THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: T234 on November 03, 2008, 12:52:00 PM
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I thought about this while driving to class this morning. Jinfash's thread yesterday prompted it.
When I think of Poland; I think of HUGE amounts of unemployed (and talented) computer people, really hot chicks,and tremendous amounts of hatred for the nazis. When I think of Holland; I think of windmills, hot chicks, and weed. When I think of England; I think of Top Gear, BBC news, hot chicks, a castle that has my name on it, and absolute heartbreak every four years since 1966. When I think of Australia; I think of all that is wrong with big government, an army of giant hot redhead chicks, crazy guys, and wildlife that will eat you alive. When I think of Japan; I think of dudes in alligator shoes beating the bejeezus out of five guys in an alley, Americans with unhealthy obsessions with its subculture, and random chicks in PVC trying to sell me cars. When I think of Iran; I think of religious extremism, crazy presidents, and hot chicks who wear too much clothing. When I think of Saudi Arabia; I think of houses built out of stacks of 100$ bills, solid gold hats, and even more chicks who wear entirely too much clothing.
When in reality, all of these countries probably have lots of college students who are just as senseless as I am, who have got into car wrecks, have their own aspirations, rivals, dreams, nightmares, and goals. (There's probably a few of them who ran around drunk friday night trying to pick up chicks who were way out of their league too :lol ) There's probably a few of them who have already seen their little corner of the world and now they wish to see the rest of it, but can't for various reasons. There is much rhetoric circulating around my corner of the globe, always centering around this or that set of foreigners ("DEY TUK YER JERB", or "If you vote for Obama the turrists win." that kind of bullshit). When in reality, the guy who took your job and son is right within these very borders. When you make a decision, you typically don't factor in what it will do to some place you have never seen before you factor in what it does right before your own eyes.
Here in the US, pretty much every day we're told that the middle east is full of extremists who follow their leaders blindly into whatever psychotic scheme they've come up with. Again, not reality. One of my Professors (an OG Persian), tells me that there was a shortage of eggs around a major university because the students bought them all to pelt Ahmadinejad with them :rofl
So my question to evilbore is this: What have you got on your mind, other than the fact that I am a rambler of epic scale?
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Here in the US, pretty much every day we're told that the middle east is full of extremists who follow their leaders blindly into whatever psychotic scheme they've come up with.
Who tells you this?
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The only images you see on American TV of the middle east have something on fire (granted we probably set it on fire) or someone yelling. You never hear much about dissent.
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I don't often hear England associated with hot chicks ??? Not saying they don't have any at all (or hot accents) buuut am I wrong here?
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Most of the chicks in the background on Top Gear are :-* material.
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I was actually thinking of Top Gear audience shots for my personal reference :-\
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Pajama chick could get it.
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And what do you think the media in Iran tells them about America? It's not just us.
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Pajama chick could get it.
Is she in the new episode? I haven't seen it yet :omg
And yeah Xenophobia is pretty common everywhere.
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yep, countries are stereotyped and pigeonholed everywhere, but they live their lives more or less like we do. When you travel to one of those places, it's generally a good idea to forget about the generalizations (no matter how good/bad they are) and just go with the flow.
It's really not U.S. exclusive either...it's always a blast putting up with my argentinian relatives' rants about America/Americans.
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And what do you think the media in Iran tells them about America? It's not just us.
This is very true. I hadn't thought of it that way.
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Pajama chick could get it.
Is she in the new episode? I haven't seen it yet :omg
And yeah Xenophobia is pretty common everywhere.
Nah, I'm keeping up with it on BBC America :(
Oh wait I have a huge usenext quota :D :D :D
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Propaganda exists everywhere. If there is an unbiased nation, I have yet to know of it. Sorry, Canada, any European nation, Australia, and New Zealand are not unbiased nations.
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The only images you see on American TV of the middle east have something on fire (granted we probably set it on fire) or someone yelling. You never hear much about dissent.
If you were to watch the local news, you'd think all Americans were drunken wifebeaters who just lost everything they owned in a tornado and committed armed robbery of a gas station while being out and about carrying kids to soccer practice on a partly cloudy day with a 20% chance of rain.
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uh, we "dehumanize" them because they are in fact not human. else why would they be called "illegal aliens"?
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The media has an active interest in keeping people stupid and scared. Dehumanization is a vital part of that process.
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The media has an active interest in keeping people stupid and scared. Dehumanization is a vital part of that process.
Can't really blame the media entirely...people are worse about spreading misinformation. For every guy like T234 who has decided to think critically about this, there are thousands who are like "hyuk hyuk, muslims just wanna kill us..it even says so in the koran lol"
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"obama is a muslim!" :(
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Denegrating other cultures and nations is an important part of nationalism. It keeps the community at large contiguous and rather worry about the faults they have internally make themselves feel better that at least they're, 'Not x, y or z!'.