Staying on this side of the Atlantic

[Flame-returns]

I think that aggressiveness is inherent in any large community whose only role is to talk for eternity. I honestly think that aggressiveness is visible in members from all over the world, I have been known to be very aggressive myself upon waking up with a headache and no Paracetamol in sight (but then again anyone who disagrees with me is a moron, particularly if they are American because everyone knows that all Americans are overweight Christian gun-nuts with no concept of a world outside their boundaries and a belief that all Brits are their best buddies and the UK should be made a honorary 52nd state. Oh and lets not forget freedom fries!)

While Americans often get very ratty about sarcasm I find that Americans on this forum mostly tolerate it, Americans often find "Little Britain" funnier than us Brits (although this is in no means a good thing, Little Britain is deeply unfunny). I find that more Americans respond in a negative fashion towards posts, this is hardly surprising as there are more Americans on this forum than Brits. I also think from my observations of this forum that GTP Brits are more cynical than GTP Americans, we are the true lets-sit-in-the-dark-with-this-storm-cloud-over-our-heads-and-glare-at-passers-by-while-repeating-the-phrase- "Bloody weather" over-and-over-again. The British invented the "I'm Daria, go to hell" mentality.

 

[Danoff]

lets-sit-in-the-dark-with-this-storm-cloud-over-our-heads-and-glare-at-passers-by-while-repeating-the-phrase- "Bloody weather" over-and-over-again

...and the award for longest hyphonated phrase goes to... ... ... Flame-returns.

This is Flame-returns's first time winning the hyphonated phrase award and his first nomination.

 

[Diego440]

well, he is, after all, from London. You know Fish & Chips, cup o'tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary Friggin' Poppins, London
(Quoted from the movie Snatch)

Dieggo's... Deiggo

Man, and I though "sukerkin" was complicated enough.

sukerkin: I would definitely recommend a trip to the US. It's a nice enough place, and has many great cities. But if you're more into the Euro mentality, then go to Canada, they balance the extremes pretty well.

Young_Warrior: on the quote you erm... quoted. You should see how it is in Spain. It's hard to meet someone for more than 15 minutes and not go and have a beer and some tapas.

Anyhow, back to the subject... I thought that most of the aggressiveness came from the US, but never mind. It's all around. On the other hand, sarcasm seems like the best weapon against it.

I had a French roommate in College (I actually had three on separate occassions, but anyway), who was also very quick to admit he expected a different attitude from Americans when he went to a college in the US (I think he watched too much Girls Gone Wild videos). But the point is that he got pretty mad when Americans would call him "Pierre", although that wasn't his name. He always said that when you go to France, you see Europe. When you go to the US, you see nothing.

More to the point, I have to agree once more with sukerkin's point, about this aggressiveness coming mostly from less mature users, since aggression is the tool of the weak, as they say. It just so happens to be that most of them are Americans, sprouted since the release of GT4. In the long run, these "unripe" users will either mature or disappear from the boards, hopefully. I can't see someone arguing just for the hell of it much longer.

 

[Zardoz]

...I would definitely recommend a trip to the US...But if you're more into the Euro mentality, then go to Canada, they balance the extremes pretty well...

Or you could go to both. They aren't very far apart. Consult a map...

Question for all: The U.S. is crawling with British expatriates. There are four living within a block of me. My dentist has two Brit hygienists. They're everywhere. Why do you suppose that is?

 

[Flame-returns]

Because Brits are internationally famous for hating Britain, in fact we are very good at hating all landmasses, anything that moves, inanimate objects, certain vegetables, words (see "awesome"), and most particularly the British climate.

I personally love the British climate it stereotypically matches my mood. However our climate is getting warmer, guess we have to thank you Americans for that. Anyway many fun-loving Brits despise our climate and so migrate to somewhere warmer.

Also you have to bear in mind that despite being a small island off the coast of France, Britain has a rather large population and traces of the British Empire are to be found in almost every highly developed society in the world (ignore Japan, we have some small traces in Japanese more recent history (mechanical developments) and we did invent the computer but compared to the USA its very insubstantial.) You might have stumbled across earlier generation Brits (man! We're a mysterious race!)

 

[Blake]

Yes I did. If you aren't sure that your opinion is right, then you shouldn't have it.

How the hell does that work? An opinion is “a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty.” How can you be sure about an opinion? It’s your opinion because you think it’s right – if you knew that it was right it would be a fact, not an opinion.

Blake

 

[Diego440]

How the hell does that work? An opinion is “a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty.” How can you be sure about an opinion? It’s your opinion because you think it’s right – if you knew that it was right it would be a fact, not an opinion.

Blake

at last, a little sanity in an otherwise insane world!

 

[Zrow]

I hate when people do this, as though we're all supposed to say "Well, he's got us there. It's an opinion so, I guess we should just sit here and listen to it and not say anything." Perhaps you think we're all supposed to just spout our opinions too, and that the whole opinion forum is just for people to spout their opinions and never really discuss or debate them.

Perhaps you don't care if your opinions are grounded in fact, or whether they make any sense, or whether you even understand them. Perhaps you're intellectually lazy enough to simply make up your mind without considering the options, perhaps your opinions are so loosely based that you can't be bothered to try to support them without an appeal to a general sense of everyone's illogical behavior. But when you come to the opinion forum and start spouting your opinions, you should know that people are going to challenge them. People are going to expect to hear the evidence by which you came to your conclusion, and they're going to want it to make sense.

If you don't care about quality of the evidence backing your opinions that's fine, but spare the rest of us from having to listen to them until you think you've reached a position you can actually be bothered to defend.

Yes! Thank you. 👍

 

[Kent]

You try being called a stupid, fat, lazy, incompetent, tasteless, bigoted, arrogant bully for approximately 25-50% of all interaction you have with people from other countries.

See what that does for your levels of agressiveness.

I second that. 👍 👍

Just the very existance of this thread, without any examples or evidence provided in the first post makes me feel like the victim rather than the aggressor.

That's not to say there is never an incident of an American getting nasty.
However, it is to say that generalized statements about Americans being mean and aggressive will do nothing more than get the Americans more angry.

Duke said it all for me.
Thanks Duke, I couldn't have said it better myself.

For real... That's sig quote material. 👍

btw, I wouldn't say it's 25-50%... I would say it's more like 33-66% of the time that Americans are portrayed in that light (and I'm just trying to be nice about that... my honest opinion is that it is more like 50-75%).

 

[ledhed]

sukerkin: I'm not pointing any fingers, really... It just seems as a general thing. I've noticed many Americans are highly susceptible of anyone talking about their country, but that's expected from anyone. It just seems the US's faults have been more in the news lately and people are bashing them for anything. The other day I made fun of Colombia and I actually got a PM suggesting I change my post. No threats, no dissing, just the message. I promptly did.

Young Warrior, to make one thing clear, I wouldn't want this thread to become a place to bash the US... there's already a thread to argue about that. I feel your pain nonetheless. And ledhed, your reply was unexpectedly predictable.

Liten up , it was a joke...or is irony not your strong point ? Keep it up I'll come to Ohio and yell at you in a very aggressive manner . Now gimme some fried bannanna and begone !

 

[Lee]

Because Brits are internationally famous for hating Britain, in fact we are very good at hating all landmasses, anything that moves, inanimate objects, certain vegetables, words (see "awesome"), and most particularly the British climate.

By god that man's got a point!

 

[Flame-returns]

By god that man's got a point!

At last, a person who can see monitor to monitor with me .

 

[Zardoz]

... Americans often find "Little Britain" funnier than us Brits (although this is in no means a good thing, Little Britain is deeply unfunny)...we are the true lets-sit-in-the-dark-with-this-storm-cloud-over-our-heads-and-glare-at-passers-by...

Maybe its all about guilt. Maybe Brits are unconsciously ashamed that just a short while ago they were the greatest imperialists the world has ever known:

"By 1921, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 470–570 million people — roughly a quarter of the world's population — and covered about 15 million square miles (nearly 37 million square kilometres), almost a third of the world's total land area."

If you're going to be an imperialist, do it right, and you Brits sure did. You had the greatest empire in the history of the world. Maybe you're ashamed of that now. Or maybe you're ashamed that, deep down inside, you're proud of the fact that you were once Number One, and its so un-PC to feel that way.

I don't know. I'm no shrink. What do you think? Am I way off base here?

 

[Flame-returns]

Maybe its all about guilt. Maybe Brits are unconsciously ashamed that just a short while ago they were the greatest imperialists the world has ever known:

"By 1921, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 470–570 million people — roughly a quarter of the world's population — and covered about 15 million square miles (nearly 37 million square kilometres), almost a third of the world's total land area."

