Why I hate America

Canaboid

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16561.html

Bard

Interesting article. Bit of a silly reason to claim hatred for an entire country of 270 million people though...

Canaboid

Don't worry Bard, I've got another 270 million good reasons to hate America.

Winning Hand

Youve obviously never been to america for a long stretch, there are only 100 million reasons to hate them, not 270, but theres also good points about them (not quite 100 million though )

Hobbes

what makes you think they don't do this anywhere else?

I'd say someone is going to get fired for doing that though. At the very least a few lawsuits.

GreenHell

Obvoiusly because everywhere outside the USA is the centre of high respect of civil liberties.

Da Bounca

they did it in the interest of the people attending the superbowl.what if there had been a known terrorist caught by the surveillance device who had the place rigged to explode for the love of Alla or something.
would u still be complaining if it had saved all those people?
probably yes, but still.

Baz_

whats so wrong with taking a picture of your mug anyway, surely in the case of hooliganism this is a very desirable technique, and since I have nothing to hide let the police protect me and mine whatever way they want.

pepperkin

Yes, that procedure was developed in England over a year ago and has been in widespread use on the subways, in the stations (secretly, of course) as they look for some 3000 people who are wanted in England. (Naturally, they don't advertise this, as that would somewhat defeat the point.)
I wonder if Ireland uses it as England does?

Bard

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by pepperkin:
I wonder if Ireland uses it as England does?</font>

I think "hahahahahaha... no!" is probably a safe enough answer to that question.
(Irish Rail are total muppets)

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 12-02-2001).]

pepperkin

Muppets? But so are the Yanks, remember?

And I didn't mean neccessarily in the subways, the Superbowl isn't exactly your friendly metro or bart train station. I meant GENERALLY SPEAKING. You know, not specifically?

Bard

Ah I know... Irish Rail is just an example. I doubt you'd see much like that here in Ireland at all - although I could be wrong (I'd be surprised!).

As an aside, only today, Irish Rail managed to set fire, somehow, to their train-wash shed, which is right above and next to our main office here (the train lines from Connolly Station run right past/above our office block) - a shed, at that, which is usually sopping wet and spewing soap bubbles all over our business park. The smell of burning rubber was woeful. Muppets, indeed!

pepperkin

ikkikkikk! I hate the smell of burning rubber. Gack.
Muppets...lol
In any case the point I was making *ahem!* was that The Bloody English (heretofore referred to as TBE) invented the camera thing, don't blame the americans for that one! In fact this is the first I've heard of it being used in America, and it's been in England on the subways for well over a year now.
"I have 270 million reasons to hate Americans" says Canaboid...
I have 300 million reasons to hate stereotypical, small minded, ignorant people who say things like that...*grins*
I'm one american on an irish message board trying to speak for myself and the people I know who don't fit the idiotic European stereotypical Americans (look! I can spell stereotypical!) and probably not making a dent...and yet, my tiny voice will spread through the aether and yawns of techo-world and make my point...
Those who judge falsely, or based on countrified idiocies, have the IQ's of non-sapient reptilia.


Take it easy, folks

Canaboid

I apologise for generalising/sterotyping ppkin. Obviously not all Americans are brainwashed, vacuous, obese, beerswilling, TV watching, patriotically obsessive, insular, carbon blobs. But a lot of them are.
My original issue was not with the general population but with the powers that be who blah blah........
I can't be bothered writing a 4 page thesis on whats "rotten in the states of America" but the above link is a good example of "big Brotherism" of the kind usually cited to prove what was wrong with old Communist regimes.
Once again apologies for any offence (although I will do it again )

In fact:

