What the Americans think of Ireland

paulcr

I thought the thread was what do american think of Ireland...seems to be the other way around!

Big Ears

paulcr wrote:

I thought the thread was what do american think of Ireland...seems to be the other way around!

see the problem is : this is an Irish site , therefore the majority of posters are Irish and being Irish and seeing 'what Americans think of Ireland' , its only natural to post about what Irish people think of America , lucky enough we have some Americans here who can keep the thread on topic .

Pet

I'll make two posts..RE America:


It seems to me that George Bush, by playing the born again Jesus freak thing to the hilt, has managed to mobilise a large section of the "red states" into voting; something they wouldn't normally do. That's why he has been so successful. The type of people who normally wouldn't give a damn about politics as long as they could eat their Big Macs and drive their petrol-guzzling pickups have now taken a keen interest in keeping their spiritual leader in place.

And the section of the population who are well-informed and usually take an interest in politics have become so disillusioned with their own country that a lot of them don't see a point in voting now. It's a double-edged sword, and it's really ****ed the country over.

Remember when Americans were proud to be American? And they had a good reason to as well. They were proud for all the right reasons THEN. And I don't remember people over here taking too much offense to it. Now, however, it's a different group of people kissing the flag, and for the wrong reasons. And that's why you get people over this side of the pond burning the American flag.

Pet

RE: why I think Dublin is so rubbish

Are you mixing us up with country life? From my admittedly limited view point, all I see in a country lifestyle is a bad silage smell, isolation, getting drunk (and driving home ), fightin, "shiftin" garels, suicidal boredom, wellies, complaining about dublin and backwardness.
In as far as what you said about the above being all dublin is about: for crying out loud ronan!!! Between the hours of midnight and 2.00am in the kind of clubs you seem to visiting maybe. That's it!

Limited experience, exactly. I've had experience of both city and country life, and both have their + and - points. But to dispel a few myths about country life for you:
-Silage doesn't smell bad. It's grass with molasses as a preservative. SLURRY is what smells bad, and that's around maybe 2 or 3 days out of the year.
-Most people live within a couple of miles of a town, so isolation isn't a problem.
-Taxi's tbh.
-Fights in country towns, at least on the west coast, are something that usually makes the regional newspapers. I have had blazing rows with complete strangers twice my size, and never have I felt the slightest bit concerned for my safety, because it just doesn't happen that way.

But anyways. My original point was never that country life was better than Dublin life; rather that Dublin was a ****hole of a city, when compared with other European cities. Of course country life has its drawbacks, I'm not even gonna contest that. And quality of life tends to be better if you live within 30 miles or so of a city.

Erm... most of them are exactly what I meant by pretentious.

Enjoying the arts is pretentious? Admittedly a lot of pretentious "upper class" people make a point of enjoying the arts because they enjoy the image. But if more regular people took an interest, then it would become far more commonplace..

a taxi-driver with a sage-like story to tell

That's what I like about Dublin. But it's becoming harder and harder to find..Dublin's caught between the charming, friendly old-fashioned way it used to be, and the cosmopolitan modern-day city it wants to be. And it's failing on both counts. That's where the problem lies.

Possibly, but that's only cos you farmers get so much more investment per capita than we do, (then complain that we get all the attention). A fairer system would yield a sparkling city I can guarantee you.

I don't see how investment per capita is connected to Dublin being a filthy hole of dirt and litter..

hey're there, they're obvious, they're beligerant, they're loud. This I do not deny. What I do deny and take offense to is you describing my city as violent. It simply isn't. You don't notice the scumbags so much in other cities as much, but good god I wouldn't mess with them. I wouldn't be too scared talking back to a dodgy dublin lad. It's a question of bark and bite.

You don't think they're violent or scary. But try telling that to the average joe or granny on the LUAS who is being harrassed, or who is too scared to tell a pack of scummers down the back of a bus to put out the cigarettes. Yeah, I can laugh it off if some idiot slags my long hair, and I can push someone away or defend myself if they get in my face. But a lot of people aren't used to that, and they shouldn't have to be. It seems to me that you think a threat of violence is not something to be worried about..

And yes, i have enjoyed myself in Dublin. There are good points to it. But as a modern-day city, and a capital city at that, it fails on more counts than it succeeds.

MissyKiki

Hobbes wrote:

Actually they were asking me if I knew the Boxer, which confused me more as I don't watch the sport.
I was in a cafe for brekfast one time in Mount Pleasent Michigan and for a town that has little to no tourists right beside my table was some Irish guy telling two girls how he had to dodge snipers and tanks to get to work every morning in Dublin.

I wouldn't have known about the boxer either.

As for the guy at breakfast, I'll bet he got a good laugh out of it....

MissyKiki

Hydroquinone wrote:

Th name Jackeen comes from a time when we wer under British rule and the most loyal royal area in Ireland was The Pale, the area round about Dublin.
Anyway, Queen Victoria came to Visit and was met by adoring crowds, waving the flag.
And the flag of the British Empire is the Union Jack, so the people from Dublin were derisively called Jackeens by the people outside Dublin, who thought the allegiance to the Crown was a load of rubbish.

Another thing from these times which you've probably heard of is such and such is "beyond the Pale"
Well, The Pale was a lawabiding place, paying attention to British rule and not agitating for independence, while outside the Pale was lawless and wild and not under control - beyond The Pale.

Well, now, thank you for that. That is the kind of stuff I find interesting. Learning the origin of words.

MissyKiki

Sleepy wrote:

Lesson No 1. Europeans are a very diverse group. Different countries over here are not like different States in the US. Differences in language, culture, major religeons, liberalism (e.g. compare a country as sensible as The Netherlands with one as anally retentive as the UK or Ireland).

.

Well, I work in a bookstore and a new current affairs title came in the other day. It was something like "Hating America, a new world pasttime"

And as for who we elect....we only have two major parties and therefore, two candidates from which to choose. Sometimes it's a matter of picking the lesser of two evils. And we don't always get it right either.

MissyKiki

Hobbes wrote:

Actually the States can be compared quite a bit to Europe. Treat each state as a country. They share a common currency and language (in some cases) but each State has its own culture. A person from Boston is very different from a person from San Diego.

Well, that is true, but I think Europe is much more diverse. Language, culture, nationalism, etc. Although, we do have many dialects, it's still the same language even if it doesn't always sound like English.

MissyKiki

MrPinK wrote:

Why not? America actually has a large number of Scots, Italians, Irish and Greeks, and many more ethnicities. You won't find another country as multicultural. I'd say they are as diverse as Europeans.

True, but I can't go to Italy and become Italian, Ireland and become Irish (though I am a bit), France and become french. anyone (almost) can come here and become an American. Many of the above groups are 2nd and 3rd generation who, though they may have ancestors from Europe, consider themselves to be Americans.

MissyKiki

ApeXaviour wrote:

Apart from the fact that Ireland is a western modernised country they shouldnt. But take somewhere like boliva, Turkey, madagascar. Who do you honestly think would be able to find them more often on a geological map of the world? Simple point, I'm not inferring anything else from it.

You have a point. My 7-year-old son had to point out to 11-year-olds where Afghanistan was on a globe. They didn't know. I had one lesson on the countries of Europe, one on the former USSR, and one on parts of Asia. That was it. We didn't study South America, Africa, Austrailia or Southeast Asia. Hell I used to hear about Aparthide (sp?) and I had no clue what anyone was talking about.

MissyKiki

Abdiel wrote:

What's a mosque ? - answer "A type of animal ?"
How many Eiffel towers in Paris ? -answer "10"
Where's the Berlin wall ? -answer "Israel ?"

Well, our education system leaves lots to be desired, that's for sure. As a future educator, I think about these kinds of things all of the time. And, yes, I've heard of Chomsky. However, as far as the accent goes, I haven't read anything that has an accent.

MissyKiki

ColHol wrote:

seriously, and for the oil, but it made his country richer right? and then saddam etc. Positives outweigh the negatives tbh

Saddam? Yeah right. Oh big hype "We got him" well what have they done with him and where is he now? Haven't heard anything since his capture.

MissyKiki

ApeXaviour wrote:

Yeah cos the loss of ~100,000 iraqi lives is totally eclipsed by america getting to flex their military might, and lest not forget the all holy profit margin..

Someone must be getting something from the war because petrol prices have doubled since it began! :mad:

MissyKiki

And as far as Americans seeing Ireland through rose colored glasses....You should see the travel books and the scenery books. THey all show beautiful mountains, quaint villages, blue waters and the like. Look at some travel books for the US. Do you really think they are gonna show the burned out, bullet-hole ridden buildings in which the homeless people live? How about the factory towns with the trailer parks?

No, you see the Grand Canyon, the Rockie mountains and the monuments in Washington D.C. Outside of the main area of DC, I hear it is really trashy and quite dangerous.

Hobbes

Anna971 wrote:

Well, that is true, but I think Europe is much more diverse. Language, culture, nationalism, etc. Although, we do have many dialects, it's still the same language even if it doesn't always sound like English.

Some areas speak mostly spanish, not English. Some even speak German. You have religious to the point of fanitical in one state and the complete opposite in another state. Some states where prostitution is a serious crime, other states where it is extremly legal. Likewise with gambling.

Even TV changes radically from state to state. Boston TV for example could have something like the most graphic horror movie showing during brekfast time saturday morning, but any display of sexual acts and they are physically removed from the movie. In El Paso I was amazed they didn't cut the movies into little pieces like they did in Boston.

Movie house in Boston, the crowds were continually boo'ing, cheering and generally getting all worked up with the movies. In El Paso (and San Diego) the movie go'ers were much like Irish people in that they kept quiet and watched the movie.

There are loads of differences. I know Americans think they are all alike but culturally it varies wildly the further from the state you go.

DriftingRain

I'm american...I've heard of Ireland...I've seen pics, beautiful place...rainey...green, and chilly..but and I've meet some really great friends from .ie!!!

No need to be sarcastic....on some of our mess...its ment to be joshing, well from some of us!


/me giggles...And yessssss...I'm quite mad...just ask the few that know me!!!!


TA TA
~DR~

ApeXaviour

Anna971 wrote:

Well, I work in a bookstore and a new current affairs title came in the other day. It was something like "Hating America, a new world pasttime"

I really cringe at that book. The chap who wrote it is a fox news pundit for crying out loud.

Fox News Channel pundit Gibson takes on a wide array of targets in "the great pageant of Hating America," including Arabs (many of whom have "mindless hatred" for the U.S.), Germans (who find a "pure, addictive pleasure" in anti-Americanism), the British (whom, he suggests, hate themselves for not hating Americans enough) and, of course, the French (who live in Chirac’s "anti-American nation").

I mean what a complete load of self-trumpeting "go to hell europe" denial nonsense..
There are reasons behind it y'know, we're not a bunch of fickle idiots. They're being all too hidden by your sensationalist media though. I'd recommend this book, a journalistic look into the reasoning behind it. Not like micheal moore's spin on the world which lacks a lot of basic logic.

MissyKiki

ApeXaviour wrote:

I really cringe at that book. The chap who wrote it is a fox news pundit for crying out loud. I mean what a complete load of self-trumpeting "go to hell europe" denial nonsense..
There are reasons behind it y'know, we're not a bunch of fickle idiots. They're being all too hidden by your sensationalist media though. I'd recommend this book, a journalistic look into the reasoning behind it. Not like micheal moore's spin on the world which lacks a lot of basic logic.

Yeah, I'm not a big Michael Moore fan either. I HAD to watch one of his movies in class. Not a fun time. Maybe I'll look more into the book.

Hobbes

Anna971 wrote:

Yeah, I'm not a big Michael Moore fan either. I HAD to watch one of his movies in class. Not a fun time. Maybe I'll look more into the book.

Ignore the messenger and study on the message.

Read up on Fox too, its fun.

MissyKiki

Hobbes wrote:

Ignore the messenger and study on the message.

Read up on Fox too, its fun.

Oh I know the point he's trying to make. I just think some of his issues are valid and some issues are just him making a bigger deal out of something than it really is. I don't personally care for his style - acting like he's the only one in the world who REALLY cares about people - but I definately see what he's trying to say. Personally, I think that "gun control" means having good aim. But I can see why others feel the way they do about guns. However each side has their view of how things should be and neither will work, but no one wants to compromise.

Hobbes

His message wasn't on gun control. It was how come Americans manage to shoot/kill each other more then other countries.

galwaydude

i know plenty of americans and some of them think ireland is just a little green island somewhere lol. But generally most i know have a high regard for ireland then again why wouldnt since im going out an american girl.
I have no qualms about moving to the states considering all the flak ppl on here are giving america.

MissyKiki

Hobbes wrote:

His message wasn't on gun control. It was how come Americans manage to shoot/kill each other more then other countries.

Actually, one of his messages in "Bowling for Columbine" was gun control. Americans shoot each other because the value system has gone to ****e. There are too many ways to get out of situations. We are teaching future generations that they don't have to be responsible for their actions.

Had this discussion in a class on diversity in education. There are just as many guns in other countries, but not as much violence. Perhaps other countries teach a greater respect for life and for the damage that weapons can do.

Sorry to get off topic. I've never shot anyone.