[Dthind]

Comments:

I have lived in America for ever, it is a good place, but it / we have some 'wacky' ways of looking at things (laws, life liberty the 'We Are Always Right' disease, morality, etc).

Pornography in America is usualy decided by some moral minorty (religous) that is protecting us from ourselves (usually the old white man thing).

Violence on tv is excessive and usually not related to the actual story line, but for some reason acceptable without question. We are numb to the countless deaths on tv every day, but god forbid you attempt to show anything related the skin, sex or whatever.

p.s. I know where Finland and Austria area and would love to go to both of them.

When I was in Australia you could see semi naked people doin things, but you couldnt see people randomly firing weapons into a crowd. In America you cant see naked people doin things unless you rent 'A Porno', but every day on the news we see the aftermath of someone shooting into a crowd of people, go figure.

School in the majority of America is a joke and we ALL know it. You can graduate high school and not know the capital of the state you live in or the nations capital, but you can own a gun shortly there after.

I really like America, but generally most of it's people live under a rock and only beleive what is on the tv.

[mar]

Chapel, you do realize that when anything is posted here, the WHOLE WORLD is open to respond. . .I mean why wouldn't you appreciate what someone in Austria has to say about America? Whether it's an opinion you agree with or not, at least it helps you understand how the world sees us from beyond our borders. Just as our history books have been lying to us for years, the media isn't always out to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the U.S. to other countries. Elam didn't state that ONLY AMERICANS should respond to the question, did he. . .didn't think so. I love the good 'ol U S of A, but remember these forums are for the world, not just our backyard.

[mar]

Man, all you guys are great. . .

Hope no one takes any of this too seriously, I know I'm not losing any sleep over anyone's words.

-Mar

[[Optima]]

I have lived in europe half of mile life.. everywhere you go to a store I saw porn magazine as a kid.. nothing was censored .. when I came to Canada I was not used to the censorship.. every magazine being blocked by some wooden board on a shelf.. I felt I was being restricted from freedom...

But I was introduced more to violence.. guns.. guns.. guns..

All I see is guns on tv.. turn the channel and it wont be a few minutes until you see guns... I myself would let my children see ponography rather the guns and violence. That is just my opinion.. I do not here of occurances happen in europe.. that a 14 year old kid takes out a semi automatic machine gun and starts killing in a caffeteria... It just doesnt happen.. because there are certain rules..

And that is what the us is missing.. from my perspective.. But that is just my opinion...

[Shadowman]

What a waist of time.....

[Ben Barker]

Everyone just calm down.
Nex: Porn is worse than violence because America was founded by Puritans, and based on the Puritan ethic. The Puritans believed, like most Christians at that time, that carnal pleasures were evil.
The Puritan ethich still persists to this day.
I'm sorry you are forced to learn about America, but it is the most important country in the world. In terms of cultural influence and economics you know this is true. You can't expect Americans to learn much about Austria. In terms of size and influence Austria has little weight in the global political scheme. That's just the way it is. Austria isn't at the bottom of the list of importance, by any means, but it comes below many other countries. This has nothing to do with the quality of Austrian life or the intelligence and productivity of its people.
I think many countries envy what Americans have. But, we did build this system for ourselves, from nothing.
As for the anti American crap, I sure am getting a lot of it since the presidential election. The most common stereotypes around: Americans are stupid, lazy, and ignorant of other cultures.
The facts are this:
American children score poorly on international tests. But, we try to educate everybody here, each and every child. And we have far more people than any other country that tries to do the same.
We work harder than any other country. In terms of hours, and productivity. How do you think we can all afford $50,000 SUVs? Europe shuts down in the summer, but we continute to slog in 50-80 hour weeks. Our GNP proves this. Is this really healthy? For the economy, yes. But not for us as a people.

We are far more diverse than any other country. In fact, there is no one American culture. We are, by far, the most tolerant "melting pot" anywhere. For some reason, others think we are more racist than other humans, but we are in fact just as racist as someone from Europe, Australia, etc. No more, no less. We have an extremely diverse population, and because of this mosaic I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
It's no coincidence America is the source of so many creative ideas, new technologies, and wins so many gold medals at the Olympics. Our diversity is our strength. We aren't all white males over here, though sometimes the internet can give that impression.

