Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA

vintagepurple: Jan 31, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

whiter than a Wilco show posted:

This is what happens when you make children grow up praying to a flag every day in school. They end up assuming the area they happened to fall out of their mum in as a key part of their self worth and identity, cry when someone says "please stop blowing up weddings in a country you're allies with because of an attack which killed less people than the CIA kills in an average month 16 years ago", and buy big fat truck nuts all day, every day.

If anything my opinions more valuable than yours through supply and demand.

I'm not a huge murrikkka fan but you might just be a dick dude. Especially given NZ and Oz are by far the americiest countries outside of the states. Racist fatties that drive everywhere and stole all their land from indigenous peoples. Guarantee you if your country had 300 million and the US didn't it's NZ that'd be bombing poo poo and stationing troops everywhere, guaran-loving-tee it. Congratulations on somehow managing to be from a place that out-Americas Canada.

vintagepurple fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Mar 2, 2017

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 07:38

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vintagepurple: Jan 31, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

imo it's pretty weird to bring up 19th century european imperialism as a defence of modern US foreign policy

if nothing else, have you checked out what the US was up to in the 19th century

That's laughable because while 19th century USA was awful, it was a damned benevolent paradise compared to say the UK, France, or Prussia/Germany. Like there is a reason all of Africa has one of those three as an official language and it ain't murrikkka

Also lol when any british or commonwealth person gets all indignant about US native peoples. Anecdote but most canadian first nations I've met would rather be american indians, for all that entails.

Also re Trump chat, I'm a french citizen by birth but born and raised in west Texas. Adult life has mostly been in Canada but now I'm back home y'all. This election and the current government, and hell for that matter Bush and Iraq and all, make me so sad.

poo poo I think for all the myriad flaws the US/France/Britain red white and blue trifecta have a good idea behind all the lovely imperialism and if we could kick out all the elites then we might be able to save the world.

Final thought, only smug, self-satisfied idiots think some mississipi schmuck with bad opinions is somehow worse than the same person from Sweden, China, or Israel. As proof I point to stereotypical american tourists vs actual chinese tourists. Or german ones. Sorry deutsche friends.

vintagepurple fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Mar 12, 2017

# ¿ Mar 12, 2017 21:02

vintagepurple: Jan 31, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

Earwicker posted:

There are zero places in Africa where German (or Prussian) is an official language.

The Germans did briefly have colonies in Africa and a few other small islands and outposts in other parts of the world, but generally the extent of their colonialism outside of Europe was tiny compared to the UK, Netherlands, France, Portugal, or Spain. At least in terms of state sponsored colonialism - there are many places in North and South America populated by German settlers but those never became German territory in any sense.

Namibia? Well maybe not, RIP herero people.

whiter than a Wilco show posted:

"Yes that sucked too, now please stop assassinating democratically elected leaders or foreign nations because they asked your private corporations to at least use lube while loving them".

That is another thing that pisses me off about the french republic!

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 10:09

vintagepurple: Jan 31, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

Earwicker posted:

I'm not sure what you are reading but I was responding to a person who described 19th century America as "a damned benevolent paradise compared to say the UK, France, or Prussia/Germany.

American westward expansion was not "more gentle" than British colonialism.

I stand by that. You realize that in this era even Belgium is chopping off people's hands? It's not a high bar us westerners have to cross to be a better-than-most 19th century power. Also, british westward expansion was identical-to-if-not-worse than american, (Canada: less polite than you think) except they managed 5 more continents worth of imperialism while the USA only managed the two, mostly. And lol that you think I'm american, since you probably need reminding, Canada is a place.

Earwicker posted:

How is that hypocritical? The US is one of the only modern countries where masses of schoolchildren pledging their allegiance to the state is a thing. I thought it was normal when i was a kid but once I started reading history and travelling to other places I realized that it's really creepy and hosed up.

Canadian kids sit through a rendition of "Oh Canada" every day (a bilingual version, and still manage to not speak french) and even american companies that come here throw a maple leaf onto the logo. Jingoism is alive and well and from across the sea, a bunch of assholes like Marine le Pen send their regards. You honestly sound less well-traveled and more like a left-wing american who self-flagellates over how awful it is compared to socialist paradises like Denmark. Lemme infobomb ya there's fascist idiots everywhere.

I'm also curious about how the hell your school did the pledge of allegiance. I'm a dual citizen and my home state is fuckin Texas, even there no one but maybe one weirdo actually took it seriously. By high school half the class made a point of ignoring or talking through it. One time a conservative teacher got pissy at kids for not giving are troops the proper respect and the administration slapped him down.

vintagepurple fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Mar 14, 2017

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 11:37

vintagepurple: Jan 31, 2014; by Nyc_Tattoo

Scudworth posted:

You used China as an example of this when I'm sure you're at least partially aware that China doesn't have freedom or democracy that can be compared to the western world. You can petition and run for office and protest and work against the US government to a wide degree. In China this can still cause you to mysteriously disappear. Not holding citizens accountable to the actions of the Chinese government isn't a double standard when it's a totally different playing field.

That's a bit too far imo, especially give there's literally 2 Chinas.

*screeches, flies into sunset with "Born in the USA" playing*

Grevling posted:

I'm Norwegian.

My dad constantly calls the US "the land of hypocrisy" but I can't think of anything else he might have said. My mother has actually been to the US and says people are nice, but clueless about Norway and seemed to think it was a third world country without cars and electrical appliances. She was an au pair, and her host family really didn't like Mexicans and poor people.

My High School English teacher told the class that going to the US was like going back several decades in time in terms of social issues. I think she usually went to the South though. From people who have taken a gap year in the US I've heard of places where men and women aren't supposed to live together unless they're married and that does sound like the 50's.
I remember on September 11 one year my geography teacher brought up the 1973 coup that installed Pinochet happening on that date, and that more people were killed as a result of that than in the 2001 Twin Towers attack.
I don't talk about the US with friends that often, but everyone I know thinks it's completely hosed that Trump is president.

Most of what I could say has been said already. I think of the USA as the most powerful country in the world, but arrogant and internally broken. It's surprising how prevalent Christian Fundementalism is,how much power fundies have over policy, and how just religion's role in politics in general, for example in that you have to pay lip-service to it to become president.
It seems that US workers don't have many rights, that very few have unions, and that many people want things to stay that way. US politics are dirty, corruption is common and corporations have way too much power.
On a positive note, I and most people I've talked to think that Americans are friendly and hospitable.

Is the norwegian Disney World section well-known in Norway? I ask because I've since fallen in love with your country, but I first ever heard of Norway was from this place. It's a small slice of Disney World where all the buildings are done up in this sort of medieval vikingish style.

The staff is norwegian students on visas and there's a restaurant, a museum, and a viking-themed ride with trolls and so-on that ends with a 1980s-era video of norwegians talking about their country, among other things. As far as that kind of crap goes I thought it was pretty well-done and charming, and again the first time I ever heard of Norway when I was 7 or 8.

I think that fake castle in the distance is the "Germany" section. As a kid, Disney World's "France" was the first place I heard a real person besides my family, some student hostess, talk like me rather than in in a qu�b�cois accent. It was a fun place.

vintagepurple fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Mar 15, 2017

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 16:40

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA