World Issues

Triad

Triad

Legions Developer
Dabbleh said:
ha, americans.
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Yes, let's judge all Americans by someone you spoke to on the internet or by someone you saw on television. It is true that there are many ignorant and stupid Americans, but it seems those are the only ones people hear about. Just know that the internet was invented by Americans, the Unix or Linux operating system that is hosting this site was largely developed by Americans, the browser you are using to parse the HTML, CSS and JavaScript sent to you from the Unix server was created by Americans and this game was created by Americans. Hell, there's only one person on the current development team that is not an American.

I know this post may seem surprising, but I've started to become tired of the condescending remarks towards Americans. I know our country deserves some hate because of our corrupted leaders and their ability to have a huge impact on the world, but America is not stupid, it's just an asshole sometimes.
 
OmniNept

OmniNept

Actionaut
Triad said:
I know this post may seem surprising, but I've started to become tired of the condescending remarks towards Americans. I know our country deserves some hate because of our corrupted leaders and their ability to have a huge impact on the world, but America is not stupid, it's just an asshole sometimes.
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America's reputation isn't tarnished only because of its "corrupted leaders". People often perceive America as having fallen behind (education, social services, research, international relations, environmental awareness, etc.); its citizens, though, are as patriotic and as prone to chest-thumping as ever. While patriotism has its uses, many Americans have delved dangerously deep into the sand. At all costs, they attempt to maintain their delusions - that America is the best, that Americans are the best, that the problem lies not within their beloved, unerring country, but with the others. The result is an ignorant, fearful population whose attitudes are easily altered by keywords and cheap rhetoric.

That's the view taken by many of the world's citizens. That's the view Americans have propagated in recent years.

Oversimplification? Absolutely. There are many problems within America, and many contributing factors. However, those problems aren't going to be resolved through chest thumping, or through hiding from the facts. And they're most certainly not going to be resolved by being patriotic on the internet. If you're going to bask in your country's reflected glory, it's time to take responsibility for its errors - and for instilling meaningful change. Instead of playing apologist, maybe it's time to become one of the many good things about America.
 
ContingencyPl4n

ContingencyPl4n

Elite Pro Mapmaker
Heartsong said:
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holy *chocolate cookies*, thats exactly how I feel. America USED to be great, but thanks to money and power, we have fallen so far from what we were. We as a country (I think) were looked up to as a symbol of freedom (American dream) but now as time passes, and things like computers, video games, American football, and branding (mcdonalds, Hurley, Target, Macys, Burger King, Echo, Nike, Under Armor, Lee Jeans, Big Star jeans, Buckle, Abercrombie and Fitch... on and on and on.) we are no longer in the spot light. Our Clothes, our products, our pop music, our beliefs, and the unwillingness to learn from mistakes and change whats needed, have hampered us into doing anything. The USA is going to fall, and as I see it, soon. America isnt ran by smart people, its ran by people mad for power.

People take care into who they vote for for president, yet people forget that all the president is, is a person that represents us as a nation. He cant do anything beneficial in the long run, hes there for a max of 8 years, and then things can change. If you wanna change America, you need to go to two of the problems: Senate and congress. They can, and usually are, in it for life. They can be reelected as many times as they want, there is no max terms (I may be mistaken here, and thats fine, but the point still stands that its these guys that are one of the main problems). people focus on the president to change everything, but he cant. Its the assholes that make the laws that are screwing us over.

This country was created to be self sufficient. When we became a nation, we didnt want help, we wanted independence, so we constructed our country to allow us to maintain things without needed assistance (gaining that independence was a different story). Now I dont know specifics, but I do remember learning about that in history class. Yet now we put OUR NOSES into other peoples business. If we brought back all the extra crap all across the world. (people, jobs, ect) we could maintain ourselves with only importing whats required, but thanks to the I(diot)nternet Generation, we now have slightly less IQ worthy people in this country as they gain weight and play video games or sit on the net constantly...

If you wanna look at what makes america great, look at George Washington. (I may get reamed, by the smarter people here :S). I am getting tired of writing, but should I need to explain more on why Washington is one of the best examples of a true american, then I shall. (Washington Wiki [and if I need too for some thats american, please shoot yourself, and/or listen in schoo])

America sucks, we need to get our heads out of our ass.


Contingency rant over...
PS: America was helped founded by the Free Masons, in all tense and purposes, a terrorist organization. Think on that.

BACK ON TOPIC, PLEASE MOVE POSTS IF THIS GETS OUTTA HAND!
 
Triad

Triad

Legions Developer
ContingencyPl4n said:
America sucks, we need to get our heads out of our ass.
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I believe we have spoken about this before so you should know that I agree with you, and I wasn't trying to say otherwise although after re-reading my post I can see how it came off as me sounding like we were "number 1" which is far from the truth. My point was that there are still many really smart Americans.
OmniNept said:
America's reputation isn't tarnished only because of its "corrupted leaders". People often perceive America as having fallen behind (education, social services, research, international relations, environmental awareness, etc.); its citizens, though, are as patriotic and as prone to chest-thumping as ever. While patriotism has its uses, many Americans have delved dangerously deep into the sand. At all costs, they attempt to maintain their delusions - that America is the best, that Americans are the best, that the problem lies not within their beloved, unerring country, but with the others. The result is an ignorant, fearful population whose attitudes are easily altered by keywords and cheap rhetoric.
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What you have said is spot on and one of my biggest criticisms of Americans because many are this way, and believe me when I say it really irritates me. There are many people in my own family who are this way, but I'm from the south so it's quite normal. People's views are beginning to change down here, though; I see it happening all the time. American patriotism has definitely gone way too far, and it has blinded many from seeing that we are no longer "the best".

