Help! Ronald McDonald and Wal-Mart are Taking Over My Countryyyyyy!

A Canadian Tribute to Independence Day, Memorial Day, Globalization, Igloos, Maple Syrup, Hockey, Polar Bears and More!

I just ran across Mr. Multicultural Jeff’s blog, and in celebration of the American Independence Day from 2006, Jeff had some quoted material in his post that sounded familiar.

Some quotes to share:

“Canada will be a strong country when Canadians of all provinces feel at home in all parts of the country, and when they feel that all Canada belongs to them.” -Pierre Elliott Trudeau

And in his “about me” section, I found the following quote written by him:

“I am a very vocal Canadian who speaks out against the “Americanization” of Canada”.

Side Note: Thanks to Jeff’s command of good-hearted self-contained Canadian spirit and ambitious contribution, I am now aware that Pierre Trudeau’s quote was referring to the separatism situation between Quebec and the rest of Canada. More information can be found here about that. I had confused the “wanting to feel that Canada belongs to Canadians” with the ongoing problem of “Americanization” in Canada where Canadians are fighting to be a sovereign nation ( independent from the US) as exemplified by the Canadian Action Party.

My apologies for the misunderstanding! America loves you. ♥♥♥

My point still remains the same, however. Let’s continue…. shall we? Many Canadians feel this way. Many Don’t. An example can be found from this topic on Facebook, “Which is better: Canada or America?”

(sic) I totaly agree, we dont start wars everywhere and the only reason we’re so full of gay stuff is all cuz we are so close from the usa and by that i mean the medias and commercial music, fast f00d and tv that make everyone lazy and fat…we live right next to the kingdom of greasy food and bad tv so we might end up like that. an oh yea, there’s more ppl smoking dope in canada than in the usa

I am so sad more people are smoking dope in Canada. I am jealous and heartbroken too. Since having read that, my heart skipped a few beats and any spirit left in me has vanished leaving me with feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and ruin. But I shall try to continue to tread… Oh Canada.

I also found out today that America is a “cultural wasteland”. But I am here before you to tell you what America really is. The only true Americans are those whom are native. Everybody else whether their ancestry be European, Canadian, Mexican, Cuban, Haitian, Brazilian, Jamaican, Japanese or the natives themselves, —> it is all these mixed cultures in the US that make up what American culture is today. We are a country that is what we are today due to its multinational make-up. Immigrants built America and immigrants continue to build it. America doesn’t pretend to be perfect as there will always be something to work toward. And the salad bowl that we are, we continue to strive without giving up. Americanophobia only makes the true American spirit more alive as we become more bonded as a family.

I made the following comment in Jeff’s blog: (especially after my finding that his favorite TV show is *gasps* Family Guy).

If you are against “Americanization”, why do you watch our TV and use our stuff? Most stuff we have in the US was made in China and you don’t hear us screaming about “Chinesation”. I am happy that you’re vocal about it, though. I mean, it’s not our fault that you guys are doing and using the same stuff as Americans. We’re not pointing our guns at you and forcing this stuff down the throats of Canadians. It’s your choice. You are a democracy. You should be able to change this rather than blaming us for “Americanizing” you.

In my opinion, I find Canadians need to have more confidence in themselves and not look to your neighbors to the south as a scapegoat.

These are the thoughts of MANY Americanophobes living in democracies. And that’s why I’m devoting a whole blog post to this issue. Americanophobes, in their infantile nature, have one thumb up their bum with the other being sucked on. They are in this constant mode of looking for a nipple. A more concise way of saying this: Americanophobes play the “victim card” all too much. We hear them cry often. We hear them play the “blame game”. One thing we never hear them doing is taking responsibility for themselves.

What an awful way to live!

I sincerely do not understand all this whining about “Americanization”. It’s hypocrisy at it’s finest.

Another point that I believe is hypocritical is the fact that the Americanophobic Canadians blame us for voting in Bush twice thinking we have more power than we do. (Hint: electoral voting system). If you’re going to make all Americans (even those that didn’t vote for him) responsible for Bush, then I find it fair enough to hold Canadians RESPONSIBLE for rampant “Americanization”.

I find it only practical and logical to

• boycott our products including our movies, TV, any websites, our disgusting fast-food (heck, if it wasn’t making money in Canada, it couldn’t exist) technology, products, blue jeans, popular websites, or inventions by Americans. That will teach us because then we’d lose a lot of money and it won’t be worth it anymore to export our “Americanisms” across the border.
• and to keep it a Canadian Problem and not a problem with American people.

If the Americanophobic claim from Canadians saying that their stuff is so much better than Americans is true , then you’d think the boycott would be easy, no?

I realize that this gentleman wasn’t outright accusing Americans of this misfortune in his country, but I’ve seen enough Americanophobes whine, moan, and groan about “Americanization” to American people (blogs and social networking sits are public, by the way) as if they think we can change this for them? What’s the point? What can I do about this? How is this ONLY the problem of America? Isn’t trading a two-way street – a *MUTUAL* commitment, anyway?

I’m genuinely trying to make sense out of all this.

This reminds me of a quote by Jean-François Revel:

“Is Euro Disney Land a threat to the French Culture? If French culture can be squashed by Mickey Mouse, or more exactly by simply moving Mickey geographically, it would have to be disturbingly fragile.” Moreover, Revel argued, culture always circulates and, in the case of Euro Disneyland, California was merely repackaging for Europeans such European stories as Cinderella and Pinocchio. According to Revel, French culture was not being colonized and if any culture was in crisis, he contended, it was that of America with its fad for political correctness and other forms of “neoprovincialism.”

Here’s one more interesting point Mr. Multicultural Jeff jotted down in celebration of the Fourth of July in his blog that I found equally confusing:

“Canadians have an abiding interest in surprising those Americans who have historically made little effort to learn about their neighbour to the North.” -Peter Jennings

(I know who Peter Jennings is and I am aware that he’s passed away). On air in the US, Peter Jennings wept over 9-11 and began to smoke again on that day. He doesn’t sound all too Americanophobic to me – at least from what I know of him. However, this is a redundant argument used by Americanophobic Canadians – not figuratively – but LITERALLY like a broken record.

Same ole song. Same ole song. *yawn*

There’s much hypocrisy to be said here. It is fact that Canadians learn about America in school. They are forced to memorize our states and capitals and well as “learning” about our history. It is also fact that Americans get limited knowledge about Canada in school. (This is another reason for rampant Americanophobia in Canada as they are said to be always feeling left out, unnoticed and unappreciated. In any event, though, our lack of knowledge about Canada is out of our control as young grade-school pupils in a classroom. You cannot blame the average American for this. However, you CAN blame the system for this. The “system” does NOT represent the average American. Later on in life, as an adult, it’s up to them to learn about Canada if they want to – especially if they plan a visit. Canadians need to think more reasonably and realistically about this issue.)

Here’s the hypocrisy: Americans know just as much about their neighbors to the North as do the Canadians about their neighbors to the South. See, what the Canadians DO know about us is mostly distorted facts and heavily relied upon stereotypes. What has all this “learning about America” done for Canadians other than incite hatred and friction between the borders? Education is supposed to OPEN one’s mind – not close them. This is one of the few inspirations for my entry, “America, the Stupid”.

Yes, there are Canadians who see American people and America with a more balanced view. What separates these Canadians from those that are so bitter?

Short. Man. Syndrome.

Yes!

Your “Average American” according to the Americanophobes:

We are nationalistic, paranoid, arrogant, fat, lazy, greedy, racist, spoiled-rich, slutty, prude, ugly, ignorant, stupid, humorless, loud, obnoxious, carbon-emitting, baby-killing, flag-waving, bible-thumping, gun-toting, inbred and self-centered hicks.

This stereotype was even further validated by one of my commenters.

(sic) I do NOT live like an American. Trust me on that one. I watch real football, hockey, speak four languages, don’t carry a gun, am not scared by watching the evening news, and spell colour and flavour with a u

The evening news? Are you the same people that tell us yanks that all of our news outlets are biased and to not watch them? So, which is it? Make up your minds!

Oh Canada!

Actually there is more!

I never denied the Canadian ego problem. Our bear is better. Our food tastes better. We have REAL maple syrup. And we kick your ass again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again… in hockey. Just as it’s the man with the smaller phallus that needs too belittle the other by ‘trying’ to redirect the argument, it’s the confident, larger phallused male who can take the slings off the arrows of argument. Nothing like having the ego of a field moose, EH?

You can call it what you want: A poor attempt at trying to sound funny or a fashionable display of his unwell hidden “short man syndrome”. I say BOTH. While the above quote may appear as a “joke”, if you look at his blog and the comments he left for me down below, this is “truth” for him.

Mr. Multicultural Jeff!!

A Columbian blogger against Americanophobia wrote a piece in her blog challenging the views of so many South Americans and Europeans who had gotten upset with her for standing up for Americans and calling out the rest of the world for their irrational hatred.

I had wanted to talk about the American people for a long time, especially since I received a shower of criticism due to a piece I wrote in my Spanish blog called “Que Europa se Vaya al Carajo” (To Hell with Europe). There were a lot of comments that demonstrate the immense gap existing between the rest of the world and Americans. This is not news. Nevertheless, that piece made me realize that Americans are not the ones who have closed minds and conserve stereotypes of others. I had been reading what some Colombians, Spaniards, French, Germans, etc. think of Americans, I now know that they are the ones who conserve exaggerated stereotypes and they refuse to recognize the true face of America.

Read the rest here.

I really don’t know exactly what she meant by “to hell with Europe”, but if you can read Spanish, this is the piece that she wrote referring to her feelings about Europe (a different blog post).

Stereotypes and Americanization go hand in hand as noted in this article.

It is my belief that Americanization gives other countries a false sense of the American way of life and, in the end, causes hatred for the U.S. and threats on our power and freedom.

[snip]

Americanization is not only changing the world, but also causing wrong judgments to be made about American life. In a recent French poll of images that come to mind when thinking of America, 67% of those polled said “violence” and 49% “inequality” as opposed to only 20% who said “freedom” and 4% “generosity” (3). In Europe, Americans are stereotyped by globalization as being shallow, spoiled, and shortsighted. Tim Synder writes that only a little more than ten years ago, America was a great model of democracy. “As an American I was asked about Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, and the Constitution. In 1998, I’m asked about Paula Jones, William Jefferson Clinton, and the Fifth Amendment” (4). What happened between those ten years that would drastically change the way Europe and the world view American life? Even President Bush isn’t exempt from this kind of stereotyping. When asked to describe President Bush in France, the most popular answers are “a ventriloquist’s dummy” and “the Forrest Gump of American politics” (3). In Singapore, words like violence, workaholism, and disrespect for authority are all synonyms for the “American Way.” “In your movies and your materialism, we don’t see the real America,” writes Simon Tay, a Harvard grad and lawyer from Singapore trying to explain this misperception (6). When looked at around the world, Americanization seems to have the opposite effect than what was imagined, causing many nations to incorrectly stereotype America.

You can read the rest here.

Aside from American TV and celebrities, I had never thought that American stereotypes could also stem from American globalization, so I found this an interesting read. And I must say that if I had lived in a different country, I would be against “Americanization” too! (I prefer all-things-Japanese if I had my way!!) However, I believe this problem has a solution. Being that American globalization has taken over the world, I feel the French and Germans raising taxes and tariffs on foreign companies and investors justified. I feel that other countries should also follow suit as those in Israel are doing too. With that said, I also believe in the boycott of American products as well. For example, when I was living in Japan, I saw McDonalds, Coca Cola, and other Americanisms – so to speak. Because I favor Japanese food and products over American, I would, for the most part, buy Japanese over there. I also had a TV in my Japanese apartment and had a choice of what to watch. I had absolutely NO problem in Japan avoiding American products. Easy beans.

While I believe that globalization IS a REAL problem, I find it troubling when I watch other countries consume what we make and feel that all Americans are “such and such” when you really cannot place such a “label” on over 300 million people that come from all over living in America.

Some say that the “Mexicans are taking over” here in the US. I find (read carefully, now) ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION to be a REAL problem too —– HOWEVER, I don’t blame the Mexicans. That would be stupid. If I was Mexican, heck, I’d try to leave my country illegally too. I find their motives justified. But I blame the American government/Bush and $$$$ Corporate $$$$ America $$$$ Fat $$$$ Cats $$$$ for allowing this to happen —- NOT the Mexicans.

Anyway, this is not to imply that Mr. Multicultural Jeff, the author of the aforementioned blog is a full-throttle Americanophobe nor is it to suggest that he is guilty of being indoctrinated to believe in the “Ugly American” stereotype that blankets us all. I read his “about me” section and he notes how he traveled two different cities in the US. He describes the US as being a “cultural wasteland” as proudly noted in his blog. I mention what I mention because what’s stated in his blog is nothing out of the usual from what one would hear from an Americanophobic Canadian – which is definitely not uncommon.

Same ole song. Same ole song. *yawn*

How is the United States a “cultural wasteland” when other countries continue to buy and use this “waste”? See, the hypocrisy? Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

For every few fit-pitching disgruntled and insecure Americanophobe, I find one civilian who doesn’t subscribe to such blind hatred. One can only assume from this post —> (a Canadian Tribute to Memorial Day) that this Canadian gentleman judges people by the individual and not the group they belong to. Go visit Fracas. He’s a nice guy, has a nice blog, and if you’re a WordPress user, he’s also very helpful.

Before I end this post, may I just formally apologize for my fellow Americans that think you guys live in an igloo and ride polar bears? I am profoundly humiliated and embarrassed by this. My first experience with Canadians head-on was when I was living in Japan. They used to work with me. I never thought these crazy things about them, and am having a HUGE problem with those Americans that do think you all live in… igloos. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. So, please accept my apology. I feel your frustration as I’ve been on the end of stereotypes being an American. But please know that not all Americans are this STUPID.

To any Canadians reading this, if you have a problem with my challenging the views of the Americanophobic Canadians, you should be just as upset (if you’re fair and impartial) with the thoughts that I’m challenging. If AA Canadians are bold enough to flaunt publicly about how they feel about Americans, then they should also be just as bold and prepared to expect a reaction. I also recommend taking the thumb that is in the bum and switching it with the one that is in the mouth for a change… or to mix things up a bit. Amuse me. I get bored easily

World War II: Allied Roleplay in Endgame

It has come to my attention that a hotly discussed topic around here is the closing chapters of WWII, and the roles the various participants played in this stage. I have written an article offering a tentative explanation and potential answer to this question, in the hopes that through either agreement or provocation of further debate, a conclusion may be reached.

Please read this, and feel free to comment.

Dear Akismet, I am not Spam – Virgomonkey, I am…

WordPress’s Akismet (spam eater) has seemingly hacked into my spiked granola bars and has gone mad!!

Attention: To all those using WordPress.com as there blogging platform, you ARE getting comments. Just look in your spam folder and viola, they’ll be right there waiting for you. While there will be some genuine spam that needs to be flushed away, there may also be REAL comments from REAL people. So, please check it regularly.

I am making comments all over WordPress on dozens and dozens of blogs, but either I get the “discarded” error message or they just go into OUTERSPACE somewhere to which I’ve recently found out that they are simply HIDING in your spam buckets!! So, please pull them out for me, and if you don’t mind, please send a support ticket to WordPress.com and another one to Akismet and tell them I’m not trying to sell penis enlargement pills or “free” ring tones!

For some reason or another, there are some people on WordPress that are having this problem. And it’s a very recent problem.

This is *not* a result of sending a link or some links, sending abusive messages, or being caught in the “moderation queue”. This is a quirk in the system. And it’s quite the frustrating! And for the record, I’ve sent in already 4 support tickets.

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UPDATE: My end has been resolved. Finally.

Should YOU have any problems with the aforementioned, this is the message Mark from Akismet left on the support forums:

@anyone else:
If you need to contact Akismet support you must include:

Name
Email
Website (if used)
IP address

If you do not include all that then I will just ask for it and that makes everything slower for you.

“Virgomonkey! You’re Showing your ‘Americanism’!!”

…so I was told.

Side Note to explain why: (I am currently running a survey asking both Americans and non-Americans about their perception of WWII to see how they equal up or differ, and at the same time learn from it. One of my British “friends” or survey recipients read so far into this email that he incorrectly concluded that I was yet another one of those “we saved your asses in WWII” yanks. He was so painfully wrong that even his wife sided with me and apologetically wrote me an email. Simply put, he misconstrued my questions as a vicious attack.)

He wrote several other foul things to me as well with being called “an American” as the most innocuous – nonetheless amusing. My friends who know me very well know that I’m a research-buff and never stop asking questions. With that, I call myself “clinically curious” sometimes being (in this case) “dangerously curious”. As an adult, intense curiosity is what happens later to Americans after having studied history in grade-school so preoccupied with dreamy thoughts of Big Macs and M-16’s – that we tend to forget that it was really the Canadians who saved everyone’s ass in WWII!

Confused, I went up and looked up the word, “Americanism” to see if it was a bad word.

Customs, traits, traditions, institutions, American English, allegiance….. ok! Next, I had to find out if I was “American” first as now I’ve learned it’s not a bad word and nothing to take offense over.

If I’m going to receive a compliment solely for having been born in the United States, I had to go and check to make sure I was definitely…. American because one is to assume Americans were born in the United States, right? Maybe.

From that point, I went scuffling for my birth certificate under a huge stack of old documents and paraphernalia buried in our attic ridden with cobwebs, Dr. Laura self-help books, WWII encyclopedias showing proof how “we saved everyone’s ass” and dust packed as high as my packed pistols… (I’ve got to really clean that place out!). After a few hours of sorting through one document after the next, I found that it said on my birth certificate that I was indeed born in the US!

Awesome!

But does simply being born here make me “American enough” to qualify for this honorable mention of being held accountable for “Americanism“?

I had to check one more thing. I needed more proof… just to be sure. Am I still living here or still American? I went for my passport, the bills that are sent to our home, my debit card, checked to see if my air-conditioner was running full-blast for no reason, etc…. I found out that I am, indeed, an American!

To be American is to be committing “Americanisms“. So, my little friend was right!

Upon further investigation, I also found out today the following:

• To be Japanese is to be committing Japanesisms.
• To be Russian is to be committing Russianisms.
• To be Pakistani is to be committing Pakistanisms.
• To be British is to be committing Britishisms.
• To be Canadian is to be committing Canadianisms.
• To be African is to be committing Africanisms.
• To be French is to be committing Frenchisms.
• To be Brazillian is to be committing Brazilianisms.

Cultural differences are accepted abroad (which is what divides us on some level), but Americans are expected to be like “everyone else”. That is what I am to assume as people get so surprised when they find me “acting American“. The last time I checked, Americans do act American because they are American. You’d think that would be obvious. But to be a bit more clear…

I am a typical, self-entitlement-oriented, inbred, insular, nationalistic, inherently violent, unfashionable, paranoid, arrogant, unsophisticated, fat, lazy, vulgar, greedy, racist, spoiled-rich, ignorant, stupid, humorless, loud, obnoxious, gum-chewing, carbon-emitting, baby-killing, gun-toting, bible-thumping, flag-waving, and self-centered, globalizing, uncouth, swearmouthed and boorish non-human Neanderthal American obsessed with sex, celebrities and McDonalds that demands the entire world revolve around herself!

Get over it! We’re all assholes. We invented assholes and assholisms. Don’t steal it. It’s our culture! And we won’t be done with our assholosity-atrocities and Americanisms until we’ve successfully destroyed the entire earth and it’s people. Please do not interrupt our mission.

Celebrate the differences!

To Err is to… American

To err is to human American.

What happens when an American makes a mistake? They’re “acting American”.

What happens when any other group of people a mistake – according to the Americanophobes? They’re “human”. Or you’ll hear, “It’s a cultural thing.” However, in Canada, it has become a FAD to scold other Canadians for “acting American” if they do something “bad”.

That is why to err, really is to American.

You may become even friends – good friends even, with someone coming from a predominantly Americanophobic country. But what I’m finding these days is that if you don’t walk on egg shells around them trying so hard not to offend, not to make a spelling error, not to “sound arrogant” or whatnots…. you’re bound to look “too American” or be accused of “Americanism” to be exact.

Will this stop me from wanting to make friends with others from predominantly Americanophobic countries? No. That would be stupid. I still have some faith in humanity – some inkling of hope that I won’t run into someone that is going to go out of their way to “look for American-behavior” (whatever that is?).

Newsflash: We are human first. Then, Americans.

America – From the Eyes of a Foreigner: Edition II (Zontar)

Call me Zontar. You can find my blog here. Zontar welcomes all to click on his link, and I promise you will be sore amazed at the intelligence and wonder therein.

I was born many years ago on Xenon, a lovely planet in the Houyhnmian Galaxy, approximately 3000 trillion light years from planet Earth. I excelled in Dominoes as a youngster and was named top champion for all galaxies as a tot. I grew up into a beautiful young alien and married 34,223 beautiful wives, all of whom are extremely fertile and blessed me with 158,233 children.

I wrote this at the request of my wife. I would like to share my experiences in your country, that you call “America”. If you dislike my comments, please respond to this post and Zontar will make every effort to take vengeance on the foolish mortal who dares to imply that Zontar is anything less than a God!!!

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Please allow Zontar to introduce his magnificent self before I expound on my experiences in your country. Zontar is a highly complex, highly intelligent being, and does not expect ignorant mortals to comprehend his multifaceted and superior intellect. Therefore, I have pend the following missive in order to explain the way of God to man. I don’t expect you to understand all of it. All I expect is that you accept it fully and believe that Zontar is the supreme being of the whole universe. Hail Zontar!

Dear Earth Humans,

I thought you might like to know a few things about Zontar.

1. Zontar loves to eat glabrob in all forms, whether animal, vegetable, mineral or fecal.

2. Zontar does not understand your aversion to cockroaches. He loves cockroaches, especially the flying type. They are excellent company when you are down and need a shoulder to cry on. I feel that if you understood their language, you would also love them. How would you feel if every time you saw someone, they recoiled in disgust and horror?

3. Zontar likes long walks on the beach.

4. Zontar likes candlelight dinners.

5. Zontar likes eating pussy cats.

6. Zontar became lord of all universes at tender age of 17 when the former lord of universe was sent to prison for exposing himself to a convent full of nuns.

7. Zontar is top chef on Xenon.

8. Zontar loves all races and species. Earthlings are nice, but Xenonians are the best. Floating penises and vaginas floating in the air all the time. It doesn’t get better than that.

9. Zontar knows all, sees all, understands all. Ask him. He will answer all, for a nominal sum.

10. Zontar has very bad breath and very malodorous gaseous emissions from rectum.

11. Zontar is very beautiful and wastes too much time admiring himself in mirror.

12. Zontar is immensely attractive to opposite sex. Sometimes this gets tiresome, especially when he has to work.

13. Zontar is currently employed as hit man for Xenonian mafia. A very good one too.

14. Zontar believes children should be raised in strict, military environment. Zontar was raised in a military style boot camp and learned to appreciate cold, hard discipline. It has helped him a great deal in his current life, because of this, Zontar didn’t meet parents until he was 19.

15. Zontar works part time as bartender in Seacausus, New Jersey.

16. Zontar was great opera singer on Xenon…

17. Zontar appreciates humility and detests all those who are bragging about their accomplishments…

18. Zontar is greatest being in all universe.

19. Zontar thinks all world needs now is love. Sweet love.

20. Zontar thinks we’ve only just begun.

21. Zontar wants to buy some red roses for blue lady…

Good luck to all on Earth and in all universes.

Zontar’s Interests

General Binging, purging, playing with matches. Music Xenonian heavy metal Movies I Married an Alien, Mars Needs Women. War of the Worlds Television Alien Or No Alien, Everyone Loves Zontar, Alien in the Family,America’s Next Top Alien, One Alien vs. One Hundred Books A Tale of Two Aliens, Encyclopedia Xenonia,

Zontar’s Details

Status: Swinger Here for: Networking, Dating, Serious Relationships, Friends Orientation: Straight Hometown: Xenonia Body type: 0′ 1″ / Some extra baggage Ethnicity: Other Religion: Scientologist Zodiac Sign: Gemini Smoke / Drink: Yes / Yes Children: Proud parent Education: High school Occupation: Intergalactic Philosopher,Poet and Playboy Income: $250,000 and Higher

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Was it like you expected when you came to America?

Zontar was sore amazed when he first trod the shores of your so called “United States of America”. It was not what Zontar expected at all. Zontar was expecting to see a Utopian paradise of democracy and freedom. Instead he saw poverty, crime, ignorance and racial tension. Then I turned on your television and I saw a moronic simpleton who could barely said anything intelligible at all. When I learned he was your leader, the so called “W”, Zontar was in a state of linguar receptivity. Zontar kicked himself in the posterior region for coming here. On Xenon, we all live peacefully, eat well and have a wise and munificent leader. Zontar was very sad. Zontar was so depressed that he went to the Great White Northern neighbors of Canada and saw the same situations as was occurring in the United States, only its citizens were as obnoxious and ignorant. Zontar decided to go back to the United States as he had run out of options.

What made you come here?

Zontar was forced by the exigencies of circumstance to flee his beloved home planet Xenon, United Confederation of Xenon (located in the 499,735 of the olfactory galaxy, approximately 2,333,444,222,555 trillion light years away from earth). Zontar had great status in his previous life on Xenon. Zontar was most trusted advisor to our beloved ruler, Pubicus. Zontar made a grave error in eating the wrong set of victuals for his midday repast. He feasted on filet of glabrob (the national dish of Xenon), washed it down with fermented glabrob urine (very similar to your beer) and hard boiled glabrob eggs. The resulting effect from this delicious meal was an unfortunate need to expunge gas from my anal orifice (known as farting in your country). To my great distress, while in conference with Pubicus I emitted an extremely foul odor which had the effect of debilitating our beloved leader, Pubicus. He thought I had done it deliberately and I was condemned for the perceived attempted murder of Pubicus. Zontar was sore afraid and transported himself to his spaceship before the sentence could be carried out. Zontar set his target to the United States as he had witnessed several episodes of Earth television program “The Brady Bunch”. Zontar wanted to dwell in the same country as these delightful, humorous and kind people as depicted on this delightful show. Zontar’s heart was torn asunder by the knowledge that he had to leave his favorite wife, Chlymidia, but Zontar had no choice. Zontar set his spaceship towards Earth and left his beloved home, never to return again.

How are you treated by other Americans?

Zontar was treated with some puzzlement by his new found countrymen as he soon discovered there were some differences between him and humans. First, Xenonians have multiple sets of eyes while humans have only two. Also Xenonians possess no genitalia as all necessary sexual organs needed for reproduction float in the air. Zontar was mocked and ridiculed for these differences. Zontar has great temper and roasted the miscreants who dared show disrespect for Zontar into so much dust. Zontar was arrested and put into an American prison for the crime of murder. There Zontar met many delightful friends who indulged in many amusing games, my favorite being inter-anal seminal exchange. When Zontar was claimed as the bitch of his erstwhile friend Bubba, Zontar was forced to transport himself out of this prison.

How do you compare the US to your own country?

Xenon and the United States are vastly different. Your politicians are small minded, greedy and corrupt, while Xenonian leaders are wise and kind. The food here is terrible. On Xenon one could feast on many delicacies, whereas in the United States Zontar was forced to eat from the dollar menu at Mcdonalds, causing him severe gastric distress.

Your legal status?

Zontar is an illegal alien.

Why do you want to live here permanently?

Zontar has no choice but to stay. As mentioned above it is impossible to return to his homeland. Zontar did visit Canada with the intention of living there permanently, but found the same problems there as in the United States, only some Canadians thought they were better than the Americans. Their arrogant attitude angered Zontar greatly and he murdered one unfortunate hooser by stuffing 20 pounds of beef jerky down his throat.

Your likes and dislikes?

Zontar like pussy cats. Zontar like Glabrob. Zontar like cigarettes. Zontar likes Jamaican meat pies.

Zontar does not dislike anything. Zontar is kind, wise and hyper-intelligent. Able to see good in all things.

Your occupation or area of study?

Zontar is currently assistant night manager at Dairy Queen and…. more here.

Your age?

Zontar is 120,334,553,222 years young.

How long have you lived here?

Zontar moved to Earth in year 2001.

What is your advice to those wanting to live here or immigrate her permanently?

Visit Zontar and pay him homage and obedience! Zontar will repay you with many kindnesses. HaIl Xenon! Hail Zontar!

Let’s Connect the Dots: Hillary Clinton’s Um…. Revelation?

Earlier Friday afternoon, she told the editorial board of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Argus Leader that “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said. 

Link: Clinton explains RFK assassination reference

Mrs. Clinton tried to excuse her inexcusable outburst by saying she was distracted by the shock of the news of Senator Edward Kennedy’s malignant brain tumor. But there was something familiar about what she said, and thanks to Ben Smith of Politico, we remembered what it was. Mrs. Clinton said basically the same thing in an interview with Time on March 6:

“I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A.”

Uh huh. Was she “worried about Ted Kennedy’s brain tumor” then, too?

If you can’t see what she’s stepping in, than you’re not seeing.

Planning to Become a Student or Live in America?

The other day, I ran into this post, “Culture Shock (a cultural guide for international students)” posted by a French blogger (oka Super Frenchie) who is an excellent writer and is presently living in America and has been since the 1980’s. My husband and I both watched the whole documentary and we both learned from it (even though we’re both Americans!) I highly recommend it if you’re planning to come to the US to study. The series of videos are also very humorous as well.

The only type of people that will definitely have a problem in the US will be those who are carting baggage from their own countries thinking that the US will “fix” their problems. We have a kind of saying in America that if you leave your country, you take ALL of your problems with you. Your problems will STILL be there no matter what country you decide to live in. If you are overly-cynical, have a closed mind, are a misanthrope, have severe mental problems, pessimistic, and the type that whines and moans about everything, you will be miserable here and probably not too well liked.

If you already have a pre-existing negative attitude about America and its people, don’t waste your time. America will be a living hell for you.

If you are coming to the states to just use this country for a single advantage that you cannot get in your own country, then you will be unhappy here.

And if you’re going out of your way to look for bad things, you will find them.

The “American Dream”? People more than often misunderstand the meaning of this term. The “American Dream” does not mean that you can just simply arrive here and become rich and live a life of happiness without lifting a finger. America IS a land of opportunities, but YOU have to make that happen. You have to be realistic. You cannot expect the American people and its government to make all your dreams come true. We will NOT spoon-feed you here – nor will we take you by the hand and make things “work” for you. Simply put, America has the dream and the opportunities, you must do the rest.

We are a country that believes in “personal responsibility”. If things aren’t happening as you want or expect them to, you must evaluate YOUR situation and make those changes on your own. This is not to say that unfortunate things won’t happen that are beyond your control. This is not to say that nice American people won’t sympathize with you or give you some help, either. Bad things WILL happen. Expect them to happen. But what’s important is that you must be able to distinguish between an occurrence that is within your control and one that is not. Your attitude can make all the difference in the world.

Know that you are not a hostage in the United States, and that you’re welcome to return to your home country at any time. We only tie-up, bind, and use whips and chains on our lovers, not our immigrants.

Learn a bit about the US before you arrive here. America has both good and bad. Get to know both to decrease the amount of “culture shock” before you arrive.

I lived in Japan for 6.5 years, and I made the decision to go there roughly three years before I graduated from college. Most of my friends were Japanese at the time. While they were happy that I chose Japan to be the place to live, some informed me of the ills to expect when I live there. And they did not sugar-coat it for me. I was armed with knowledge that even a text book or amazon.com couldn’t have offered me. My Japanese friends were realists. A couple of them were thinking that my plans of going to Japan were naive. By the time I had arrived in Japan, not only was I feeling “ready” but I was on my way to conversational fluency in the Japanese language.

When I got there, I stayed at my friend’s home for two months while I was shopping for a job and an apartment. At my friend’s home, only my friend could speak a tiny bit of English, but the rest of the family could not. They all spoke to me in Japanese ONLY for my benefit. I got a boatload of “tough-love”. I got a boot-camp degree in Japanese Culture. I’m not gonna lie. It was rough at times. When I moved off into my own apartment, I was able to be self-sufficient and didn’t really experience any dramatic cultural shocks. However, I did experience culture wonders! My initial plan was to stay there for two years. I loved it so much that I stayed over 6 years. Excuse my French, but Japan kicks ass! There will always be a part of me that regrets coming back to the US because of how well I was doing over there both in terms of having met the nicest people, fantastic friends, the best yoga teacher, an awesome job, good entertainment, and I had also been making a lot of money over there too (yeah… that’s an amerikkan thing… we likie money…). Interestingly enough, the Japanese people and American people have more in common than I could have ever imagined. The Japanese aren’t Americanophobic either.

Back to the topic: Do extensive research before you pack you bags to live in America. You may be judged because of the ethnic group that you come from, but then again, so will I when I go or move to another country. Being American in and of itself sets me up for attack across the board. This concept is not rocket science, people. As my British friend, Jeff, puts it —> “There are wankers everywhere”. Expect them.

You get back what you give. In SuperFrenchie’s blog, there was a posting about dispelling French myths. (There are just as many myths about French people as there are about Americans!) With that said, I was directed to this site (The Top Myths about Paris) which says something that should ring true for all countries including the United States.

MYTH #5: Parisians are unfriendly and rude.

Explanation: This myth couldn’t be farther from the truth, since the majority of Parisians are kind, helpful and friendly. Upon first meeting, Parisians can appear to be less casual and more reserved by North American standards, however, this does not translate to unfriendliness. Be aware that often what you put out is what you get back, so if Parisians are approached in the right way from the beginning, chances of a more pleasant interaction increase. An attempt to speak the language goes a long way with Parisians. Always begin a conversation with ‘bonjour’, especially when entering a store. Asking immediately, ‘do you speak English?’ riles many Parisians and will start you off on the wrong foot. Think about it, if foreigners are constantly asking if you speak their language in a country where English is the official language, then how would that make you feel? Use your best school French and have fun with it; Parisians love to correct and help people with their admittedly difficult language!

Hat tip: SuperFrenchi

The same rings true for America. If you act like an asshole, you’ll be treated like one!

America: The Land of the Free? That is a naive concept. To think that we are 100% free? We have more freedom of speech than most countries, though. Michael Moore, NAMBLA, and The Westboro Baptist Church (they don’t just hate gays, FYI… They also hate America, Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Ireland etc), are one of the most famous poster children for American Freedom of Speech. However, freedom of speech has its limitations and justifiably so. If you want to walk topless through the streets, you can go to Canada for that. Old freedoms that we were once used to, have unfortunately been stripped away from both the radical right and the radical left.

Yes, people will judge you on your beliefs. Yes, people will challenge your opinions. Yes, people may disagree with you harshly. A lot of people misconstrue the challenging of held beliefs to be a infringement on their “freedom of speech”. No! Freedom of speech goes BOTH ways. If you speak up, your audience has a right to speak back. Expect this.

You will see all walks of life here in the US and diversity in terms of ethnicity, thought, religion, upbringing, and values depending on where you live. I have explained this in more detail in the beginning of this post. Some states and cities are more diverse than others. There are plenty of Americans that are racist, but one thing that I find (based on my limited research, admittedly) unique about the US is that we’re a bit less openly vocal about our prejudices. While there are stigmas and stereotypes attached to ALL groups of people, you will find that it’s a bit easier to be fat, dumb, ugly, ignorant, have poor taste in clothes, unhygienic, to be driving around in a clunker, and in short, be as individual as you’d like to be. You will be less judged here as opposed to being an American carrying those “socially unacceptable” quirks into another country. Try being a conservative fat American wearing a cowboy hat with a Texas accent in another country (outside Eastern Asia)! You won’t make it. I’d place money on that. At least in America, you can join all the fat, greedy, neo-con-bible-thumping, capitalist, dumb, ignorant, lazy, loud, and obnoxious people here. You’re more than welcome.

Our first amendment also allows you to burn our flags and wave your own here. No problem!

You can be whomever you want to be in America. Expect that not everyone’s going to LIKE you. This is NOT a violation of “civil liberties”. This is opinion. And Americans, like any other country, have them. Stewart Lee in the UK said it well in this video toward the end:

“…some of the things that are great about America, namely “freedom of speech” and a certain kinda social equality in that everyone there is allowed to say whatever they want no matter how stupid and ill-informed it is, and I think there’s something noble about that, genuinely”. — Stewart Lee (director of Jerry Springer, The Opera)

With that said, we also accept (with welcome arms) the slender, the intelligent, the intellectuals, the nerdy scholars, the hard workers, the polite, the humorous, the athletes, the hotties, the homosexuals, the tolerant, the socialists, as well as the demure, quiet, and shy.

America is a perfect blending of ALL these groups. This is what makes America great. I’m not saying that it’s the best country in the world, but in terms of THIS type of freedom, I’d say this is a great thing.

Many Americans are prejudiced against Muslims. And by Muslims, I’m talking about even those moderate Muslims that are peaceful. BUT, you can still go to a 7-11 or many convenience stores and find a man wearing a turban. Most of us don’t really care!!

Here’s what is NOT free in America: You are NOT welcome to “freedom of speech” in private places or within privately owned organizations and the like. Just think about it this way: When you enter someone’s home, you go by THEIR “house rules”, right? Why? Because a home is someone’s PRIVATE property. You can be asked to leave if you act in a way that is unacceptable. (Obviously, this is not unique to America.) The same scenario applies to message boards, websites, blog commenting areas, companies, institutions, or private—anything. So, this also explains why your, “I hate fucking Americans – Death to America” group on Facebook got deleted.

Just remember, if you ever get confused about our 1st Amendment, the 1st Amendment addresses what the government cannot do:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

America tops the charts among all the developed countries in the world as being the most violent and criminal. No other first world country has the same amount of crime, child abuse and sexual abuse rates. Teens have been having babies for the longest time. How can one expect them to grow up “normal”? I have no problem admitting that we are, in fact, a violent society. And because of this, in my opinion, we also can be superficial and shallow. A big portion of us are neurotic and some of us have odd ways of coping with our past and present dirty laundry bags. Americans, like any other people, are what they are because of “where they’ve been”. And because it is more likely that Americans will grow up in a violent or troubled family, it is also more likely that we may appear less desirable to not only other Americans but to those non-American as well. Am I making an excuse for these people? Yes and no. Yes, in the way that we have limited control all depending on the LEVEL (I can’t stress this enough) of trauma/stress (both past and present). And no, I’m not making an excuse for them in such a way that I HATE being on the other end of someone else’s idiocy. All I’m trying to say is that because of all the social problems we have in the US, you have to expect the people to be a bit weird on some level.

In your country, you may have been taught that all Americans are rich. Be prepared for a HUGE surprise when you get here.

In your country, you may have been taught that the “all-American-diet” is Coca Cola and McDonald’s. (Psst… It’s really hot dogs and apple-pie. ) Be prepared for another shocker. There are so many kinds of American foods. There are also international restaurants all over the place (even in my little “backwood hick town” in Texas). And there’s this little invention called the “grocery store” where you get to pick and choose what you want to eat and make it yourself at home. If you get FAT, that’s not our problem! You decide what goes in your mouth. I will say, however, that generally speaking, America isn’t made for walking.

In your country, you may have been taught that all Americans are lazy. I promise you. Once you get good and settled here and decide to work or wonder why your friends are too busy to talk to you as much, you’ll be complaining about how America works you and everyone else too hard!

Are we going to MELT YOU? I’m getting increasingly exhausted hearing from Americanophobic Canadians (who have never ventured south of the border to hang out for longer than a few minutes to fill up their gas tanks) that the US is a melting-pot and forces its belief systems on innocent, peaceful and vulnerable immigrants. That is a myth, and one that confuses me terribly. We are, in fact, NOT a melting-pot. We are a salad bowl.

Minority groups continue to create and nurture their own culture and maintain its uniqueness while being surrounded by a majority of people. They are able to do that nowadays. The American society therefore is best described as a big bowl full of different ingredients. They all make up the salad by being there, and the more the ingredients, the more the salad becomes rich and tasty.

We are not about full-throttle multiculturalism either. We are a blend of the two. Here in America you are more than welcome to retain your cultural heritage, celebrate it, read newspapers in your own language, eat your own foods and live how you’d like to live. Many immigrants moving to the US aren’t yet fluent in English, so they tend to make friends and live in close proximity with those from the same country. We don’t even have an official language here! There are people from other countries that have been here for 10-20 years that still don’t have a hold on the English language and some cannot speak it at all. We may appreciate your customs, but we may not want to live by your customs or learn your language. With that said, you are also granted with the freedom to speak only your language while refusing to speak English. I had to assimilate into the Japanese culture and the Japanese work-ethic in Japan. People from other countries are expected to assimilate to some degree here in the US.

And for the love of all that “holy”, YES (!)… you can get dual-citizenship here!!!

Celebrate the differences, people. Because at the end of the day, we are, in fact, all people. Come to America if you wish, but be realistic, do you homework beforehand, and have an open mind. I could go on, but there are plenty of resources on the web to further your knowledge points about America. Here on my blog, I have debunked a lot of myths that your media systems and your family have told you otherwise. I don’t pretend that America is perfect, but at the same time, it’s nowhere near as bad the way the media and rumors make it out to be.

America – From the Eyes of a Foreigner: Edition I (Lawrence)

This is the beginning of a small set.

I have asked some of my foreign-born friends living in the US to write about their feelings as a resident here. I am awaiting some responses, and as they come in, I’m adding them to my blog with their permission. Those who are more computer savvy will type directly into this blog as a “guest blogger” (contributor).

Why am I doing this? For many reasons.

It’s hard for Americans to realize what life is like in the shoes of a foreigner. Additionally, it’s hard for those living outside the United States whom have never been here to imagine what life can be like. We cannot go on one person’s experience alone, of course. In my opinion, nobody is qualified to sit in judgment of the states from afar unless they have substantial experience living here – although there are some that never leave the city or state that they’re in and can only judge based on their near surroundings.

The US is hard to digest as we are a landmass of 3,537,436 sq miles (9,161,923 sq km) if you can imagine that. There are 50 states with 30,000 incorporated cites therein. And even each city has it’s own towns, styles, and personalities. If you live in West Virginia, chances are that you’ll have a different experience from one who lives in Denver Colorado. It’s probably easier to look at the USA similar to the way Europe is set up. America acts like a continent because of it’s size and it’s uniqueness from city to city. (Actually, the same can be said about every country, right?) There are even cultural differences depending on the city you’re living in. I will give one example (even though a general one). When you get married in some cities/towns in the south, the “proper” gift to give the newlyweds is a an actual tangible gift. Money would be considered an improper gift. It may even be considered as “lazy” if one were to hand over a check as opposed to actually going out and buying something. However, in NY, giving money gifts is more of the norm and said to be a convenience among those “just married”.

Basically, all I’m trying to say is that behaviorism and customs vary from city to city – state to state.

