How does the World view America these days?

Whereabouts in the UK are you moving to?

  On 12/28/2014 at 5:18 PM, tauboo said:

Whereabouts in the UK are you moving to?

 

Peckham

just London for about a month, then onto the Middle East

Cool. Hopefully a nice area..

Edited December 28, 2014 by tauboo

show me the world, point to the world so that i may ask it for its view on america. for that matter, point to america and tell me what exactly america is.

  On 12/28/2014 at 8:27 PM, skibby said:

show me the world, point to the world so that i may ask it for its view on america. for that matter, point to america and tell me what exactly america is.

To be fair, "What are the current generalizations & assumptions about the citizens of the United States held by cynical European WATMM members?" isn't as engaging of a thread title.

And with typing out "cynical European WATMM members" you were overflown by a sense of self-reflectiveness which made you aware of the current assumptions and generalisations about the group of people that was supposedly aimed at...

 

 

/meta

 

Personally, I think the subject matter is not that interesting though. As it's basically a setup for falling into the generalisations and assumptions trap. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy with the most probable outcome that a certain group of individuals, most likely to have some Americans in it - ironically-, are going to school the rest of the board how to think about America and its civilians, and how they think Europeans think. But that's just my assumption...

  On 12/29/2014 at 10:13 AM, goDel said:

And with typing out "cynical European WATMM members" you were overflown by a sense of self-reflectiveness which made you aware of the current assumptions and generalisations about the group of people that was supposedly aimed at...

 

 

/meta

 

Personally, I think the subject matter is not that interesting though. As it's basically a setup for falling into the generalisations and assumptions trap. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy with the most probable outcome that a certain group of individuals, most likely to have some Americans in it - ironically-, are going to school the rest of the board how to think about America and its civilians, and how they think Europeans think. But that's just my assumption...

Well said. It's just like a roasting session, and props up a trite endless dialogue / debate for the sake of arguing. Everyone and their grandma already knows what the stereotypes of Americans are from the outside perspective. For as many things as im ashamed to live in america for, im fortunate/prideful for countless more. Bring on the walmart / bacon / vegas / nascar / media blitz. Every country's allowed to have its trashy or obnoxious side, America shouldnt be exempt just cuz its America. Edited December 29, 2014 by Lane Visitor

  On 12/29/2014 at 11:47 AM, Lane Visitor said:

America shouldnt be exempt just cuz its America.

 

See I don't even know what that means.

 

Trashy and obnoxious things are USA's biggest and only significant export. Other countries try but it's only American influence. USA does nothing to promote its classy or non-destructive creative sides to the rest of the world. We just get shit like creationism, claims that bacon is somehow American and other idiotic claims, macdonalds everywhere, creatively devoid meaningless kids movies marketed to adults, and sports that the rest of the world doesn't even like.... most of the world doesn't watch Gilmore Girls m8,so they dont know how lovely it can be

  On 12/29/2014 at 12:31 PM, tauboo said:

 

  On 12/29/2014 at 11:47 AM, Lane Visitor said:

 

America shouldnt be exempt just cuz its America.

 

See I don't even know what that means.

 

Trashy and obnoxious things are USA's biggest and only significant export. Other countries try but it's only American influence. USA does nothing to promote its classy or non-destructive creative sides to the rest of the world. We just get shit like creationism, claims that bacon is somehow American and other idiotic claims, macdonalds everywhere, creatively devoid meaningless kids movies marketed to adults, and sports that the rest of the world doesn't even like.... most of the world doesn't watch Gilmore Girls m8,so they dont know how lovely it can be

Lol ok, dont worry m8.. Im not gonna try and convince you that America's not Dr. Evil. It's your business how you wanna perceive an entire country, and whether in an over-simplified and generalized cartoonish fashion or not.

  On 12/28/2014 at 2:15 PM, Rubin Farr said:

Hey hey! What would Xmas season be without one more violent incident? Me and girlfriend walking across crowded Costco parking lot (in the crosswalk) when a fuck in a Caddie speeding thru parking lot swerving to miss pedestrians, he wasn't stoppin for nothin. He almost kills my girl with his car, I yell to slow down, so he rear ends the car in front of him, slams it into park, then jumps out and tries to assault us. My awesome lady had purchased us pepper spray and a 27" telescoping baton that I keep holstered at all times now. Well, when he saw that bad boy come out and extend, his courage suddenly dried up. I threatened to call the police if he'd like. He chickened and fled.

