tao_: "Which one is throwing the rocks?"

Graham (

tao_) wrote,
@ 2007-02-07 13:42:00

"Which one is throwing the rocks?"
Americans vs Questions.

Snatching the ass-crown back from The French! Who will wear it next?

(Post a new comment)

	Interviews (Anonymous) 2007-02-07 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	Graham, do you ever do interviews on podcasts? We'd love to interview you for Thunderbird Six (www.thunderbirdsix.org). Download an episode and see what you think. glyn dot heatley at gmail dot com (Reply to this)(Thread)

	Re: Interviews tao_ 2007-02-08 01:53 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks, man! My internet access is sporadic at the moment but I'll try and find a moment to listen to it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-07 09:22 pm UTC (link)

I'm not so sure this small collection of islands has anything to feel proud of. Sure ze French are stupid, and yes, tha Americans are dumb in a 'own the world' kind of way but the press and majority population of Great Britain have just spent about four months discussing whether a dim, unattractive woman with a hard background in Bermondsey could see eye-to-eye with a beautiful, reasonably intelligent spoilt woman from India. She didn't. Oh no! Cue endless discussion in offices around Britain making me want to kill, kill, kill.

Jasper Goodballoon

P.S More proof needed? Look how badly written this comment is.

(Reply to this)

	bergenboi 2007-02-07 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	Excuse me while I go sob for a bit. I wish Chris Morris would come over here and mess with some of these people. (Reply to this)

Par for the course

ealaspada
2007-02-07 10:37 pm UTC (link)

The ass-crown was always ours! Why do you think we're so fired up about our country?

Apologies for this irritatingly long comment, but I thought I should share an example of exactly why the US is heading to hell and that we're taking you all with us. The following is an actual email between friends of mine--the writer is a lawyer and works in a GOVERNMENT office with many other professional types. It illustrates a vignette you can witness just about anywhere in America at any given moment.

I watched An Inconvenient Truth last night--it was awesome. So I was telling my co-workers about the film, and this was the conversation:

Me: Has anyone seen An Inconvenient Truth?
Not me: Who's in it?
Me: It's the Al Gore documentary on global warming.
Not me: Who's Al Gore?
Me: He was the VP of the US, ran for president a a couple times.
Not me: Is he the cute one?
Me: I'm not sure I'd call him that, but he's not bad looking.
Not me: I don't know who he is.
Me: Really? He was Clinton's VP and ran against Bush.
Not me: Still don't know. But who's the cute one? Did he run with Kerry?
Me: You don't know who Al Gore is?
Not me: Uh, I don't think so.
Me: (Blabbing about global warming)
Not me: Oh yeah, I heard about that when I was taking classes at UAF.
Not me: Does Al Gore's wife have cancer?
Not me: I don't think so.
Not me: Doesn't she have a weird name?
Not me: Yeah, Tipper.
Not me: Tipper. Whatever. That's weird.
Not me: Have you seen Chelsea Clinton? She lost 25 pounds.
Not me: She's still ugly.
Not me: She has a great job and is making 6 figures.
Not me: She's still ugly.
Not me: That's what plastic surgery is for.
Me: It was a good movie, you should rent it. I had no idea how bad the global warming issue was.

I came in my office, wondering if people I know don't even know who Al Gore is, how uneducated is everyone else on the planet? They continued on about the golden globes. For some reason I feel like someone needs to send me quotes about how change happens one person at a time...

There's more but it's too depressing...

Ah, well. I guess America always have Astrolady.

(Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-08 09:49 pm UTC (link)

that was equally hillarious and downright fucking scary. that country is so damn consieted. the pariotism is frankly sickenning. i mean even the open minded and liberal or whatever americans go on about 'but i still love ma coutry'. hunter s thompson descridbed america as a country of used car salesmen. and now those doeheaded bullies run the world.
what do their news channels show? are the world affairs issues only on after midnight or something?

