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Hello Americans. Are you really all stupid?

Socreges

Banned
dark10x said:
In this thread? No. ...but we've had a couple of run-ins in the past.

Che has said something to that effect. I just happened to find him in this thread.

Oh, and don't concern yourself with this. It has nothing to do with you...
A ha. I didn't realize there was history to this.
 

Firest0rm

Member
I dont understand why Americans say "we don't care about the rest of the world". You can't do that anymore, the whole world has gone through globalization. 80% of what you live on in America is made over-seas. You say you don't care, but really that just shows that you have no clue of whats happening. If you did then you would care because it effects you directly. How? Well mostly through the prices of your precious products. Whether its your favorite clothing line, or just gasoline. On top of that, the world around you is taking away your jobs. Thats a known fact.
 

Diablos

Member
hallo americans
this is claus from common denominators
that's the band you are listening to right now
we are from finland
this is our debut album here in america, das grund
this is the dwarf invasion

blah

one two three four
you are not my friend
you are my foe
you are two feet tall
you have got to go

this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
this is dwarf invasion (the dwarf invasion)
this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
this is dwarf invasion (that's the dwarf invasion)

this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion) (dwarf invasion) (dwarf invasion)
shut up dirk

this is not a friend
you are very small
you can barely stand up to me
you can't play basketball

this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
this is the dwarf invasion (this is dwarf invasion)

thank you very much for having us in your country
we'll see you next year
goodnight

go back to the room
go back
 

myzhi

Banned
gofreak said:
lol ;) I live in Ireland. The authority isn't anonymous, however it is a black box as far as the universities/students are concerned. Students submit their course choices, in order of preference, to the authority. The colleges submit the number of places they have available. Then using that, the authority allocates places to people based on their choices and their grades. If, say, there are 20 places in one course, and 25 apply, the best 20 are taken. The minimum grades of the "worst" person accepted represents the cut-off point - the number of "points" required to do the course. If more than one person are tied for the final place, then it's a lottery. The authority is called the CAO..it's not anonymous, but it's entirely independent. If you are fresh out of school, money won't buy you a place ahead of someone with better grades than you. Simple as that. As a "mature" student, you can apply for courses, and pay the full fees, but you will have to sit exams, and will be held to the standards of incoming students (so in that sense, you can buy your way in..to a degree..but only after having done another qualification etc.). Oh, and there are a couple of private colleges for people who don't make it in the "points race", but with them, you are paying thousands a year for qualifications that aren't so well recognised - employers know that the people who go to these places, generally speaking, are the people who couldn't succeed on their own merits.


$1m per professor? That's simply ridiculous. You could pay far less, and still pay more than anywhere else in the world.


What you are stating would be a "perfect" scenerio. School has x openings. The most qualify gets in. Unfortunately, humans aren't "perfect." There a few places where outside influence can get you in. The school my say they have 20 openings, but in fact it could be 22. The other 2 places could be reserve for other purposes. The people working in CAO could be pressure by family members, politician, $$$ and etc. to secretly change placements. If all else fails, they could go overseas to better institutions, ie Harvard, Oxford, and etc. I am sure a Harvard education would be seen more highly regarded then Ireland unversity one.

1-2M is the rate for top private schools. Thus, if you want to make everything equal, you will have to raise the wages otherwise "genius" will leave or people will bitch about not making the same amount. Off example, but look at Canada's national health care system. All doctors have a set pay. Unfortunately, their wages are very low compare to US private system. Thus, many of them are trying to come to the US to practice.
 
I could care less what the Euro-snobs and the rest of world thinks of us (that's what Liberals are for). Everyone hates you when you're on top. Plus, I'd love to see all these Countries bitching about us, stop taking our money. If you want to turn America into France, then please just do us all a favor and move there instead.
 

Lathentar

Looking for Pants
Firest0rm said:
I dont understand why Americans say "we don't care about the rest of the world". You can't do that anymore, the whole world has gone through globalization. 80% of what you live on in America is made over-seas. You say you don't care, but really that just shows that you have no clue of whats happening. If you did then you would care because it effects you directly. How? Well mostly through the prices of your precious products. Whether its your favorite clothing line, or just gasoline. On top of that, the world around you is taking away your jobs. Thats a known fact.

