Olympic Opening Parade of Nations

[tribdog]

You know what I noticed most about the parade of all the different nations at the olympics? The lack of racial diversity in most countries. It was almost disturbing for some reason.

 

[WarPhalange]

America is actually pretty unique in that regard. You look at places like Eastern Europe or Scandinavia or Africa... most people who live there didn't move there, they were born there. Most people have no reason to go there.

 

[Monique]

Why would that be disturbing? (not all countries are melting pots)

 

[tribdog]

Why would that be disturbing?

I'm not sure why it bothers me. I suppose it just shows that people aren't moving much, but I just felt like it separated nations too much. Maybe I'm just in one of my hippie moods. I'd rather see the world mix it up a little bit more.

 

[Monique]

I'm not sure why it bothers me. I suppose it just shows that people aren't moving much, but I just felt like it separated nations too much. Maybe I'm just in one of my hippie moods. I'd rather see the world mix it up a little bit more.

Wouldn't it be terribly boring if everyone and everything would be the same everywhere? All the riches we have with the different world-cultures!

 

[B. Elliott]

The 13 original US colonies were formed only 232 years ago. Every single person which is currently in the United States can only go back, at most, eight generations before someone in their family came from another country.

Compare that to China which goes far back as 137 generations. (going by the earliest dynasty)

 

[tribdog]

Hey I didn't say i was right. I just said how it felt.

 

[B. Elliott]

Hey I didn't say i was right. I just said how it felt.

No worry, I wasn't accusing you of anything. Just gave an example to show how (relatively) new the US is.

 

[rootX]

The 13 original US colonies were formed only 232 years ago. Every single person which is currently in the United States can only go back, at most, eight generations before someone in their family came from another country.

Indians?

 

[B. Elliott]

Indians?

I thought someone would pick up on that. I didn't consider them since there wasn't a country here when they occupied North America.

*edit* That's also why in my example with China, I only went as far back as the earliest dynasty when there's actually been people occupying the area for well over 300,000 years.

 

[rootX]

I thought someone would pick up on that. I didn't consider them since there wasn't a country here when they occupied North America.

*edit* That's also why in my example with China, I only went as far back as the earliest dynasty when there's actually been people occupying the area for well over 300,000 years.

You are right but it's just little disturbing - bunch of strangers coming to our and taking it away from us (it feels too unfair)... Personally, I find it really sad when we forget the original owners of NA.

But, it happened everywhere.

 

[B. Elliott]

They're not forgotten, it's just that US Americans with even just a hint of native American blood, represent only 1% of the US population. My mothers side of the family has Cherokee blood, but it's so thin that I don't feel as though it's pertinent.

Also can't forget that all Native Americans (and those in South America) originally came from Asia. That's where you start to get to a point where you begin to trace everything back to the middle east, then Africa.

We're all really Africans!

 

[Jordan Joab]

I agree. I'd like to see more Chimpazees and Bonobos.

 

[tribdog]

They'd kick butt on the uneven parallel bars

 

[Jordan Joab]

And apparently, football. Wait, that was gorillas.

 

[EL]

America is actually pretty unique in that regard. You look at places like Eastern Europe or Scandinavia or Africa... most people who live there didn't move there, they were born there.

That's true, the histories are completely different.

Most people have no reason to go there.

Well, given any single country I guess most people have no reason to go there either. But don't mix up imigration with racial diversity. Actually quite many people have a reason to go to e.g. Sweden. In total about 1,2 million (first generation) imigrants out of a population of 9 million. Most of them (~700000) are from other European countries and usually don't look very "unswedish" though.

 

[Moonbear]

I agree. I'd like to see more Chimpazees and Bonobos.

They'd kick butt on the uneven parallel bars

 

[lisab]

Wouldn't it be terribly boring if everyone and everything would be the same everywhere? All the riches we have with the different world-cultures!

Very true - vive la difference!

But, to the typical American eye, it is odd to look at a group of people from country "X" and have them look all the same...that looks more like a family reunion to us.

I wouldn't say it's disturbing, but it's something unusual to us. I guess people who live in more homogenized countries would look at the American group and think, whoa, what a much of mongrels.

 

[fourier jr]

America is actually pretty unique in that regard.

You can say that again! Not many countries would deliberately try to provoke the Chinese by making a Sudanese refugee with little athletic ability (unlike Carl Lewis or Edwin Moses) their flag-bearer! With that in mind is it any surprise that...

... A knife-wielding Chinese man has stabbed to death the father-in-law of the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball coach at a popular tourist site in Beijing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lative-stabbed-death-Chinese-man-Beijing.html

 

[EL]

Not many countries would deliberately try to provoke the Chinese by making a Sudanese refugee with little athletic ability (unlike Carl Lewis or Edwin Moses) their flag-bearer!

Well done US!

 

[rewebster]

I missed the 'opening'---I hope they do a rerun---some have already touted it as 'something comparable won't be seen again' due to the complexity and grand scale.

 

[Evo]

I thought someone would pick up on that. I didn't consider them since there wasn't a country here when they occupied North America.

There wasn't a "country" here.

 

[tribdog]

Those Indians could tread water like it was nobody's business

 

[Evo]

Those Indians could tread water like it was nobody's business

That's what I was thinking, poor guys.

Seriously, am I the ONLY one on this forum that notices that the smilies keep moving?

 

[rootX]

Seriously, am I the ONLY one on this forum that notices that the smilies keep moving?

I remember rolling eye was at the top (that's why I used it three -four times) but now it is replaced by (and I don't like this color)

 

[rewebster]

I keep thinking for as often as they (the smilies) are used, why aren't they on the 'quick reply' area? (and maybe spellcheck, too)

 

[sketchtrack]

I think that the U.S. team should be made up entirely of native americans. You should only be aloud to play on a National team if you are at least half native.

 

[sketchtrack]

I missed the 'opening'---I hope they do a rerun---some have already touted it as 'something comparable won't be seen again' due to the complexity and grand scale.

Yeah, it was pretty impressive that is for sure. The scale was huge, it makes you think wow, they made a great wall once a long time ago, but they still got it.

 

[Monique]

Indians?

I always roll my eyes at the American white-supremacists that you sometimes see on television "they're taking over our race, they should go back where they came from", .. yeah, following the same logic so should you

 

[sketchtrack]

Maybe in a thousand years we will be mixed enough to be considered a race of Americans, then we can start being racist against other whole countries together, and we can refer to the Naive Americans as an extinct distant ancestor.