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Journal Cliff's Journal: This Disgusts Me... 26

Journal by Cliff
This is a general message to the userbase at large. If you agree with it, spread it far and wide...

Is it any wonder why people hate the general perception of the Average American, these days? Let me present this piece of evidence to the court. Now why is it that the Average American, let's call him "Joe Sixpack" has to make everything into an US-vs-them issue?

For the record, BOTH Mars missions were a daring effort. One lander has crashed and is presumed dead (but hopefully not), the other has landed, seems to be OK, and the people that put it there are very happy, and have a right to be so. Does that make the other agency less able? Hell no! Space is dangerous, space is hard, and unlike what you see on the average space opera, sending a pile of metal one orbit out and millions of miles away is not easy. If the average "Joe" tried it, he'd be lucky to get something into orbit, much less to Mars.

So why is it that the "Joes" are acting like so many children? When did they all revert to effective age of an Elementary School toddler? Is it any wonder why on the very next frontpage mention of the Mars Mission that it was crapflooded to hell?

Now, this crapflood itself, is reprehensible, but after reading both stories, I can begin to understand the reasons why it might have happend. Let me clarify: I understand, I don't excuse. Crapflooding hurts everyone, and I wouldn't be surprised if there may be talk of cutting out anonymous comments because of this. Before you ask, I don't have the power to influence that decision one way or another. That decision is up to others. However anonymous comments were put in this site for a reason, and crapflooding is not that reason.

But back to the topic in general. I'm seeing this type of behavior more and more in this country (yes, I'm American) and it's beginning to really disturb me.

A quote from someone who will remain nameless. It's not who it is, but what he is saying that's important:

...the average american today is growing up with a steady dose of anti-foreigner Fox news "I love America - don't you love America too?" bullshit being fed into their head, every single day. Is it any surprise?

World War III will be the rest of the world vs. the USA. Not for some years yet, but it's coming.

If this crap continues, he'll probably be proven right.

People of all nationalities, "why can't we all just get along?" -- is it really that hard? Is it really that hard to act our age, especially in online forums where our true identities are masked (and masked less than you think) by online pseudonyms?

Here's a challenge for you: The next time you say something online ask yourself: "Would I say this in a crowd of people I don't know as myself" -- If the answer to that question is "No.", then it might not be worth an online mention, either.

Here's another challenge: Put the shoe on the other foot before you say something. If you feel that you'd be offended by someone...anyone saying something similar to you, maybe it's not worth mentioning at all!

It's the 21st Century folks. This may be the last chance we all have to grow up.

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This Disgusts Me... More

This Disgusts Me...

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  • If you are saying that "the rest of the world" takes individual statements in this manner then you are assigning the same, inaccurate, stereotype to them that "they" are allegedly applying to us.

    In essance, you are arguing that "the rest of the world" is a pack of idiots and they "hate us" as a group for what a few individuals say withing the confines of their freedom to speak.

    I was under the impression that one should not argue from the specific to the general. False premises always result in an invalid

    • Guy, I can't believe you have the idiocy to post that. But, considering that you seem to like Ann Coulter (and, I would assume Hannity as well), this is perhaps not surprising.

      You (along with sql*kitten and bmetzler) have the tendency to see a single case of a left-leaning post that got modded up (often as "Interesting", which is a mod that does not in any way connote factuality) and generalize to say that the majority of Slashbots are commie pinko bastards.

      You denounce that which you practice. You ar

      • I don't know who you are reading, but MY complaints about moderation, when voiced, are the mod-bombing of people for whatever reason.

        Of course, I see when it happens to me immediately, so I usually can only speak for myself.

        BTW, just what time did I use one post as an example of how Left leaning is the world of Slashdot? In general the community is Leftist and that is a result of the overall posts that are moded up as a group. See? Quite the opposite of your assertion.

        • I fail to notice any discernable collective bias in the moderations (especially when the "Interesting" moderations are taken out). I've found that, if anything, Slashdot has a libertarian bent. My posts espousing the free market as the solution to nearly all problems do not get modded down (even as Overrated) to any significant degree.

          I have seen many conservative posts modded down where the poster, to put it charitably, fails to make a modicum of a rational argument. This, however, does not indicate a

  • But there is a serious problem that the Liberals of the United States present that the average "Joe Sixpack" as you call him is not in tune with the gentler side of the world's problems. They are the ones force-feeding us that WE were the cause of 9/11, not the insane Muslim fundamentalists. Us and our prosperity are to blame. Us and our work ethic. Us and our need to prosper over all others.

    Granted, I'm not exactly the picture of the "Joe Sixpack" myself, I'm relatively intelligent (139 IQ), have a
    • So, what you're saying is... It's not us vs. them, it's us vs. them?
    • Ah, but this "PRO-AMERICA" sentiment doesn't just rub non-American people the wrong way, there is this common "holier than thou" attitude against many just plain happy Americans. Some people hold their country so high as to annoy others from foreign lands, but if for some reason you don't do that as well then in their eyes you are an enemy of the state. There's being happy you are who you are, and then there's just plain silly arrogance.
    • the Liberals of the United States ... are the ones force-feeding us that WE were the cause of 9/11, not the insane Muslim fundamentalists.

      Well, you just proved the point about generalizing. The vast majority of us liberals don't believe that, it's just a shrill few. C'mon, we don't usually judge conservatives based on Ann Coulter, don't go judging us based on Michael Moore & co.

      People who I've worked with, who have immigrated here have more American pride than most of the pinko liberals telling us

    • a serious problem is that the Liberals of the United States ... are the ones force-feeding us that WE were the cause of 9/11, not the insane Muslim fundamentalists. Us and our prosperity are to blame. Us and our work ethic....

      As a socialist fiscal conservative, social libertarian who has recently been quite critical of the U.S. preperation for, response to, and follow-up from 9/11, I would like to point out that if Ahmed shoots Sam, Sam and his diet are not to blame, no matter how fat Sam might have bee

  • So why is it that the "Joes" are acting like so many children?

    This sort of behaviour just makes them feel better than the people they are belittling. Those who feel inadequate about themselves need to put others down to make them feel good. 'Merkins are generally good people (you didn't hear this from me BTW) but there's enough of them that a small minority still makes a sizeable crowd. And they can be noisy.

    What most of these people forget (or in all honesty, prolly don't even know) is that the US has s
    • 'Merkins are generally good people...

      Whoa, whatch your language there. Be careful with that use of merkin [reference.com].

      "hacking" was a noble pursuit where one aimed to learn as much about the systems you were hacking as possible.

      It still is, to me at least. With many others hacking has turned into this elitist arean (no pun intended) just like the arrogant Americanism has become.
    • I haven't been out of the US very much (it's not like I'm a seasoned traveler) -- but when I did travel, I always got comments to the effect of "You're really cool for an American"

      It's a little weird, but after talking to people more about it, it seems that most non-US folks have the same image of the Americans. We're all gun-totin' Texans who drive gas guzzlers and do whatever the hell we want. (Tragically, our current President isn't helping that stereotype go away) They said they were kinda surprised

      • I haven't been out of the US very much (it's not like I'm a seasoned traveler) -- but when I did travel, I always got comments to the effect of "You're really cool for an American"

        That would be because the "loud Americans" tend to create such a lasting and over-powering impression. There's probably a huge number of decent American travellers, but they don't stand out as much as the loud-mouths.

        To be fair, I have a number of American friends, and most are pretty damn cool people. As a generalisation, New
    • Well, it was sort of normal to assume that most of the people on an english language MUD would be, well, North American.

      Hell, the Canadians on mine defaulted to assuming you were American unless you out and said otherwise. Not that it mattered, because no one really played it to talk about what country they were from.

      About the only way to tell(w/o asking) was by time zone and spalling. The aussies played at different times than us North Americans, and the English played at entirely different times as we
      • Not that it mattered, because no one really played it to talk about what country they were from.

        True, generally. Though a couple of the MUDs I frequented were really just glorified chat boards. I spent many, many, many hours logged in chatting to some pretty cool people from all over the place.

        The aussies played at different times than us North Americans, and the English played at entirely different times as well.

        Most of my friends and I used to play late at night or early in the morning, 'cos that's

  • hey (Score:1)

    by subgeek ( 263292 )
    as arb points out, it only takes a few people to spoil it for everyone. this is true for everything, perceptions of americans, perceptions held by americans, crapflooders, whatever.

    the problem has many sides. one side is that in times of military action (especially with popular support), the news in america tends to become patriotic and pro-america because it's popular. it's popular because people love to be told that they're right. unfortunately the easy way to do that is point out that someone else i
  • Cliff, you have a very interesting perspective on this because, and please correct me if I'm wrong, one of the more malicious trolls frequenly found in crapfloods and FP races used to, or still does, contained a link associated with you, did it not? If so, you owe yourself several deep breaths every time you see any remnants of that rubbish.

    I would not have noticed the crapflood in the Mars Rover story if you had not mentioned it. I doubt 99.9% of the readership would have noticed it if the new guy from

    • Cliff, you have a very interesting perspective on this because, and please correct me if I'm wrong, one of the more malicious trolls frequenly found in crapfloods and FP races used to, or still does, contained a link associated with you, did it not? If so, you owe yourself several deep breaths every time you see any remnants of that rubbish.

      Link please?

      ...I think pulling ACs would be a terrible mistake...

      I agree, and I hope it doesn't come to that. However, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the

  • Of course I'll try!
    There are a few observations I'd like to offer.
    > US versus them, that is, ugly nationalism.
    The Americans ain't the only ones. Have you ever talked with a Palestinian? I thought at the time, If the one I met is any example of their brand of nationalism, then Ugly Americans are beautiful. Later I met a Palestinian family - father, mother, two daughters. Very different story, here. They were as reasonable, decent and thoughtful people as any I'd hope to meet anywhere. Here are my o

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