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Tis interesting to me how much bloviating and bragging Brits have gotten away with since the London Summer Olympics. Seriously, take a look at some articles in British newspapers, or on line forums. I have generally noticed a marked increase in British jingoism. Claptrap talk like London is the greatest city on earth, Royal Family, blah, blah. Yet, does someone like Sophie chime in on that? Not on your life. She loves the UK even more for it. There is something to this whole "slam Americans for being proud of their country", yet no one else in any other country is to be called on the carpet for overly jingoistic sentiments.
You should see the twisting of statistics that Brits went thru this past summer to prove how many medals they won vs their population, etc., about how they were the greatest sporting nation on earth. It was actually sickening. I'm proud of my country when it does right, and critical when I think it can do better. But I guess we are only to be ever humble and recognize our failures so as to please Europeans.
Guess what? An amazing American man named Neil Armstrong passed away this past summer. He walked on the fu.. moon. I'm proud as hell about that fact. Any European that thinks Americans shouldn't be proud of an achievement like that can just ****!
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 12-08-2012 at 11:28 AM..
So yes, are there a lot of ignorant people? Yes, but in all honesty there's a lot of educated people too. The southern hillbillies are usually the ones you see on TV in your countries doing stupid ****. Regular, everyday stuff is not going to make the news. So unless you've lived in the US in an area with good diversity, I wouldn't be so quick to say certain things.
however, southern hillbillies are not the only U.S. citizenry doing stupid **** on reality TV, after all...let's not forget about the various shows concerning models, housewives, pregnant teens, single men/single women, survivors, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam.
Personally, I find it difficult to believe that anyone, anywhere in the world would believe what they see on reality TV; this is no more representative of the U.S. citizenry than any other reality programming in Europe, Asia, South America, etc., and their citizenry.
Best regards, sincerely
HomeIsWhere...
How Reality TV Works
So, you're home on the couch in front of your new plasma screen with a few hours to kill. You start channel-surfing and come across a show with people slurping a concoction of maggots and hissing beetles for a chance to win 50 grand. On channel after channel you see shows with truckers driving across treacherously icy roads in Alaska, two people telling folks what not to wear, and crab fisherman braving a mother of a storm. Now you're asking yourself, when did Elaine, Jerry, George and Kramer get replaced by Lauren, Heidi, Audrina and Brody? Who in the world are New York and Tila Tequila, and why do they have their own shows? Just when did reality TV get to be so popular? And, finally, how do people come up with this stuff -- and how real are these shows anyway?
All I can say is this - if someone believes that reality TV really represents the lives of Americans, should I believe that most people in the UK live like The Royle Family?
Guess what? An amazing American man named Neil Armstrong passed away this past summer. He walked on the fu.. moon. I'm proud as hell about that fact. Any European that thinks Americans shouldn't be proud of an achievement like that can just ****!
There's nothing wrong with being proud of your country's achievements and I don't think that is what bothers many people about patriotism in the US. The problem starts when Americans become overly jingoistic and state they are the best. By that, they declass all the other countries which themselves have much to be proud of (for the most part). You're hardly going to find this attitude elsewhere in the Western World, only in the US. This attitude is also one of the main reasons for people not being too fond of America.
Oh yeah, and just for the record: I didn't base my opinion on watching American TV shows.
The Royle Family is a sitcom with actors playing characters! A better comparison would be with The Only Way is Essex or Made In Chelsea.
"Reality TV" is staged and acted as well. In other words, the participants are actors playing characters.
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Astute observation...
