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Thank you, that's exactly what I mean. I am not trying to make americans look stupid in comparison to us, I simply ment that we are "bombarded" with US information on a daily basis, which most americans are not. In fear of being miss quoted, I will stop at this.
I personally understood what you were getting at but I think when you said this
Quote:
I know he wasn't, believe me, we know more about your country and whatever goes on in it, than you probably know about the entire world.
...it came off a bit patronizing. As I said, I knew what you meant and think you outlined your position more clearly with later posts, but I think it was just a poor choice of words.
I agree it can be seen as arrogance, but then I would like to ask you:
who won the Swedish election? Or how many rivers are there in Bulgaria? Who is the most popular singer in Croatia? When and why do the Finish people celebrate their national holiday? And how many languages besides from English do you speak?
And then, isn't it somewhat arrogant to say there's a "typical European" who believes in a stereoype?
I do not want to provoce anyone or offence anyone, I merely speak my, and others' around me, opinions and perceptions. Please don't take offence. I am speaking GENERALLY.
I think your examples are rediculous. I don't know the answers to any of these questions and I'm from England. The reason is because none of the above is important to me. I don't care how many rivers there are in Bulgaria! You know I often ask Brits who critisize Americans for being stupid these questions:
Which party did Winston Churchill belong to?
How many countries are in Europe?
Who is the Spanish PM?
What countries make up Great Britain (they always add N.Ireland!)
And.. how many states are the in the USA?
You might be shocked, but very few Brits actually know any! And I havn't met a single one who knows how many states there are... no world of a lie.
I think your statemenst are extremely arrogant. Europeans are not more intelligent than Americans, thats just a silly statement. We are acutually a lot dumber than you give us credit for...
I think your examples are rediculous. I don't know the answers to any of these questions and I'm from England. The reason is because none of the above is important to me. I don't care how many rivers there are in Bulgaria! You know I often ask Brits who critisize Americans for being stupid these questions:
Which party did Winston Churchill belong to?
How many countries are in Europe?
Who is the Spanish PM?
What countries make up Great Britain (they always add N.Ireland!)
And.. how many states are the in the USA?
You might be shocked, but very few Brits actually know any! And I havn't met a single one who knows how many states there are... no world of a lie.
I think your statemenst are extremely arrogant. Europeans are not more intelligent than Americans, thats just a silly statement. We are acutually a lot dumber than you give us credit for...
Please, all you who think I am coming off arrogant (please know this is NOT my intention what so ever) that I do not speak English as well as you. And, I am not saying Europeans are more intelligent than Americans, that's YOUR interpetation, I merely tried to point out that Europeans are daily exposed to American coulture and life- more so than vice versa.
The statements are not extremely arrogant, as these are things many SWEDES atleast know the answers to conserning AMERICA (I am making a comparison between Europeans knowledge of Americans, and the other way around, not how well Europeans know their own continent as we are not exposed to our own neighbour counties as much as by US).
I cannot speak for your country fellows, ian6479, but those are not hard questions, and I truly doubt no one of the people you've asked how many states there are in the US have not come up with the correct answer.
And, again, please read WHAT I write, not what you want to interpet as.
I have not called Americans stupid, nor will I, and neither have I said anything about Europeans being more intelligent than Americans. I have only mentioned different degrees of exposure to each others countries.
Nothing else.
You might be shocked, but very few Brits actually know any! And I havn't met a single one who knows how many states there are... no world of a lie.
Slightly OT, but that one had me LOL. I'll bet every one of them answered "52." where DOES that come from?
I recently had this discussion with my wife and one of my sons. (My wife is Scottish, and my son is dual). We were recently in Chicago airport, and I overheard an English guy explaining to his daughter that the U.S. had 52 states which were like English counties. So I later asked my teenage son (mostly educated in Scotland) how many U.S. states. His answer: "52." I've lost count of how many times I've come across that particular misapprehension. We can't come up with a convincing answer as to why virtually everyone thinks there are 52 states.
Slightly OT, but that one had me LOL. I'll bet every one of them answered "52." where DOES that come from?
I recently had this discussion with my wife and one of my sons. (My wife is Scottish, and my son is dual). We were recently in Chicago airport, and I overheard an English guy explaining to his daughter that the U.S. had 52 states which were like English counties. So I later asked my teenage son (mostly educated in Scotland) how many U.S. states. His answer: "52." I've lost count of how many times I've come across that particular misapprehension. We can't come up with a convincing answer as to why virtually everyone thinks there are 52 states.
I think its because if you do a search for "how many states" on the net, you get a list that includes Washington D.C, and Guam seperately. You will also hear that Hawaii was the 51st, I've even heard 53!
Well, that's close to one of the explanations we've come up with. (Guam and Puerto Rico as being the "other two." The problem with that explanation is, what about all the other U.S. territories--U.S. virgin Islands, American Samoa, Mariana Islands, etc.?
That's funny. I can recall this subject coming up a handful of times with friends who were from other countries, or talking to someone IN another country, and while some of them got it right, I would say the biggest number of them said 52 as well. I never realized until just now looking back on it how odd it is that so many people seem to think that. I would think Puerto Rico and D.C. would be the two most likely culprits for confusion.
Would it be alright if America pulled out troops from across the world and never got involved anywhere again,including peace keeping missions?
Well I served as a peacekeeper in Somalia. We had things well under control (at least the shooting had stopped) and then along came the American soldiers. Read 'Blackhawk Down' for the rest.
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Most the Iraqi civilians that have died in Iraq,where they blown up or shot up by.(A)American suicide bombers?
or (B)Muslim suicide bombers?
American bombers and fighter planes, along with armoured vehicles, and cruise missiles fired from ships in The Gulf.
I'm speaking as a American and I have this question for all of you...Why does America have to Police the World??? Where is it written??? What's the motive behind it???...It makes me sad to think that the rest of the world judges us by the actions of GWB! Thats Unfair! Her's one you can kick around....Our Freedom of Speech...Remember when Natile Maines of the "Dixe Chicks made a comment about GWB??? She had her life threatend,not to mention all the hell the group experienced,their music banned by radio stations etc. This is how we are treated because we exercise our right to Speak Out & Speak Up!!! Its this Americans opinion that our "FREEDOMS" are slowly but surely being "STRIPPED AWAY" Wake Up USA! Its Time to Speak Out & Fight Back! Or,Kiss Your Freedom Good-Bye....Europe Keep An Open Mind...God Bless America & The Dixie Chicks for speaking out....You read this from someone thats not political savey....
Exactly the same procedure is happening here in UK with Tony Bliar at the helm.
To control the ordinary folk give them something to fear and then save them by removing rights built up over hundreds of years.
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