Little things about Western culture that annoy you.

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OneOfTheMichael's

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Jul 26, 2010
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Nice job with your list you have there. And I agree with almost all of it.
What really pisses me off is our celebrities, greedy society, lack of modesty and their games are all the same it seems.
 

Gladiateher

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Mar 14, 2011
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A liberal atheist on the internet? My god contact the BBC immediately.

really though alot of these problems aren't uniquely western. Especially when it comes to Christianity and gay rights. In fact I would say that many western nations are comparatively tolerant of homosexuality.

Your complaints about videogames/music/toys/cartoons seem to lack understanding that these things are popular the way they are because of economics. It should also probably be brought up that many of the songs people consider to be "timeless classics" played on the violin were written by Europeans. And don't get me started on videogame character design seriously if you wanna see bulging muscles and massive mammaries Japanese games WILL deliver, especially fighting games. Also, eastern countries are often the enemy in Western games because of things like plausibility and history.

As far as celebrities go you can hardly ask Hollywood to fire their actors. Though I don't condone many of their actions you have to realize that for every "disgraceful" celebrity there's many who are wonderful people. You can't judge an entire group by the actions of a few people, especially when there are some like Steve Buscemi in that group.

It's really a shame you feel this way about Western nations. I don't believe you ever ask yourself why. Why are things the way they are? Why would they do this? Why would they believe that? and so on. If that doesn't work try following the money. Who stands to gain what? It's really simple stuff and it makes more sense than you think.

You do have one valid point: that animation isn't just for children. Other than that your just spewing drivel.

Like the part about thinking that Westerners believe that caring about workers is for commies. The President of America passed a Bill attempting to establish healthcare for EVERYONE. How could that not benefit workers? Keep in mind that to be elected The President would need to win his election so the majority of people in the U.S. at least for now believe the opposite of what your saying.
 

Gladiateher

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Giest4life said:
The fact that we have to give reasons for everything. Seriously, sometimes people like stuff just for the hell of it, and "reasons" don't come even close to explaining why we like--or dislike--those things.
I don't mean to pry but how do you mean sir? Who's extracting these reasons from you?
 

Gladiateher

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blakfayt said:
I have nothing to say here, OP wins the "awesomest post of the year" award, for saying everything I've ever thought. What's wrong if I like MLP? What's wrong if I prefer a highschool kid saving the world as opposed to a battle hardened asshole? To be honest the west sucks, there isn't an original idea in the works over here anywhere, and yet all western gamers can do is go "JRPGs are gay, it's a bunch of emos shooting lasers and crying!" I mean fuck, FPSs are all super soldiers killing people with the same plot as a 90's action film, it's not interesting, it's not original, it's an excuse for kids to do something violent instead of their homework.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Kickass
Zombieland
Limbo
Bastion
The Dark Knight
Red Dead Redemption

To name a few... there's a couple of interesting things that the West had a hand in.
 

Gladiateher

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LilithSlave said:
Sir Rammington Steel said:
Are you serious? We're the only one with disproportionate characters?
Absolutely not. I said nothing like that. There is a such thing as different cultures in the world. You ever heard reviewers out there deride jRPGs for not being "manly" enough have having too much androgyny?

They're wrong that there's something wrong with androgyny and that jRPGs need to be "manlier" like wRPGs. But they are right that Asian media has a greater tendency towards androgyny.

Surely you have come across these reviewers that say Asian media has a greater tendency towards androgyny while the West has a greater tendency toward manliness and curvaceous characters. They're common in the video game industry.
You should be more specific in the future. Your statements are too broad. Oh, and reviewers slamming JRPGs doesn't really reflect many people in Western culture. JRPGs sell better here than in Japan. (see operation rainfall)
 

Naeo

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People who say "the west sucks because..." or "my government/culture sucks because..." and then idolize somewhere the don't live based on what amounts to ignorant and sometimes demonstrably wrong ideas about the place in question.
 

Aris Khandr

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LilithSlave said:
Blue laws. This is another Christian problem. If people want to sell alcohol, let them sell alcohol. If people want to buy alcohol, let them buy alcohol. There's nothing wrong with buying alcohol on Sunday.
May I interject on this one? My uncle owns a liquor store, so obviously has no problem selling the stuff. But studies have been done, no more alcohol is sold at liquor stores if they stay open on Sunday than would otherwise be sold if they weren't. The people who plan to drink on Sunday just buy on Saturday instead. So being open on Sunday actually costs the stores money, since they're paying employees to be there, but not really selling any more than they would. It might be good for impulse drinkers, but it's horrible from a business standpoint.
 