Next, we have three different types of government here: There is federal government, state government, and finally, local government. In Massachusetts, gay marriages are legal. In Nevada, prostitution is legal. In Alabama, it’s forbidden to purchase a DILDO! Marijuana for medical purposes is legal in California – yet illegal federally (strange, huh?). The list is endless.

The scenery, cost of living, mannerisms, laws, crime rate, accents, dialect, ethnic diversity, food, income, industries, tourism, weather, job opportunities, public transportation, and etc differ depending on WHERE you live. There are some places in the US where people don’t lock their doors.

Read my definition of America in my glossary section for more information.

As you can see, this is why Americans can get so frustrated with over-simplified views of the US coming from other countries.

Anyway…….. Let’s begin!

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From Halifax in the UK, my friend Lawrence has answered some of the questions I asked him. He is still living in America – more specifically in Los Angeles, California (where we became friends).

Was it like you expected?

Yes, it was like I expected at first. Coming from England, I expected LA to be bright and exciting, and it was. However, I encountered things I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect to ever become bored with the beach, having never lived by the sea before. I expected to be excited by the celibrities, but after a few years you come to think of them as any other average person thinks of the rich people in their town – not always positively.

What made you come here?

I came here to train to be a psychotherapist in what was being advertised as a new science. A few years later I came to think of the psychotherapy as a pseudoscience. I came to think that the kind of selling and biased advertising that drew me to it, is kind of accepted in America, and buyer beware. In England such outrageous claims would not be allowed, thus creating the illusion that all the best alternative science and alternative cures are in California. While there is some world class good science going on in places like Berkeley, Stanford and UCLA; there is also a thriving pseudoscience industry in California – so it’s good and bad.

How are you treated by other Americans?

Very well, I like the way I am treated here, my accent goes over very well here, whereas at home, it was a give away to my working class roots.

How do you compare the US to your own country?

The US seems to allow dishonesty much more, probably connected to the freedom of speech ethic. There is more freedom to do what you want without judgement in the US, however that is good and bad. In England if you start a destructive cult, people interfere to protect themselves and their children; whereas in America they leave them alone to believe in whatever.

Your legal status?

Dual citizenship, US and UK.

What makes you stick around?

I can earn more money here, and I like the educational system here. I love the weather too.

Likes and dislikes?

I like the California weather, the UK-welcoming attitude, the freedom to live as you want, the non-jealous attitude to those doing okay for money (in England it can cause resentments if you save some money and then don’t share it, there is a strong socialist streak in some sections of society which is good and bad in a way) that sometimes can come to disadvantage the savers or investors, – you also can get heavily taxed). I also like the entertaining way they teach college here, and the exciting intellectual fervent in California.

I dislike the war in Iraq, the sickening demand-for-blood-patriotism and media war-drum-beat that came after 9-11, the disregard for the environment, and the lack of universal health care. I also dislike the longer work hours that people tend to get into here in the US.

Your occupation or area of study?

Student of psychology and science.

Your age? (you can just give an estimate or be as vague as you like)

30’s

How long have you lived here?

8 years

What is your advice to those wanting to live here or immigrate her permanently?

Get the education, qualifications and job skills necessary to get a professional job which will include a health care package.

Anti-Americanism Is Racism Too!

My name is David, I have been asked by the author of this blog to post a document that I wrote this morning regarding some postings that have been made on a Facebook group dedicated to the discussion of the problem of Anti-American Racism in western society. One member was making submissions stating that Anti-Americanism was not racism and that it was Justified. Click here for my response to that.

If you have comment or issue, please feel free to leave a comment under the relevant entry in my own blog, or this one.

Happy Reading!

Dave

The European Love/Hate Relationship with America

I’m going to post an entire documentary here. While this is good for the whole world to see, I find it just as important – if not more, for Americans to see. At least for me, it made me appreciate the feelings that Europeans have concerning their relationship with the United States.

Note: If you have any problems getting any of these videos to play, try refreshing the page. If that doesn’t work, click the link above each video so that you can watch it on the Youtube site. Also keep in mind that my feedback about each video will be at the bottom of each one (not the top).

It will take an hour of your time to go through all of these videos, but I cannot begin to stress the importance of this material for those genuinely concerned about America’s relationship with Europe. As much as I’d like Europeans to open their minds a little bit about us, I feel that we, as Americans, should at least try to understand them. This is not to say, however, that I won’t be leaving my usual sarcastic and sassy comments in response to some of the odd misconceptions/distortions they have about Americans. In any event, please watch. It’s certainly an EYE-OPENER!

So, you think only yanks are dumb, right? Let’s see for real! :)

You want to know the best way to put those yanks in their place? Just tell them, “You Amerikkkans are all stupid!” Tell them how low their IQ scores are, how they can’t pass the SAT, and how they cannot find any countries on the map. Tell them how they don’t know anything about their own countries let alone anything about the world outside them. If you still haven’t irritated them enough to get them off their “superior” throne of “religious patriotism”, one thing that is sure to make a yank fall flat on their feet and surrender to their holy righteous elitist friends across the pond and to the north of the border is to send them a link to this video.

By now, you should feel better. The yank has listened. He or she may become defensive, but you know in your heart that, “you won”.

But did you? Well, you may have fooled some yanks into thinking that they’re less superior to you. It is those yanks that truly don’t know about the rest of the world and about the people living in their own country. Pray (in the secular way, of course) your darndest that you’ve insulted a dumb yank. But what if you are insulting a yank who knows… a little something. We yanks who DO know a thing or two are a bit more common than you’d like to think. So, be careful — as you don’t know who you’re running up against.

So, did you really win?

Anybody who knows about this “jaywalking industry”, will also know that they interview hundreds of Americans and just pick the dumbest ones to broadcast on air. And this is another thing to keep in mind: (Courtesy of Bruce Bawer)

One reason why Europeans view Americans as ignorant is that when we don’t know something, we’re more likely to admit it freely and ask questions. While Americans, I saw, cherished liberty, Europeans tended to take it for granted or dismiss it as a naïve or cynical, and somehow vaguely embarrassing, American fiction.

I found myself toting up words that begin with i: individuality, imagination, initiative, inventiveness, independence of mind. Americans, it seemed to me, were more likely to think for themselves and trust their own judgments, and less easily cowed by authorities or bossed around by “experts”; they believed in their own ability to make things better. No wonder so many smart, ambitious young Europeans look for inspiration to the United States, which has a dynamism their own countries lack, and which communicates the idea that life can be an adventure and that there’s important, exciting work to be done. Reagan-style “morning in America” clichés may make some of us wince, but they reflect something genuine and valuable in the American air. Europeans may or may not have more of a “sense of history” than Americans do (in fact, in a recent study comparing students’ historical knowledge, the results were pretty much a draw), but America has something else that matters—a belief in the future.

I will be the first to admit that there ARE many Stupid Americans. Yes! Yes! We ARE stupid! Very! We are stupid when we compare the US to …the US. BUT… when you compare the US to other countries, mmm…. things change a bit to the tune of…. well, we’re *not* all as “different” (in the department of smartness) as you Americanophobic Canadians and Europeans would like to think.

Why don’t we do a little exploring?

The problem with Americanophobia is a strong sense of “moral superiority” coupled with “over-confidence”, so much over-confidence to the point where Americanophobes typically filter what they read or learn to suit their own agenda leading to just about the same amount of ignorance that they accuse 300+ million Americans that they’ve never met before of. And here are pages and pages of examples of British unintelligence and ignorance.

People like me know that a lot of you Americanophobes get your information from the biased media, hearsay (mom and dad), Noam Chomsky, Al Gore, and your all time favorite hero, Michael Moore. (He’s the one man you excuse for being fat.) But is he FAT with knowledge when it comes to accurate statistic gathering and information?

Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

Remember that book you read so many times that you’ve lost count of called, “Stupid White Men” by Michael Moore? (Psst…. yes, that’s the same book that brainwashed you to believe that all Americans are white.) Anyway, some people took him to task and challenged his statistics. What did they find? They found data that Michael Moore conveniently left out. You can read the full rebuttal here, and I’ll just leave the key points for you to examine.

Case Study #1:

Many factors help to explain why so many adults demonstrated English literacy skills in the lowest proficiency level defined (Level 1). Twenty-five percent of the respondents who performed in this level were immigrants who may have been just learning to speak English. Nearly two-thirds of those in Level 1 (62 percent) had terminated their education before completing high school. A third were age 65 or older, and 26 percent had physical, mental, or health conditions that kept them from participating fully in work, school, housework, or other activities. Nineteen percent of the respondents in Level 1 reported having visual difficulties that affect their ability to read print.

Not to mention that 4% of those surveyed (1,100 of 26,000) were serving time in jail. Surprise: functional English literacy is not high among the blind and visually-impaired, people learning to speak English, and prison inmates. This hardly makes the US a place that “GOES OUT OF ITS WAY TO REMAIN STUPID AND IGNORANT,” in Moore’s typically capitalized phrase. (SWM, p. 87). By the way, as the National Adult Literacy Survey confirmed, a disproportionate share of those Moore labels “STUPID AND IGNORANT” happen to be blacks and hispanics.

In any event, as Michael Moynihan points out, limited functional literacy is a worldwide event: “almost 20 per cent of Australian adults had inadequate literacy skills to be effective in everyday life;” “some 25 per cent of Irish adults are functionally illiterate and approximately another 20 per cent can perform only simple reading and writing tasks;” “American teenagers rank higher than the Germans in all three subjects (math, literacy and science); 30 percent of Germans drop out of university, roughly equivalent to Mexico;16% hold university degrees, compared with 35% in the United States.”

Frankly, if Mike was of the working class, instead of a pretender to it, he’d understand something that I learned back in the No. 1 tunnel at Pima Mines. These guys may not write like Shakespeare, or go home to read Neitzsche and Spengler, but they are smart, live in the real world, and know one heck of a lot about the things that matter. I was in college, working summers, eventually bound for a doctorate in law — and they left me in the dust when it came to knowledge of current politics.

Case Study #2: Is it purely an American phenomenon when it comes to the inability to read maps properly?

Young adults worldwide are not markedly more literate about geography than the Americans. On average, fewer than 25 percent of young people worldwide could locate Israel on the map. Only about 20 percent could identify hotspots like Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. Of all the young adults in the survey, only about one-third in Germany, Sweden and Japan, could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons. In the rest of the countries that number dropped to less than a quarter. In France 24 percent did not know that that their own country was a nuclear nation.

The facts…

89% of Canadians couldn’t locate Iraq on a map, a higher “ignorance rate” than that of the United States.

81% of Canadians couldn’t locate Israel on a map

5% of Canadians couldn’t locate Canada on a map

90% of Britons couldn’t locate Iraq on a map, again a worse figure than that of the US

21% of Britons couldn’t locate the USA on a map

7% of Britons couldn’t locate the England on a map

Swedes scored highest in the poll — but even there 70% couldn’t find Iraq.

Case Study #3: A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation blunder?

And possibly the world record on geographical foulups? The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has a granite map of North America on the floor of its lobby. A few minor problems: it shows shows Vancouver Island as a peninsula, and shows no trace of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In compensation for that loss, it gives Canada the state of Alaska. As the Ottawa Citizen reported,

This isn’t the first time a bold new geography has been created for the North American continent. In July, the inaugural issue of the Canadian Tourism Commission’s magazine, PureCanada, contained a map that eliminated Prince Edward Island, Labrador, Halifax and Fredericton.

And just last month, Ottawa International Airport’s new terminal was opened, and a map in the baggage area located Atlanta in the middle of Alabama, Chicago in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., in Virginia. Perhaps the map was meant to indicate where your luggage would end up. You know, if you fly to Atlanta, you’ll have to pick up your bags in Alabama, and so on.

Case Study 4: Stupid British people

To show American ignorance isn’t different from Canadian ignorance, you may want to look at these two reads:

• Half of Canadians too Ignorant to be Canadian
• More on Ignorant Canadians here.

Oh Canadians love to exalt themselves above Americans for their lack of knowledge about Canada. Yet Canadians are equally ignorant and arrogant about even their own country. Surprisingly even the CBC seems to agree on this one:

“It’s not the first time I’ve encountered this kind of ignorance. When I arrived at Carleton University in Ottawa to study journalism, some of my classmates wondered if I was there because there were no universities in Alberta. I am not making this up! Others found it curious that my parents would choose such a province to live in. They never spelled it out but it was always, “Oh, you’re from Alberta? Really? I thought only cowboys lived there.” Then the ha-ha.”

But you ask, why do we always find videos about Stupid Americans on Youtube and on TV all the time?

Dumb Americans are a money-making machine in the US. We don’t mind internationally humiliating ourselves in public. Americans love to poke fun at the dumb just as much as you guys do! However, the difference between Americans and those from other countries, is the televised exposure of said ignorance. The very fact that you are entertained by our stupidity, puts money into our pockets. (Psst… remember, we’re the fat greedy capitalists that will do ANYTHING for money – ANYTHING.)

A blogger from a non-American country (I don’t know where he’s from) mentioned possible reasons as to why Americans can come off as “stupid”.

I feel quite perplexed sometimes as to why there is so much animosity towards American’s and their culture. I feel as though I have missed something because as far as I can see, and from friendships I have with American’s, I just don’t see anything wrong with them (on an individual level). They are the most positive people I have ever met.

Then he starts to talk about our TV over here:

“…Actually on that point, I believe that TV is the main culprit that contributes to the animosity towards America. Firstly the programs that we have on TV do not paint American’s as the most brightest of people.

We are all influenced by our senses, and what rewards those senses. When what we see on TV is full of a collective of people that are doing humiliating things then we are rewarded by almost feeling empowered that we are not part of that culture. Does that make sense? To me it does. I may seem quite bent against the media at the moment, which I am, and also is a quite contradictory as my family is full of people in the media – like my oscar/bafta winning sister – my internationally known photographer brother – etc etc – but I can really see that a lot of ills in this world are the direct consequence of what is on TV. Is that really a surprise though? We are all but sheep looking here and there for where to go. Even the most head strong of people are to a point easily influenced. We are all born a blank slate. I really did digress.. must focus!So I believe that a lot of what feeds this anti-American sentiment is the direct result on what we see on TV and read on the paper.”

Read the rest of his story here.

One commenter said the following:

When I was younger I travelled quite a bit but now that I have to pay my own bills I am forced to work, which has reduced my travel abroad.

