Just in case some of y'all people didn't know, the drinking age in America is 21... which really is disgraceful... It honestly doesn't help the college kids, or high school for that matter
The European View on all things American
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pfft, yeah. America is waaaaayyyy to over protective of its youth. What they dont know is that the more you make something forbidden, the more kids want to do it. Its like if I told you not to think about a pink elephant, whats the first thing you think of? A PINK ELEPHANT! If i wouldnt have mentioned the pink elephant at all you would have no intrest at all in said elephant.smokeybearsb said:
So wait, as far as I can tell, most Europeans look at America and their only thought is "What the bloody hell are they doing?" Wow. With this power I can get away with lots of shit I guess.
Firstly, its just that most (emphasis on most) Americans do not understand British humor, as a six year bootlegger of Top Gear I can say I understand it aurally but I still don't get it when you are typing it and there aren't any bloody italics or bold font. What separates the sarcasm from the seriousness when there isn't a font change? I'm just supposed to know you so well from your screen name as to understand when you are being funny? And about that, it seems British humor doesn't extend beyond sarcasm. Its like genuine comedic experience is a long lost art there.
As for the rest of Europe, I've always held a deep seated respect/fear of the Germans. Respect because they understand what it is to make a good car (something I still can't convince my neighbors of), but fear because every 100 years or so they go ballistic and blow shit up. It wasn't just WWII or WWI, but in every century since the tenth it seems the German's have always been decidedly ferocious at one time or another. Its like if raise a Wombat: at first its all good and well, it does some tricks and looks cute, but eventually it breeds then goes on a rampage and you have to kill it. Then its offspring repeat the act.
Firstly, its just that most (emphasis on most) Americans do not understand British humor, as a six year bootlegger of Top Gear I can say I understand it aurally but I still don't get it when you are typing it and there aren't any bloody italics or bold font. What separates the sarcasm from the seriousness when there isn't a font change? I'm just supposed to know you so well from your screen name as to understand when you are being funny? And about that, it seems British humor doesn't extend beyond sarcasm. Its like genuine comedic experience is a long lost art there.
As for the rest of Europe, I've always held a deep seated respect/fear of the Germans. Respect because they understand what it is to make a good car (something I still can't convince my neighbors of), but fear because every 100 years or so they go ballistic and blow shit up. It wasn't just WWII or WWI, but in every century since the tenth it seems the German's have always been decidedly ferocious at one time or another. Its like if raise a Wombat: at first its all good and well, it does some tricks and looks cute, but eventually it breeds then goes on a rampage and you have to kill it. Then its offspring repeat the act.
As far as France, well, you can drive to Italy via France I guess. Don't have much use for it other than that.
I guess I'll wrap it up with this: you wonder "What are Americans thinking?" Thats just it, most Americans are just chilling out on the couch watching TV and waiting for their friends to show up for a beer and a card game, then the world is all like "oh you are the biggest economy and have large military, whine whine" and eventually we get pulled into something or feel compelled to do so. Do we want to be involved in Middle Eastern affairs? No, but then we start making nice and then Israel is all like "wait what about us" and then the Muslim world decided "hmm me like Israel" and now we're off the couch again. Do we want to be involved in South American affairs? Could otherwise care less, but there is a debate about drugs in this country and we banned them in the meantime. So then people decided to smuggle them in and now we have to go to Columbia and Panama and places south, again being deprived of our couch. And then illegal immigration happened en-masse and now we can't tell the drug dealers from the immigrants as they all dress the same and now the couch is being carted off so we can make a table out of it bloody bleeding christ. And back during the 1970's there was a revolt by the Christians that became the "born again" movement that ended with most of the midwest being infested with people who are more like Bin Laden then they want to believe and the rest of us went to the coasts, only therefor there was East and West Coast Americans and while the warm weather and pleasant scenery and quick access to drugs made the West Coast the subject of pop-reality TV shows on MTV the East Coast remained normal throughout all this. And now its just one mixed up jumble of BS and promises of Cake by either the West Coast people or the Midwest, with the East Coast just sitting here asking "WTF?" the whole time. And that was even before the South got all screwed up with places like "HotLanta" where racism and African American culture literally live next door to each other and even sometimes get each others mail then begrudgingly hold it until the Marshall comes around.
But most Americans agree on a few things: better gas mileage is good, air travel is nice and Europe would be a great place to vacation if only not for the Euro being so high on protectionist measures. Seriously, drop the food tariffs!
