am anti-idiocy (you can imagine the daily mental distress this causes me). And since the states supply the world with much of her entertainment and also enforces its laws, views and culture, often by force, people around the globe are exposed to considerable amount of american idiocy. Often more than their own native brand of peculiarity (is that a word?).

Hm...funny, it sounds awfully anti-American when you say the entire country is full of idiots.

And I see this trend  continuing. And that means people continue to lose it and give some back. And if you like living in that best god damn country in the whole wide universe (that was a sarcastic remark, just to be clear), you might want to get used to it. Or you may feel pride about it. Or you may mark me as the leading face of the current anti-american party and crucify me for all to see. Wotevar.

You haven't been crucified. What I see is you overreacting to a warning against your decorum on the forum (hey that rhymes).

(DISCLAIMER which Unknown Target will ignore again: Everything I had said above is completely known to everyone. I just wasted my time by typing something everybody knows. Common sense I think it is. If you are an american and find it to rouse some feeling in you, then there's hope for you yet.)

Not saying anything to this, just letting you know that I didn't "ignore it".

I'm also pleased how I unintentinally created a topic with heated philosophical debate and hate. If I could lure some loud mouth in here to ignite a flame war (I'm too much of a wuss), that would be something...

No, it wouldn't be something, it would be locked.

[Scuddie]

Bush got elected (and re-elected, for that matter) for two reasons.  The first being that the Republican party is organized, the second being that the Democratic party is not.  Had the Dems been even half as organized/efficient as the Reps, they would have won with an embarrassing lead.  If using bush being elected as an argument, it'd have to be against the competency of the Democratic party or for the effectiveness of the Republican party.  The argument holds little (if any) water for anything else.

As for the idiocy, one loud and obnoxious moron will always out speak a group of 20 or so reasonable and mild geniuses.  America seems to have one of, if not the most, diverse clustering of classes.  We have brilliantly educated people who are on par with the Israeli scientific community, and we have total dip****s that are on par with dropouts in Glasgow.  Both extremes.  But as the rule states, we are known only for our worst traits because they overwhelm our best. 

To call me an idiot based on being an American because of the lowest of our class is akin to me asking Sandwich how many Palestinian kids he shot in the back to get that higher rank.  Oh, and I've said it before, I'll say it again.  By saying "Not all Americans are idiots" implies that the vast majority of them are.

[Polpolion]

And I have stated how nice and wonderful many yanks may be after one gets to know them. Too bad they aren't interested on me knowing them so I'm stuck with these idiots who get be on the news.

I guess this says how much you pay attention to HLP.

I'm not anti-american ( I think there actually are good things that have come out of the good ol rebellious hive that became the US of A. Like Penn & Teller for example)

The unbolded statement only tends to negate the bolded statement.

but I most certainly am anti-idiocy (you can imagine the daily mental distress this causes me). And since the states supply the world with much of her entertainment and also enforces its laws, views and culture, often by force, people around the globe are exposed to considerable amount of american idiocy. Often more than their own native brand of peculiarity (is that a word?).

Agreeable, yet as UT stated, that's American policies, not the actual population.

And I see this trend  continuing. And that means people continue to lose it and give some back. And if you like living in that best god damn country in the whole wide universe (that was a sarcastic remark, just to be clear), you might want to get used to it. Or you may feel pride about it. Or you may mark me as the leading face of the current anti-american party and crucify me for all to see. Wotevar.

So are you trying to say that the American's hubris is people don't like Americans? This seems to contradict what you said earlier about being anti-stupid, which happens to include Americans. Or are you saying that stupid people take pride in their nationality?

Americans are idiots. Seriously. If this goes on, I may have to exterminate every single american asshole once I have control of the planet...

(DISCLAIMER which Unknown Target will ignore again: Everything I had said above is completely known to everyone. I just wasted my time by typing something everybody knows. Common sense I think it is. If you are an american and find it to rouse some feeling in you, then there's hope for you yet.)

I'm also pleased how I unintentinally created a topic with heated philosophical debate and hate. If I could lure some loud mouth in here to ignite a flame war (I'm too much of a wuss), that would be something...

Ironic how you think it would be entertaining to lure a loudmouth flamer here, while it seems one such post exists at the top of the page...

[captain-custard]

mmmmmmmm part 3

please read all above b4 reading below as im to lazy to quote



no problems,

America is the only super power left because it wants to be the only super power ,and uses every tactic political and financial it can to guard this position , but it still has its achillies heel and this is what has caused the problems within the middle east at the moment, i pray that its weakness is not exploited in some ways because then we all die!!!!!!


but maybe thats the grand plan ,


pray with me for a secular state if thats not to ironic

as always no offence meant and if caused my apologies in advance

andi aka captain custard

grrr no spell check so good luck
 

[Unknown Target]

America is the only super power left because it wants to be the only super power ,and uses every tactic political and financial it can to guard this position , but it still has its achillies heel and this is what has caused the problems within the middle east at the moment, i pray that its weakness is not exploited in some ways because then we all die!!!!!!

Are you saying it shouldn't want to be the only superpower? I mean, what country wouldn't want that position? If somehow the Vatican got to that position, I'm sure it'd do everything it could to stay there. Also, America is the only super power left because of a long history stemming back to World War II, and the fall of the Soviet Union.

but maybe thats the grand plan ,


pray with me for a secular state if thats not to ironic

as always no offence meant and if caused my apologies in advance

So you're saying now that the US wants to destroy the world? And a secular state would make that more likely/much worse than what we have now, don't you think?

EDIT: Oops, my bad. I thought secular meant that the state was run religiously, not the opposite. I'm leaving the original post, so quotes don't get broken, but for the record, I think a religious run state is bad, and would be much worse than what we have now

[TrashMan]

For instance you have a president who is an idiot and who was still voted in by people who presumably aren't. And he's not the only example of this. Look at Dan Quayle. Now I can't see that happening over here in the UK. Blair and Brown might be slimy bastards but that is about standard for politicians. I can't think of a British politician I can say is actually stupid. Their policies might be idiotic but usually that's for self serving reasons rather than actual idiocy on their part. Any politician who was an idiot wouldn't get far.

But it's not just politics. America has a culture that celebrates stupidity. Look at Jerry Springer as exhibit A of that. I can't see that show lasting more than a season in the UK. While we have our own shows in the same genre there is nothing even remotely close because no one over here is prepared to humiliate themselves that way because they know everyone will take the piss out of them when they get back home. In America though being on Jerry Springer seems to be a badge of honour for some.

The President of my country is an idiot too....and a liar of a unprecedented caliber..He would make Regan and Bush look like angels. And yet he is still in power.

I'm an atheist, a transhumanist, and a science fiction writer.In all these respects I think I defy the stereotype of the idiotic American.

Hey, GB, what' has this got to do with a stereotypical idoit?