Georgia

[Comp1337]

no really, lolforb

[Otherside]

[Forboding Angel]

no really, lolforb

Orly? Then try rebutting.

umm... lolheil?

[PicassoCT]

lolheil... legendary.. rofl

Guess that´s the RickRoll of Politics- you try something new and end up with Adolfs Imperial Ambitions... Epic Phail included

[AF]

Foreboding, you should look at european news before you call us ignorant of the US, if anythign tis the other way round, the US is more ignorant of europe!

But alas you seem to be exerting far too much effort here. You do realize you gain nothing by arguing?

[Comp1337]

try rebutting.

Nah

[Forboding Angel]

Effort? I'm enjoying talking about it. If I had to put effort into it then I wouldn't do it in the first place. I type roughly 90wpm so huge epic posts aren't that big of a deal except trying to keep all that coherant gets a little mind boggling. God only knows how argh manages to do it.

I'm not only calling Europeans ignorant of the US, I'm am calling them "Ignant of the US".

Please, you know very very little. Spend a month here at some point.

Europeans are every bit as ignorant of the US as the US is of them. But there is a large difference here. We are in a huge country, speaking 1 language and can travel 2500 miles without crossing a border. Unless we have a vested interest in your country, there is little need for us to pay attention to your country (unless we want to).

Pull out a blank map (borders drawn) of the north america, label all 48 states and all the provinces in canada, and the 1 US state up there.

My guess is that you can label 4. California, texas, florida, and maine.

Inversely, I'll pull out a blank map of Europe, I imagine I can label many more countries in europe than you can label states and provinces.

This is just one small and mostly insignificant example, but it goes a long way towards proving a point.

@Complete
Then your opinions don't hold any water. Anyone can regurgitate what they see on TV. Anyone who isn't an idiot should be capable of forming their own opinions with reasons as to why they formed said opinions and what led them in that direction.

[Imperium]

Pull out a blank map (borders drawn) of the north america, label all 48 states and all the provinces in canada, and the 1 US state up there.

My guess is that you can label 4. California, texas, florida, and maine.

Inversely, I'll pull out a blank map of Europe, I imagine I can label many more countries in europe than you can label states and provinces.

You might be right in saying that, though Western Europe is full of historically famous countries so I'd say most people would be able to place them. You'd probably struggle with Eastern Europe.

I'd also say that far more Europeans could place European countries compared to Americans place American States.

e: You're much more likely to hear about things in the news etc to do with a country than to do with a state. So if something happens in Ohio for example it's more likely to be regarded as happening in America rather than something happening in Slovenia being regarded as something that happened in Europe. If you see my point.

[Forboding Angel]

And as such we tend to pay more attention to our region (which just so happens to be in our on country or in canada or mexico), than we do to things that happen in europe.

Inversely, the same is true of europeans, except that state 50 miles to your west jsut so happens to be an entirely different country, the regional principle still applies.

[LordMuffe]

Pull out a blank map (borders drawn) of the north america, label all 48 states and all the provinces in canada, and the 1 US state up there.

My guess is that you can label 4. California, texas, florida, and maine.

wrong, since last week, every european can label California, Texas, Forida, Maine and Georgia

[AF]

forb that state thing doesnt really work as most americans cant do it either.

However american affairs do feature on the news here. News channels show more about US politics than germany france spain and the rest of europe combined (unless a war springs up). We read all about your sub prime crisis and the media is particularly happy to report on your presidential runnings.

[Forboding Angel]

forb that state thing doesnt really work as most americans cant do it either.

However american affairs do feature on the news here. News channels show more about US politics than germany france spain and the rest of europe combined (unless a war springs up). We read all about your sub prime crisis and the media is particularly happy to report on your presidential runnings.

Sadly, themajority of what you hear is utter bullshit.

SubPrime was not a crisis. The democrats in an not so obvious way (i.e. Indirectly), forced mortgage companies to offer loans to people who were massively underqualified for those loans, and when people couldn't pay the loans, the the mortgage companies started going tits up. But now our idiots in congress decide that the responsible people who didn't take loans they couldn't possibly pay back in the first place, are responsible for the fucktards that couldn't pay back their loans, and we, the taxpayers have to bail them out. Liberalism at it's best.

[Cabbage]

Effort? I'm enjoying talking about it. If I had to put effort into it then I wouldn't do it in the first place. I type roughly 90wpm so huge epic posts aren't that big of a deal except trying to keep all that coherant gets a little mind boggling. God only knows how argh manages to do it.

