Are These Common Misconceptions About the USA True?

[honestrosewater]

lol watch the UN as a whole for a few more years if you want to see some REAL embarassments.

Why, was Bolton approved?

Instead of ridiculing people for their mistakes, I would rather spend my time trying to help improve things.

 

[Pengwuino]

Americans never really watch the BBC so how would that be possible.

And how exactly does America deserve it (sounds like bias...)? A huge portion of the crap we hear turns out ot be lies and exagerations. Remember hte Newsweek thing? Lie. War for oil? No proof. Gitmo? One-sided reporting (with a few lies mixed in as well). All of Iraq? One-sided reporting (1 cities power outage hits newsstands for a week while 10,000 children being able to go to class where they couldn't in the first place gets back page coverage for 1 day). Etc. Etc. I suppose in a high school attitude, we deserve the bashing because most high schoolers are rather stupid.

 

[honestrosewater]

Well even in high school no one simply cared about 1 single person. Theres around 200 countries on Earth yet we're the only ones who get little BBC specials like the one linked earlier as far as i can tell as to how bad it is. And yes its everywhere, not just in high school and as i said, i think too many people bring the high school attitude out of high school and bring it to the real world.

Im currently in college so i don't have the time or money to go to another nation. As I've heard a lot of the same from different people, i find lately that it takes a real man to actually praise their own country in the US's case. On forums like this for example, speaking positively about the US is like calling Einstein a fool or something. It sounds like a good analogy for other nations but as of late, it seems like "safe haven" for most people is to bash the US. I suppose there's no real men in other nations because as I sadi earlier, there doesn't exactly seem to be any criticism of any other nations allowed in this world.

I think a better way of saying it would be that it takes a real man to decide first and not immediately jump onto a bandwagon.

You think you're a real man? Check this out: https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=605337&postcount=84

 

[Pengwuino]

Why, was Bolton approved?

Instead of ridiculing people for their mistakes, I would rather spend my time trying to help improve things.

lol i wish. Go read up on the UN. Tens of millions dead because of the UN and we're suppose to give up our soverignty to these criminals.

 

[whozum]

Americans never really watch the BBC so how would that be possible.

And how exactly does America deserve it (sounds like bias...)? A huge portion of the crap we hear turns out ot be lies and exagerations. Remember hte Newsweek thing? Lie. War for oil? No proof. Gitmo? One-sided reporting (with a few lies mixed in as well). All of Iraq? One-sided reporting (1 cities power outage hits newsstands for a week while 10,000 children being able to go to class where they couldn't in the first place gets back page coverage for 1 day). Etc. Etc. I suppose in a high school attitude, we deserve the bashing because most high schoolers are rather stupid.

Yet the high schoolers arent the ones voting. Theres no win in this argument, neither of us can convince the other the wrongs of their point of view. Ofcourse I don't see any wrongs in my point of view but that's only natural, you feel the same way about yours.

By the way, I have no bias for or against the US. I'm politically neutral and can defend any position that I attack with just as much credibliity. I guess I'm arguing for the sake of argument. I have no attachments for the US whether personally or politically, I simply live here.

Americans don't watch BBC, you are right, but CNN aired just as many ( iwas referring to CNN when talking about afghanistan). Any country gives a one sided view to its public, ofcourse. Its called propoganda. Until you hit both sides of the story, you can't really say much without being biased. that's why I asked you if you'd ever left the country.

 

[whozum]

lol i wish. Go read up on the UN. Tens of millions dead because of the UN and we're suppose to give up our soverignty to these criminals.

How many are alive because of the UN?
You call the UN criminals yet the US is a member. You call the UN criminals although the UN stands for the entire world. You call your own race criminal? It is only natural for every country to act in its own interest. It's wrong though, politics is ****ed up.

 

[honestrosewater]

lol i wish. Go read up on the UN. Tens of millions dead because of the UN and we're suppose to give up our soverignty to these criminals.

Your insults, accusations, and telling me what to do got old yesterday. Please don't talk to me until you can change that behavior.