 

So glad I'm moving to UK, seriously. I hope I never have to come back to this fucked up nation until it gets its shit together.

Houston, Texas is an absolute shithole. The rest of your country wants nothing to do with it or its inhabitants, I assure you.

Come on now... Basketball is really popular.

Too many salty non Americans in here. It makes you sound as lame as you're imagining America to be.

  On 12/29/2014 at 5:39 PM, baph said:

 

  On 12/28/2014 at 2:15 PM, Rubin Farr said:

Hey hey! What would Xmas season be without one more violent incident? Me and girlfriend walking across crowded Costco parking lot (in the crosswalk) when a fuck in a Caddie speeding thru parking lot swerving to miss pedestrians, he wasn't stoppin for nothin. He almost kills my girl with his car, I yell to slow down, so he rear ends the car in front of him, slams it into park, then jumps out and tries to assault us. My awesome lady had purchased us pepper spray and a 27" telescoping baton that I keep holstered at all times now. Well, when he saw that bad boy come out and extend, his courage suddenly dried up. I threatened to call the police if he'd like. He chickened and fled.

 

So glad I'm moving to UK, seriously. I hope I never have to come back to this fucked up nation until it gets its shit together.

Houston, Texas is an absolute shithole. The rest of your country wants nothing to do with it or its inhabitants, I assure you.

 

 

Truth. I was born not too far from there and I've never had any desire to live there. There are countless places in the U.S. that are practically utopias in comparison. Just drive a few hours to Austin and you're already in a WAY better environment. And Austin isn't some huge exception -- there's more cultured, generally more friendly cities of all sizes scattered across the country.

So the NYPD's 84th Precinct and 79th Precinct have basically decided to stop doing their jobs, of course they're still on the clock, and receiving benefits while they eat donuts and get fatter:

Arrests down 66%
Traffic violations down 94%
Low level offences down 94%
Summons down 94%
Parking violations down 92%
Drug arrests down 84%

Patrolman's Benevolent Association has told them "do not make any arrests unless absolutely necessary" so good luck not getting raped or mugged on NYE.

http://gawker.com/reports-enjoy-yourself-sulky-nypd-is-refusing-to-enfo-1676468487

http://nypost.com/2014/12/29/arrests-plummet-following-execution-of-two-cops/

This reminds of the Seinfeld bit about doormen.

I guess dancing is illegal now in NYC, we need Kevin Bacon on the case!

 

Two year old accidentally shoots mom dead in Idaho Walmart.

 

So yeah, that's kind of how the rest of the world views America.

I realize now that SNL sucks because it's impossible to satirize american life.

GTA?

GTA feels like nonfiction half the time. That real dude from LA who had plastic surgery to make himself into Justin Bieber is more farfetched than anything in Los Santos.

Edited December 31, 2014 by doublename

Also, America's foreign policy is not doing well in winning hearts and minds:

 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/12/31/the-best-worst-quotes-of-2014-lies-from-government-officials-and-politicians

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: We cant predict anything in the world and in life, but we do know that the unpredictable is the predictable. It is the one thing that we know is coming.

 

 

This is so Rumsfeld-esque.

  On 1/1/2015 at 1:30 AM, doublename said:

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: We cant predict anything in the world and in life, but we do know that the unpredictable is the predictable. It is the one thing that we know is coming.

 

This is so Rumsfeld-esque.

 

Not exactly to apologize or defend that ridiculous Rumsfeld-esque quote, but Hagel isn't exactly a Rumsfeld clone otherwise. He was an actual combat vet (unlike many other recent Sec. of Defense heads), more level-headed, and fairly liberal. It was a wasted term really, he couldn't really do much but try to deal with budget cuts, Obama's lack of decision-making (I say this as a liberal, not a right-winger) and the clusterfuck of a foreign policy we have.