Each country has their own strange quirky trait. But I’ve tried not to classify the people of that region based on that.

I am from the US, as you can probably tell, and the funny thing is that nobody in the US watches that kind of TV unless you are unemployed or brain dead.

I’m not saying you are, but for some reason this stupid TV is passed to other shores.

When I was younger, I based my opinion of Brits on Benny Hill.

Americans, for the most part are hard workers and care about the things that are important. Please note; just as in every society, in every country there are different levels of socio-economic classes. The US has the same.

It is very true that a picture of the average “Uncle Sam” is created in one’s mind from the TV that Canadians and Europeans secretly love to watch. They say that they hate these shows and only watch them to laugh at the Americans. Newsflash: That’s the same reason that those stupid shows are so popular over here. Why are they so popular in Canada, Europe, America and all over the world? Because we (everybody) actually DO feel “empowered” or better about ourselves when we watch a bunch of idiots making FOOLS out of themselves. I even talked to my husband about this phenomenon. I have my own short-comings as much as the next person, and by watching goofy people on Jerry Springer (which is 95% fake anyway), I feel that I’m not so bad after all. Any current problem that I may be tackling in the present is no longer the big issue I had thought it to be after watching someone on The Maury Show having banged 1554500645 guys and wonder whom the father is for each baby. My life isn’t so bad any more…..

And the end of the day, we’re all humans, aren’t we?

Next, if you read, “Hating America” by Bruce Bawer (an American living in Europe), you will see that Europeans put the same amount of smart cards on table as Americans. We’re just about even. Or are we?

I moved from the U.S. to Europe in 1998, and I’ve been drawing comparisons ever since. Living in turn in the Netherlands, where kids come out of high school able to speak four languages, where gay marriage is a non-issue, and where book-buying levels are the world’s highest, and in Norway, where a staggering percentage of people read three newspapers a day and where respect for learning is reflected even in Oslo place names (“Professor Aschehoug Square”; “Professor Birkeland Road”), I was tempted at one point to write a book lamenting Americans’ anti-intellectualism—their indifference to foreign languages, ignorance of history, indifference to academic achievement, susceptibility to vulgar religion and trash TV, and so forth. On point after point, I would argue, Europe had us beat.

Yet as my weeks in the Old World stretched into months and then years, my perceptions shifted. Yes, many Europeans were book lovers—but which country’s literature most engaged them? Many of them revered education—but to which country’s universities did they most wish to send their children? (Answer: the same country that performs the majority of the world’s scientific research and wins most of the Nobel Prizes.)

Yep, you guessed it. America. Oh and the hypocrisy?

“…And while Americans’ relative indifference to foreign news is certainly nothing to crow about, the provincial focus of Norwegian news reporting and public-affairs programming can feel downright claustrophobic. Hertsgaard illustrates Americans’ ignorance of world geography by telling us about a Spaniard who was asked at a wedding in Tennessee if Spain was in Mexico. I once told such stories as well (in fact, I began my professional writing career with a fretful op-ed about the lack of general knowledge that I, then a doctoral candidate in English, found among my undergraduate students); then I moved to Europe and met people like the sixtyish Norwegian author and psychologist who, at the annual dinner of a Norwegian authors’ society, told me she’d been to San Francisco but never to California.”

Americans dominate medicine and science: US medical schools are at the top of the world. Doctors come from all over the world to train in the US with the biggest teaching hospitals being the Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins. We globally dominate the modern pop culture that YOU secretly devour. The most inventions and patents in technology are attributed to the US. Some examples are the lightbulb (Thomas Edison got the 1st one working *commercially*), telegraph: Samuel F. B. Morse (“Although many researchers had worked on similar projects prior to Morse, his was the first instrument that could successfully send messages across wires utilizing electricity”).

More information on our inventions can be found here.

James Dreyer has some insight on “Stupid Americans”.

Let’s define “stupid” before we begin to answer the question, “Are Americans really stupid versus the rest of the World?”. Webster defines “stupid” as being “slow of mind; given to unintelligent decisions or acts; lacking intelligence or reason”, etc.

Well, that clears that up.

Are Americans slow of mind? Some are; some aren’t.

Are Americans given to unintelligent decisions or acts? Sometimes.

Are Americans lacking in intelligence or reason? Some are.

Are all Americans stupid? No. Are Americans the only Nationality that are slow of mind at times, make unintelligent decisions every once in awhile, or may be lacking in intelligence or reason? No.

I think that the topic may have been better worded to ask, “Why do American Students appear to be lagging behind students in other part of the World?”. I have an answer for that one…

Read the full story here.

But then you ask for the 699885520048314th time, “But you elected Bush, not once… but twice!”. You are stupid!

No! You REALLY did ask THAT many times! Ignorance is bliss.

Usually when I’m asked dumb questions, I usually reply with dumb answers. But I digress…. I will answer this one for the 98500550300987th time.

Election #1 November 2000:

Al Gore won the POPULAR vote. Bush did *not* win.

Election #2 November 2004:

Bush won the popular vote AND the electoral college vote. He won by 2%

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an electoral voting system in America that, in my opinion, is unfair and not indicative of a democracy. In EVERY election, the electoral colleges decide. The popular vote doesn’t really count.

So, to you yank-haters out there, no… we Americans don’t all think alike. With 300+ million Americans, how could anyone think that we’d all think the same? We’re very diverse in every way, shape, and form. And I like America because of this.

But really, we still have a problem with Stupid Americans. Here’s one man’s explanation. I find it to be very true. And at the end, he says something that we all should keep in mind:

It all boils down to the fact that knowledge and intelligence are two different issues. Rote memorization of world capitals does not equate intelligence.

I do find it interesting that Europeans have such strong opinions on this, considering that there are many more pressing issues to be concerned about. Perhaps the steady European refrain of “Americans are stupid” is a reflection of their own deep-rooted insecurity. You know — an inferiority complex.

By the way, I have an American friend who lives in Finland and her husband (a Finish guy) used to get PAID for going to college. So, if Americans ARE a few points down the scale in IQ compared some other countries, that can also be another reason. And for freaksakes, we’re only 1 point lower than that of Canada! To all of you Americanophobes, get the hell over yourselves, already!

Anyway, let’s just say for the sake of argument that ALL Americans are “stupid”. Why would that be something to get so alarmed about insomuch to wait all day for an American to pass by on the internet or in the streets of London to flame them? Why be obsessed so much with a group of dumb people? Do you argue with people who have Down Syndrome? Well, of course not! Then, why do you chase Americans around all day? There are American Pride groups on Facebook (not as much as there are Canadian Pride groups, mind you). Here’s what’s interesting for me. In every American Pride group on Facebook, the number of Britons and Canadians significantly OUTWEIGH the number of Americans in those groups. I find that quite the fascinating. Brits and Canadians purposefully search for American Pride groups for this purpose and this purpose only: to taunt. Now, if you don’t do this with the mentally retarded, why… oh why do you pick on the stupid, stupid fickle-minded Americans? If they don’t know what they’re talking about, why bother with them? Could it be that you’re just as stupid as THEM and you feel an irresistible emotional connection?

I will fess up. I argue with the Americanophobes. And, yes, I’m very stupid for that.

And when you call all Americans stupid (by the way), you’re not only wrong, you’re not only being inflammatory and juvenile, but you’re also being racist. Did it not ever occur to you that blacks, Mexicans, Asians…etc are all Americans too? But now that we’re on the topic of “racism”, you might not want to be too overly confident about your IQ scores.

In any event, if you cannot find any other ways to piss off the mentally-challenged AKA “the Americans”, you can always use this as a last resort.

Good luck and G’day.

Are Only American-Whites Capable of Racism and Intolerance?

I wrote this post a while back in response to the popular notion that Americans (white Americans) “mold” every person that decides to immigrate to the US into doing things the “All-American-White-Way” in that we train immigrants to be obnoxious, obese, racists, stupid, and greedy.

I must say, I’m increasingly getting sick and tired of people accusing American-whites left, right, and center of being “racist”. It infuriates me that just because of the color of my skin and where I was born (had no control over that, by the way), I am assumed to automatically be a “racist”. Interestingly enough, the African Americans are nowhere near as noisy about “racism” as the “cultural elitist” white population in Canada or Europe… who have never stepped foot in the US. And if someone can tell me how Caucasians are “oppressing” the blacks in the US, I’d really love to know. Yes, I’m aware that hate crimes exist. Yes, I’m aware that racism STILL exists in America. Yes, I feel that it’s wrong. But coming from Americanophobic Canadians and Europeans who claim to have the “upper hand” on “worldly matters” are nothing more than *clueless* as to what truly is both going on in the states and in other countries (including their own) abroad.

My friends, it’s “Guilt by Association” – just for being White (…and living in the US). Let me start off with this video:

Some Positive Feedback from Europe (Part II)

I received a comment from a gentleman living in Austria on Youtube that confirms that we are just all humans who will, at one point or another, wind up mixed in with “the hype”. The comment is as follows:

Actually I WAS one of those Antiamerican morons, one of those “look at barbaric America” freaks. Fortunately I gradually woke up.

It is pure and utter brainwash by our media, politics and general liberal socialist Euro-era. I regret having been so stupid. But then again we also let ourselves be blown up and sympathizse and support those Islamofascist perps. (Nah, I am not exaggerating; for real; just check the web).

Europe right now is culturally in bad shape and hasn’t recovered from the WW’s. (In fact that’s one of the best signs to begin with when one starts to make comparisons between the US and Europe). The US certainly never plunged the world into a blazing crucible till its molten.

But whilst the Antiamericanism is just one of the many symptom (and 100% hypocritical), the disease is within us – and we are the ones hurting ourselves, you Americans are only the ones verbally attacked.

I am not posting this to glorify the US or support any political party. I just want to show that not everyone hates us, that some DO admit to having been brainwashed (that takes courage!!), and that some are willing to see issues at different angles. Additionally, all of this is even more proof that Americanophobia IS a problem (otherwise, other country’s people wouldn’t be standing against it) and not the result of “paranoia” that only “I” experience. (Some people just love to throw that word around, don’t they?)

I have a friend from England on Facebook (who now has his own blog). When I was looking throughout his profile, I discovered a blog post written by him that made a lot of sense. I’d like to share it with everyone. This is more evidence that some people are willing to step out of the gooey mold and question issues, but sometimes we just need an ice-breaker before we realize what is truly happening – as evident here:

A Poison in Society – written by David H. of Newcastle, UK (8:32am Tuesday, Jan 16, 2007)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great regret and sorrow that I report that we have a poisonous and highly damaging trend sweeping through even the “sensible” ranks of our society, a trend that we would like to think that we had confined to the extreme and disenchanted minority: Racism.

Racism in all its forms is horrendous and degrading, not only to the targets but to those who perpetrate it. Most of the racism we see reported is either anti-black or anti-Islamic. Whilst there is a lot of this sort of discrimination around, that is not the topic of this particular note. This note is to serve one purpose: the prevalence of totally irrational anti-Americanism and antisemitism in all classes of our society, but particularly the middle-middle and upper-middle classes.

I am acutely aware that if I were to ask the average person if they were racist, they would be horrified at the suggestion and fervently deny it. It would not surprise me however, if that same person was to be found in their very next conversation accusing the US and Israel of being the sole cause of the world’s problems.

I myself have been in denial of this problem for many years, that was until an example of it was handed to me on a plate, when two of the least “racist” people I know who are almost universally kind and open to everyone, decided to take exception to another friend of mine simply on the count of their being American.

The view that is communicated to the public to create this irrational viewpoint is an over-simplistic one:

America: Most evil state on the planet, dedicated to killing, bombing and otherwise maiming peoples/societies with a less than friendly stance.
Israel: America’s agent in the volatile middle east region
Britain: America’s Poodle/Lap dog, obedient to the last to Washington and profits from the exploits of previous two.
Palestine: a territory that is partially and illegally occupied by Israel
Palestinians: A people that are brutally oppressed and pillaged by a far superior military force under the command of Israel.

[Further definition common to almost all viewpoints: Arab Neighbourhood: all Arab countries that surround Israel, Egypt and Jordan with peace deals with Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq still wanting Israel's destruction.]

Sadly, too many people subscribe to this view. Very little could be further from the truth. Let’s start with Britain’s foreign policy: many people accuse the UK of having an anti-Israeli stance, whilst others consistently accuse it of being anti-Arab. The truth is that it is neither. British foreign policy has only ever been formulated as to look after one state’s interests: Britain’s. I’m willing to bet that the very moment it is no longer in our interest to act as US lapdog, we’ll be turning our economic and military ties elsewhere.

As for Israel and the United States, it is certainly true that the US (effectively) gives Israel $1.5 billion worth of free arms per year. (Which, given the price of technologically advanced arms, isn’t that much). However, that alone is not enough to demonise them in people’s minds. Many other countries have similar standing orders, and have no issues with anybody. So what galvanises public opinion so strongly against Israel and the US?

The answer is Fleet Street. By “Fleet Street”, I don’t just mean the daily papers, I mean the press in general. Newspapers have, by tradition, always been biased. The Telegraph has always been aimed at conservatives, the Times at centreline conservatives, the Independent at Liberal Democrats (that’s right… the Independent is not actually independent!) and the Guardian at socialists. (Tabloids do also have leanings, but they are less detectable beneath the celeb-gloss and scare mongering about the end of the world. That, however, is another note.)

As a result, the public are aware that a newspaper’s story will not be a totally impartial representation of events. They have however, come to expect a different story from television.

Unfortunately, Television has sided firmly with the Palestinian people. I have noticed that if a suicide bomber carries out his “mission” anywhere in the world, he is immediately referred to as a “terrorist”, UNLESS it is in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whence the BBC never use the word “terrorist” and instead replace it with phrases like “freedom fighter” or “activist”, which either elevates him to the status of a local hero, or at worst, nothing more than an animal rights protester, where in fact, what he did is no better than anything the Israelis have done. There is no difference between an Israeli F-16 hitting a house, and a bomber taking out a busful of schoolchildren. They are both atrocious and tragic losses of life.

However, this is not reflected in reporting, which serves only to fuel an atmosphere of anti-Israeli hatred and anti-Americanism that, in the end, is only damaging to us all.

The BBC is supposed to be impartial… Pah! they’re as one-sided as a mobius’ loop! I’m not saying that the US and Israel are free of responsibility, but we have to realise that the situation is never as it is reported… least of all by our wonderfully unbiased media…

David is also responsible for starting a group on Facebook called, “Anti-Americanism is Racism Too“.