 

[Pengwuino]

The US has its share of screw ups but we're being told we haaaaaaave to listen to the Gods at the UN. The UN has a horrible record when it comes to "keeping people alive". They come in, can't act, and end up with things like Rwanda. You also get people bought off that end up helping tyrants do more illegal crap that end up with more people dead.

And when did i call humans criminals? The people who make up the organization are criminals that do not at all represent the people of the nations. I am not sure many Russians would approve of the things Russia does in the UN just as I am not sure any Iraqies would have approved of their UN representation (since their UN representation lead to funding Saddam and murdering them off by oh, let's see.. 10,000's a year?). Funny how you said the US deserves all its bashing yet the US funds the UN and you just said the UN does so much good... sounds like a contradiction!

 

[Pengwuino]

Your insults, accusations, and telling me what to do got old yesterday. Please don't talk to me until you can change that behavior.

Can't take a educational suggestion to heart? I am sorry you get offended so easily when people ask you to actually gain some knowledge about a subject your talkinga bout.

 

[whozum]

The US has its share of screw ups but we're being told we haaaaaaave to listen to the Gods at the UN. The UN has a horrible record when it comes to "keeping people alive". They come in, can't act, and end up with things like Rwanda. You also get people bought off that end up helping tyrants do more illegal crap that end up with more people dead.

And when did i call humans criminals? The people who make up the organization are criminals that do not at all represent the people of the nations. I am not sure many Russians would approve of the things Russia does in the UN just as I am not sure any Iraqies would have approved of their UN representation (since their UN representation lead to funding Saddam and murdering them off by oh, let's see.. 10,000's a year?). Funny how you said the US deserves all its bashing yet the US funds the UN and you just said the UN does so much good... sounds like a contradiction!

Sorry I'm going to have to take some points off your score board for this one.
There were no contradictions in my argument.
You can't say Rwanda's state of being is the UN's fault, saying its the UN's fault is saying its the worlds fault. The UN being ****ty as you say only goes to claim that the worlds united efforts suck ass. It is called the UNITED nations after all..

YOu use saddam as an example of the UN's mistakes, but let's not forget who put Saddam in power here, eh?

 

[whozum]

Can't take a educational suggestion to heart? I am sorry you get offended so easily when people ask you to actually gain some knowledge about a subject your talkinga bout.

Its not your suggestion its your tone. This is where blind patriotism takes over logical argument. I'm not demeaning your argument or bashing you personally here, but it is obvious that even in worse come to worse if your argument was beaten time after time and you had nothing left you would still hold onto the US' greatness just because its all you know. I think its true, is it?

No offense man.

 

[Pengwuino]

Yes there were. You claim the UN has saved so many lives yet the UN is mainly funded by the US (and as some people might sya, is a puppet of the US) but that the US sucks and deserves bashing. Big contradiction, big points off.

Rwanda's state of being is entirely the UN's fault. The world is not truly represented by the UN because the UN does not consult with 6 billion people. I don't think we live in a world where 6 billion people, or even a majority of them believed that the UN should have left when a few people died. The UN is a group of politicians trying to boss people around, not anything near a "united effort". If a united effort consists of sending in a few troops and running away when a few die which results in nearly 1 million people dieing... well then we're in serious trouble.

And as I've heard thsi lame excuse countless of times, i'll go by the old reliable reason. If you study history, you'll learn that Iran was a rather big problem at the time and Saddam in power would have been rather helpful. As you said, don't we all work in our own current interests?

 

[honestrosewater]

Can't take a educational suggestion to heart? I am sorry you get offended so easily when people ask you to actually gain some knowledge about a subject your talkinga bout.

Well, I should correct myself. I don't mean don't talk to me ever; I just don't want to continue this discussion the way it's been going.

 

[Pengwuino]

Its not your suggestion its your tone. This is where blind patriotism takes over logical argument. I'm not demeaning your argument or bashing you personally here, but it is obvious that even in worse come to worse if your argument was beaten time after time and you had nothing left you would still hold onto the US' greatness just because its all you know. I think its true, is it?

That quote was not even directed towards you.

 

[whozum]

Yes there were. You claim the UN has saved so many lives yet the UN is mainly funded by the US (and as some people might sya, is a puppet of the US) but that the US sucks and deserves bashing. Big contradiction, big points off.

