Author Topic: Why the other countries think America is crazy  (Read 9102 times)

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Offline CaseAgainstFaith

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Why the other countries think America is crazy
« on: September 22, 2012, 02:33:02 pm »
Fox news is one of Americas most prevalent cultural exports. Local cable pkgs here in asia usually have one english channel (fox), and in Europe. It is often the only place people overseas get their information regarding america, and it forms their impressions of us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News#International_transmission

http://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/10aab3/ysk_that_fox_news_is_one_of_americas_most/

Well this could explain quite a bit as to the reason why all the other countries think America is full of crazy people.  When all you have is Fox for your news source....
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Offline Her3tiK

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2012, 03:05:57 pm »
You mean our political system isn't enough of a reason?

Insane minority or not, it takes a majority to keep these assclowns in office.
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Offline DrFishcake

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2012, 03:21:26 pm »
Fun fact: Most of the news channels on the Sky digital platform in the UK (ie, part of NewsCorp just like Fox) including Sky News, BBC News, CNN, France 24, CNBC, Russia Today and Al Jazeera English are free-to-air. Fox news isn't: it's part of Sky's entertainment subscription package.

Offline wyvern999

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2012, 08:33:51 pm »
Actually I doubt it has anything to do with Fox News.

Europeans, especially those in the UK, are well aware of your almost none existant gun laws, obsessive religious cranks, your relentlessly rightwing politics despite the fact that the GOP have nothing but barely disguised contempt for half the population, uber expensive healthcare, pointless and costly wars in 3rd world countries, your obesity epidemic, tedious sports, baseball, gridiron, basketball, that almost no other country plays, your fixation with electing 2nd rate celebrities and clapped out generals to political office. Most ridiculous of all is the fact that despite all this and much more you insist on seeing your country as "the shining city on the hill" that the rest of the world is just gagging to live in. Well believe me we're not.

Offline TigerHunter

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2012, 08:38:12 pm »
Actually I doubt it has anything to do with Fox News.

Europeans, especially those in the UK, are well aware of your almost none existant gun laws, obsessive religious cranks, your relentlessly rightwing politics despite the fact that the GOP have nothing but barely disguised contempt for half the population, uber expensive healthcare, pointless and costly wars in 3rd world countries, your obesity epidemic, tedious sports, baseball, gridiron, basketball, that almost no other country plays, your fixation with electing 2nd rate celebrities and clapped out generals to political office. Most ridiculous of all is the fact that despite all this and much more you insist on seeing your country as "the shining city on the hill" that the rest of the world is just gagging to live in. Well believe me we're not.
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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2012, 09:29:36 pm »
Well, getting rid of Faux News would fix a decent portion of that.

Offline RavynousHunter

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2012, 10:33:37 pm »
Actually I doubt it has anything to do with Fox News.

Europeans, especially those in the UK, are well aware of your almost none existant gun laws, obsessive religious cranks, your relentlessly rightwing politics despite the fact that the GOP have nothing but barely disguised contempt for half the population, uber expensive healthcare, pointless and costly wars in 3rd world countries, your obesity epidemic, tedious sports, baseball, gridiron, basketball, that almost no other country plays, your fixation with electing 2nd rate celebrities and clapped out generals to political office. Most ridiculous of all is the fact that despite all this and much more you insist on seeing your country as "the shining city on the hill" that the rest of the world is just gagging to live in. Well believe me we're not.

Okay, dissection time.  Preface, first.  I agree that America is fucked up.  We've got a lot of problems, and you've nailed quite a few of them, but you're coming across with just a hint of strawman, allow me to elucidate.

1) Our gun laws are quite lax compared to the rest of the world, but its as much an issue of wrangling with the 2nd Amendment as it is simple practicality.  America has a total landmass of ~9.83 million square kilometers.  For comparison, England has a landmass of 243,610 square kilometers.  We're over 40 times the size of England.  Policing that much area on a federal level is very difficult, logistically.  Look at Prohibition, we tried to outlaw liquor on a nation-wide level, and we were never able to adequately enforce it.  The same would happen if we adopted England-style gun control laws.  Criminals already break the laws for robbery, rape, and murder, why would they possibly follow laws against guns?