The world around us is taking jobs that America originally held close. Personally, I'm for outsourcing. While outsourcing is initially bad for our economy, new fields and new types of jobs which American's specialize in will be created. As long as America stays on top of its research programs new jobs/fields will become available.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Firest0rm said:
I dont understand why Americans say "we don't care about the rest of the world". You can't do that anymore, the whole world has gone through globalization. 80% of what you live on in America is made over-seas. You say you don't care, but really that just shows that you have no clue of whats happening. If you did then you would care because it effects you directly. How? Well mostly through the prices of your precious products. Whether its your favorite clothing line, or just gasoline. On top of that, the world around you is taking away your jobs. Thats a known fact.

People may say that, but it isn't true. A lot of people DO care about the outside world...even if they claim not to. Most people aren't as close-minded as you might think...
 

Gregory

Banned
The Promised One said:
I could care less what the Euro-snobs and the rest of world thinks of us (that's what Liberals are for). Everyone hates you when you're on top. Plus, I'd love to see all these Countries bitching about us, stop taking our money. If you want to turn America into France, then please just do us all a favor and move there instead.

I wonder how many times I`ve read this brainwashed drivel from americans, lol. It`s like a broken record.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
myzhi said:
What you are stating would be a "perfect" scenerio. School has x openings. The most qualify gets in. Unfortunately, humans aren't "perfect." There a few places where outside influence can get you in. The school my say they have 20 openings, but in fact it could be 22. The other 2 places could be reserve for other purposes. The people working in CAO could be pressure by family members, politician, $$$ and etc. to secretly change placements. If all else fails, they could go overseas to better institutions, ie Harvard, Oxford, and etc. I am sure a Harvard education would be seen more highly then Ireland unversity one.

If the underhand dealings which you mention did occur..a) they're not a part of the system, or supposed to be, in the same way that contacts/money etc. are an accepted part of the process in America and b) they'd be found out...we'd know about it by now, or would know in the future. The CAO is actually a bunch of computers...it's all done by machines, really. Sure, it'd be open to human tampering, but you'd have to go to extraordinary lengths. I'm sure there are checks and balances.

And yes, you could go abroad, but it's hardly desireable, and you'd pay through the nose (though perhaps not within the EU...I know for sure that others from the EU can come here and avail of free tuition).
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
"I disagree, I think our standards in the public education sector are very low."

I meant standards as in the length of education for the common man.
 

Che

Banned
dark10x said:
Actually, I was going to...but I decided it would be better NOT to follow in his steps. I could have asked him how is corrupt government is doing (I mean, I know they must be making progress...afterall, Greece has been considered the most corrupt country within Europe) or something...but figued I would just take a little jab at his answer instead.

Wow I missed a lot. Anyway... Greece has the most corrupt goverment in Europe but to tell you the truth there is no way out. You vote the socialists they are corrupt beyond any imagination and their recently "elected" new president is USA's sidekick. You vote for conservatives they cut taxes Bush style (cut specific taxes to make the rich richer) and they're still corrupt (but not THAT corrupt). The only difference between us and you is that we refer to the politicians as thieves and generally despise them, we never vote conservatives for their high values which NO conservative ever has (in other words we know they're hypocrites) + if they do something really wrong we go out by millions and demontrate till the state bankrupts(and it's not that difficult with the economy we got). So if our goverment ever dares to sent troops to Iraq hell will brake loose here -trust me.

And please don't twist my words I never said Americans are stupid, but unfortunatelly you have a huge amount of stupid uneducated mostly rednecks there and it's not your fault. We have these kind of creatures here too but fortunatelly they're marginal. How could all americans be stupid when the Seattle movement started in USA?

PS. You're getting out of subject guys with all these inventions and literature crap. The guy said stupid as ignorant or naive for god's sake.
 

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
ballhog said:
I don't think Americans are any more stupid than anyone else. We sure seem to be assholes though.

That and we get more press. It's fricken retarded that you can go watch 'Must See TV' in Australia. But that's the way it is. You should blame the overwhelming proliferation of our industries on the World's knowledge of the US and our apparent ignorance to others. And if you would switch sides, we would be all smelly if the French ruled the world. And that my friends, nobody wants.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Che said:
Ripclawe to get a clue? Lol! You see man, people like Ripclawe are the reason why US has a bad name.

Yep. Those are also the kind of people that the media adore...which is why you hear about them so often. :p
 

FightyF

Banned
In a stunning upset, "stupid" Americans have created the largest economy in history, the most powerful military in history, and the most pervasive global culture in history.

That's a great point, and it got me thinking as to why this perception exists in the first place, and I can only attribute it to recent events (such as the illegal Invasion of Iraq).

I'd argue that the creation of the economy, military, and culture was done long ago...far before this perception of Americans materialized. What stupid Americans will do, is destroy all of these institutions.

The Bush Administration tried passing off some el cheapo cannisters as equipment to ship Uranium. Everyone knew it was a lie, but the American people didn't question it. That right there probably changed many people's opinion of the US.

I'd argue that Bush has destroyed the credibility of his government (and hopefully just his own) in the International stage. Something that "smart" Americans built up for the last hundred years..."trust" is being destroyed by a stupid man.

The best way to understand a people, is to understand their leader. This is a concept in many cultures, and is something that I do not totally agree with, but it exists.

It could perhaps explain why the perception of Americans is what it is.
 

Lil' Dice

Banned
Unfortunately, yes, my fellow Americans are a disturbingly stupid bunch...How else do you explain:

More than 5000 votes for Bush
The Backstreet Boys' success
N-Sync's success
Reality Televsion
George Bush
Rumsfeld
Carrot Top
The Catwoman movie
William Hung
And Madden selling more copies than ESPN football.


America is DOOMED......
 

Che

Banned
dark10x said:
Yep. Those are also the kind of people that the media adore...which is why you hear about them so often. :p

When people like Ripclawe are the majority of the population of a country or at least a big chank of it, yes then the other countries will generalize and consider you all stupid. For god's sake this guy doesn't even admit (or understands) the super-obvious matters.
 

Future Trunks

lemme tell you something son, this guy is SO FARKING HUGE HE'LL FLEX AND DESTROY THE SUN no shit
Lil' Dice said:
Unfortunately, yes, my fellow Americans are a disturbingly stupid bunch...How else do you explain:

The Backstreet Boys' success
N-Sync's success
Reality Televsion


I believe the BSB became successful in Europe first (they didn't do well over here when they first started). And N'Sync fed off of them, so....

And Europe (specifically Britain) is the Reality TV king. (Most of the series' we have are ripped off from them...and most will be quick to tell you that)

And thus, we find that Europe is the root of ALL evil!....I kid. LOL

Okay, I leave now...
 
Gregory said:
I wonder how many times I`ve read this brainwashed drivel from americans, lol. It`s like a broken record.

I wonder how many times I've read moronic brainwashed America hating drivel from Euro-Trash, and Liberals, lol. It's like a broken record.

Oh, click here please.
 

Xenon

Member
I'm just happy that the rest of the world works in unison. Together they are almost able to build the utopian planet that everyone dreams of. If only we could stop thinking about ourselves and one day join the rest of the world as they all work towards the common good of all man.


AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK YOU and the three legged donkey you rode in on.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Che said:
When people like Ripclawe are the majority of the population of a country or at least a big chank of it, yes then the other countries will generalize and consider you all stupid. For god's sake this guy doesn't even admit (or understands) the super-obvious matters.

...but they are not the majority. Those people are simply the loudest. I hope you are not drawing this from anything media based, no matter where its origins might be...

Also, I don't support Bush, but your "LOL!!!11" comment was hardly justified. Who the hell knew that Bush would go this far? Really, though, what are people supposed to do? There were no good candidates back then and there sure as shit aren't any now. Somebody HAS to win, obviously.
 
The Promised One said:
I wonder how many times I've read moronic brainwashed America hating drivel from Euro-Trash, and Liberals, lol. It's like a broken record.

Oh, click here please.

Like the other poster said, a smaller group of people do not represent everyone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems as though you have fallen into that trap by posting this.
 

FightyF

Banned
This thread is a great example of this entire issue.

A question was posed to Americans. Americans reply with intelligent debate, in favour and against the issue.

And the these last 2 posts occur (TPO's and Xenon's). "Louder" than the rest of the posts, the minority are suddenly in the spotlight, responding with obscene remarks and the whole works.

TPO's post also reminded me of a related dimension that compliments the media. Religion is also an influential power that can foster widespread ignorance. Unlike the media, religion in the US is not so forced upon as fact, but it still exists.
 

Cyan

Banned
The Bush Administration tried passing off some el cheapo cannisters as equipment to ship Uranium. Everyone knew it was a lie, but the American people didn't question it. That right there probably changed many people's opinion of the US.
Didn't question it? What? Where the hell did you get that idea?
I'd argue that Bush has destroyed the credibility of his government (and hopefully just his own) in the International stage. Something that "smart" Americans built up for the last hundred years..."trust" is being destroyed by a stupid man.
Yup, that I can agree with. Destroyed credibility, sympathy, goodwill. All in less than four years.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
There's a lot of self-interested ignorance in America. I've been living here for most of my life, but am not actually an American. I always tried to protect myself from that stigma, and though I succeeded until I went to live a couple of years overseas. Man, did that open my eyes. Everyone (not just Americans) should leave their home turf for a couple of years, preferably after high school. Expanded my horizons nicely, and I got another (my third) language out of the deal.

Ah, I was lucky. I went back to live and get to know the land of my birth.
 

FightyF

Banned
There were Americans who did question it...the very scientists who labelled it as hogwash were American.

What I meant was it wasn't questioned by the general public, much of the government and not by the media. I guess it was a bad choice of word on my part, sorry. I didn't mean to imply that every single American sat back and took it as fact.

My issue is that it was an extremely weak part of their arguement, and that Democrats could have easily attacked that point. It was such an outlandish accusation that the Democrats could have had a hey-day with it, but they didn't.
 

Cyan

Banned
Fight for Freeform said:
There were Americans who did question it...the very scientists who labelled it as hogwash were American.

What I meant was it wasn't questioned by the general public, much of the government and not by the media. I guess it was a bad choice of word on my part, sorry. I didn't mean to imply that every single American sat back and took it as fact.

My issue is that it was an extremely weak part of their arguement, and that Democrats could have easily attacked that point. It was such an outlandish accusation that the Democrats could have had a hey-day with it, but they didn't.
Oh, you're talking about when WMDs were first mentioned as a reason for invading Iraq? Yeah, there was very little questioning at first. I believed it for a while, since it never occured to me my government would outright lie to me. Although I also thought it was a stupid reason to invade. If Hussein had indeed had WMDs, invasion would have almost forced him into using them. On us.

Later, though, once things were underway in Iraq, people stopped believing. I doubt there's anyone left who still believes in WMDs in Iraq.
 

spangler

Member
(Mostly) Thoughtful discussion in this vein is essential for progress to made for all people, American or otherwise. It is unfortunate that roundtable discussion regarding issues such as these has not become a prominent part of life in America. This should not be relegated to what is bascially a videogame forum.

As an American, I think most of the major points have already been brought up. I simply wanted to emphasize the media's role in the "dumbing" of America. I think most Americans think of themselves as decent people but the American media and governing institutions have a vested interest in keeping us dumb. That has been the great hoax America has perpetrated on its own people - we are mostly ignorant but we honestly don't realize it. A thoughtful citizen can read the newspaper everyday and tune in to any tv news station of his or her choice multiple times a day and still be completely ignorant of the actual events occuring both inside and outside of our country. This is not to say that real reporting is not available; it just requires work to find. When true reporting is found, a large percentage of people would probably reject what they have found as it is so at odds with what we, as Americans, are taught from the time we are small children. Cognitive dissonance at its finest and a truly bitter pill to swallow.

You mean American foreign policy really is screwed up? You mean America isn't truly concerned with setting up democracies in other nations? You mean America really did provide much of the weaponry Saddam used on his own people in Iraq back in the 80's? Christ, a cursory glance at the situation in Nicaragua with the Sandinistas back in the late 70's/early 80's seems to me to be enough to completely destroy any illusions one may foster about the US and its motivations in the world at large.

I do think more and more people in America are becoming aware of the situation here, though. The Bush administration has done a great job of being so obviously corrupt and underhanded that it is damn near impossible for anyone willing to listen even a little bit to ignore. I think its sad that the best news reporting on American television comes from the "fake" Comedy Central Daily Show. If the politicians and pundits were half as informed and willing to ask difficult questions as the "comedian" John Stewart, America might not have made itself into an even bigger joke and monster in the eyes of the rest of the world. Just tonight, Stewart asked CNN's Wolf Blitzer if the media in America is actually retarded due to their seeming inability to investigate the status of WMD's in Iraq previous to the US invasion. Not real slick, but a justified question in my opinion.

To wrap this all up, I really think that there should be riots in American streets due to the giant clusterfuck that has become our middle eastern foreign policy. And if I hear Bush say that these other nations hate America because they hate freedom and our way of life, I'll, uh, get more upset, I guess. The fact that some of you on here actually buy into that does sadden me, though. My hope is that we as Americans are not nearly as stupid or as ignorant as our leaders would like us to be.
 

Che

Banned
dark10x said:
...but they are not the majority. Those people are simply the loudest. I hope you are not drawing this from anything media based, no matter where its origins might be...

Also, I don't support Bush, but your "LOL!!!11" comment was hardly justified. Who the hell knew that Bush would go this far? Really, though, what are people supposed to do? There were no good candidates back then and there sure as shit aren't any now. Somebody HAS to win, obviously.

It was a joke I laughed -simple. And if you say Ripclawe is not the majority (or a large part) how the hell did Bush after all he's done is still popular and fighting for the elections? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it obvious that after what he did only people like Ripclawe could vote for him? I can totaly agree with spangler though that your media played a huge role in creating that kind of people so it's not entirely their fault.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
spangler said:
I think its sad that the best news reporting on American television comes from the "fake" Comedy Central Daily Show.

It's funny you mention this, because right through history it has usually been the "jokers" who were the only ones who could speak the truth.
 

Dram

Member
The whole world is full of idiots not just America. Anyone who thinks otherwise should stop watching so much TV and take a real hard look at their own country.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it obvious that after what he did only people like Ripclawe could vote for him?

You are wrong, actually. The fact is, I know of people that will vote for Bush for different reasons. Many people that will vote for Bush are doing so not because they support him, but because there isn't really any good choice. For example, Kerry was found to be the most liberal senator in 2003 with his running mate coming in at #4. Once he ushers in more of his people, we could start to see a bunch of bullshit laws getting passed.

I don't even know if I should vote this year because I don't want either side to win. That's the problem, many people don't want either side to win...but end up voting for one of them simply because they they might prefer one of them. The difference between voting for Bush or Kerry is like deciding whether to eat dog shit or cat shit. Don't ever believe that voting for Bush means that those people blindly support him.
 

Particle Physicist

between a quark and a baryon
dark10x said:
I don't even know if I should vote this year because I don't want either side to win. That's the problem, many people don't want either side to win...but end up voting for one of them simply because they they might prefer one of them. The difference between voting for Bush or Kerry is like deciding whether to eat dog shit or cat shit. Don't ever believe that voting for Bush means that those people blindly support him.


ugh.. i feel the same way.. i dont like bush.. for obvious reasons.. but kerry seems like a two faced liar.. im a little frightened at what he might do if he became president.

i think i decided on not voting this time. :/
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
quadriplegicjon said:
ugh.. i feel the same way.. i dont like bush.. for obvious reasons.. but kerry seems like a two faced liar.. im a little frightened at what he might do if he became president.

i think i decided on not voting this time. :/

Yeah, that's how I feel. I don't like Bush either, but Kerry is a bit...terrifying. Sadly, I don't think either one of them would really help the current situation. Oh well, I guess voting isn't a big deal since I will be living in Japan for most of the next 4 years...

I just hope they don't blow up the world by the time I get back.
 

Alucard

Banned
I have only been down to Buffalo and there seems to be a whole different vibe in the States than there is in Canada. People, in general, seem to be a little more on edge. There is a lot more police around too. That's just one area I've been to though.
 

Razoric

Banned
Che said:
And please don't twist my words I never said Americans are stupid, but unfortunatelly you have a huge amount of stupid uneducated mostly rednecks there and it's not your fault.

FUCKING PLEASE. So now it's only rednecks (IE "racist" white people) who bring America's education system down? Jesus Christ...
 

bionic77

Member
I don't think Americans are any stupider then people in any other country. The difference is we live in the most powerful nation on the planet and we have the ability to project our stupidity onto others, making their lives miserable in the process and creating the perception that we are all stupid and uncaring (which we are, but so are most people on this planet).
 
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