I never claimed the UN saved so many lives. I asked you how many lives it saved. Also, I never said the US is 100% evil, all I've done through this thread is say things bout the US' perception around the world, and maybe a few glim remarks about the US policies. If you say the UN is such a failure and the US is the prime funder of the UN, what does that say about the US?

Rwanda's state of being is entirely the UN's fault. The world is not truly represented by the UN because the UN does not consult with 6 billion people. I don't think we live in a world where 6 billion people, or even a majority of them believed that the UN should have left when a few people died. The UN is a group of politicians trying to boss people around, not anything near a "united effort". If a united effort consists of sending in a few troops and running away when a few die which results in nearly 1 million people dieing... well then we're in serious trouble.

You are basically discounting american democracy here. WOuldnt the US not be a democracy then, since not every american votes on every decision made? Isnt that what democracy is? All governments follow your definition of politicians.

And as I've heard thsi lame excuse countless of times, i'll go by the old reliable reason. If you study history, you'll learn that Iran was a rather big problem at the time and Saddam in power would have been rather helpful. As you said, don't we all work in our own current interests?

What excuse? Why are you so offended that you have to start attacking? How is it an excuse? I'm sure the UN had its reasons to leave. The US can't admit putting Saddam in power was a mistake?

Its funny how it seems everyone is a problem to America.. why don't they just take everyone out. It would fix the problem, no?

You didnt answer my question earlier, is it true?

 

[whozum]

That quote was not even directed towards you.

I know, I was answering on her behalf because I wanted to ask that question.

 

[chound]

Why I started this thread is becoz in the article by Forbes magazine(we had a thread on that) there was a stated that views of many people of America wuz mostly based on Hollywood and other things. I wanted to see how true that statement was. This is not to insult the americans

 

[whozum]

Why I started this thread is becoz in the article by Forbes magazine(we had a thread on that) there was a stated that views of many people of America wuz mostly based on Hollywood and other things. I wanted to see how true that statement was. This is not to insult the americans

It's fine, atleast you asked. What do you think of it?

 

[Pengwuino]

How many are alive because of the UN?

Thats an absolutely impossible question to answer but it is somewhat easy to put a death-toll for the UN's actions based on things like Rwanda or requests for help that were ignored, etc etc.

As for the US, you have said it deserves every bit of bashing and most of the bsahing is "the US is 100% evil, it should burn it hell, etc etc" so if we're deserving it... . And we're the prime funder of the UN, but we don't rule it. Hell, look at the Iraq War. If we ruled over the UN, that would have been a piece of cake to get an actual war resolutions but we only got 1441.

As far as discounting democracies... in a sense I am doing that but its far different then how it works in the UN. We're kind of dealing with 2 different beasts to say the least. In a democratic nation, you have people attempting to get that middle of the road of what the majority thinks so that they can be elected. In the UN, a lot of nations have representatives that indirectly follow this path (sinec they were nominated by people who were elected by the electorate of the nation) but there are a LOT of nations where this is not true. In Iraq for example... the nation had sanctions... and the iraqi representatives and leadership did little to truly lift the sanctions. The people had to have wanted those sanctions off but since its a dictatorship as many nations are, the voice of the peopel did not translate into their representation at teh UN like it does for say, the US or France or Germany or the UK or Australia or any "free nations". So its really 2 different things we're talken about and the farther you get from direct election and representation, the more screwed up the UN or any other organization would become.

If we had the same sstem for say the IMF or WTO... itd be a fiasco but thankfully, they deal in things most people are too perplexed at to have interest in democraticing.

I appologize for calling it an excuse because most of the time i hear that line, i hear it as an excuse not to get rid of him. And I am not sure how i "attacked" you. Was suggesting that you go read about the situation an attack? I seem to get that a lot from people. You suggest that they go read up on a subject and they consider it an attack instead of a suggestion to further their knowledge on a subject.

