Those Stupid Americans…
I was reminded the other day of how hated we Americans are. An admittedly stupid website was reporting that Pippi Longstocking is a Satanic character, and the visiting Swedes (Sweden being the country of Pippi’s origin) let their opinions fly:
- Another stupid American; the world is full of them!
- You’re probably a stupid American áššhølë!
- I wipe my ášš with the American flag and spit in your face.
Being an American myself, I was curious as the sentiment of others. So I decided to find some additional opinions by searching the Internet with Google, spelling (or lack thereof) intact:
- “The only thing Americans can teach is how to corrupt countries and take their money. All Americans are is greety báštárdš.” - I think countries have been corrupting themselves for centuries without the help of the United States. Also, most people worldwide work hard to better themselves and provide as much as possible for their families. Americans included.
- “[The] US is the laughing stock of the world. American cars suck, American people are stupid, fat and ignorant, your technology sucks.” - Yes, spoken out of prejudice and ignorance, Americans can be conceived as being the laughing stock of the world. So would whichever country happens to be in the economic and military lead at the time. Some American cars do suck, but the Yugo hasn’t won too many awards that I’m aware of. Oddly, the fantasy car of choice when I lived in Germany as a child was a Pontiac. Yes, some Americans are stupid, fat and ignorant. So are some members of any other country in the world. If Microsoft products are a measurement of our technology, then, yes, it sucks. But I haven’t seen any other countries that provide the number of major innovations that have stemmed from America in the last hundred years.
- “Americans are full of šhìt. ignorant, yet stuppied people. they are bvery norrow minded and veyr materiolistic.” - I already agreed that sum Amurikanz ar bvery stuppied. But not all — the first spell checking software was invented at UC Berkeley in 1972 by an American.
- “You have a handful of smart and educated people who drive the country, and then you have this humongous blob of utterly clueless people who are hardly able to make a living.” - Can’t really argue with that. But the same can be said for just about every other nation in the world.
- “You are all non-sensical inbred morons.” - Actually I don’t personally know anyone who can be accused of resulting from inbreeding, although it may be common in certain areas of the country such as Tennessee (pronounced “Ken-tuck-ee”, if you’re from Tennesee). You think inbreeding didn’t occur within the European and Asian royals of the past?
- “Americans are generally loud and stupid.” - Yeah, I hate American tourists, too. Again, I’d qualify that as “some”, rather than generalizing the population as a whole.
- “U.S.A is the biggest šhìt hole.” - Seems that lots of people on the Internet are calling every other country on the planet the “biggest šhìt hole”, too, based on results from Google. I say we just all take a vote and decide once and for all. After all, that is the democratic way.
- “I thank God that I’m not a stupid ášš-fûçkìng American.” - I’m glad I’m not a stupid ášš-fûçkìng American, too! I’m just a plain American of average intelligence, eking out a living, trying to live my dreams.
I’d rather be considered a stupid American than have to resort to pointless name-calling in a vain attempt to gain national stature. I am hardly a Bible-toting born-again Christian, but I find it difficult to disagree with: “The proud and haughty man, ’scoffer’ is his name; He works in the arrogance of pride… When pride comes, then comes shame, But with humility comes wisdom.”
I have no personal beef with any Americans (though I don’t think much of Dubyah), but this really got me laughing - 70% of Americans can’t find New Jersey on a map? 49% can’t find New York? And the real winner, 11% of Americans can’t find America on a world map… That’s not even funny - it’s scary.
I voted for Al Gore, Emma. I believe if you read back over my and Richard’s posts, our POINT is that addressing a single American individual in a collective, judgmental “you” is a method of generalized stereotyping that is akin to racism. More than 50 percent of Americans voted for Al Gore; it was our highly flawed electoral college process that allowed our current “leader” to take office. Take heart, his term is nearly half over.
And “knack” is spelled with a “k”. “Homicidal” is spelled with a “c”, and that should be “affect” not “effects”.
The fact that anyone can accuse an ENTIRE NATION of people of stupidity and ignorance whilst making three spelling errors and a grammatical goof in a single paragraph is worthy of a smile.
I saw that report, Mike, about geography, and it terrified me (though it was a survey of young people ages 18-24, not a general survey of the American populace). But this from a UK newspaper terrified me just as much: 2 in 3 pupils fail to name one classical composer [according to an article] by Nigel Reynolds, arts correspondent for the Telegraph.