Paul

(Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-09 04:16 am UTC (link)

Racism against the French and the Americans, the two main forms of bigotry acceptable amongst liberal, self-acclaimed morally superior people who say 'can't they see how fucked up the world is? Its bonkers' whilst gawking at Jade blinking like a pig on display in a museum and blaming Bush for everything even though they don't live in America and their opinion is as patronising as an Australian slagging off Blair. You cannot have your cake and eat it, either you care about the world and don't make racist judgements or you don't. If that video was people asking questions to Pakistani people in Lahore, you would throw your green tea up in the air- 'how many people did they ask who knew the answers but were omitted from the film? they're not telling us the whole story, where's Chomsky when I need him?'.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	tao_ 2007-02-09 11:43 am UTC (link)
	Well said! Keep those meticulously argued, carefully punctuated comments coming! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-02-09 01:06 pm UTC (link)
	Ah the old adage... 'When in doubt- pedantry' x (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tao_ 2007-02-11 12:53 am UTC (link)
	"Its bonkers' whilst gawking at Jade blinking like a pig on display in a museum and blaming Bush for everything even though they don't live in America and their opinion is as patronising as an Australian slagging off Blair." If it makes me a pedant to call this meaningless gibberish, then i'm proud to take the title. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tao_ 2007-02-11 12:55 am UTC (link)
	Sorry, 'meaningless gibberish' is redundant. Make that, simply, 'gibberish'. See! I do it to myself too! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-02-11 06:00 pm UTC (link)
	OK, I punctuate badly. If you must know, my Father is French and my Mother is an American. English is my second language and I type with a big, foam finger from an NFL game. Now for God's sake will you not leave my people(s) alone? x (Reply to this)(Parent)

Perhaps an American should respond to this...

ealaspada
2007-02-11 06:06 am UTC (link)

Let me preface this by saying that I have nothing against the French--I've always felt they "got a bum rap"-- and that I can see and understand the gist of your argument. That said, let me add this:

A) Americans are a target because of their overwhelming arrogance, not simply their ignorance, and their consistent refusal to listen or learn from anything or anybody else.
B) The reason that it's generally more accepted to poke fun at Americans than the Pakistani is because the US is considered a far more privileged country than Pakistan. There are very few people living in the US that don't think that the educational system is better in their own country than in practically any other country, and yet notice how far they've come with that education.
C) I DO live in America, and have for my entire life. You're right, they probably did edit out a lot of people who knew the answers, but I know from conversations with other Americans that I have just about every day of my life that those interviews were not far off the mark in representing the average US citizen. If you disagree, then maybe you haven't been talking to enough people.
D) Come on. We ALL think we're morally superior to everybody else. Why do you think we even post this stuff?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Perhaps an American should respond to this... tao_ 2007-02-11 07:36 am UTC (link)
	Well, exactly. And please remember everyone, I'm an equal-opportunities misanthrope--everyone wears the ass crown from time to time. I even try it on myself from time to time. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Perhaps an American should respond to this... tao_ 2007-02-11 07:37 am UTC (link)
	(repitition) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Perhaps an American should respond to this... tao_ 2007-02-11 07:40 am UTC (link)
	(repetition spelled incorrectly) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Perhaps an American should respond to this... (Anonymous) 2007-02-11 06:03 pm UTC (link)
	'Arse Crown' spelled incorrectly (Reply to this)(Parent)

	joepineapples 2007-02-09 05:49 pm UTC (link)
	I remember the look of derision and horror when, in a downtown bar in Montgomery Alabama a pal of mine asked one of the locals if he might 'bum a fag.' (Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-09 06:16 pm UTC (link)

Its a fair point that we feel its ok to derile Americans and not, say, Jamaicans. And of course there will have been some correct answers but that was a cross section of a street in Texas. Old and young. If these people feel it's ok for their Presidant to run around like a cowboy rapeing and pillaging they should at least know where he's going and why. For some of them to think Australia is Iran....
I wonder if they'd perk up a little if the counties they were invading were full of white people?

Paul

(Reply to this)

Mini Sitemap:

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…