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186 Comments
- appleseed1234, on 10/23/2009, -21/+68"I'd totally bang Sarah Palin..."
"It doesn't affect me..."
"The Bible says..."
"Fox News says..."
"My Dad says..." - sgerwel1985, on 10/23/2009, -3/+43To me what is anti-american is our politicians drifting so far away from their original purposes put forth by our founding fathers. We were once to be represented and our voices were to be heard and actions and laws were to be made to protect our collective interests. Now hundreds of years later, our elected officials are no longer for us. They are for corporations, or their own self interest.
American ignorance is just us standing by and letting these corrupt politicians make decisions (ones the majority are not in favor for) that impact our lives. Then we just stand by and act like "well there is nothing we can do, so whatever." That my friends is the ignorance.
It is just a massive combination of the two, but i lean towards our officials being anti-american. - harrisbradley, on 10/23/2009, -7/+44if we're so ignorant why are you all using our language
/s - asgardshill, on 10/23/2009, -22/+58"Should these claims be seen as anti-American stereotypes and prejudices or is there reasonable evidence to support such conclusions?"
Yes. Proof in four words: Fox News high ratings. - theDashRendar, on 10/23/2009, -3/+38http://imgur.com/XShpq.jpg
- appleseed1234, on 10/23/2009, -5/+38No, my point was that the root of American ignorance lies in the fact that most people absolutely refuse to figure ***** out for themselves.
- algaeturd, on 10/23/2009, -8/+41Well, excess and obesity and greed very much put America into a category all its own on the international stage. This is the country we created and it is embarrassing. Especially when you look at the lifestyles of other nations. Nobody indulges like Americans...there is even a huge slew of shows that focus on nothing but the homes of rich people, their lifestyles and how excessive and wasteful they are.
We've taken life for granted and it's somehow become directly intermingled with money and 'success.'
This country needs to rethink its lifestyle and goals. Again, I described a stereotypical american....50 pounds overweight, McDonald's bags littering the backseat, 52" HDTV, 3,000 cable channels, extensive wardrobe, Hummer in the driveway of a McMansion, debt up to their eyeballs...failing health. Driving around inside Walmart on a rascal scooter to get your 2 lb. bag of Doritos.
Those things in a lot of ways have defined us...popular culture has put it all into the spotlight and given it a stage for the world to see it.
You don't see the intelligent, reserved people because they have no value in popular culture. The dumber you are and more typical, the more likely you are to be on a reality TV show or some other outlet .
I've said it before and I'll say it again: There is a huge wave of anti-intellectualism. Dumb people hate to be reminded they're dumb. Fact. They watch shows that cater to the lowest common denominator...see movies without complicated plots, watch comedy where the crescendo is, 'Git 'ER done!" and so on. Intelligent people have a better grasp on politics, economy and history because it takes a good amount of education and study to really understand most of these things.
So you get into a debate with someone who has no concept of (say) socialism and they automatically hate you because you can debunk everything they say since they know very little about political science and history (especially world history).
And it goes on...judge someone like Sarah Palin for being way too dumb to be VP (and make no mistake, I don't care who you are, she was WAY too dumb to be VP....except in a country where the people voting her in are dumber than she is...) and so the more you know, the more time you've spent becoming educated, reading, studying, etc....the more likely you are to be attacked. Because you know and they don't and there's nothing they can say in a debate to change that.
Knowledge always triumphs over ignorance until ignorance becomes the norm. After the scale is tipped, you've got a country that's ***** good and proper....they all try to justify one another's opinions and ideals and it creates a Pied Piper effect of the dumb leading the dumber.
Talk facts, history and science and you're labeled pretentious. But I'm sorry...the more 'average' this country becomes, the further it slides into the abyss. And the only thing that will help us in the long run...the ONLY thing is to somehow improve education and give kids a reason to want to learn. They grow up in homes where education and knowledge isn't important so they have very little drive to follow that path. It's pathetic and it's showing in our country...the seams are starting to be revealed and they're a little tattered these days. It's SIMPLE for a country's population to go from fairly smart to dumb as *****. But it's seemingly impossible to reverse that and will likely take a huge disaster (horrible economic depression or something similar) to get people to where they feel like they WANT to learn or NEED to learn.
Everything is done for everyone and all the answers are at the tip of everyone's fingers via the internet. Unfortunately, those 'answers' tend to be opinions more often than facts.
"OMG! 2 lng 2 read. Buryed!" - JHW539, on 10/23/2009, -6/+38Bush Sr was pretty good - very intelligent, able to build real coalitions, and willing to eat his "No new taxes" campaign line for the good of the country. Completely different league from Bush Jr's amateur hour.