“The cellist Julian Lloyd Webber called classical music education in Britain ‘a national embarrassment’ yesterday after 65 percent of children interviewed in a poll failed to name a classical composer. Panicked by the question, a small minority of the 611 children questioned by the radio station Classic FM grabbed at names such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and even William Shakespeare. The children, aged six to 14, fared no better when they were shown pictures of common instruments and asked to name them. Only 31 percent recognised a cello and 23 percent a French horn; 21 percent could not identify a trumpet, while 23 percent failed to name a violin. Seven percent thought the violin was a guitar.”
We can sling statistics back and forth between the abysmal education systems in both our countries (as one poster remarked, literacy in Cuba is better than BOTH the U.S. and the U.K.) all we want. The only point I’m attempting to get across is generalizing individuals based on sound bites, stereotypes and a personal experience or two reflects an ignorant mind-set. I was in Edinburgh a few weeks ago, and I walked through the club district on a Saturday night on my way to the Greyfriars Kirkyard. I saw more messy drunks vomiting and rolling in the gutters than I’ve EVER seen in a clubbing district anywhere in the world. I would be wrong to draw the conclusion, “All Brits are messy drunks,” because you might say (a) But wait… I personally never drink like that; or (b) But those were Scots! (And if you allow cultural differentiation between Scots, Welsh, N. Irish and English, then you must allow for cultural differences between, say… Texans and New Yorkers). Hopefully I’m getting my point across, albeit in a roundabout way.
Actually Tracey, I think you raise a very good point, with an obvious conclusion - the planet is generally overrun with stupid people. And young brits drink too much, but I’m no longer all that young, and I’ve never been British.
What’s that wonderful saying? “The gene pool needs chlorine?” It applies to the entire planet.
After living in Europe and coming back to Charlotte, NC (I can’t wait to leave again), I was thoroughly shocked at just how horribly stupid Americans really are. I had forgotten what truly murderous ignorants they are. What’s worse is they really enjoy being stupid, because as long as they are stupid… they are right in doing things the way they do. Most Americans don’t feel the need to understand American foreign policy, and that is why everyone hates them. America is truly f*cking the rest of the world in order to turn a buck and the only time it “defends” a helpless country is to overthrow the government there and replace it with a puppet that is in line with USA economic needs. The people that will be killed as a result of the war on Iraq, and the people that have already been killed in Afghanistan have not made the world safer, nor did they pose a threat to the USA except by holding up economic interests. You will notice that Bush is tied to the oil companies that will now be putting a pipeline through Afghanistan in order to profit from natural resources such as oil and natural gas that could not previously be trafficked through Afghanistan because of the Taliban. The CIA put the Taliban in power to fight Russia, when they were done with Russia, they tried to get them to agree to a pipeline as payback and they refused. So then this whole stupid thing of 911 was fabricated and the Amercian public bought it all, hook line and sinker. Why? Because very few people know about the history of Afghanistan and the real reason the US is interested in it. Not many people know the history of Iraq and the real reason we are interested in it. Most people think Bush is here to save us from evil empires… unfortunately, the evil empire is America, it just has really good PR to the uneducated masses of civilians that finance its war machine. For anyone pìššëd off by what I say.. here is my suggestion: READ A BOOK. It will help you understand what the hëll is really going on here.
Yes, but many people graduate to read at a level beyond Harry Potter and have exited the fantasy world in which you are still stuck… It takes a true coward to hide behind a fake name, a fake email address, and boorish comments. I’m sure the line is long to provide LeavingTheUSA with a ride to the airport, or to just dump him/her somewhere in Canada… - RDL
I’m sure Charlotte, North Carolina is holding the door open for you. Bon Voyage!!
Well, Tracey, there is a great difference between being ignorant and dyslexic. Americans chose to be ignorant where as I have to work hard to be able to write as well as I do. I understand compassion is hard for you to come to terms with. It is only right that you can spell homicidal as it’s Americas favourite pastime.
Emma…and you think accusing me personally of being homicidal (I can’t even kill spiders in my flat) does not betray ignorance? That judging people you’ve never met based on a stereotype and the actions of their government does not betray ignorance? I’m sorry you’re dyslexic… that’s unfortunate. If you’d like to prove that you yourself are not ignorant, understand that I’m not responsible for the actions of a presidential administration with whom I don’t agree. Save your name-calling and your spleen-venting for GWB… not me.