I guess I'll wrap it up with this: you wonder "What are Americans thinking?" Thats just it, most Americans are just chilling out on the couch watching TV and waiting for their friends to show up for a beer and a card game, then the world is all like "oh you are the biggest economy and have large military, whine whine" and eventually we get pulled into something or feel compelled to do so. Do we want to be involved in Middle Eastern affairs? No, but then we start making nice and then Israel is all like "wait what about us" and then the Muslim world decided "hmm me like Israel" and now we're off the couch again. Do we want to be involved in South American affairs? Could otherwise care less, but there is a debate about drugs in this country and we banned them in the meantime. So then people decided to smuggle them in and now we have to go to Columbia and Panama and places south, again being deprived of our couch. And then illegal immigration happened en-masse and now we can't tell the drug dealers from the immigrants as they all dress the same and now the couch is being carted off so we can make a table out of it bloody bleeding christ. And back during the 1970's there was a revolt by the Christians that became the "born again" movement that ended with most of the midwest being infested with people who are more like Bin Laden then they want to believe and the rest of us went to the coasts, only therefor there was East and West Coast Americans and while the warm weather and pleasant scenery and quick access to drugs made the West Coast the subject of pop-reality TV shows on MTV the East Coast remained normal throughout all this. And now its just one mixed up jumble of BS and promises of Cake by either the West Coast people or the Midwest, with the East Coast just sitting here asking "WTF?" the whole time. And that was even before the South got all screwed up with places like "HotLanta" where racism and African American culture literally live next door to each other and even sometimes get each others mail then begrudgingly hold it until the Marshall comes around.
But most Americans agree on a few things: better gas mileage is good, air travel is nice and Europe would be a great place to vacation if only not for the Euro being so high on protectionist measures. Seriously, drop the food tariffs!
Ive always Idolized the Nazi army (not beleifs, army. I harbor no anti-semitism). They had the best War gear. The MP40 out did the tompson any day. The MG32 out did the browing. They figured out how to effectivly use "terror weaponry" via Making their dive bombers SCREAM when bombing and using the first long ranged rocket dubbed the V1 (they called it the vengence weapon) that could strike any where, at any time, and do absurd amounts of damage. And the tanks, OH LORDY the tanks. The allies were scared shitless of them. Every time they saw a tiger they'd call in an air strike. On the eastern front, 2 Tiger tanks held off an invasion of 500 Soviet tanks and 1 tiger lived to tell the tale. Also, If the war had gone on just a few more months, they would have launched their "super sub" that was capable of launching the A-bomb (while they were developing that as well).Scryer_360 said:
im american, and i understand why there are stereoytypes on both sides, ignorance of another culture can lead to confusion and anger sometimes, but just remember that when it comes down to it we strive for the same things as everybody else, to live our lives, were not much different then everybody else
Well actually the use of fixed position machine guns was reduced after tactics such as 'peaceful Penetration" were being instrumentalized into WW1 .... as their reduced effectiveness against but close-fire support, their incredible weight, their bad firing arc ... all of these eventually meant a slow decline in favour of submachine guns.Zeke the Freak said:
Secondly tanks were used in the First World War ... the allies already knew how to deal with with ... at the Battle of La Hamel and Battle of Amiens ... where the German forces were thoroughly crushed regardless of having more of them ... by an infantry strong detachment.
And the German Blitzkrieg worked simply because Europe still clung to ancient military tactics and most of the European generals hadn't learnt anything from Monash during WW1.
Thats why the first time the German Blitzkrieg was halted, and eventually overturned, by a numerically weaker, poorly supplied Australian Army, no tanks ... little artillery or Naval support ... because the Germans only knew how to fight a European army ... not a New World army. So Rommel used tactics he hasd procured from the Blitzkrieg ... run over the barbwire with tanks and park them in the center of the town and the Australians will surrender ... like every city across Europe ... and of course, he was wrong and his Tanks were destroyed again and again and again.
Tanks = useless IMO :x Big Rocket magnets that require lots of fuel, have bad eyesight, and can never simply 'hide' very well ...
German soldiers were really good at one thing ... and that was killing, and out-manufacturing European nations ... but as soon as Russia starting manufacturing tanks and rifles .... the Germans started stealing Russian equipment.