There's a lot of land, and a lot of places to hide, in America.  Its why the drug trade is so prolific, despite the incredible amount of money we've poured into the War on Drugs.  Some things work on a federal level, some things don't, which is why we have 3 levels of government.  But, even if you had it enforced all the way down to the local level, we need only look again at Prohibition.  It didn't work.  People will be bought, people will be swayed, and some simply won't care enough to actually do anything.

2) Every country has insane religious nuts.  Or, do I really need to point out the likes of Anders Breivik and the Ayatollah?

3) Obesity is a problem everywhere, not just in America.  NEXT.

4) Sports?  Really?  You're calling our country insane because we focus on sports that most of the world doesn't play?  How the hell does that even begin to matter?

5) To my knowledge, we've only elected one celebrity and one general to our Presidency: Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant, respectively.  While Reagan is worshiped by the GOP, pretty much everyone at the time agreed that Grant was a shitty president.

You make some good points, but you make flawed ones, as well.  I wouldn't call them strawmen per se, but they're...uncomfortably close, if ya ask me.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 10:39:18 pm by RavynousHunter »
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Offline SpaceProg

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2012, 11:01:30 pm »
Ike was a general too, but IMO he was a pretty good President.

Offline RavynousHunter

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2012, 11:41:51 pm »
Aah, aye.  Still, generals and celebrities are far from the norm for elected officials.  They're pretty much always in some form of state or federal government, ie: governors, reps, senators.
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Offline Her3tiK

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2012, 12:18:13 am »
I don't see anything horribly wrong with generals running for office. First-hand military experience is hardly a bad thing to have in someone who tells the military what to do.
Her3tik, you have groupies.
Ego: +5

There are a number of ways, though my favourite is simply to take them by surprise. They're just walking down the street, minding their own business when suddenly, WHACK! Penis to the face.

Offline RavynousHunter

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2012, 12:22:19 am »
Never said it was a good or bad thing, just rare.
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Offline largeham

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2012, 12:47:23 am »
Some of wyvern's stuff is wrong, but he is correct in general, we don't need Fox News to see how fucked up America is.

Ike was a general too, but IMO he was a pretty good President.

Yeah, aside from endorsing MacArthur's clearing out of the Bonus Army, he deposed the elected Mossadegh in Iran, suppressed a revolution in Lebanon and laid the basis for American involvement in Vietnam. He also increased spending on strategic nuclear weapons. A truly great guy.

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Offline DasFuchs

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2012, 12:58:43 am »
"fox news"

Stopped reading there
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Offline SpaceProg

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2012, 01:05:35 am »
Some of wyvern's stuff is wrong, but he is correct in general, we don't need Fox News to see how fucked up America is.

Ike was a general too, but IMO he was a pretty good President.

Yeah, aside from endorsing MacArthur's clearing out of the Bonus Army, he deposed the elected Mossadegh in Iran, suppressed a revolution in Lebanon and laid the basis for American involvement in Vietnam. He also increased spending on strategic nuclear weapons. A truly great guy.

I DID say "IMO".

Offline RavynousHunter

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Re: Why the other countries think America is crazy
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2012, 01:44:56 am »
Some of wyvern's stuff is wrong, but he is correct in general, we don't need Fox News to see how fucked up America is.

Ike was a general too, but IMO he was a pretty good President.

Yeah, aside from endorsing MacArthur's clearing out of the Bonus Army, he deposed the elected Mossadegh in Iran, suppressed a revolution in Lebanon and laid the basis for American involvement in Vietnam. He also increased spending on strategic nuclear weapons. A truly great guy.

I DID say "IMO".

Yeah, well your opinion is wrong and that makes you a bad person!

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