A group of like-minded people who wish to see an end to senseless anti-American and anti-Israeli bigotry across the world. This group exists to demolish the last bastion of so called ‘acceptable racism’ in western society. For the promotion of rational reason within debate, the abolition of politically correct censorship and the restoration of truly free speech.

Sadly, there are only just a few members in that group. I’m not surprised. However, if you look at any Anti-American group (and I’m not talking about those groups established to criticize American government or foreign policy), there are hundreds to thousands of members!

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why the word, “racism” is being used – as Americans aren’t a race, right? But he’s partially correct in that if you say, “I hate Amerikkanz”, you are including all those people from different races. And if you’re of the popular camp that associates the “Evil Americans” (namely, all of us) with the “white folk”, then that is a bit racist on behalf of American whites. But David did send me a message explaining his usage of the word for what it means to him – if you care to read it.

The most authoritative definition of ‘race’ in the anthropological and categoriacal rather than competitive sense I have seen to date is:

“Race /rãs/ n the descendants of a common ancestor, esp those who inherit a common set of characteristics; such a set of descendants, narrower than a species, a breed, a stud or herd (obs); ancestry lineage, stock; the condition of belonging by descent to a particular group; inherited disposition; a class or group, defined otherwise than by descent; a sex (obs); peculiar flavour, as of wine, by which its origin may be recognised, raciness, piquancy.”
(Source: Chambers 21st Century English Dictionary)

Couple that with (from same source):
“Rac’ism n hatred, rivalry or bad feeling between races; belief in the inherent superiority of some races over others, usu with the implication of a right to be dominant; discriminative treatment based on such belief.”

I think that a nested definition formed from those two would very much include anti-americanism within their scope. You are right in suggesting that it is a figure of speech, in that the use of the word ‘racism’ in reference to anti-Americanism is colloquially coined, however, unlike many figures of speech, this one holds accurate under even the most pedantic scrutiny.

The BBC published an article called, “Anti-Americanism ‘feels like racism‘”. After reading that, anybody with half a heart will feel disgusted. And yes, I can see why someone would say that Anti-Americanism feels like racism. Unfortunately, there are plenty more articles where that came from…

And… finally one more vocal Englishman on Facebook stands up in defense of the United States in a group designed to give perspective to the increasingly “blame America first” fit-pitching crowd of pessimist radical liberal elites:

Stop Anti-Americanism in Britain

This group is an attempt to shed some much-needed light on the blindingly ignorant attitude towards Americans as often expressed by British students.

I feel that many British students have adopted an unfairly arrogant attitude toward “yanks”. The prejudices are well-known: Americans are loud, rude, uncultured and ignorant of the world outside Northern America. All Americans are to be held accountable for the acts of their government (which is ironic, since the British government has been the most supportive in Iraq) or for certain ‘types’ of Americans. The conclusion, of course, is that Britons know better.

To all you dear anti-American British students:

It’s just downright dumb to make any generalization about a country as big and diverse as America. We’re talking about 300 million people of different heritage, culture and ethnicity. The differences between Americans are often greater than the differences between Europeans. To me, stereotypes of Americans always lack credibility because of this.

Then there’s the culture issue. This is a big one. Unlike Britain (which seems awkwardly stuck somewhere between 19th century tradition and the reality of the 21st century), America is much more forward moving than Britain is, and boasts a lot more cultural diversity and innovation. The 20th Century, in my opinion, belongs to America. In literature, which is my field, Americans have proven much more exciting and productive – from Steinbeck’s social criticism to the experimental and darker fiction of William S. Burroughs. America has also proven it can produce movies much more independent-minded and original than the usual Hollywood movies, and it seems almost too obvious to even mention music, another area in which American artists dominate and excel.

Yes, much can be said to criticize America and much of it is very just. It’s a weird and strange place and there are forces in that country that really worry me. But that comes with the territory of being, above all else, a country of extremes. Only in America will you find the most obese person you’ve ever seen waddling down the same street as the most fit and healthy person you’ve ever seen.

This group doesn’t aim to hinder the flow of criticism of America. That would be silly. All this group does is ask that the prejudiced British students addressed be a little more open-minded. The overwhelming irony of the situation is that they are what they accuse Americans of being.

And don’t forget that of all America’s critics, Americans themselves are the loudest voices.

If you want to hear the fight against Anti-Americanism from Canadians, you can find it in one of my old posts, “Canadians and Americans Speak Up (PartII)“, but you have to scroll down toward the middle/bottom to see the POSITIVE quotes.

I will conclude by saying that I’m still of the belief that there are more Americanophobes out there than there are not. Hopefully as more Europeans and Canadians speak out on more constructive ways to criticize America, the younger generation can take the lead. The problem is – is that they have to want to listen.

Some Positive Feedback from Europe (Part I)

In my last post, I asked some questions.

If you are European or Canadian and aren’t a Americanophobe (see definition), can you have friends that are Americanophobes and visa versa? Can you speak about any positive feelings about the US publicly in your country? How about Australians? Or New Zealanders? I’d be most curious.

A gentleman named, Chris, who lives in Germany was kind enough to not only answer my questions, but also gave me a lot of his personal experiences (as a German citizen) about his country and his people. He replies after reading my blog post:

And for the questions you ask:

Yes, I am able to express positive feelings on the US, I am able to write it to you and on YouTube and I have never been shot or insulted for this I don*t believe all Americans are of the same opinion (would be hard work to reach this in such a big and multicultural country) And to do it in short…. Americans and europeans are not that different as some would claim.

I made it clear to him that that I knew he’d never get shot at for his opinions. He understood and gave me a thorough answer.

I decided to have a new try, to answer your question, when I woke up this morning and thought about it… it would have been really easy for me, to simply reply: “hmmm? Oh yes sure, sure – can do that, whenever I want to…” but then I decided to simply – try it I got a discussion going with the people in my class (many of them are not of my opinion in some things, so I thought, it would be the best place to start this ^^) and our history teacher… nice thing – this is surely not representative, but I think at least the evidence, that I can do it.

I asked this… “Isn*t it ridiculous, how many people here in europe judge the american citizens, without even having talked to one of them? Surely not everything the US is doing is great, but this rather is concerning the american politics and not the USA at a whole! I think the USA is a great nation!”…. And we discussed about that – some were of my opinion, some were more cirtical on the US – some simply didn*t care or participate… and our teacher participated, too - even if this was completly terminating his plan for the lesson ^^…. We even discussed this while we had brake and so any teacher was arround to concern about an anti-american answer… but… the people were taking this serious and really thought about it – not one attacked or even insulted me for being of this opinion. Thanks for the idea ^^, this was interesting ^^

This was very interesting for me to read. I see diversity in thought. Not the “just following the crowd” mentality going on there at all. Could it be because it’s a college community? I don’t know. But how refreshing is that? A stark contrast from what you can find here.

It appears that Canadian grade schools have a reputation for teaching their students to compare themselves to the United States. We know America is no angel, but I’ve heard no evidence of Canadians ever being taught anything the states did RIGHT. As you can see from my sidebar and previous postings, their knowledge of past wars are frighteningly distorted (the Americanophobic Canadians, that is). I’ve heard many Canadians say that America’s role in WWII was, if anything, minimal and at maximum, self-serving. All I hear, basically, is “Shame on you for Hiroshima and Nagasaki!!”. If you hear this once, you think… well, that person’s just clueless. If you hear it twice, you think … “Well, I ran into another bad egg”… If you hear it time after time after time, it makes you wonder, “What are Canadians learning about the US in their school system – especially when they’re in grade school at that young and vulnerable age?”. They are also led to believe that they successfully burned down the White House in the War of 1812 – when technically the credit is reserved for the British. (Aren’t Canadians about “peace-keeping”, anyway?) While there may have been Canadians among the troops, the main Gold Star goes to Britain. So, I wonder. But when you read articles like this, it makes you wonder EVEN MORE. Perhaps, maybe a Canadian can give me some clarification on this?

To be fair, I’ve seen Americans online announce publicly that the US (and the US exclusively) was responsible for defeating Nazism in WWII. I feel embarrassed when I hear these things. I wonder where they get this from, but suspect that it was taught to them by their parents. The fact of the matter IS – is that ANY COUNTRY not part of the Axis of Evil in WWII WON the war and liberated the Germans! It was a TEAM effort.

So, with that said, young people are brainwashed from their own homes. Sadly.

Let’s hear what Chris learned about WWII in Germany.

What am I taught at school….

WW2 and the NAZI-regime were the biggest mistakes in german history. The victory of the allies and the reconstruction of the european nations and their lasting peace were possible through the participation, help and engagement of the USA. Without the participation of the US after WW2, france and other european nations would have ripped germany appart. (The french for example wanted to make us a agrar-nation (farm land)… in other words… a third world nation – so we could never attack them again. By reminding me, that we attacked their country in both world wars I can understand this position.)

The USA are the ones who taught germany how to run and start a democracy. The USA are the nation, who prevented germany from being overrun by the russian communism.

We are educated to LOVE the USA for their work here. And actually – many germans emigrated to the USA – In the past – starting with the colonialisation of America – to avoid the several german dictatorships and wars, or simply because they liked what they heared about the USA and wanted to live there.

Nowadays – because the USA in our eyes is a great nation and is a big economic power….. and maybe simply because many of our relatives already live over there Just by the way… Every time I see an american on tv, who has an german first or second name I have to smile – sometimes simply because of the spelling of this name (american style)

Chris also criticized some things about America as well, and could not have put it in a more constructive way.

I have a couple of friends in America and so am more in touch with what is on vogue in the US, than many people here… The US have a BIG problem – which is not actually, that you attacked iraq, but that you (dangerous word—I don*t really mean you as a person, or the citizens of the USA) put a really scary picture of the US in the world.

To be honest – simply the way mr.bush tends to explain his intentions is frightening me… I hear about a “crusade” against the “evil” of a worldwide war on terror… of an axis of evil, which is not clearly defined, so that I don*t know which nation is next (Iran or Syria I guess).

I hear and see, that the USA attacks nations without respecting international law – using torture and mercanaries as an instrument for the modern war – I hear and see on YouTube, how patriots are grunting at everyone, that they could “f*** the whole world – and every nation in it” and so on and on and on.

I*m scared and frightened (as many europeans), that all this will result in additional international instabilities, or another worldwar. So much for the european perspective… they can*t do anything about it and they are frightened of big, powerfull USA raging arround all over the world – and this creates anger and maybe even hate…

The Europeans can*t really support the US and they can*t really judge their actions, for they are threatened by the islamic fundamentalists, too – our own extremists (extreme left or right) over here use this situation for their own benefit, by giving simple answers to the big questions (USA is evil – fullstop) So don*t feel too offended by them, for they are only a minority and in an adition – maniacs (I mean it – I know the Neonazis over here – And you know your maniacs over there.)

I*m not going to write about the unbelievable things islamic fundamentalists are doing to their and our people (here and in their originate countries), because I think we both are well informed about this, through media. And I don*t think, that I really have to point out, that every human being should be terrified by this and though I am not going to try to justify it, nor do I think, that it could ever be justified by anyone.

The big question for me is… what do I want to think about all this?

- The USA has been attacked -

Fact for me! I don*t believe WTC was an inside job! And even if it was – this would denounce the US-gouvernment to consist of total barbarians, but would NEVER justify the islamic terror on the other hand – which IN FACT is existing

- and as every nation, responsible for the safety of it*s citizens, the USA has to react.

So the “war on terror” is not to evade and – from my point of view – justified. The way this war is fought is odd, and as every war dirty – and as every crusade it*s about profit, too. International right is violenced, Iraq is more likely to be an chaotic Anarchy, than a Democracy after this and the target of a clean and reasonable war was failed once again – for there will never be a war to ensure peace and war will never be clean.

This is very fair, balanced, and constructive criticism of the US. Notice how up above he stated very positive things about America, but also was able to talk about his disappointment without insulting Americans. Also notice how he *included* other crimes (re: his own folk and Islamic Fundamentalists) not associated with the US. He’s not part of the “blame America first” committee. He doesn’t blame ME for all of his problems. He *doesn’t* have a black and white view of the complex world that we live in. This is the kind of criticism that I can handle because it sees me as a human being and is intelligent enough to differentiate American people from the government. A lot of people are ignorant about the US and assume that the people have the control and power to moderate the actions of our government – when, in fact, we don’t have that power. Yes, we ARE a democracy. But we only have so much control. We have the same amount of control Canadian and British citizens have or those from other developed nations. I don’t know where people get the idea that I can just go to the White House and throw Bush out and re-write foreign policy. Sadly, some people expect Americans to do this. I said this before, and I’ll say it again. We have an electoral voting system here that I find to be a bit unfair. (Bush did *not* win the 2000 election, by the way). The popular vote doesn’t assume the next president. The electoral vote decides. I disagree with this. And even for those that DID vote for Bush… who would have known in advance about the Iraq War? Don’t get me wrong, though. We have many Iraqi War supporters here. While I disagree with them, I don’t judge them.

Chris is obviously educated in a sophisticated kind of way and knows how to communicate his feelings intelligently, thoroughly and reasonably.

It is becoming increasingly VERY popular on Youtube to create, “Why People Hate America” videos. Just put those terms in the search engine over at Youtube, and you’ll find so many videos like these, that you’ll be overwhelmed. I received 1,230 results.

This is my point of view: If you see something as ALL GOOD or ALL BAD, you’re not thinking. There’s (aside from the obvious evils) good and bad in EVERYTHING. Too many people who critique the US neglect to mention anything positive, and just as importantly, neglect to mention the evils that exist elsewhere in the world. Some radicals go as far as sympathizing with the terrorists. But there’s something else that’s not mentioned in a lot of foreigners’ criticisms of America. Can you guess? In this article, there’s a tiny hint:

Britain’s opinion of the United States has sunk to an all-time low, according to a YouGov poll that revealed only 12pc of Britons trusted America to act wisely on the world stage.

The Daily Telegraph defended the superpower in a Leader article, “To Hate America is to Hate Mankind” arguing that to dislike such a diverse country is misanthropic as well as ungrateful, given America’s benign intervention in various European conflicts.

Do you think it is hypocritical of Britain to demonise the United States, while supporting its foreign policy and copying its social trends? Or does the UK have a legitimate case for backing away from the ’special relationship’?

Have recent controversies such as the war in Iraq and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo bay affected your feelings about America?