I'm not "arrogent" or "close minded." Guns 'n' Roses is an over-rated band and Axl Rose is one of the biggest cocksuckers in the world. Commercialism gets the best of some bands and it definitely got the best of them a long time ago.Zeke the Freak said:
Yeah, Nazi Germany was an enclave of technological and military geniuses. Have you seen the shit about how they would take a dead fighter craft loaded with explosives and pair it to the underbelly of a working bomber? Boom. They now had a gliding bomb for release at low altitude that looked like an ordinary fighter from the ground.Zeke the Freak said:
Yeah, yeah, we get it, Americans are fat. Hur hur.Chaz D said:
It's not the quality or unhealthiness of the food that bothers me, it's the level of corporate control exhibited by institutions that everyone willingly gives money to. Coca-Cola pretty much runs the world by now.
-----------------------------CaptainEgypt said:
I'd be fat too if I lived in America ... my uncle went to Houston and said for 20 bucks he got a meal the size of his own head.
American food pwns <.< Theres a reason why there's a subway in every street corner in the free world.
Even though you may not agree with American Foreign policy .. blah de blah de blah .. America should be forgiven on the quality of its food. Americans took a basic concept like food ... and turn it into multi billion dollar enterprises .... McDonalds, Hungry Jack, Subway (My personal fave) Krispy Kreme ...
That alone deserves a clap <.<
Oh .. addendum: A world without Coke, Sprite or Fanta would be a bleak existence
Well I never said that he was good or that he was bad, I just said how and why he became PM. All I know is that my as Irish as anyne can be, except Im not ginger but, hey, who would want to be?PaulH said:Well it was aimed at the argument that Churchill was good simply because opened aggressions with the Germans. Rather than just being seen as total dick and that was his one redeeming quality.WeedWorm said:Is that first part aimed at me or what?PaulH said:So ... by that logic ... us Australians can forgive Edmund Barton for introducing the 'White Australia' policy ... which purposely setup limits on how many Asian foreigners we're allowed into the country .... simply because he introduced the world's first Old Age pension, medical welfare, as well as the right for a worker to declare he only wants to work a 9 hour day .. as well as being one the first countries to allow women to vote?WeedWorm said:Yeah, Churchill was a prick, hence why he wasnt elected after the war. He got into power originally because he wanted to fight the Germans and not try to appease like like the PM before him, cant remember his name.PaulH said:Since when did Europe become this one country ...? And when the hell did Europe suddenly become a bastion of Liberal freedom and awesome that farts sunshine and rainbows?;
The way some people write on this forum you'd think that every single person within Europe all held hands and danced around a maypole in some collective celebration of the spirit of Humanity.
Europe (From Iberian Peninsula to the Kamchatka Peninsula ... yes yes I'm including Russia..) .... has born the greatest collection of arseholes ... the world has EVER .... EVER ... seen. And this isn't some Knee jerk poke at Hitler, Stalin or Mussolini ... it seems every new generation of Humanity there is an arsehole of arseholes being born in Europe ...
Collectively .... 'Europeans', as people like to group them, NEED a *good* sense of humour .... because one look at it's history would be enough to bring most people to tears ...
So I don't see why Europeans rip on 'Americans' (why is it people group Europeans together ... but never Group all nations within North and South America as 'Americans' ?) ... because I'd take having GWB by an arsehole power of 10 as a political leader before I would take an autocratic Churchill ....
As for "needing" a sense of homour, youd better be excluding Ireland. We got the short end of the stick in Europe but we're the best laugh to go drinking with.
Also, whats with Americans saying theyre from Ireland when theyve never even been here? Srsly, just because youre great-great-great-great grandad went over on one of the coffin ships, doesnt make you Irish. It doesnt even make you Irish American, it makes you American.
So we can forgive his blatant and open hatred of the Chinese because he did other things right? o.o; How does that argument even make sense ...? Sorry, upon re-reading this .. it may sound offensive .. I understand where you're coming from .. but I don't think's it's good enough to say a Political leader was beneficial if they were majorly flawed in one particular area, even if offset by the fact that they were good in others.
Anyways ... I believe it would be because many Irish were hated by the settled Americans upon arrival ... and so even if you were born in America, you'd still be seen as the son/grandson/greatgrandson of an Irish Immigrant during the Potato famine.
And that being the case .. if you cant be seen as an American ... nor if you aren't seen as an American by other americans ... then you can take pride in being an Irishman.. the proud .. the belittled ... the workmen of workmen that built many of the roads and slaved (toiled is perhaps a better word, but they were paid less than the African American workmen ...) in many mines.
Anyway, yeah, the Irish were probably hated when they first arrvied but that was hundreds of years ago. These days, I cant imagine anyone, well most people, giving a shit about what the natives think. And thats if they even meet one. They can take all the pride they want in being an Irish desendent, calling themselves that would be grand, but calling themselves Irish, as if theyre born and bred, here is just annoying.
