For the Americans of the board...

[Beccy]

I think border towns are different. They have a much different relationship. And there is not THAT much anti American sentiment here, it just seems that way when a topic such as this one gets started. Yes it exists, but jokes especially are aimed at all nations and all people. Even here in Canada, some of the funniest jokes are Newfie jokes (about people from Newfoundland), and I can say that because they were all told to me by my Newfie friends! :bgrin We have to be able to laugh at ourselves.

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

Triggy I never said that no Canadian has ever been rude here on the board, we were not discussing that, I was addressing your comment that you have "yet to see ANY American insult another's country".

There have been others, I just chose the most memorable (I don't mean that in a good way!) as anyone who has been around this board awhile will remember him. You can't say you have never seen ANY, and then say well yes there was that one (and there were others besides him) the two statements contradict one another. It was in effect saying that Americans have the monopoly on manners and etiquette, and sorry but it just ain't so!!! :no:

As I said, there are idiots in every country. Mine, yours, every one. Americans have a right to be proud of their nation, as we do ours.

Beccy, nor did I say you did

: And no I have never seen the Americans of this board start crap like some Canadians seem to enjoy--EVER. We may be more than willing to to defend ourselves and say some pretty harsh things when provoked but I have seen too many threads to count started by Canadians and some in other countries, deliberated worded to provoke. Must be because of a huge inferiority complex to those who insist on doing it or they are just a bunch of trolls, who knows

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Nor do I believe the majority of Canadians are idiots and personally have always loved Canada and it's people. If I didn't I'd hardly want to be living 150 miles from BC, visit Canada regularly let alone bother to have any Canadian friends. I've gone on too many tirades about this same subject to count so yes it has happened a lot and I'd be the first to slam some stupid American who would do the same stupid thing.

And I can confidently say that you-know-who would never be claimed by the US let alone the human race :bgrin but the history of that issue had bad blood on both sides long before it came to a head so I didn't consider that a country against country issue just a couple of morons who went a bit psycho about it on both sides.

 

[Beccy]

Ok I give up and will keep my big mouth shut now....don't fall over in shock people! :bgrin

And I can confidently say that you-know-who would never be claimed by the US let alone the human race :bgrin

LOL, well Triggy we do agree on that point! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Cronewolf]

It all goes back to the movie and book the ugly American. Yes, some of our people act that way even here. I worked at Busch Gardens one season and the number of American tourists who were just plain rude was overwelming. They were demanding and verbaly abusive. But friends of mine who have had cause to be living in other counries have had been treated very badly. My bosses daughter was with her husband who was stationed in Germany. She thought she had made friends with several German women who came over every day for lunch, but she found out when she learned German, that they just wanted her to feed them. Because they would sit and talk about her in German. Her feelings were so hurt.

 

[Sonya]

I think border towns are different. They have a much different relationship. And there is not THAT much anti American sentiment here

I'm not really border town, I'm in mid-michigan and when hubby goes fishing in Canada he goes way up North - no where near a border and he's never experienced negativity. Maybe it's just the people on this board who feel that way, none the less, you can't judge a whole country by a few people - there are good/bad everywhere.

I think the green pukey does send a bad message and probably not what the original poster intended.

 

[Mona]

This topic should never have been started in the first place as far as I am concerned. LB may be a Canadian based forum, but we have many, many American members, as well as other nationalities, and this is not the place for that kind of thing. But this is just my opinion....

:aktion033: My opinion too Beccy!! I just HATE it when there gets to be this battle between countries and their people on here! We are all people, and we all try to be friends, and I wish we could just keep it that way without belittling each other with comments/remarks about their personal life, country, or whatever. I just CRINGE when I see someone post things like this, and I would LOVE to be able to just hit that DELETE button when I see them!!

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[minisaremighty]

Generalizations and making assumptions. Ever hear the phrase to "assume" is to make an ARSE out of U and ME. It's true. Every time I find myself making an assumption that runs through my head and I drop it right away.

If we are going to talk about Americans, I have to tell you there are RUDE people in EVERY country on this planet.

: Just happens to be luck of the draw as to whom you will encounter when you are traveling.

In every store you go into in every country, probably half the people are going to be rude. If you happen to cross the path of a rude person, just chalk it up to their personality, NOT to country as a whole. :aktion033: That's utterly ridiculous.

: :bgrin If you go to Seattle and only encounter rude people that is just because it's a HUGE city and if half the people are rude, that's a whole lot of people!! So you are bound to run into some of them! LOL!! :lol: Doesn't mean they are ALL that way though! LOL!

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[Danielle_E.]

My opinion too Beccy!! I just HATE it when there gets to be this battle between countries and their people on here! We are all people, and we all try to be friends, and I wish we could just keep it that way without belittling each other with comments/remarks about their personal life, country, or whatever. I just CRINGE when I see someone post things like this, and I would LOVE to be able to just hit that DELETE button when I see them!!

Another breath of fresh air!!!! :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:

As you can see basically this thread is a fine example of what is being discussed in a sense. It goes to show you that it's not "Americans" or "Canadians" or "Australians" or any other country about rudeness. Doesn't matter what nationality you see "rudeness" from an "individual" or "individuals" not a country or nation as a whole. Just take a look at this thread and you will see

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[Danielle_E.]

Beccy, nor did I say you did And no I have never seen the Americans of this board start crap like some Canadians seem to enjoy--EVER.

Sorry everyone but I just couldn't let that statement go by without a comment that this statement is NOT TRUE. I am sorry Triggy but for some of us here, about 10 or 12 of us, Canadians and Americans that recently had some legal proplems with certain individuals were on this board and reside in the U.S. your statement is not factual at all!!!!

 

[runamuk]

Yikes you guys sure do get your knickers in a twist.

I've heard many awful stories about Seattle, from many different people. Everyone I talked to in Seattle (quite a few people) were very rude/grumpy and just overall irritating to be around. I really do not like big cities so that did not help, there's so much smog there that it's hard to breathe! The rest of Washington was fabulous, we were mostly in "smaller" areas and the peopel were wonderful!

Ahh I have to check on the horses I'll come back to this later.

In defense of Seattle it rains all the time (and did you experience that traffic eww) so people tend to be moody :bgrin

: and I find that Seattle can be very friendly just depends on where you go and who you talk to........for instance the fish mongers at the market are a bunch of jovial fun guys, the bums on the wharf can be downright entertaining........just stay away from 5th avenue and all the uppity stores and it isn't so bad

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I find it so funny you thought Seattle had smog..........that is air I would love to see again........here in Idaho we have horrible smog even way out away from Boise the air here gets into inversions and since everyone drives trucks and there are few to no air quality laws field burning, garbage burning, etc...creates a nasty haze and major breathing problems for many

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My grandfather held dual citizenship (after immigrating from England) and served in the US army during Korea........I have no bones to pick with Canada.....I just wish my country could focus more on our problems first before racing around saving everyone else.

My 14 yr old son was talking about how he feels this war is just plain stupid and it needs to be over with......BUT he also plans to join the Navy and serve his country. I think it is time for all Villages to round up their idiots and try again...lets see if we can't get some actual intelligence in offices instead of puppets

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[RAPfrosty]

Another reason I just thought of that is probably the main reason for other countries disliking America is the fact that so much of our news is shown world wide. We have no idea, and most could probably care less, about whats going on in New Zealand or Germany or Zimbabwe. It seems unless it will directly affect us or an American is helping out, our media doesn't cover it. However, if you go to practically any other country in the world, I bet (and for a few know from experience) that a good portion of their news is either related to or about the USA. It's not a big deal or anything but it's probably the reason why countries dislike us, because they know so much about us. If we were to hear all about the mistakes so and so's government was making and if we knew that these people portrayed as idiots had the ability to blow up the whole world, yeah, we probably wouldn't think to highly of them either but we don't, we know very little about the every day goings on of the rest of the world.

 

[Jill]

I believe Becky's point regarding media coverage is pretty valid.

It also reminded me of the last election night. Anyone up watching the exit poll coverage could not have thought anything other than it was a democratic victory. Even predicting my home state of VA had swung...

I'm probably too naive still, but that evening really crystallized to me how slanted the media coverage truly can be and what a disservice is often done. Truly, I do not think there's a source for unbaised media coverage, but my favorite (go figure............) is Fox.

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

Beccy, nor did I say you did And no I have never seen the Americans of this board start crap like some Canadians seem to enjoy--EVER.

Sorry everyone but I just couldn't let that statement go by without a comment that this statement is NOT TRUE. I am sorry Triggy but for some of us here, about 10 or 12 of us, Canadians and Americans that recently had some legal proplems with certain individuals were on this board and reside in the U.S. your statement is not factual at all!!!!

Danielle, I am not quite making the connection with what you are saying. Neither of those notorious issues were related to slamming others countries, at least not at their inception although that might be what it disinigrated into later.

So yes, I do see it as fact that the Americans on this board have been subjected to quite a few attacks and innuendos about our country over a long period of time and I have spoken out on it several times in the past and will continue to do so.