I think that is why you were so defensive when it came to my suggestion towards the other person in this thread. You see suggestions as attacks and become easily defensive. Please refrain from this lest we want to misconstrue more suggestions as threats

And what are you asking about "is this true?". I can't get off this page of posts in recent history so i can't scroll back far into the conversation.

 

[Pengwuino]

Why I started this thread is becoz in the article by Forbes magazine(we had a thread on that) there was a stated that views of many people of America wuz mostly based on Hollywood and other things. I wanted to see how true that statement was. This is not to insult the americans

It came off as an insult because you said "these facts/lies" which we all probably assumed you meant as "some of these are facts". It would have been helpful if you told us where you were getting this info because i think a few people woudlnt have noticed the connection to Hollywood based on how much US bashing occurs online.

 

[whozum]

The conception of 'attacks' are actually form aggressivenesss that shows up in your post. The fact that you said 'lame' showed that you were getting frustrated, and your bluntness in the post after it showed that you felt that I was uninformed and unadjusted in my opinion.

The UN question was originally rhetorical and intended to stimulate the idea that the UN has done some good.

I really couldn't care less about the outcome of this conversation, this isn't even our thread, but I just want to know the answer to my question that I posed a couple posts ago.

I'm not being defensive, I'm being neutral. Defensive would be trying to justify the actions that you are being aggressive about.

 

[whozum]

This is where blind patriotism takes over logical argument. I'm not demeaning your argument or bashing you personally here, but it is obvious that even in worse come to worse if your argument was beaten time after time and you had nothing left you would still hold onto the US' greatness just because its all you know. I think its true, is it?

1234567890

edit: which was in reference to your post to rosewater.

 

[Pengwuino]

Oh, i already responded to that question. Its impossible to say how many people its "saved". Being dead is easy, your dead, not alive, you all of a sudden don't exist and for a while before that, you weren't dead. Being alive however, impossible to really say much because you could say the UN saved me because I am alive. If we're talken about say... things like african aid or humanitarian things... most of its done country to country and through private organizations like the Red Cross.

And you seem to take bluntness to mean i thought you were uninformed. Simple opinion and not true. I'm just blunt by nature be i twith an intelligently created complex argument or an ameature horribly worded rant or anything in between.

And yes, you are being defensive because for example, you defended the UN when it came to Rwanda.

 

[whozum]

You must have pretty boring arguments to call that a defense. But I really don't see how you answered my question. you didnt even address it.

 

[FredGarvin]

Americans never really watch the BBC so how would that be possible.

Bite your tongue. I watch it quite a bit...well...BBCA anyways.

 

[Pengwuino]

You must have pretty boring arguments to call that a defense. But I really don't see how you answered my question. you didnt even address it.

I thought your questin was how many lives has the UN saved... what in teh world is it? I've already asked...

 

[whozum]

This is where blind patriotism takes over logical argument. I'm not demeaning your argument or bashing you personally here, but it is obvious that even in worse come to worse if your argument was beaten time after time and you had nothing left you would still hold onto the US' greatness just because its all you know. I think its true, is it?

1234567890

edit: which was in reference to your post to rosewater.

kljhkjhkjhjk

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

I wonder if any journalists or news organizations have the integrity to do a "What the world thinks about France" or the UK or the Russians or Syrians etc etc.

This was done in Europe. There was some census done on which European people was regarded as the worst. Pretty much everyone voted for France. It doesn't pay to be eccentric and pleasure-loving, I guess.

 

[chound]

It's fine, atleast you asked. What do you think of it?

I guess all people in all countries are the same. Only a few biggies like media govts etc esp. this forum (having americans and anti americans, pls. don't start that not liking only one aspect of the US is not anti - americanism) provide skewed impression of the US. I probably would come there too if I can so that I can earn a lot of money!

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

I don't think there is anything disappointing about high divorce rates; I think it is a healthy sign:
People dare now to stop living under the same roof with someone they are no longer sexually and emotionally interested in.

Good point. Increasing divorce rate is so often portrayed as a negative thing, it's easy to miss what this actually means. People are more free to better themselves. No-one does it for fun; they do it because the marriage doesn't work. End the broken one, start a better one.
Can I say availability of porn is also a healthy sign? Well, what else are all these divorced men going to do?