I don't know ... I think its purely a matter of pride. I agree with you though, I'm half British pastoralist ancestry ... like 6th generation or some crap like one ancestor on my father's side paid for a ticket to start up a farm near the colony at Botany Bay.
And like you say however, I wouldnt call myself British, or British-Australian .... and my mum is Filo but I don't consider myself Filo either <.<;
"Different folks different strokes" - I guess?
What would you call yourself? Australian? Just out of curiousity.
Have you actually watched/played American football? It has a lot more tackling, and the tackles are generally a lot rougher.ANTI-SANTA said:
The Allies had not prepared for hulking, goliath tanks such as the panzerIV, Stug, Panther and Tiger because they all had armour > 3 inches on a slope *so armor actually increased and shells bounced off the front*. The Blitzkreig kicked so much euro ass because it caught them off gaurd and scarred the hell out of them. If you see 20-30 people and 1 or 2 tanks just sitting in the feild trying to kill you from a far, you think "all i have to do is out kill them". When you see 20-30 people and 1 or 2 tanks just CHARGING with no regard to safety you think,"oh fuck nuggets in a happy meal."PaulH said:
While its true that the germans stole some ideas from Russia, the Nazi's never really out manufactured any one. They were still a very poor country. In fact thats why they lost. They made every thing too good so that they were too expensive and time consuming to manufactured en masse. Nazi's did, however, out engineered them for sure.
Okay, we got off on the wrong foot here. Lets be a tad more civil now shall we?CaptainEgypt said:
I love early Guns 'n' Roses. Pre-commercialized Guns 'n' Roses. Really I dont care weather or not you like them. Its that whole "American music is so disgraceful" bit that you stuck in there. I called you arrogent and close minded because you just dismissed an ENTIRE NATION'S music. And that kinda pissed me off. Go ahead, stick with your beleifs, but you dont have to be a twat about it.
Those corporations have a hand in everything now, Coke has involvement with paramilitary organizations, brown people have died in poor nations just so Pepsi could install a bottling plant there. These corporations care about nothing but money and the happy-go-lucky attitude they show to the public through advertising is about as far as you can get from their true intentions.PaulH said:
Perhaps let's clarify? When I say "American music," I refer only to the American mainstream and commercial sources of music, which I often have difficulty seeing as anything other than steaming piles of shit. There is wonderful underground music in America and I'm happy to be a supporter of as much of it as possible, but when bands like Nickelback and Theory of a Deadman are consider top notch in our country it's hard to have faith in the consumer's taste.Zeke the Freak said:
To me, consumers are not real listeners, because they're only going to listen for that CD they just shelled out cash for for about as long as that artist is popular and then they'll forget about it. Musicians who have been my favorites since I was a kid are my favorites because their music is complex and unique and interesting. Not because I heard them on the radio and the tunes were totally catchy. I'm not the kind of person who can hold onto four chords and the same structures forever.
So were in agreement lol. I hate over commercialized music as well *except for rap. i just fucking hate rap*. all the stuff that I listen to are either (A) classic rock (B) not well known bands or (C) bands that withstood commercalization.CaptainEgypt said:
nice that we found some common ground.
Rugby is a tards sport. They go in with little to no plan and just hit eachother until some one finds the ball through the pile of sweaty men and run for like 2 seconds before another dog pile starts. Football involves tactics. More "battle feild" rather than "brawl". They where armor *which, by the way, looks totally fucking sweet* because the object of the game is to get the ball from one place to another instead of hurt the guy next to you.Chaz D said:
Actually, that mostly goes for the semi-large commercial brands. The huge brands like Bud, Tiger or Carlsberg all taste like piss no matter where in the world you order them. Except for Guinness. Guinness is the exception to the rule. And it's not even that great.Taizan said:
America still has a good head start when it comes to micro-breweries as far as I know. If you count every single producer of beer, no matter how small, I think the difference in quality between European and American beer is much smaller. It's just that the European market has more large, but not huge brands with a wider variety, while America mostly has very small breweries and mega-corporations that bottle bear urine and sell it under names like Budweiser.
In other words: it's for pansies.Zeke the Freak said:
The whole point of rugby is that it isn't sport. It's war. Violent and bloody.
American football is like a ballet. Last time I watched, they spent more time patting eachother's arses after a touchdown than actually playing.
And the remnants of imperialism rear their ugly head. If you don't like American football, that's fine, but please don't insult it by using the outdated, "folksy" image that Europeans in general seem to have regarding Americans. Does it really make you that insecure to know that a former colony is now more powerful than you are?Chaz D said: