Americans

[Kendo 2]

Sorry if you spilled your Southern Comfort, K2 :biggrin:

 

 

OH!! OH!! You guys see that!!!! I'm being stereo-typed!!!! XD

 

And Southern Comfort is strictly for squares. I drink moonshine.

[Maharg67]

@Balagor

After reading a few of your posts it seems you have a Western European view of what is best for America. You're welcomed to your opinion BUT Americans don't think the way Western Europeans do. We are difficult, obstinate, opinionated and hard-headed. The history of our country proves it. You might have the best of intentions and want to enlighten us to a better way of life. I'm sure there are closet American socialists who share your views and they are welcome to them. But to think that America and Americans can be hammered into a Western European mold and accept it is a joke. No offense intended.

No country on this planet shares the same mindset as America. Believe me, people in the past have tried and failed to cram things down our throats. We always spit it out. Obama's 'change' and his plans for a Western European style socialist democracy will be no different. America has it's own unique dynamic and people who are not Americans just don't get it, anymore than Americans understand what it is to be German, Dutch or British.

 

How would a Western European feel if an American told them what was best for their country? Think about it.

 

From what I have seen, Americans think in all sorts of ways but the extreme right wing over there has hijacked the political moment as it often does. Western Europeans also don't think all the same way. You speak of being type cast but you keep doing it to others. As for difficult, obstinate, opinionated and hard-headed, I doubt all Americans are that way and many non-Americans are that way (I am!).

 

I want America to change because you use more than your fair share of the resources of the world, dominate the Western political agenda far too much, have too many weapons, have too many suffering poor and often (like my own nation of Australia) block any progressive moves internationally. Because the USA has such a big impact on the world, for it to state that nobody else has any right to a say about the USA can come across as extreme arrogance and selfishness. Americans try to influence other parts of the world to keep the USA safer and more prosperous so its only natural that others are going to want to influence the USA and they have a right to do so.

 

America is damned complicated. You can also be an amazingly ignorant people though many amongst you are brilliant and creative. Your education system is an international joke though you have some fine educational institutions. Hollywood dominates the world movie scene, trying hard to break down any effort by other nations to protect their film industries, but has made some excellent movies. You put the first man on the moon, which will always impress the world, but then failed to do anything with the success. The list goes on!

 

The more important question is: are Americans seen as arrogant and even aggressive; unfortunately the answer is yes. When you speak over loudly of using guns to defend your way of life, you may think you are simply stating your rights but it doesn't come across that way. You might say that this does not matter, you may even jest about it, but it does and it could backfire on the USA one day. You need your allies but one day they may not need you and right then is when all those insults will be remembered. Not all countries in the world suck up to the USA as does the political system of Australia, my nation, and that political system may not always be there.

 

The last Australian Prime Minister was John Howard. He was made most welcome in the USA by President Bush. Many Americans loved him, or so it was said. In Australia he became one of the most unpopular prime ministers in our whole history and not only was his party voted out of office but he was only the second PM in history to lose his own seat. (Westminster style of democracy). Yet in the USA he is still applauded as if many Americans have never realised or cared how far he fell in his home nation, which is insulting.

 

I know I have rambled but what I am trying to say is that its about time many Americans took a long hard look at your way of life, your impact on the world and your knowledge of the world. I want America to change for the better but the best way to do that is an American way even if it is a new American way.

 

It is not what Americans really are that is at issue here but how you come across to the world.

 

[WaLkAwaY]

^^I can see the the logic of most of what you wrote. Good post BTW

[Vagrant0]

When am I going to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the third angle of an equilateral triangle in any job ?

Without fail I've used it more times than I care to count, and only some of it is modding related. That aside, there really isn't anything much to learn about it other than x squared + y squared = z squared. Even a 5 year old can memorize that much.

 

If you're going to complain about math, try Calculus some time... There are no practical applications for half of what you learn, and those that have applications are usually involved with the higher level physics and chemistry. No offense, but the problem isn't in what students are being taught, but rather what they are not being taught, and how learning has degraded into just an accumulation of facts to memorize without understanding the context. But of course, context is one of those scary complicated things, and they wouldn't want to make all the slower kids feel bad about themselves for not getting it.

[Maharg67]

^^I can see the the logic of most of what you wrote. Good post BTW

 

If you mean my post, it would have made more sense if I had been less tired at the time and had not had to deal with others breaking my concentration, as they did. Looking back on it some of the sentences don't make much sense. I am going to consider this matter more before answering to it.

 

I agree with Vagrant0 in that much that is taught is not neccessary or just crammed. The best thing one can be taught is how to think in an organised and careful manner, how to work out problems, how to best utilise knowledge and skills. Then anything else one learns is put to a better use.

 

As for 'slower kids', much of that is due not to stupidity but to a whole lot of other factors. How to do with such problems, I am not sure. As for being seen as smart, it is not always a boon. I have been seen as intelligent but since other factors got in the way of my being a good student, I was accused of (a) being lazy and (b) pretending to be more intelligent than I was. Nobody bothered to see if there was anything else causing my poor results.

 

Americans are no more or less stupid than any other nationality on this world.

[Balagor]

@Maharg67

 

You really are a Writer, Artist and Wondrous Genius. Good post. Kudos :thumbsup:

EDIT::Damned, I already gave you one. ;)

[WaLkAwaY]

If you mean my post, it would have made more sense if I had been less tired at the time and had not had to deal with others breaking my concentration, as they did. Looking back on it some of the sentences don't make much sense. I am going to consider this matter more before answering to it.

 

I agree with Vagrant0 in that much that is taught is not neccessary or just crammed. The best thing one can be taught is how to think in an organised and careful manner, how to work out problems, how to best utilise knowledge and skills. Then anything else one learns is put to a better use.

 

As for 'slower kids', much of that is due not to stupidity but to a whole lot of other factors. How to do with such problems, I am not sure. As for being seen as smart, it is not always a boon. I have been seen as intelligent but since other factors got in the way of my being a good student, I was accused of (a) being lazy and (b) pretending to be more intelligent than I was. Nobody bothered to see if there was anything else causing my poor results.

 

Americans are no more or less stupid than any other nationality on this world.

 

I meant the contents not the structure:D

_______________________________________________________________________

I asked a doctor once if he ever used calculus in all of his 36 years of veterinary medicine and he said "not one time"... he also stated that he believed some of what you learn in a university is intended less for learning and more to weed out the people that do not really want to be there, cannot keep up or simply cannot succeed.

_______________________________________________________________________

I think Vagrant touched on the fact that America likes to hand out 117th place trophies so that people do not feel left out. But that is only some Americans.

[Maharg67]

I meant the contents not the structure:D

_______________________________________________________________________

I asked a doctor once if he ever used calculus in all of his 36 years of veterinary medicine and he said "not one time"... he also stated that he believed some of what you learn in a university is intended less for learning and more to weed out the people that do not really want to be there, cannot keep up or simply cannot succeed.

_______________________________________________________________________

I think Vagrant touched on the fact that America likes to hand out 117th place trophies so that people do not feel left out. But that is only some Americans.

 

As for the contents of what I wrote, all I can say is that it is best to agree to disagree. I did rant a bit but I believe everything I said (until I change my mind). It seems near impossible somtimes to communicate conditioned points of view and there seems to be some national, culteral differences that are hard to bridge. It isn't logic, it's more subjective than that.

 

As for universities, they are as much about personal empire building, gate keeping and a kind of traditionalism as they are doing what is best. Burning students out is also about giving the idea that the said institution is somehow special, somehow 'tough' in its elitist approach at only having the 'best' graduate successfully. I know this from my own university experience and from talking to university staff when they had odd moments of honesty sometimes lubricated by drink.

 

As for the 117th place trophies, as long as it doesn't stop somebody getting a 1st place trophy, what does it matter? If nothing else it might give some incentive to do better.

 

PS: I believe what I wrote was quite logical but then again, having studied logic at university, I have my doubts about the value of it at all times.

[Maharg67]

@Maharg67

 

You really are a Writer, Artist and Wondrous Genius. Good post. Kudos :thumbsup:

EDIT::Damned, I already gave you one. ;)

 

 

Thank you, Balagor!

[Kendo 2]

You guys are right. Americans ARE stupid. Maybe next time we'll wise up and keep our noses out of the affairs of others, like we SHOULD have done in WW2. :thumbsup:

 

We could have focused on Imperial Japan, been in and out in maybe two years and left the rest of the world to deal with whatever, as they are all smarter than we are.