- noyurawk, on 10/23/2009, -4/+36It's not that americans are any stupider than other nations, it's the anti-intellectualism in favor of simple minded world views, and a general lack of interest toward other cultures and perspectives. Obviously, this shouldn't concern the ones are that are educated and open minded. But with over 300 million people, the US is a huge economical and military power. When the power that be caters to the uneducated and narrow minded crowd, everyone else in the world can feel it.
- blitz718, on 10/23/2009, -9/+38stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason
- inactive, on 10/23/2009, -1/+21Also, if his dad were Stephen Hawking he would be British.
- TheBigBad, on 10/23/2009, -18/+37The rest of the world is so damn pious and faultless. We should strive to be more like them.
- stubear, on 10/23/2009, -2/+21So, you're saying you have no problem with the Eurotrash stereotype?
- TheBigBad, on 10/23/2009, -4/+23Yep, just Americans do that. Nobody else.
- harrisbradley, on 10/23/2009, -5/+23topic: 'Anti-Americanism vs. American Ignorance' + digg comments = and boom goes the dynamite
- yocouchdigga, on 10/23/2009, -5/+22You forgot one of the most important enablers of this *****: religion
- stevenwalters, on 10/23/2009, -5/+19"have fun, do what you want" is definitely not something i learned in school.
Also lets be honest, religion is far worse than any of these things. - CapnSlam, on 10/23/2009, -2/+13radioshack has microphones for $10
- Ymeg, on 10/23/2009, -1/+12"American Ignorance"
- newms32, on 10/23/2009, -0/+11You're a bigot if you believe in a stereotype because it's a stereotype. But just because something is a stereotype doesn't mean it's automatically wrong.
- SirCharge, on 10/23/2009, -4/+14Not wanting to watch an hour and 15 minute video with horrific production values is not the same thing as anti-intellectualism.
- deerhake11, on 10/23/2009, -1/+11Do you actually speak the English is from Britain?
And btw.. it's called sarcasm. - badqat, on 10/23/2009, -7/+17So if your dad were say, oh, Stephen Hawking...don't you think you could get away with "my dad says?"
- 1longtime, on 10/23/2009, -0/+10Buried for completely missing the joke.
- norman619, on 10/23/2009, -1/+10Exactly. People who actually believe the constitution is an out dated document don't understand it or have never really read it.
- IDoogieI, on 10/23/2009, -2/+11This is the same as all other stereotypes, there is obviously some truth in it but that means nothing if you're discussing the whole of America. I hate to see cases of ignorance here because it advances the view of America as a harmful blight to the world and it frustrates me more then probably anyone who doesn't live here.
Using Bush as an example is easy but it really doesn't hold up because a lot of us didn't vote for him and tons of people here totally disagreed with his policies and hated how he represented us to the rest of the world.
No stereotype is completely true, there will always be exceptions. I could think of all French as elitists who hate every other country but that is simply not true. Or I could believe that everyone in Mexico deals drugs but these things are outrageously ridiculous and believing them is no less ignorant then believing this crap. - darkz77, on 10/23/2009, -1/+9thank you
- yocouchdigga, on 10/23/2009, -1/+8If his dad were Stephen Hawking, I'd be hunting down some crazy porn right now.
- freshgrease, on 10/23/2009, -1/+8Touche
- cdtoad, on 10/23/2009, -4/+11You expect me to watch one hour and 17 minutes of video? Thats UNAMERICAN! I need a 30 second nutshell view to base my believes on.
- captspaulding, on 10/23/2009, -1/+8There are a lot of dumb people in the US. But I bet England has quite a few stupid people as well.
- Fruit45, on 10/23/2009, -2/+8Great post. The blatant anti-intellectual sentiment in this country needs to be addressed. What can you do, though, when greatness in this country is measured by mcmansions, amount of cars, and how many hours you work instead of mental and spiritual enlightenment?
- leeseepoo, on 10/23/2009, -0/+6Exactly! Well said
- FleetlordAtvar, on 10/23/2009, -7/+13Go ahead, evade the issue. Because of course the question here is "should we make X more like Y" instead of "is X actually good enough?"
- yocouchdigga, on 10/23/2009, -0/+6I *****' lol'd...
In his defense, he's very old and from TX. - RANDOM667, on 10/23/2009, -0/+6If there is one thing that pisses me off more than anything it's stupid people.
I demand that breeding and voting privileges be permanently revoked for anyone with an IQ of less than 120! - shanealeslie, on 10/23/2009, -0/+6I like long, well composed, monographs on post content.
It shows intelligence, and literacy. - slugpellet63, on 10/23/2009, -0/+5I was going to write a totally different comment, but, on reflection, your comments are so crass that any sort critique of them would sail way over your head.
You have totally misunderstood everything this guy was saying and his motive.
Total listening comprehension fail. - Quaestor44, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6I'm american, and I love canada but......buried.
- sinurgy, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6"I described a stereotypical american....50 pounds overweight, McDonald's bags littering the backseat, 52" HDTV, 3,000 cable channels, extensive wardrobe, Hummer in the driveway of a McMansion, debt up to their eyeballs...failing health. Driving around inside Walmart on a rascal scooter to get your 2 lb. bag of Doritos."
Ironically your stereotype seems mostly based on ignorance. Those may be the Americans you don't like but it's far from the typical American. - thebrowndigger, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6Yes, I'm sure an investigation has the slimmest chance to scientifically and soundly conclude that Americans are intellectually and culturally inferior.
/s - stubear, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6So you're saying you have no problem with the New Yorkers being douche bags stereotype then? /s
- thelastbushman, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6^^ Exactly, using a stereotype to pigeon hole someone because they have certain characteristics that align with that stereotype is being a bigot. ie. Black people are criminals, jews are greedy, southern whites are racists. But stereotypes do have a basis in reality, or, where there's smoke there's fire. Blacks are over-represented in prison populations and southern whites did lynch a lot of black people. See the difference.
- BasalCellBossk, on 10/23/2009, -5/+10The idea that Americans are stupid has been around since at least the first world war, my wife's grandfather reports that this was the general impression people had when he was a kid way back when in Australia. So if some dirt poor Aussie wheat farmer thinks you are dumb, you gotta be pretty ***** dumb, because those guys aint exactly academics themselves.
- rockytop9808, on 10/23/2009, -3/+8My quality of life here is pretty damn good. How often to you actually visit America to form these opinions?
- sobe4u8k, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6I am American and I do not care about ANY of those things Especially NASCAR. Btw, You canucks love your processed bulk foods as well.
- Ryuuken117, on 10/23/2009, -8/+13Stereotypes exist because of stupidity, ignorance or hatred. If you believe in stereotypes, then you're a bigoted fool, regardless of who you are or where you are from.
- zaferk, on 10/23/2009, -4/+9No, you are the ignorant one. Stereotypes exist because they represent a sizable minority of the people its suppose to represents. Denying it more is the equivalent of disregarding empirical knowledge, you know, kinda like what they did during the inquisitions and Dark Ages.
- OldSkoolSlacker, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6What disturbs me is the growing Anti-Americanism in America itself. You talk about education being our only hope, but it is hard to inspire and educate the masses when you hold your students in contempt. That troubles me a lot, the growing divide in America. I don't think holding others in contempt does anything to bring us closer together. In fact, it probably drives us further apart. A lot of people in America may be largely uneducated and they may not be able to find Iran on a map, but they aren't so stupid that they don't know when someone is looking down on them or belittling them for their lack of knowledge. I think this creates a sense of resentment and mistrust that only exacerbates the problem. Think about it. Why would they want to be like the person who was so rude to them? Where is the inspiration in that? What does that do to encourage them to pick up a book?
I also think there is a growing amount of hypocrisy among the Anti-American Americans. They will hold uneducated Americans to one standard and then make excuses for similar behavior out of similar people in other countries. For instance, they might be quick to point out how small-town Americans cling to their guns or religion, but in the next breath they make up excuses to explain why many uneducated Muslims are running around clinging to *their* guns and *their* religion. What's the difference? Why isn't a gun-toting religious idiot an idiot no matter where on the Earth you find him? What does it matter if he's thumping a Bible or the Koran? Why the quickness to trounce on an American idiot who bombs an abortion clinic and then make excuses for a Palestinian idiot who blows up a bus? I see a lot of this out of the Anti-American American - this willingness to take pity on the poor Muslim and make excuses for his plight, to explain away his ignorance and intolerance, but cut no such slack for the ignorant and intolerant American. The ignorant Muslim, they seem to suggest, can't help it; he's a victim of his circumstance. The ignorant American, on the other hand, he has no excuse; so says the Anti-American American. That trend is a little troubling to me.
I think a person has to be sensitive about education and try to inspire people rather than belittle them, but at the very least - at the absolute minimum - I think people should have enough integrity to dispense with the hypocrisy and treat everyone the same. Ignorance should be ignorance and religious intolerance should be religious intolerance, no matter where on the globe you find it. - OddBrian, on 10/23/2009, -0/+4The Greek philosophers, Aristotle being chief among them, actually developed what we come to know the scientific method via deductive reasoning. This was followed by further development in the Muslim world by folks like Ibn al-Haytham and Abu Rayhan Biruni.
Thanks for trying, though. -
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