Americans: Insular, self-satisfied, arrogant, ignorant, dogmatic sometimes anti-Islamic and often anti-European aggressors?

http://vecchigiocattoli.it/wwfjimduggan.jpg

Yes.

Adam you've lived here long enough to know that there is no such thing as the average American.

whoa.

i think theres an interesting flipside perspective to michaels posts, and thats that immigrants to america do display a greater embrace of host culture, than those to britain or france. why is this? a number of reasons, but one might well be a more positivistic spin on micheals post. that, if you embrace AMERICA, you can become american, in a way, that perhaps you can't do in britain or france, where there is natural resistance perhaps. or, come to britain and you'll never be free of your roots, come to america, and we'll help you lose them

i think it was dave q that put this better, something like, come to britain, and dont fuck things up ok, vs. come to america and be american. something like that anyway. its sort of an order/welcome dialectic!

I'm sure there's plenty of Turkish people who live in both countries you'd could ask about their "welcome."

i think theres an interesting flipside perspective to michaels posts, and thats that immigrants to america do display a greater embrace of host culture, than those to britain or france. why is this?

Depends on where you live, and the size of your community of fellow immigrants. For example, it's probably easier for Middle Easterners to resist their host culture in New York or suburban Detroit (and a few other places) than, say, Mobile, Alabama.

the turkish (and vietnamese) populations of germany have certainly had trouble. hollands record, however, until recently at least, has been better, much better (and lets not forget holland has the highest immigrant population in western europe, and is also a much smaller country)

Then again, middle England IS pretty fucking Euro-sceptic (xenophobic?) itself.

I agree with this 100%.

Sorry folks, I just had to deal with some really offensive 'Middle-American' Republicans spouting off about Clinton's speech last night and my widdle head just went 'Boom'. I know there are fine folks all over the country and conversely there are prime asshats all over too.

They thought he was just being 'Slick Willie', which admittedly is partially true, but with such venom! Then they went off on Coulter being dropped by USA Today and were laughing about her 'Party of France' joke and it was all I could do to patriotically refrain from gutting them with my envelope opener right there.

i think american antipathy for europe is, culturally, a good thing for europe (if less so for britain), and i am certainly pleased to see the anti-europeanism on the noise board, long may it continue:)

though, you are ruining it michael, with your thoughtful posts! perhaps, you will be around in sf the next time i am passing through, with union jack shorts on head

Next time I'll make sure not to miss the FAP.

Yes, controversial, flame me etc etc.

nothing controversial about this! sums up britain very well i think

The average American (if you can believe polls) was still saying the week before we invaded Iraq that we shouldn't do it without U.N. support. Those numbers changed after the invasion in the wave of media- and administration-induced stand-by-your-man patriotism. But it didn't take long for them to start falling, and the average American now believes the whole thing is a mess that wasn't "worth it" (whatever that means -- I'm really not a fan of poll questions).

I'm not saying we're really a nation of good-hearted simple folk or anything Norman Rockwell like that. But in the case of the Bush administration, I really do think the average American is much more reasonable, less insular, arrogant and self-satisfied than our government.

On the other hand, I still think Bush is going to get re-elected. So I don't know.

We make some good music. And good pie.

Am I insular? Possibly. Hell, the state of Texas is big enough to engulf me completely, even though the proximity to the US-Mexican border makes me even more aware of what goes on in Mexico than someone in, oh, say, North Dakota. (Note: I haven't even been outside the city limits in almost three and a half years, and I don't even know what the part of the country east of the Mississippi really looks like.)

Arrogant? If it means being openly proud of being American and, dare I say it, "patriotic", sure, I'm as arrogant as they come. I guess if my family had been here for at least a century and/or had come from some sort of Western European nation, I might not be as passionate, but neither of those is the case.

Ignorant? Hm. Most days I'm only able to let in enough outside information to allow me to survive. Most people around here are only concerned with trying to live their everyday lives. I guess there might come a time in the future when I will have the luxury of being able to let in more information about what's going on beyond the borders of my own little world, but as for now, I can only spare enough time and energy to know what's going on in my city.

Dogmatic? I seriously do not think the average American is really able to be "dogmatic", and besides, that's a $20.00 way of complaining about the US government's status as the World's Parental Figure, which it should naturally be, "isolationists" and honest-to-goodness "anti-Americans" be damned.

Anti-Islamic? Not for the large majority of us. Sometimes we get a negative impression of the Islamic faith when we hear about all these fatwas issued against the Judeo-Christianic peoples by the extremist faction of the faith, but for roughly 90% of us non-Muslims, we recognize that there are plenty of Muslims right here in our country who are good neighbors and not at all like the Islamists who give that faith a bad name and reputation. (The rest are just people who hate Others, no matter who those Others are. These people probably hate me, too, since I'm one of those "Spics" they curse at.)

Anti-European? How can any of us Americans be anti-European when most of us are still of European ancestry? Most of us might derive great pleasure out of hating the French, and some of us might be rather frustrated by the seeming anti-American sentiments coming from many Europeans and thus feel like Europe itself hates America, but it would be pointless to hate a continent that a great many of us have had relatives come from.

Aggressors? Maybe. Maybe sometimes we're a bit quick to go jump into War mode. Maybe we do show our muscle a bit too much. But I know that I myself would like to know that there are people out there who show their disapproval over various military activities, who do indeed see that there are those times when war IS called for, that there ARE those things worth fighting over, and that they're not protesting military actions just because they hate the military.

(BTW, I personally don't mind if you go out and protest wars as many times as you'd like, but I WILL get pissed off if you hurl insults at soldiers and/or try to abuse any members of the military you may come across. Direct the insults at the highest levels of the government, please, not at the poor private who probably came from a background where joining the Army was probably the best move to make.)

(xpost)

I want to hug you, spittle. I love your post. Thanks for posting it.

even though the proximity to the US-Mexican border makes me even more aware of what goes on in Mexico than someone in, oh, say, North Dakota ... please change this to even though the proximity to the US-Mexico border makes me even more aware of what goes on in Mexico than would someone in, oh, say, North Dakota. Thanks.

http://www.slate.com/id/2206970/

LeBron James is one of the 10 most famous people in the world

he's the one with the beard right?

LOL

hes the muslim we just elected president

He's not even as famous as Yuvraj Singh

You guys need to bring "Eerie, Indiana back", I loved that show.

To be fair though, I suppose basketball is the American sport that's most played outwith the US

that's not saying much

I dunno, the once a year rugby teams decide to throw the ball forwards might top it.

Basketball is very popular in places where large black guys are much loved and respected, like Spain and Eastern Europe

and of course China, home of the respected black man

man things were grim back in 2004

Meanwhile, back in Dearborn:

http://www.freep.com/article/20110131/NEWS02/110131019/-He-serious-bar-owner-said-mosque-bomb-suspect

After about 20 minutes of talking to the man, Nahhas called 911 while Stockham was still at the bar. When the guy realized Nahhas was on to him, he bolted, the bar owner said.

Nahhas said he followed him out to the parking lot to see where he was going.

Nahhas’ tip led police the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn where Stockham was arrested Jan. 24. A preliminary examination is set for Friday, police said

Stockham was wearing a black ski mask when police stopped him and was driving a car packed with high-end fireworks, police said.

thought it that was fr33 republic for a minute, like, "why aren't they ignoring this"?