ARE YOU AN AMERICAN? Questionnaire.
>
> 1. You decide that the relationship with your partner is over. How do you
> break the news you are leaving?
> (a) Leave a tearful note on the table and slip quietly away.
> (b) Calmly discuss the reasons with your partner for your decision.
> (c) Attack them with a chair in front of a rabble of cheering pumped-up
> inbreds on national television.
>
> 2. You and your mates decide to have a game of football in the park. What
> do
> you need to take?
> (a) A ball.
> (b) A ball and 2 coats.
> (c) A ball 50 crash helmets, 4 tons of body armour, 20 cheerleaders, a
> marching sousaphone band with a grand piano on a trolley, and a team of
> orthopaedic surgeons specialising in spinal injuries.
>
> 3. You are driving along a country road when you accidentally run over a
> rabbit. What do you do?
> (a) Stop and see how badly injured it is, taking it to a vet if it is
> still
> alive.
> (b) Carry on driving, but hope it is still alive, or if not, that it died
> quickly.
> (c) Strap it across the bonnet of your car and drive home hollering,
> whooping and throwing empty Budweiser cans out of the window.
>
> 4. You wake up in the morning with a stiff neck after sleeping in an
> awkward
> position. What do you do?
> (a) Ignore it. It will probably loosen up as the day progresses.
> (b) Take a couple of aspirins and get on with things.
> (c) Take yourself to a prostitute-addicted TV evangelist faith healer in
> an
> ill-fitting wig, who will lay his hands on your head, whilst screaming
> about
> the devil in front of an audience of gibbering inbreds.
>
> 5. What do you have for breakfast?
> (a) A bowl of Cornflakes, slice of toast and a mug of tea.
> (b) Glass of orange juice, croissant and a cup of coffee.
> (c) A bag of donuts with ice cream, a 32 ounce steak with six eggs sunny
> side-up, fifteen pancakes with maple syrup, ten waffles, five corn dogs
> and
> a diet root beer.
>
> 6. You and your partner decide to take the plunge and get married. What
> sort
> of ceremony do you have?
> (a) A quiet party with a few friends in a registry office.
> (b) A church service followed by a traditional reception at a hotel.
> (c) A minute long mockery at a 24 hour drive-through chapel in Las Vegas,
> presided over by a transvestite vicar dressed as Elvis.
>
> 7. Your 14-year-old son is going through a difficult phase, becoming
> disruptive at school and reclusive at home. What do you do?
> (a) Don't worry. Its just a phase and will pass.
> (b) Encourage him to get out more, get involved in team sports or join a
> youth club.
> (c) Take him to an armoury and buy him an arsenal of semi-automatic
> weapons
> and enough ammunition to slaughter a small town.
>
> 8. You fancy a night in watching something funny on TV. What kind of
> comedy
> do you choose?
> (a) A sitcom like Fawlty Towers or Father Ted.
> (b) A sketch show like the Two Ronnies or the Fast show.
> (c) A thinly disguised morality play set in a massive lounge where the
> audience whoop for ten minutes every time an overpaid actor with a
> superglued grin on his face makes an entrance to deliver a lightweight
> wisecrack.
>
> 9. Whilst getting ready for bed, you stub your toe on your wife's dressing
> table. What do you do?
> (a) Shout and swear a bit, after all, it did hurt.
> (b) Make a mental note to move the table so it doesn't happen again.
> (c) Immediately call a hotshot lawyer with an uptown reputation, and sue
> your wife's ass.
>
> 10. You are responsible for the USA's presidential electoral process. Do
> you:
> (a) Count all votes and declare a winner.
> (b) Count all votes and declare a winner.
> (c) Let the press declare who's won before the votes are counted;
> then count only the votes which have been handed in by a deadline whilst
> not
> checking if Bud, the hillbilly sheriff of nowheres-ville, has left several
> thousand votes in the trunk of his Chevy 'by mistake', then force a
> recount
> of only some of the votes within just one state and allow only 12 seconds
> for the recount to take place; then be amazed that the recount hasn't
> finished by the deadline and increase the deadline by another 3.2 seconds;
> then ignore all votes and let 4 judges decide the result, making sure the
> judges all support the same candidate; then ponce around the world telling
> other countries how to run their own elections.
>
> Answers...
> If you answered:
> mostly (a)'s & (b)'s then you are a normal well-balanced individual.
> mostly (c)'s then do the world a favour and shoot yourself with the
> anti-tank weapon you carry in the glove-box of your pick-up truck.
>