I don't care if I'm the lone ranger on this issue, or any other for that matter, but I will not just put up with some outsiders uneducated "opinion" on what they think the US is about any more than I'd let anyone attack a family member. If that's too jingoistic for some, I guess you'll just have to learn to cope.

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I recall one time in particular quite some time ago Mona and I had a misunderstanding over this very same subject but as evidenced by her post on this thread, she knows how much harm these types of issues have done to forum relationships in the past and she's 100% right.

It needs to stop and it needs to stop right now.

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[Sonya]

I believe Becky's point regarding media coverage is pretty valid.

This is exactly what I was saying a few pages back - definately don't believe what you hear/see on the tellie!

 

[Jill]

I believe Becky's point regarding media coverage is pretty valid.

This is exactly what I was saying a few pages back - definately don't believe what you hear/see on the tellie!

You are right, and also can't believe what you read in print, either. It really is bewildering, when you think about it. I wish there was a place to get the facts period, not any spin on them, but I know of none... Just pretty much the ones where the spin is more to my liking (and that's really not what I actually want, it just beats the alternative).

 

[tigeresss]

Firstly, I would LOVE for people who think I'm making generalizations (apart from the Seattle bit, but exclude that as I'm going to get to that in a minute.) to please quote them and explain to me why they think they're a generalization and a generalization of what.

Secondly, if you want to bring age into this yes I am young, eighteen years old in fact. Although I don't think it has any relevence but I do see it as a feeble attempt to "get one over me" and imply that because I am young I know nothing and have no life experience. Like others have mentioned it's a bad idea to make assumptions about people based on their age, especially when you have no idea who they are and what they've been through in their life. You could have both a 15year old and forty year old and the fifteen year old could very easily of had more "important" life experiences than the forty year old...it all depends on the individual.

Thirdly, I havn't stated my opinion AT ALL about the U.S. maybe now would be an appropriate time. Excluding the government and a few minor details I love the states. I think it's a wonderful place with wonderful people. There are ALWAYS bad apples in an area, just like there are always good people. My time spent in Oregon and Washington, excluding the scary food size portions was amazing. The scenery was beautiful, and I found it especially beautiful in Oregon. Excluding Seattle, not once did I ever have any problems with the people they were all extremely friendly and apart from the differences in accents (that was mostly in Oregon and very slight) the people were basically the same as Canadians. I mean we all really are the same, we're all human beings, we all came from the same amount of chromosomes...to be divided simply because of our nationality is a wee bit silly. I am able to make jokes about Canada and England and laugh at them, because I love my countries and that's just me. In my opinion (unless we're talking about really rude, degrading jokes which I'm not into) if you love something enough and are comfortable enough with it then you should be able to handle the humour that will adventually come. To not have any humour would just be really boring and I would hate to be that person. So all in all I don't have any negativity toward any country or their people as a whole. I think both the Canada and the U.S. are beautiful places, although unfortunetly due to your government and medical system the U.S. at this time is somewhere I would never move to. I say this is unfortunet because I love Oregon so much that I would like to live there, but like I said I just wouldn't be able to for other reasons. Actually I just thought of something that is annoying me, but again not directed at Americans as a whole...In Canada (atleast here we do) we have a commerical running saying how amazing nuclear power is and how enviromentally friendly it is...Everything I've been taught in school goes against everything the commercial says (not to mention nuclear power is downright discusting) so it's a wee bit annoying.

Lastly, with regards to Seattle...it is quite smoggy, atleast compared with all the places I've been to and the place I live in. You also must know that prior to being in Seattle we were up in the cascade mountain areas in little towns in the middle of nowhere for a week. The air there was perfect and then coming to Seattle I noticed the change in air right away...like always. I live in an area with very little air polution, good airflow etc so I'm used to nice air. I don't know as though the smog was worse or better than Vancouver's smog problem but it was deffinetly noticeable. Like I tried to say but people seemed to read over, the main reason I hated Seattle so much was because I hate big cities apart from the fact that I do love them strictly for their shopping. I used to love cities, but I just get so stressed out in the traffi and just everything it's way too frustrating being in a big city that I don't know. I hate going to Vancouver, I hate Toronto and I hate London, England...although at the same time I do love them for their shopping! haha. But there are some cities (for example Calgary and Victoria) that although I find it annoying to go to their downtown I don't mind too much going down there. Where I live I'm used to seeing lots and lots and lots and lots of forest/trees, if not that then fields you know the rural type stuff but there's obviously none of that in the city and it's just so annoying. I was also annoyed while we were leaving because it's so peaceful where I am, even in the cities nearby but the minute I stepped out of the car in Seattle all I could hear were cars driving around and honking. Another reason I was annoyed while leaving was due to the fact that the Seattle Aquarium was a very depressing place to go to...Many (not all) of the exibits were very poorly made, they were simple concrete cages with nothing but animal excrement in them...it was very disheartening. Haha I love the rain exscuse but where I'm from it rains 364 days a year and the 365th day you go on holiday to somewhere where it's raining! hahaha That's our running joke because it rains so much here, so I don't buy that one! Many people here will always wave and/or smile at you even if you don't know them...many things like that. I did things like that in Seattle and got very nasty looks as if smileing and saying "thank-you, please, sorry" etc is a forgien language! I don't think it's a beautiful city, and I find it a very irritating place to be BUT I will likely go back because they have fab shopping and I didn't go look around the whole city.

 

[susanne]

I don't mean to pick on anyone, but I always have to laugh when people jump on the "horrible media" bandwagon. (Well...I'd laugh except that this is a travesty)

A recent poll showed that most people consider the likes of Bill O'Reilly, MTV, USA Today, news light tv shows, etc. to be journalism. Most people wouldn't know good journalism if it hit them on the head.

Funny, but those who "hate the media"so often seem to turn to Fox, which is akin to someone hating our judicial system and turning to Judge Judy.

There's a lot of crap out there, for sure, but keep in mind that this is not journalism...at least not the likes of Edward R. Murrow. Our free press plays a critical role in the way our country functions, eeping us informed regarding our own government, social and corporate powers. If you doubt the importance of journalism in our country, REMEMBER WATERGATE... Nixon would have gotten away with what he did if not for Woodward and Bernstein.

If you are upset about what you read and hhear, demand BETTER. It is far too important to merely be something that we whine about.

Don't dis the media -- dis ourselves for allowing entertainment to take the place of true journalism.

There are excellent sources of news out there who strive for unbiased coverage -- but it's not candy-coated Fox News or USA Today. And even then, don't ever assume freedom from bias -- even those who make this their goal are only human...I love NPR, but I hear its bias loud and clear and consider what I hear accordingly.

 

[Minimor]

Tigeress, I for one made no generalizations about you based on your age. I knew you are in your teens, but judging by your posts on this thread I was actually thinking you were several years younger than 18. While there certainly are 18 year olds who are more worldly than some 40 year olds....Your last post especially proves just how young and unworldly you actually are. You write about all the things you hate & are annoyed by---but you see, that is you....not Seattle. I'm a country girl too & am not at all keen on cities. They're great to visit, & I find them exhilarating while I'm there, but I sure wouldn't want to live there...but I can't say I hate cities. I actually find the word "hate" quite childish when used frequently--true hatred is an evil thing. In one instance I have had hatred directed toward me, & I can assure you that it is a "hate" far different from what you actually feel toward Seattle & other cities like it...

There's nothing at all wrong with being young and unworldly--it's actually a good thing to be at the age of 18!!--just so long as one realizes how one comes across to others. No one is trying to get the best of you here by calling you down because you are young.

I do think someone worldly, who has had many life experiences, wouldn't have started this thread in the first place.

 

[tigeresss]

So to hate something is to be childish? I agree that the word hate is often misused and overused, and I probably should have said "strongly dislike" rather than "hate" but I'm not writing my posts out to be published in a journal so maybe I'm just too "lazy" to try to make myself appear more educated through my writing on the internet. Then again this is only the internet and although I wouldn't stoop down to the level of MSN slang on the internet I feel the need for a time to relax. I suppose I take offense to being called young and unworldly as for quite some time now I've been told over and over by both adults and youth that I am just the opposite of that. Then again that is in person, not on the internet.

Why do you feel someone who is "...worldly, who has had many life experiences, wouldn't have started this thread in the first place"?

I fail to see why it is so wrong to detest a place, or a person, or a thing IF you have proper reasoning to hate them/it. I have said that I detest the part of the city and the experiences that I saw in Seattle. I suppose I should have been more clear.

I've got to go I'llget backt o this when I come home...

 

[Pepipony]

Susanne I know what you mean about media LOL It CRACKS me up that people can complain about bias in it, but then stick to one station out of hundreds and claim their station isnt biased, all the others are! ROFLAO!!! I hate spin, think thats why the Dems lost, they hoped that people were smart enough to see the spin happening but alas, they werent. Even watching speeches now, its funny (in a sick twisted way) how the journalists questions will be twisted so the answer will be 'positive'. I truly wonder how many people actually LISTEN to what is asked, what is answered and then what the outcome actually was? Usually these are all different things. Oh well. It really is darkest when ones head is up the shrub. DOH! Did I just say that out loud?

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