Yes….. they forget to mention that their own countries (i.e. Canada and Britain) are doing the same things. It’s also interesting to note that these two countries are the MOST vocal in their hatred of the US… on the internet, that is. A lot of people like to say things like, “… and YOU ALWAYS DRAG US INTO FIGHTING YOUR STUPID WARS….” Who’s dragging who? America is *NOT* responsible for your leader’s decision to send their troops to Afghanistan OR Iraq. Nobody has a gun to anyone’s head. Remember how YOU blame us for voting in Bush? It would be nice if the Americanophobic Canadians and British could own up to some of the responsibility instead of using that tired “victim card”.

You can take a look at the comment section of that article too. It’s very interesting. You’ll see both balanced and unbalanced views there. There are 286 comments posted. The majority of the comments are obviously posted by British people. But I cannot help but to share one view from an American that’s after my own heart (which are comments # 8 and 9).

As an American, please allow me to begin by asserting that our nation has had its strengths and its weaknesses, its successes and its failures, and its justices and injustices throughout history and continuing into the present. Although I sense much patriotism for my homeland, I recognize our need for humility to understand that our country is not above questioning or reproach but is rather under the same standards as all other nations of the world. I would simply like to ask those who view our country from afar to maintain a balanced perspective and realize too that there exists good and bad in America, both in terms of its domestic society and politics as well as in its relations with other nations.

Whilst there may be growing anti-Americanism in the United Kingdom I do not believe such sentiment to be reciprocated on our side of the Atlantic. I viewed a recent survey that indicated most Americans view England positively, and never have I seen the flag of your country (or any other foreign land, for that matter) burned in the streets of our cities. Clearly we as American citizens have not meant to be your enemies.

This is exactly how I feel.

Speaking of “copying America’s trends”, Cappl spoke about this going on in Germany too.

We germans are listening to your music, eat your food (ok most of the time your _fastfood_, but hey we really like it anyway), watch hollywood films, many dress american style (I dislike HipHop, but it may show this the best.), we are learning your language – as it*s the world language… and watch thousands of documentaries about your – history, culture, problems – and so on and on and on… And by the way – we are using many english words even while we speak german! Want to see some examples?

“Das ist so verdammt cool!”
“OK, das hab ich verstanden.”
“Verdammter Bug! Immer, wenn ich das Game starte, flieg ich raus und lande auf meinem Desktop!”
!!! hey we guys like you !!!
ok – most of us like you…

This is not specific to Germany, either. In fact, the majority of those who moan, groan, and spit at the USA and it’s people are ’secretly’ devouring our popular culture. Here is just one of the numerous examples that was mentioned in the article and in the video, “How European Media Damages America“:

“Anti-Americanism is hypocrisy at its finest,” he added. “You can spend your evening catching the latest episode of “24″ and then complain about Guantanamo the next morning.”

I’m going to continue this topic with a Part II, but I’d like to finish this with one fine quote:

“There is a big difference between being anti-American and being critical of the United States….critiques are appropriate and necessary, provided that they rest on facts and address real abuses, real errors and real excesses–without deliberately losing sight of America’s wise decisions, beneficient interventions and salutary policies. But critiques of this kind–balanced, fair and well-rounded–are hard to find, except in America herself…” — Jean-Francois Revel

Hat Tip: Christopher

Where are the Shades of Gray???

We live in a very “black and white” world where if you’re not a slut, you must be prudish. If you agree that a conservative person was right about something, you must be a neo-con. If Obama doesn’t get elected as president, all Americans are racist. If Hillary doesn’t get elected, all Americans are sexist and primitive. If you openly admit you didn’t vote for Bush, you must be an acid-tripping-tree-hugging-bleeding-heart hippie leftist. If you’re into moderate politics, you must be either a radical liberal or a radical conservative hiding underneath. If you say that you’re agnostic, some people think that you’re just too scared to say you’re an atheist. If you’re against Americanophobia, you must be pro-Bush. If you welcome the freedom of Christians to practice their religion, you are automatically assumed to be a bible-thumping red-neck Fundamentalist. If you support Israel, you’re automatically pinned as “hater” of Islam. If you feel that invading Afghanistan was justified, you are to be presumed a “war monger”. If you support the troops, you are thought to be FOR the war. If you make friends with liberals, you are to be assumed that you are one too. If you make friends with conservatives, you are assumed to be one of “them”. If you are against the violence of Fundamental Islam, you are considered to be “Islamophobic”. If you’re an American, you must be white, fat, lazy, stupid, individualistic, ignorant, arrogant, a greedy capitalist, a racist, a homophobe, materialistic, rich, overly patriotic, a religious fundamentalist, a neo-conservative, a war-monger that is obsessed with McDonalds, guns, violence, SUVs all while stepping on the poor man’s toe to obtain it all. This is how Americanophobic nationalists from other western countries perceive Americans.

But does this mean that if you’re a non-American, you are non-Caucasian, slender, politically correct, hard-working, intelligent, generous, humble, tolerant, don’t buy expensive things (because you’re saving that money to send to South Africa), you’re poor or belong to the lower middle class, you share your money with those that need it without question, you say “we” instead of “I”, you’re not patriotic, you’re an atheist, a radical Noam Chomsky liberal, against all wars, eat very healthy, exercise a lot, have no guns, are non-violent, you drive a tiny car, and if someone you know at work wants to get ahead or promoted, you do whatever you can to cooperate to help your co-workers move up in the company sacrificing your own status. You are a very nice and self-less person who never throws his trash on the floor?

Where are the shades of gray? Or is it… to err is to human American?

This is the world we live in. Simple-minded people come from all over.

Critical thinking is beginning to phase out little by little as insecure, bitter, and lazy individuals find it always easier to follow whatever the popular hype is at the time. They find strength in numbers. They are blind. They are sheep. They refuse to see the world in the complex shades of gray that it really is. Forget America. The entire world is dumbing down. The media has latched on to many people and have taken them hostage. Is it really the media’s fault, though? In my opinion, no. It’s always the fault of the one who chooses to be manipulated. Canadians and Europeans (the Americanophobic ones) will claim that their media is flawless. I find it natural for them to say this. If you are correctly brainwashed, you WON’T realize that you’ve been brainwashed. Your ears, to anything other than the popular consensus, are closed. Your eyes are forever shut to anything “out of the ordinary group think”.

Many Americans are brainwashed too.

But one thing that I admire about Americans is that we tend to vary more in our political opinions and opinions in general. We don’t have here a majority that thinks one way to such a degree that if someone were to deviate from “the norm”, we’d be considered a pariah.

Here are my questions: If you are European or Canadian and aren’t an Americanophobe (see definition), can you have friends that are Americanophobic and visa versa? Can you speak about any positive feelings about the US publicly in your country? How about Australians? Or New Zealanders? I’d be most curious. My guess is that it’s easier to have diversity of thought in a land that has over 300 million inhabitants such as America.

In a recent conversation with a Canadian that is against Americanophobia, the following only reconfirmed what I had previously felt. She states…

In Canada, one cannot say anything derogatory about any other culture without being politically incorrect or racist. Save the natives and the Americans, who are fair game. This is so ingrained in the “Canadian” culture that Canadians cannot/ do not think for themselves. If I said “French men are rude”, then GASP – Jenny! You are so rude and judgemental and how on earth can you look yourself in the mirror stereotyping an entire country like that! Yet, someone from Ohio comes into town and all the Canadians are whispering “That fucking American. He probably doesn’t even know we have a different currency up here. He is so ignorant and rude.” There is a blatant double standard here and I get treated like a pariah when I point this out.

Some say that all Americans do is watch Fox news and are brainwashed to believe that whatever Bush does is correct. But then we have people like Bill Maher, Howard Dean, George Carlin, Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, Madonna, and literally TONS of American folk (or how about almost ALL of Hollywood) that speak out for the liberal party. Our press, as well, for the most part is liberal. You can find information on that here. Micheal Moore is a millionaire. If all of his profits were just made overseas, he wouldn’t be the success he is right now in the US. He has MANY fans here. But Americanophobes still run their mouths and complain that everything we touch, see, hear, smell and feel in the US is stars-and-stripes coated conservatism…. which is not true.

In a Vancouver Sun article on Canadian Anti-Americanism, a Canadian that truly sees America said the following regarding the way people feel about Bush:

Of course the Canadians, Europeans, and South Americans etc. are not alone in feeling ill treated. Many Democrats have a visceral dislike of the Bush administration and their feelings are reflected in American population as a whole. Literally millions upon millions upon millions of Americans simply loath the man; one result of this is that Bush bashing is a billion dollar industry in the States. Another result of this is that while Bush bashing is international in scope it has distinctly American face to it. Michael Moore is arguably its most recognizable figure and a good number of critiques have a Chomskyian like flavor to them. Of course, South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun and German’s Schroeder are not the only politicians to capitalize on the phenomena either. Howard Dean was the first American politician to capitalize on it and his doing so set the tone for the Democratic primaries.

How come people from other countries cannot see this??? Bush is hated just as much in the US. It’s the “black and white” simplistic-world-view phenomena. A bottled-up hatred that needs an outlet finds [insert nation] as a convenient target for its release. Whether it be temporary anger or anger-management issues in general, an angry person only sees “black and white”. However, a person willing to look at an issue at several different angles seeing all of its complex shades of gray is not an angry person with an ax to grind. I’ve watched myself make sweeping generalizations before, and in retrospect, I realized that I had been furious. When you’re angry, there’s no will or time to reason and explore both sides of anything. Your vision is narrow and you’re on a mission. Seeing the shades of gray would only cause a person to look inward and find faults within themselves. And when you’re angry, you don’t want to see that!

Here’s a black and white example for you:

“Anti-Americanism is at base a totalizing, if not totalitarian, vision. The peculiar blindness of fanaticism can be recognized in the way it seizes on a certain behavior of the hated object and sweepingly condemns it, only to condemn with equal fervor the opposite behavior shortly after–or even simultaneously….According to this vision–in the sense that Littre confers on the word: a ‘phantom projection, a credulous fantasy of fears, dreams, delusions, superstitions’ – Americans can do nothing but speak idiocies, make blunders and commit crimes; and they are answerable for all the setbacks, all the injustices and all the sufferings of the rest of humanity.” — Jean-Francois Revel

Hat Tip: Christopher

Being a moderate, it is hard for me to find other Americans that share the same views I have. I know that they’re out there though. I base my political stances on what the issue is. I know that I’m in the minority here. This is one political class that you don’t find as often in the states. We find more a mixture of liberals, radical liberals, conservatives, radical conservatives, and “apathists” (my new term for those that just don’t care).

Anyway, America is very diverse in thought. And while we are not an entirely a free country in every aspect, how many other countries out there would put up with a person who aggressively challenges its government, and globally exposes his country’s weaknesses via creating books and movies one after another? What would YOUR country do about a Micheal Moore equivalent?

Are people THAT thick?

There is a DIFFERENCE between Islam and Islamic Fundamentalism.

There is a DIFFERENCE between Christianity and Christian Fanaticism.

There is a DIFFERENCE between being a Canadian and an Americanophobic Canadian.

There is a DIFFERENCE between being an American and a Racist American.

There is a DIFFERENCE between being a European and an Americanophobic European.

There is a DIFFERENCE between being a moderate, a liberal, a radical liberal, a conservative, and a radical conservative.

There is a DIFFERENCE between being a Patriot and an Arrogant Blind Patriot.

There is a DIFFERENCE between Anti-American-Government and Anti-American.

There is a DIFFERENCE between LEGAL immigration and ILLEGAL immigration.

My glossary is a work in progress. Please check it out. This may help clear some things up.

How Americanophobia is Not Only Hypocritical, but Nonproductive and Nonconstructive (Part II)

In my last post (Part I), I discussed America’s “genocidal” behaviors and how other country’s mass murders and torturous behaviors are either overlooked, applauded or unknown. I also noted how Americanophobia criticizes Christianity yet embraces and supports Islamofascism. We also saw the hypocrisy in other countries saying the tired, “We know everything about YOU, but you know nothing about us” – which is not true as what our NATO “friends” know about us are distorted, exaggerated, and fabricated ‘truths’ consequently knowing very little to nothing about the US, the people, and our lifestyles. I would like to continue with more examples of Americanophobic hypocrisy, favoritism (bias), and just how off the wall ridiculously selfish and illogical it is.

Americans are often known as the “world evil” because of our Death Penalty

First off, not ALL states in America have the Death Penalty. Let’s take a look:

Courtesy of deathpenaltyinfo.org

Next, please continue to protest against our harsh death penalty (lethal injection for 1st degree murderers), but while you’re marching, it would be only fair to *include* the death penalty in China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and etcetera… wouldn’t you think?

The Chinese Death Penalty:

The Chinese Government has defended its use of the death penalty after a new report named it as being the world’s largest state executioner.

Amnesty International says at least 470 people were executed in China last year.

According to this estimate, nine people were being executed every week.

As official death penalty figures are a state secret, some groups say the real number is even higher.

They claim that the death penalty is handed out not only for violent crimes but also more petty theft and even political crimes.

The Japanese Death Penalty:

This place is not Texas. It is Japan — the only industrial democracy other than our own that still regularly executes convicted murderers. In 2004, the Japanese conducted two executions by hanging, the sole method employed there. In some years, the rate is double or triple that. This is nowhere near the rate in the United States, where 59 convicted murderers were put to death in 2004. But there are many more murders in the United States than in Japan, and our population is 295 million people compared to Japan’s 127 million. When you adjust for those facts, Japan has recently been about as likely as Texas and Virginia to sentence killers to death.

The Saudi Arabian Death Penalty:

You are judged according to the Sharia, the holy law; in the holy month of Ramadan a traditional moratorium of executions is observed. Death penalty is (sic) comminated for sex crimes, drug crimes, sabotage, corruption, witchcraft, mastication of qat, production/distribution/assumption of alcohol. The execution are often after unfair trials, without any security. The defendants can also have no defender lawyer, and the confessions, even if they are taken with torture, are accepted like valid evidence and could also be the only evidence for the death sentence. Used methods are the beheading with a sharp sword for the men and the firing party for the women; the married women who are culpable of adultery can also be stoned.

Executions take place in the main centres of the Kingdom, usually during the Friday afternoon prayers, in a square in front of the provincial governor’s mansion; a doctor is there to certify the (sic) condemned’s death. Beheading is particularly violent for the victim and for those who assist: the death caused with this system is often estimated fast and pitiful, sometimes many strokes are necessary to kill the victim, who dies after a very heavy suffering.