pepperkin

ROFLROFL!!!!!!!
Oh, I have to send that to a few select...ahh..."Individuals" I know...
Well, I hate beer, dislike watching TV, don't watch sports, I know how to read, so am I un-American? hehehe
Big Brother is obssessed with control...too many seem to have forgotten the basis of the country (which I agree with, freedom from religious oppression, etc etc) and have turned it into the farce it is today. (course, I have to be sadly amused at the irony in that the settlers moved over to this continent to fight religious oppression, only to turn around and kill the native americans and/or kick them off their land whilst madly converting the "savages" into "real human beings" via religion...)
Anyway, that's one of my soapboxes.
I look at it this way. No nation can last if it is founded and built on blood. Ireland wasn't. The United States was, built on blood and theft. I honestly see the US falling down around their ears, maybe not in my lifetime, or my childrens lifetime, but I do see it happening. Anyone else agree?

Bard

The US could be certainly in for a fall big-time, particularly economically, if predictions (and opinions on a certain new head of state) are anything to go by...

As for Ireland NOT being built on blood (and theft)... well... there's many who may disagree with you there, - but that's a whole historical debate in itself.

---

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. -Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Canaboid

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by pepperkin:
I honestly see the US falling down around their ears, </font>

Yes I think so. I was going to mention that but thought it was a bit inflammatory. Best to tread softly when theres Yanks about




[This message has been edited by Canaboid (edited 12-02-2001).]

pepperkin

Yeah! And you remember that! Yeah! and if you don't tread softly I'll...I'll...punch you in the kneecaps! yeah!
Well theres a difference between casting all americans in the same mold (which is silly) and saying the obvious truth, it's going downhill faster than ever (which only the truely blind could disagree with).
I understand these differences!
*stands to her full impressive height of..er...4'11" and sells tickets to the End of The US show in which mad rednecks shoot everyone on sight to test their new gun sights...*

DeVore

Ahhh the land of the free...

Well here are my mathematically influenced views on why we view Americans as <see above>


Say the percentage of redneck yobs and low iq morons in ANYn population is 1 in 10. (say!)

Say that in the general populace these inbreds create 5 times their number in *volume* of "dumbness". You can think of this as crap tv shows with yokels in the audience and on stage, or as gun toting texan boys. Whatever. The point is that dumb people make a LOT more *noise* then non-dumb people.

For the sake of argument I've decided this is 5 times their number.


So Ireland has 300,000 yokels and therefore has a "dumb" rating of 1,500,000.

America has 20,000,000 dumb people EVEN AT THE SAME RATIO OF 1 in 10.
Therefore America has a "dumb" score of 20,000,000 x 5 = 100,000,000

So America *seems* more dumb by a much larger proportion.

From living there I can tell you there is a greater extreme in *both* directions of the stupid/smart bell-curve. You'd expect that in a larger sample size of population.

Add into this the fact that they are hugely media focused and that dumb people sit in front of the TV more then any other group and you'll see it PAYS to create an exagerated number of dumb programs for them to watch. Its distorted from reality.

DeV.

pepperkin

Well written and well thought out And a truly good point, too!

Blitzkrieger

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bard:
) As for Ireland NOT being built on blood (and theft)... well... there's many who may disagree with you there, - but that's a whole historical debate in itself.
</font>

well i'm bored enough for it

The current Irish state emerged from a bloody civil war. Our goverment collapsed once but I don't think it counts cos apart from the politicians no1 seemed bothered.

Before the civil war we were conquered by the english, and before that we had a reutation as a bunch of blood-thirsty *******s. The Irish were always fighting amongst themselves and I doubt if you could have called them a nation - they couldn't even unite against the english.

DadaKopf

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

get over it, JEsus