I'm not only calling Europeans ignorant of the US, I'm am calling them "Ignant of the US".

Please, you know very very little. Spend a month here at some point.

Europeans are every bit as ignorant of the US as the US is of them. But there is a large difference here. We are in a huge country, speaking 1 language and can travel 2500 miles without crossing a border. Unless we have a vested interest in your country, there is little need for us to pay attention to your country (unless we want to).

Pull out a blank map (borders drawn) of the north america, label all 48 states and all the provinces in canada, and the 1 US state up there.

My guess is that you can label 4. California, texas, florida, and maine.

Inversely, I'll pull out a blank map of Europe, I imagine I can label many more countries in europe than you can label states and provinces.

This is just one small and mostly insignificant example, but it goes a long way towards proving a point.

@Complete
Then your opinions don't hold any water. Anyone can regurgitate what they see on TV. Anyone who isn't an idiot should be capable of forming their own opinions with reasons as to why they formed said opinions and what led them in that direction.

Fantastic, more utter tosh. Sadly you're wrong again, im prettry sure most British people could name more US states than they cound English/Scottish/Welsh counties - i know i can. It would be nice if you would actuly explain how exactly the european masses are "ignorant of the US", no doubt alot of people are, but you can pick any subject that comes to mind and say the same thing. You just spurt out your stupid mass generalisations / right wing effluent all the time, unwilling, or perhaps unable, to even see someone elses point of view.

Also, where have i claimed to be an expert on the US? What constitues an expert exactly? I know it isnt you that that decides. Most things are the same no matter where you live, money gets wasted on stupid things, there is crime, similar laws, stupid people pretty much anything else you care to think of.

My point is this:

You're an intolerant (yes, i know this looks a little bit hipocritical before anyone says ) <insert insult of your choice here> with a host of poisionous opinions.

[PicassoCT]

It was pretty much unforgiveable to be ignorant of the US for the last ten years when they were the remaining worldpower.. but since bush.. well it is not nessecary to know the colour of the Plane going for a crash..

PS: Forb, there is Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, New England, Alaska, Florida, Montana, Utah (all of them without looking on the map.. you know Hollywood made the pretty popular, compared to how few People live in it (And Russia & Africa beeing a Great Example-> Beeing a big dot of green colour in Google Earth is not nessecary a sign for Power.. People with brains are, therefore those People in Europe mostly remember Eastcoast and California.

It´s alway hard to part from a Empire, Great Britain can sing that Blues, France can, Italy- it is a very European thing to melancholic look at the ruinz (which- no loss without gain attract chinese and american tourists.. )

And i aprecciate your nostalgia for gasoline cars, however as long as there MainEnergysuppliers continue to park there planes in Skyscrapers.. i gladly ignore that hippys invented the eletric car and drive it, if only to spare the kids the billions of debts for the nostalgic-car-wars

Part of Empires is always the Tradition of Ignorance.. there can not be something outside of Rome that is not Province and minor.. i
Even the hang for old production methods (slavework is cheap, slavework is save, why try something new?) is old, it´s all just a little bit of History Repeating..

[Cabbage]

forb that state thing doesnt really work as most americans cant do it either.

However american affairs do feature on the news here. News channels show more about US politics than germany france spain and the rest of europe combined (unless a war springs up). We read all about your sub prime crisis and the media is particularly happy to report on your presidential runnings.

Sadly, themajority of what you hear is utter bullshit.

SubPrime was not a crisis. The democrats in an not so obvious way (i.e. Indirectly), forced mortgage companies to offer loans to people who were massively underqualified for those loans, and when people couldn't pay the loans, the the mortgage companies started going tits up. But now our idiots in congress decide that the responsible people who didn't take loans they couldn't possibly pay back in the first place, are responsible for the fucktards that couldn't pay back their loans, and we, the taxpayers have to bail them out. Liberalism at it's best.

If thats not a crises what is exactly? Fanny Mae, the company that own or gaurentee half of all mortgaes in the US, thats some 12 trillion dollars almost collapses and has to be bailed out by the government, and its not a crisis? It makes the Northen Rock mess, the first run on a British bank for a hundred and somthing years look trivial in comparison, and that was most definately a crisis.

In both cases this the companies own fault, which have been giving easy credit to people who shouldnt really get it, like almost every other major bank/mortgage lender has for the past 10 years. This isnt another of you're left wing conspericy theories, its people unable to cope with the massive burden of debt they've been accumilating in recent years and nothing more. The banks own irrisponsible lending caused this whole problem, and it was always going to happen at some point because of it.