But of course, only America gets the spotlight for this.

Canada is Multicultural ….and non-arrogantly Patriotic?

I just ran into this blog posting. I thought Facebook might have been where most of the aggressive and bully-like Americanophobic Canadians hung out. I was wrong again. Let’s take a look at what I saw:

Proud Canadian | October 27th, 2007 at 7:04 pm

Congrats,

being canadian is the best thing ever,
just a small comment to ” Eddi | September 18th” we are happy paying taxes as long as our government dont do anything stupid to make others hate us and kill us,

americans are afraid to go to all countries because 74% of world’s population hates americans.

What if she were an American, and it read, “Proud American” at the top instead? Well, it IS true, that for the most part, Americans get busted for showing any kind of liking to their homeland – even in the most innocent of ways, however, Canadians get a free pass. I’ve seen so many Canadians brag about the fact that they can travel anywhere and not get killed. Interesting, no? Does anyone not see the irony? NOTHING at all is said about those who murder Americans abroad. Nothing. Not even the tiniest bit of criticism is expressed. But if a crime is committed by an American, it’s a TERRIBLE thing. However, if committed on an innocent American, it’s justified. But we must keep in mind that “being a Canadian is the best thing everrrrrr“.

JMM | October 30th, 2007 at 2:28 pm

Good game, but just remember that being Canadian is more than just possessing a passport. It means learning about and caring for our culture, our history and traditions. So my first suggestion for you is to move to Canada and live here for a while and start to discover the priceless gift of Canadian nationality that your mother passed on to you.

Hi Jmm? But aren’t you a “Multicultural Country”? Hmm….. No. Wait. Canada IS multicultural, but only for those people non-American-born. Sounds quite self-serving, doesn’t it? Remember, the Canadian nationality is a “priceless ‘gift“. Oh wait. I thought Canadians were more humble than that? As far as my experiences are concerned, I’ve never heard Americans taunting a to-be-citizen saying that “they must learn American culture“. Never. Wow.

Kevin | December 17th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

The great white North(CANADA) is the best Country in the world. I am proud to be a Canadian. And for all you stupid Americans. We gotta tell you it does not matter if we need visas for 5 additional countries than you ….but the matter of fact is that we are respected more than you in this world. so shut up EH!!!!!

I wonder… where are all these “quiet and humble patriots” that Canada often brags about. One of the things they say America doesn’t have is “humility”. Ya think?

josh | March 11th, 2008 at 12:07 am

Funny how every on knows the highest tax rates and the cost of Gas & Milk… What they don’t realize is that the average wage is about 30% higher… and the minimum wage is (on average) 25% percent higher… Not to mention 11 paid holidays, and a minimum 2 weeks vacation…… One thing I didn’t realize is that we seem to have a better education system too.

Is this another example of “humble Canadian pride“? Hmm.. Here’s another interesting contradiction: Now, they’re bragging (humble?) about their vacation time…. yet, they call Americans lazy? So, which is it? Oh, and it IS always nice to have a better education. (humble?).

Josee | March 25th, 2008 at 1:51 am

Hey man,
Good for you on citizenship. A few notes: It’s true – Canada has a fabulous reputation generally speaking in the international community and slapping a maple leaf on your backpack and flashing a bilingual passport wont make you Canadian. Please uphold the standards expected of us! I have faith though, you have the beard of a Canadian (aka, a champion).

Please “uphold the standards“? Again, Canada isn’t multicultural if you immigrate from America. Yet, at the same time, if you immigrate as a Muslim, they (the Americanophobes) will happily modify their “superior and refined ‘culture’” to suit yours to make you feel warm and welcomed. Americans, on the other hand, must “uphold their standards“. Islam, however, if you must commit an “honor killing”, we will respect this as it’s YOUR culture and we are so proud to be Canadian as we’re “multicultural”.

Let’s just be realistic and call it a myth, EH? Canada is the face of pseudo-multiculturalism. And I’ve witnessed many cases of this with my personal experience included. Once, a long time ago, I was very frustrated with how things were going on here in America, and I expressed this disappointment publicly also mentioning how it would be nice to move to Canada (this was a situational disgust that I was going through – I wasn’t very serious), and a Canadian came by to tell me that I wasn’t welcome to his country in fear that I would make his country “Americanized” or “too Republican“. Unreal. Never mind that I had made it VERY obvious that I was liberal….. Hence my definition of Americanophobia.

doesn’tmatter | December 17th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

Congrats to your citizenship! I’m still working on becoming a permanent resident here in Canada. I am from Germany. I love both countries and I have to say that the friendliest people live in Canada. In the states I didn’t make any good experience. It starts already at the airport. You get treated like shit. I come from a country where you (as a single person) pay more than 50% taxes on your income. You pay 19% GST on everything you buy. But we also have a healthcare system that works. We don’t have to wait days to see a doctor. We care for the people with less than the others. We have people from all over the world living and studying there. Do the states care for their people? Why is it, that a country wastes every year 50% of its whole budget for defense when there is not even a real enemy? Couldn’t they use the money to repair their own country instead of destroying one after another? Just think about it…

While this person isn’t a Canadian, I found some of her comments to be interesting to say the least. Funny how 300 million people get all lumped together because of a few rude people. She came to the US already knowing that Americans were “the meanest people in the world“, so she was also probably looking for things. Little does she know that even Americans have a hectic time at the airport – especially post 9-11. There are two sides to every story. Maybe she was being smug (as she was in her post above) and she was disrespected back? I wonder if those people from other countries expect Americans to just take it up the arse… hence this article having to be written to survive the wrath of Canadian and European arrogance abroad. These days, hardly anybody comes back from either country with a good story. And they have the nerve to complain about us?? Give and take, no? (Another reason why Americanophobia isn’t productive)

Next, yes our health care is in trouble, but why did you even attempt to live in America when you knew this beforehand? And finally, America, being that it’s a superpower,(regardless if we have a REAL or “imagined” enemy), we must spend A LOT on our defense because if people like YOU get into trouble, we’re one of the first countries to defend your freedoms or pick up after your messes should there be a natural disaster. So, with that said, our defense money spending IS justified. We are the parents of the world. Not saying whether I agree with this or not; it’s just the way things are. My advice would be to get used to this and find more constructive ways to deal with it.

You know, if Europe and Canada don’t need our help, then why are they still a part of NATO? I think this kind of attitude is out of sheer selfishness and ungratefulness. I am beginning to doubt whether or not some of these countries are learning proper history in school. I guess this is the “thanks” we get for being partially responsible for saving Europe from Nazism and for getting rid of the Berlin Wall. In fact, I’ve heard on a few occasions of people saying, “What did America ever do, anyway?”. This is proof that it’s not just the US that is slipping in “education”. This is also why I believe that it isn’t just Americans that are “stupid“.

Americans don’t care about other countries and only a very few have passports?

Read this for my response.

Americans are not “cultured”?

Think again.

Americans are Materialistic?

Where did you get that we’re all like that? My husband and I buy recycled furniture and items. Craigslist and Ebay in the US IS very popular when it comes to buying used stuff, and so are thrift stores and yard sales. Only the minority here are RICH. Is Canada any different? My guess is that the finger pointers here have never been to Japan. I didn’t know what “materialistic” was until I went to Japan. For example, go to a thrift store over there. Most of the merchandise sold there are items that are only about a year old! Traditionally (maybe not so much a modern custom), the Japanese throw away items that are over 1-2 years old – even if they still work perfectly! They do this so that when company arrives, they will impress them. This is even more so for newly-weds, and many times, 5 digit numbers (in US dollars) are spent for their weddings ALONE!

Typically families in Japan buy new and very expensive merchandise and furnishings for their home. You’d be most surprised by what Japanese leave around for the garbage truck to pick up. When I was living over there (because foreigners like me didn’t have much money), we used to find goodies and very useful items in the lot where the garbage was. This is not to say that ALL Japanese throw their things out haphazardly all the time. Let’s just say that it’s done quite often (at least from what I had observed and found to be quite evident in the recycle shops). In short, the Japanese are BIG spenders. I wouldn’t doubt that they were the biggest spenders in the developed world. Fashion is another thing where Japanese people spend tons of money on – so much to even raise the eyebrows of an American onlooker. I could go on, but this was just another classic example of how other countries are conveniently left out, again, to attack the “evil Americans”.

Sometimes, I am wondering if Europeans and Canadians are confusing the “average American” with celebrities that they watch on TV?

…:::NEWSFLASH:::…

Celebrities do *NOT* represent the common American… hence the name “celebrity”. The common American can ONLY be found in America outside …. HOLLYWOOD. Even in Hollywood, they hide. You can only see them on…. TV! What a concept. But of course you know more about America then someone who has lived there for 39 years, right?

You value celebrities and you’re so superficial by what you watch on TV?

There are so many problems with this argument that it boggles my mind.

For starters, it’s crystal clear that you watch the same TV or similar TV that we do. But you say, “We only watch it because it’s like watching an American train wreck”. Ok. Here, I’m assuming that you are talking about the trashy Reality TV shows? To be honest, I like watching some of those trashy TV shows too. Just like YOU, I like to poke fun at people too, and enjoy train wreckage no less or more than you do. I think when it comes down to what you watch on TV, simply put, depends on NOT where you’re from but WHO you are.

You probably also want to read this. Additionally, keep in mind that Americans work much harder and much longer hours with the least amount of vacation time compared to the rest of the world – even compared to Japan! We are a very tired and stressed out people. Plus your average American is married with children, and on top of having 2-4 kids, both the mom and the dad are working. Being an American is not easy – especially for those that choose to have children. Since our minds are going constantly over the SERIOUS stuff in life, Americans DESERVE to watch trash TV. It’s called an “escape”. You’d look for a way to relax your mind into some form of escape too if you were under the pressures of American life. I mean, who wants to go and read a book about brain surgery after a long, busy, and stressful day at work when they can watch Paris Hilton making an ass out of herself on TV and LAUGH at it.

Side note: When I say “we” in this paragraph, I am referring to the average American on a comparative basis – not the whole. Americans LOVE to laugh. We also have a tendency to be more light-hearted, silly, and playful. We don’t take ourselves seriously. We also know that life is too short. Americans are a bit more positive and want to make the best out of their lives. So, playing is one of the things we do very well – as again, we work just as hard. Interestingly enough, this is why I enjoyed living in Japan so much as the Japanese share this commonality with Americans. Work hard – play hard. You may even have to come to terms with the fact that we may just not have the same sense of humor that you do.

Next, there are just as many Americans who HATE Reality TV and other “trashy” TV shows and find themselves using other forms of escape to relax the mind in order to take a break from the hustle and bustle we call American Life.

Most Americans have cable TV too. Our TV stations over here aren’t limited to “celebrity gossip” and crap TV. If only you knew how many Americans love to watch the Animal channel, the National Geographic channel, the History channel, the Learning channel, the Discovery channel, the Health channel, and channels with programs in different languages for the purposes of studying. But, of course your press won’t tell you THAT. They like to make you think that we ADORE and embrace Paris Hilton. Tell you the truth. If we do watch Paris Hilton on TV, it’s only to see what ridiculously stupid thing she’s up to now just to poke fun at her. After all, just like YOU, we like to watch train wreckage.

Lastly, there are many Americans who don’t watch TV at all. They feel like it melts the brain and would rather read books or use the computer. There are so many different types of Americans out there, but you wouldn’t know this unless you actually lived here long enough to call yourself an “expert”.

As far as valuing celebrities are concerned, I’m wondering what it means to “value” them. To put ahead of one’s priorities in life or to be obsessed with? As one Canadian put it here,

you value celebrities and pay them ludicrous amounts of money in a week which would be more than anything a doctor or a teacher could earn in years.

I had no idea that I was paying them a “salary”. But in a way, we all are — including the mental midget who wrote the above. Every time you go to a concert, buy a CD, by an mp3 online, rent a DVD, buy a DVD, or go to the movies, YOU (the consumer) are paying that celebrity’s salary and upping their status. Canadians are JUST as interested in celebrities and their talents as Americans are. No rocket science there. Here’s a list of Canadian-born celebrities. How did they get to be celebrities? Because we bought into them (regardless of where that celebrity was born). And that “we”, also includes Europeans who purchase their talent (tsk tsk tsk). When I was growing up, the bulk of what I listened to was “New Wave”. I will graciously thank the UK and Australia for exporting such phenomenal talent over here. What a sad day in the world that I’d have to point something as elementary and obvious as this out.

Secondly, as far as “America” (erm how about including Canada since they are just as ‘obsessed’) paying them more than doctors, the last time that I checked, people were born with a little something called, (you might want to add this to your new list of vocabulary words) CHOICES. Yeah. YOU get to decide as to whether you want to grow up to become a doctor or a celebrity! See, how that works? Normal adults research very well – the career they want to get into, and I’d say that most people with half a brain known what salaries to expect beforehand.

My suggestion to those who think that celebrities get paid too much, there’s one simple solution: boycott their products. And ask your friends and family to do the same. You can also organize demonstrations to get your word out to the public at large (even in Canada). Canadian celebrities (like Jim Carey, Celine Dion) make as much as do American celebrities! What a concept, eh?

I think people also need to understand how the entertainment industry works as well. You can read more about it here. And if you went to Japan, you’d see that celebrities get excessive amounts of money too (like the US and Canada). I cannot speak for other countries as I don’t know. But I think it’s quite normal. Maybe it’s just not faaaaaiiiirrrrrrr. Well, there are a lot of things in life that aren’t fair. There ARE things that you can do to make changes. Rather than sitting in judgment and trying to use America as a scapegoat for every woe in your life and in the world, why don’t you try to make positive changes? Playing the “blame game” is hardly productive.

Like I’ve mentioned in my last post, I still have yet to see how Americanophobia has changed the world to make it a better and more peaceful place to live in. Why? Because Americanophobia isn’t against any other evil unless it’s an “American Evil”. Here’s what might work, though if you are the “humanitarian” that you call yourself. Perhaps it’s better to be….

• Anti-criminal for all
• Anti-fascism for all
• Anti-violence for all
• Anti-big paychecks for all
• Anti-imperialism for all
• Anti-Globalization for all
• Anti-poor health for all
• Anti-poor education for all
• Anti-poverty for all
• Anti-Global Warming for all
• Anti-religion for all
• Anti-Capitalism for all

And when I say, “for all” it does not only *include* America but all other countries on the planet that are guilty of the same “crimes”.