If you're going to be an imperialist, do it right, and you Brits sure did. You had the greatest empire in the history of the world. Maybe you're ashamed of that now. Or maybe you're ashamed that, deep down inside, you're proud of the fact that you were once Number One, and its so un-PC to feel that way.

I don't know. I'm no shrink. What do you think? Am I way off base here?

You could well be right about the empire but if the case is history then we have nothing on America. We sold you slaves during a period (1600-1800) when we ourselves viewed slavery as immoral and had an unwritten law that slavery was not to be allowed in the UK (in the 1600-1700s it was estimated that less than 50 real slaves lived in the UK). During this time America's economic infrastructure was built around slavery (and yes we sold the slaves but that isn’t the point).

While slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833 (7 years before American history began) it carried on for much longer in the US, if anyone should be ashamed of their blood-soaked history it is America and not ourselves.

It is my honest opinion that the British are just naturally grumpy and cynical.

 

[Zardoz]

...if anyone should be ashamed of their blood-soaked history it is America and not ourselves.

It is my honest opinion that the British are just naturally grumpy and cynical.

Geez! Sorry!

Grumpy, indeed...

 

[Flame-returns]

A splitting headache and a 2000 word history essay to write on slavery can do that to a person.

 

[Diego440]

Just the very existance of this thread, without any examples or evidence provided in the first post makes me feel like the victim rather than the aggressor.

I get your point... but I don't think think (enlighten me if you must) there is a way to tell it in a softer tone that would not raise victimization feelings. I said I would not point fingers, because although I've had some aggression directed at me, I don't really want to make it such a big deal. The lack of examples is not to blame it on others, but to move the attention from the aggressions themselves towards the overall attitude.

Sorry if you feel a victim about it... it's not meant like that. That's the problem when you express something... someone's always going to take offence, and someone's always going to assume you're talking about them. If you'd rather I say specifically who have offended me, I will; but I don't think that would merit a whole thread. I know, I speak of Americans and obviously, I'm talking about you, but I later said that I definitely don't mean all Americans. That would be taking it out of context.

Liten up , it was a joke...or is irony not your strong point ?

I got the joke, ledhed. But I sort of expected something like that. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was funny enough... MOF I like ironies and sarcasm very much. But just so you know, Spain isn't in Ohio... it's in Europe. Madrid is in new York, though

 

[Lee]

It is my honest opinion that the British are just naturally grumpy and cynical.

Oh and steriotypical. If the newspaper says it, the nation say it.

 

[Kent]

You could well be right about the empire but if the case is history then we have nothing on America. We sold you slaves during a period (1600-1800) when we ourselves viewed slavery as immoral and had an unwritten law that slavery was not to be allowed in the UK (in the 1600-1700s it was estimated that less than 50 real slaves lived in the UK). During this time America's economic infrastructure was built around slavery (and yes we sold the slaves but that isn’t the point).

While slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833 (7 years before American history began) it carried on for much longer in the US, if anyone should be ashamed of their blood-soaked history it is America and not ourselves.

It is my honest opinion that the British are just naturally grumpy and cynical.

Ok, first off, I don't really see how you can compare the two... For that matter, I don't think any nation of the world should try to say "we have less blood on our hands that you!"

It's just silly to think of things like that.

Also, incase you didn't know...
The first English colony in America that lasted until the present day was Jamestown in Virginia, established in 1607.

Furthermore, America itself declared independance from GB in 1776.

I would say the history of America goes way further back than roughly the time of our civil war.

Of course, maybe you just meant to say 1733?
But even then your dates are off.

Also, I don't think it's reasonable to bring up slave use in America only to brush off the actual sale of slaves... That's like saying a Drug dealer isn't part of the drug-problem.

Finally, I'm starting to feel like this thread is lossing meaning and validity quickly.

At first it was a simple question about why one member felt like Americans were hostile.

However, at this point it has become a "you are worse than us" tit-for-tat argument about who is the more tyrannical nation.

If it keeps up like that I will take great pleasure in closing the thread.

So let's stick to the subject, if that in itself is even worth discussing.

edit:
Diego...
Don't give me that...
You made major generalizations about myself, my country-men, and my country as a whole.

You insult us because of personal interactions between yourself and unknown members then expect me not to take offense?

Oh no.
I do take offense and I will continue to do so until you can address the real problem at hand- The Members Who Offended You- Not the country they came from.

 

[Dreamonu]

I honestly think you guys take things too personally. It just seems that even an attack on US foreign policy for example is enough to insult you personally because of some strange need to defend yourself and your country. If I were to attack the foreign policy of Sweden for example, would the Swedish people see it as an attack on them or would they see as it is intended to be seen, an attack on a Government and not its people?

Even this post has me worried that it might insult someone, it's like walking on egg shells with you guys.

 

[Kent]

It would be reasonable to say what you've said if the attacks at hand were directed at the government.

However, they were not directed at the gov or the policies of the gov.

Instead, everything here has been directed at the people themselves, which does include me and that makes this person even if it includes all of the other Americans out-there.

 

[Duke]

I honestly think you guys take things too personally. It just seems that even an attack on US foreign policy for example is enough to insult you personally because of some strange need to defend yourself and your country.

That's because it rarely takes the simple form of criticism of American foreign policy. Heck, we criticize our own foreign policy ourselves. But instead it frequently runs along the lines of this (exaggerated for effect, but not all that exaggerated):

"No one but a nation full of gun-toting sociopaths would have elected a drooling moron like GW Bush and his cronies so they can invade innocent countries just to steal oil for their fuel-hog SUVs, which incidentally need 8 cylinders and 12 litres of displacement to do what a Japanese car can do with a 1.8 litre four cylinder and a turbo, because American cars suck."

 

[Flame-returns]

I would say the history of America goes way further back than roughly the time of our civil war.

Of course, maybe you just meant to say 1733?
But even then your dates are off.

Sorry about that, you're a young nation but you're not that young . I was using 1740 as an opening date for US history because at that time the US had a fairly stable political system and a judicial system (even if Britain was behind it), it was also the beginning of the expanse into the west. Also Britain was really starting too look into the actual possibility of losing the US and what that would bring.

Parliament had also passed legislation making it legal for slaves to testify against their owners if required to do so in a court of law.

Anyway as you say who is the nastiest superpower is really irrelevant (I'm off to have a nice cup of Earl Gray now) it was simply a pleasant (compared to my mood at the time) response to Zardoz'z attempts at providing a reason for British cynicism.

Oh and steriotypical. If the newspaper says it, the nation say it.

Only if the newspapers the "Daily Mail"

Now I'm starting to scare myself...

 

[Lee]

Only if the newspapers the "Daily Mail"

Now I'm starting to scare myself...

And all the tabloid "newspapers" if you can call them that, all they do is fill you with fear.

I think the inderpendant is the only one you can trust...

 

[Flame-returns]

And all the tabloid "newspapers" if you can call them that, all they do is fill you with fear.

I think the inderpendant is the only one you can trust...

With it staunch Labour, I mean independent bias.

I read the Times, it keeps me grounded and sane (almost).

 

[Lee]

With it staunch Labour, I mean independent bias.

Hmmmm I don't think they are that bad? Then again i am left wing... :covers head ready for a beating:

 

[Flame-returns]

Hmmmm I don't think they are that bad? Then again i am left wing... :covers head ready for a beating:

I'm left wing too (Famine strike me down) ; I just think that a newspaper called "The Independent" should by definition have no bias.

Anyway let’s go shout at the Americans again before we get off-topic.

 

[Lee]

Anyway let’s go shout at the Americans again before we get off-topic.

Ah yes that matter...

 

[Young_Warrior]

I like the average american person. I like the way you guys live your lifes and I like your food and your nice roads and your gadgets and equipments and woman.

I dont like your government however but we talk about your governmet alot and not your way of life except for the bad. Remeber people always talk about the bad things and not the good. There is plenty good about america and I actually wouldnt mind spending a year or two over there somewhere warm.

 

[Lee]

I like the average american person. I like the way you guys live your lifes and I like your food and your nice roads and your gadgets and equipments and woman.

I dont like your government however but we talk about your governmet alot and not your way of life except for the bad. Remeber people always talk about the bad things and not the good. There is plenty good about america and I actually wouldnt mind spending a year or two over there somewhere warm.

Hmmmm i'd have to agree with you to some extent BUT, crime is pretty high in america, I just wouldn't feel safe to live there.