DustyDrB

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Jan 19, 2010
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thebobmaster said:
The fact that we can't let private lives be private. God help anyone who finds out that the person they are playing or talking with is LGBT, or a furry.

God help the furries.
Yeah, I agree here. TMZ, paparazzi, and anyone else who makes a living by being nothing more than a gossip are all scum in my eyes. I value privacy, so I would flip the fuck out on those people if they followed me.

Related to that: Athletes are not role models. They are athletes. And I'm saying that as an avid baseball fan.
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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cdstephens said:
By "Western" you mean American, because most of those things don't apply in the Western world as a whole. In fact, 100% of your examples were American examples.

Also, I take offense to a number of your stereotypes of Christianity. Your argument against Sundays is rather unfounded because most people simply don't like working every single day of the week. It's much more efficient to have one day of the week where almost no one works, especially in an office environment or anything involving group work. Also, not all Christians nor all of Christianity is "oppressive" and conservative; a majority, perhaps, but you should be blaming the *people*, not the religion, especially when you consider that the religion specifically teaches that we should treat one another with kindness and respect regardless of background.

Oh, and the Sunday rule applies everywhere, not just the West. Japan for example doesn't have school on Sunday.

As for video games, blame the publishers instead of the developers, especially considering the job market. If a developer has the choice between having a stable job making a standard game or taking a risky job involving a new game that might not even be published depending on certain situations (i.e. cancellation), they're going with the safe option. Very few people want to be starving artists.

Do you have any better ideas for video game enemies in modern times set in the real world? Our last big enemy WAS Soviet Russia, and our enemy now are terrorists. There aren't really many more realistic options than that.

You don't have to listen to Western pop if you don't want to. If there's a commercial with it, skip it with Tivo or do something else in the meantime. If it's on the radio, change the station or use your ipod/computer.

Also, cartoons were specifically made in the first place to be aimed at children. That's not saying that all cartoons are for children, just that in most cases it's hard to take the genre seriously simply because it looks cartoony. Most anime AND most western cartoons are made for kids though are made for kids. There's a reason why the main anime/manga genre is called shounen; the kanji literally mean "young age".

And just a note, most action oriented anime tend to use cheap tricks like make the background a single color instead of what's actually in the background, do still shots of characters only talking, repeating the same actions over again during a battle, etc that western animators tend to avoid. In most western cartoons for example, people actually DO THINGS while they're talking instead of sitting in one place. Compare an episode of Naruto to an episode of Justice League: Unlimited and you'll see what I mean.

There were no women in the Red Guard, they were all teenagers, and the Red Guard had nothing to do with shooting people.

When celebrities do stupid stuff they a lot of the time don't end up making money out of it. Prime example being Charlie Sheen.

This is coming from a person who loves Japanese culture btw.
Yeah, pretty much what this guy said. I don't 100% agree with the OP, as many of his/her points are quite flawed and too generalized to only the US (I refuse to call it "America", as I too live in the freakin' continent). I only agreed to a few of your points, like the obnoxious commercials on TV and the crappy stuff, like dancing and "talent" shows.

But pretty much, OP, this is like, your opinion. I totally respect it and I don't agree with you.
 

ace_of_something

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Sep 19, 2008
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I'm not sure why if you don't continuously make eye-contact with people when talking to them people think you're disrespecting them/untrustworthy/or rude.

It's stupid and arbitrary. It's mostly people over a certain age that fuss about this more.
 

Brusveen

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Oct 22, 2008
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LilithSlave said:
West, west, please. Can you stop it with the "caring about workers = left = communist = hating the west and freedom" and all that? Caring about workers is not fascism. Workers are the backbone of society and they deserve proper rewards and we should all move forwards as a country, not just a few of us. China and Russia are not the spawn of Satan for having some people who thought the poor deserved better.
Yeah I'm sure both Mao and Stalin were real preoccupied with the welfare of the workers, I mean sure a few millions starved to death but its not like the same thing was happening in the US or in Europe. Oh wait it was happening for some reason in the places that were communist occupied. But as long as they "Thought" the poor deserved better I suppose that makes it allright if they starved.
 

Brusveen

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Oct 22, 2008
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mitchell271 said:
I hate (this one is petty) how we have to add taxes onto the ticketed price, as opposed to the European system.
Oh really? I live in Europe. Same system here.
 

KoalaKid

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Apr 15, 2011
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Daystar Clarion said:
Yeah, OP, most of the stuff you stated is what is wrong with American culture, way to generalise the rest of us.

OT: There's no such thing as Western culture. Europe has many different cultures, with good and bad aspects.

Western culture isn't some sort of 'catch all' word for places that ain't Asia.

I can't help but think that some of the OP's points are a little on the... weeaboo side.
so your okay with making generalizations about America just not your own country?