[Comp1337]

Forb, it's part of the swedish national highschool curriculum to be able to place every state in the US on a map

We also study quite a bit of american history, american culture and american literature.

Cant say anything for the other countries in europe, but i cant imagine we are far ahead of the others

EDIT: CAbbage, Tosh is such an awesome word <3

[[Krogoth86]]

Well this is drifting pretty offtopic now...
Apart from that you can't really make quite some arguments which popped up here as there is no "Europeans" or "Americans" after all so stop the stupid prejudices the media tell you constantly. You can find stupiditiy like THIS HERE everywhere...

I also think there is no hating of another country or being really ignorant towards it as long as you're no fanatic. Everyone of course focuses on what's happening near to you because that's just a normal behaviour but imo there always should be a minimum of education and knowledge about what is happening recently - that woman asking about how far the Russian invasion in the US state Georgia has progressed which I think rattle came up with now is a good example for how it shouldn't be and also for the stupidity you'll find everywhere if you try...

Coming back to Georgia (the real one now ^^) I don't like lots of stuff that's going on in the media recently. There especially was very much contra Russia stuff with lots of it being plain wrong. You know you get told to see how those evil russian fighters fly over georgian ground - in reality their are just georgian fighters. Then there also were some imo stupid "mistakes" like "Oh my good look at those russian tanks advancing town!" while they turn out to be georgian tanks - thinks like that just suck!

After all the facts I know (and most of them are not from polarising TV news) Georgia in fact started a war of aggression by attacking the capital Zchinvali with mortars and crossing the line of demarcation to South Ossetia with troops. It also seems to be obvious that Georgia also used a couple of mercenaries from other countries. There are convincing facts for this (at least currently) out there - just search for them...

This of course has little influence on how to rate Russia's behaviour after the escalation but here we're also faced with tons of disinformation and propaganda and I don't know yet what to believe...

[Satirik]

You can find stupiditiy like THIS HERE everywhere...

this vid is awesome, im wondering how many people they interview before finding retards like that

[nemppu]

Forb, it's part of the swedish national highschool curriculum to be able to place every state in the US on a map

We also study quite a bit of american history, american culture and american literature.

Cant say anything for the other countries in europe, but i cant imagine we are far ahead of the others

EDIT: CAbbage, Tosh is such an awesome word <3

aah thank god finland is more to the east than you gays. we got way less american gayness B-)

[BaNa]

Europeans are every bit as ignorant of the US as the US is of them. But there is a large difference here. We are in a huge country, speaking 1 language and can travel 2500 miles without crossing a border. Unless we have a vested interest in your country, there is little need for us to pay attention to your country (unless we want to).

Pull out a blank map (borders drawn) of the north america, label all 48 states and all the provinces in canada, and the 1 US state up there.

My guess is that you can label 4. California, texas, florida, and maine.

Inversely, I'll pull out a blank map of Europe, I imagine I can label many more countries in europe than you can label states and provinces.

This is just one small and mostly insignificant example, but it goes a long way towards proving a point.

gee forb, we allways knew you where a creative mastermind, but perhaps you could leave the guessing and the imagining out of a debate? Your example fails. I have lived in the great U S of A for >5 years, and my personal experience was that most people there are generally ignorant about and have a mood of apathy towards the rest of the world. There is probably a big group of people who would have difficulties even locating Europe on a map. This is, in a way understandable, because it is a big country, and one that is (was) possibly the least dependent on others these past sixty years. Europeans on the other hand have not had this luxury, and while they may not know where Idaho is, there wont be any misunderstanding about which blob America is.

The problem with this sort of ignorance is that it is also very dangerous for us, the rest of the world. It is this kind of ignorance that allowed the current debacle in Iraq, going in to look for "WMDs" with a significant part of your population believing Saddam had links to 9/11.

About the sub-prime crisis, I think you just sort of proved the American ignorance thing to us. Your understanding of the biggest economical happening in your own country borders on : "Darn Librals dun it"

Have you heard of risk repacking? CDO's were one of the reasons loans could be advanced to sub-optimal customers.

Wikipedia has a nice writeup, if you are interested

Also, AFAIK, it is not the peeps who defaulted on their loans who are getting a federal bailout, but the banks who now own the risk. That means those peoples houses will still be auctioned off.