All I'm trying to say is that there are a significant amount of Americans who are not this way. They typically tend to be the more educated Americans, but unfortunately as you have stated, our primary education is terrible because our leaders enjoy killing innocent civilians more than paying for education. And yes, this is due to many Americans not paying attention in politics and voting based on what their ignorant and hate filled parents have taught them.

OmniNept said:
That's the view taken by many of the world's citizens. That's the view Americans have propagated in recent years.
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I understand, but I just want people to realize that many do not hold these views. Our younger generations are different because we've been exposed to more of the world, even if the exposure was as simple as an online forum. I dropped my religion and gained respect for other countries just by debating with others on online forums as I grew up.

OmniNept said:
Oversimplification? Absolutely. There are many problems within America, and many contributing factors. However, those problems aren't going to be resolved through chest thumping, or through hiding from the facts. And they're most certainly not going to be resolved by being patriotic on the internet. If you're going to bask in your country's reflected glory, it's time to take responsibility for its errors - and for instilling meaningful change. Instead of playing apologist, maybe it's time to become one of the many good things about America.
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Trust me, I am not trying to cover up America's problems. I could talk to you all day about them, but when someone sees bad grammar and then assumes it's an American, it's a little irritating, but, I guess we deserve it.

The people you guys are referring to are mainly the older generations who don't understand this new world of technology. They have not changed but the world has, and as long as they are in power our country is going to suffer. However, I believe that things will start to change in the years to come. The fact that I have gotten my mom to accept evolution is some serious progress. ;P
 
Application-1

Application-1

test bester
#swag
419px-King_Willem_II.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
 
Gheist

Gheist

King of all Goblins
Patriotism is stupid, nationalism outright disgusting, and in the end, both are completely unnecessary and damn dangerous.

Stop defining yourselves by nationality, stop being proud of stuff you've had nothing to do with, start becoming actual persons.

You can do better than living and propagating artificial cultural constructs. *dance* it.
 
OmniNept

OmniNept

Actionaut
I like that there's actual discussion within this thread. And I enjoyed reading your post, Triad.

Most people realize that Americans aren't all moronic. Unfortunately, it's the intolerance, ignorance, and unwarranted patriotism that traverses borders. As we've both stated, it'll take a lot of work and time before America is seen as an exemplar of anything good.

Also, this:
Gheist said:
Stop defining yourselves by nationality, stop being proud of stuff you've had nothing to do with, start becoming actual persons.
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(not directed toward Triad)
 
Triad

Triad

Legions Developer
Gheist said:
Patriotism is stupid, nationalism outright disgusting, and in the end, both are completely unnecessary and damn dangerous.

Stop defining yourselves by nationality, stop being proud of stuff you've had nothing to do with, start becoming actual persons.

You can do better than living and propagating artificial cultural constructs. *dance* it.
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I agree with you, but since he was generalizing all Americans I couldn't help myself. One of my all time favorite songs by John Lennon supplements your post quite well.

Imagine there's no countries​
It isn't hard to do​
Nothing to kill or die for​
And no religion too​
Imagine all the people living life in peace​

(A Perfect Circle's version)

OmniNept said:
I like that there's actual discussion within this thread. And I enjoyed reading your post, Triad.

Most people realize that Americans aren't all moronic. Unfortunately, it's the intolerance, ignorance, and unwarranted patriotism that traverses borders. As we've both stated, it'll take a lot of work and time before America is seen as an exemplar of anything good.
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It's good to have these types of discussions; I just hope that America does get better. :(
 
57thRomance

57thRomance

Member
I wasn't going to reply to this thread, but then I watched this cute Achievement Hunter review that made me think about the subject of nationalism and how it can prevent people from studying their countries' conflicts from different perspectives to better understand them. And then the last 30 seconds made me DAWWWWWWW out loud.

Legionaires, this is why I love children:
 
k e v i n

k e v i n

Private Tester
i'm in my living room right now, and it's kind of weird cuz as i'm reading this thread, my parents are watching a movie basically about a bunch of terrorists who are muslims that are planning to bomb a bunch (i think 4) of subway stations in america, but are living normal lives so no one suspects them
it's actually going pretty good right now, i'm paying a bit more attention to the movie than to this post
it's interesting how muslim terrorists are portrayed in this movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurbaan_(2009_film)
 
GReaper

GReaper

Grumpy
Fissurez said:
i'm not sure, but the olympics opening ceremony seemed to imply that he invented the internet too, or at least the early form of it
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No, although it seems easy for people who don't understand how the Internet works to confuse the WWW and the Internet.
 
Triad

Triad

Legions Developer
I have to respond this. ;p
GReaper said:
Created by Linux Torvalds (Finnish).
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Although he is now an American citizen, I did originally leave Linux out of my post because he did develop Linux in Finland. However, Unix was developed in America.
GReaper said:
Invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (British).
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He developed the World Wide Web, an application on top of the internet, not the modern day browsers that everybody is using which is what I was referring to. Chrome was developed by Google, Safari by Apple, Internet Explorer by Microsoft, and FireFox by the Mozilla Corporation (all in the US). If he's using Opera, then it's Norwegian.
Fissurez said:
there's a difference!?
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Yes, they are different. The World Wide Web (http) is an application on top of the internet just like email (SMTP) is.

Many countries have played a role in the internet, and it obviously hasn't only been America who has helped develop it over the years. I was simply stating that it started in the US with ARPANET.
 
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