I hope that clears things up a little bit. It seems to be cool now to rag on Americans. I've seen a perfectly polite American leave a group of British people, only to have the Brits call him a "pig" behind his back for no reason. We get as much shit as we give. We aren't all "ugly Americans".

[Nex]

Shadowman: What a waist of time?

you are american?

Ben: agree to some disagree to others, but everything has been said here already so no need for me to type up another reply.


[This message has been edited by Nex (edited December 21, 2000).]

[Chapel]

Nex: You said "american double morale". That to me seems pretty specific. There are many ways you could have restated that sentence to where I would not have been offended. I do, however, take offense when someone generalizes my country with out any factual information. Also, it is spelled "diarrhea" since you are looking in the dictionary anyway.

I was in a cranky mood when this started, so that is the reason behind the harsh replies. I could really care less. I just thought the video was funny.

[This message has been edited by Chapel (edited December 21, 2000).]

[Nex]

di�ar�rhe�a also di�ar�rhoe�a (d-r).
n.

Excessive and frequent evacuation of watery feces, usually indicating gastrointestinal distress or disorder.

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[Middle English diaria, from Medieval Latin from Late Latin diarrhoea, from Greek diarrhoia, from diarrhein, to flow through: dia-, dia- + rhein, to flow, run; see sreu- in Indo-European Roots.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diar�rheal or diar�rheic (-k) or diar�rhetic (-rtk) adj.
--

Source: The American Heritage� Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition

quote:

---

...since you are looking in the dictionary anyway.

---

[Bradford]

Porn isn't evil in the USA, the media just tries to make it that way. But I do agree that the media tries to cover up pornography on *television* while they can show people getting they chests blown out by shotguns is a problem. But this little Austria/Florida argument only goes as far as media is concerned. And we're all linked by the internet, which is the same thing no matter what country your in. You can talk to as many people that you want in America, and your going to get different opinions, the same goes for Europe as well.

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Bradford
Bradford2D3D

[synj]

Well, FYI, the U.S. media does not show chests being blown apart in any news. not on TV, not in the paper. It's strictly illegal to show any of that. The only place you can find that is in the movies here.

If you want to REALLY pick on anyone, pick on some parts of Spain and a few other countries that air video tapes of the entire murders and zoom in on the bodies (not the mention executions). TV and newspaper. And get your facts straight - especially before stereotyping an entire nation that doesn't do a single thing you said.

-synj www.synj.net

[This message has been edited by synj (edited December 22, 2000).]

[Guy]

ANYWAYS! back to the vid.. i think its really well done.. a little graphic, but the animation is nice imo. plus im finding the song is growing on me. who does it? maybe some one already said and i missed it. i dont know...

[This message has been edited by Guy (edited December 22, 2000).]

[Nex]

synj: were you talking to me or Bradford in your last statement?

[Giant Hamster]

got tired of reading all the post so i just decided to post my own.

the people that i have been seeing in violent real-life situations are the ones protesting "violence in [name your media here]". most of these organizations(IE: Tipper Gore and Co. <--grr) were initiated in the 70's and seem to stick with the same fight. they never grow up from their old statements which are either rendered pointless or resolved in time. their lack of multiple views keeps them at a "my road or the high road" situation. suddenly you end up with headlines like "pregnant woman beat down in LA riot" or "palistinian protester drug through street" why? read on:

i pose this question: "what do tipper gore and the KKK have in common?"

Answer: A LOT. The KKK is a group of protesters gathered to vanquish the black population. in other terms, they are "people trying to stop/remove something/someone out of other peoples live against their will and without permission because they feel they have the power"

Tipper Gore and Co. are protesters gathered to vanquish sex/drugs/violence/etc to protect out children. in other terms, they are "people trying to stop/remove something/someone out of other peoples live against their will and without permission because they feel they have the power"

here is a situation i have witnessed on many occasions:

Protester: stop [insert word here]
person: why?
protester: because its bad for society! think about the children(key word, mention children and your sure to win)
Person: no its not, its only a little [insert word here]
Protester: What?! you immoral sinner! you will burn in hell! *proceeds to attack the person*
Person: get off you activist bitch! *shoots protester*
News reporter: a riot broke out today when [insert word here] protesters gathered at [big location], when suddenly a [insert race here] person attacked a [insert another race here] protester. we now go live to the scene of the crime:
"witness" protester: they just came out of nowhere and attacked, [protester]. *begins use of rally starting words in <b>bold</b>*
These <b>racist</b> crimes have got to stop! it is <b>raping</b> out society of its dignity! <b>our children</b> cannot grow up this way! <b>we</b> must fight together and yadda yadda.. but u see the point. the protesters are the ones starting these wars.

I feel i have to <b>right</b> to know <b>everything</b>. i dont care what it is. I want to view everything. and i feel everyone else should have their choice on what they want to see and it should be uncensored in everyway. if they dont want to see something because of its content, they should either not watch it or not complain about it if the "just have to" watch it. no one is forcing them.

I might not find something rather apealling, and possibly down right putrid, but i want to watch it anyways because i want to see everything i can, its all that life is good for.

some people enjoy watching what others are trying to abolish for everyone, wether it be "bad" language, sex, violence, rape, teen conflict, religious squabble, and so on.

<b>CENCORSHIP:</b> in the US, why do we censor sex and violence, but we do not cencor religion? religion is just as dangerous. Look back into your Christian history and note these:

Back a while ago A Pope, Minister, Priest, if finding a chior boy with a voice that stood out from the others, he would castrate the boy so they he would not sexually mature, therefor keeping his voice the same.

Back a while ago again, someone decided to translate the bible from latin to german, the parliment did not like this at all(probally because it didnt give them a chance to change anything) and put him in jail, they then gave him a note saying he must flee the country within a week or he will be hung. he fled the country and joined the priesthood and came back and is still fighting against the church, just now they cant touch him.

(sorry im not good with the names or the dates, but i do know the events.)

A Christian king a while back had a wife who was having a child, the child was a girl, so he deccapitated her for he wanted a boy. he also knocked up a peasant girl(?) and she had a girl and she was deccapitated aswell. he also deccapitated many other people, but got away with it. how about that for abuse of religious power....and they say religion makes healthy children.

Religion is just as dangerous as a gun. the catholic chuch is the riches organization the world while still holding the "non-profit" sign. when really its more like, "No Donation, No Salvation"

Traditional Japanese: if a child disobeys he is beat, if he witnesses an act in which he isn not supposed to, he must kill himself to maintain honor...what the hell is up with that. now if you throw more religion in there, that innocent child now has to burn in hell because without even knowing why. why would i mix religion in there? well all religions(yes, as you can tell im not much for religion since they arent much for sex/violece/and nearly everything else i like to watch) seem to claim to be the best and there is only one god...but its <b>their</b> god. not "the other religions" god. cause he is a false one, but if u as "the other religion" you get the same broken record.

I have only one rule in life...

"DO NOT GO AGAINST SOMEONE ELSES WILL"

this works for everything, aslong as you dont get shit-picky about things.

if no one is going against someone elses will, then its much easier to get along.


you know what...i feel like going off on religion again.....its my post, so be quiet

TEST: test your priest and other religious people!

there are a jar full of religious people that claim they talk directly to GOD himself. they get "answers from the Lord" and so on. well. Get out a piece of paper and follow along:

write down a list of names of people who are dead, famous, not famous, animal, doesnt matter. just put them on the list, but skip 2 spaces every 3 lines. now in those empty spaces, add names of people who are still alive, famous, not famous, anomal, doesnt matter.

goto a one of these clairvoients and them to channel the Lords power to help and guide them. then ask them to tell you(with the lords help) which people on the list are in heaven or in hell. stop them if they give you shit like "well, relitively speaking...".

get them to answer. see how many living people on your list they say are dead and in heaven or hell. its quite funny.

goto another priest. Keep in mind the lord is always right and they are speaking directly to the lord!! very important. now ask him the exact same questions....now take out the first paper and show him his results and the last priest who was "talking to the lord" and notice how nearly all of them are different and most of the living people on the list they have claimed dead.

fuck religion. be your own god. it even says in the bible(s) something like this: "break a piece of wood, and you will not find me" in other words, God no is no longer in the church. God is anything you can have faith in. and you have to do is have faith in something. i have faith in music and the goodness of others. that creates my positive energy, which is what you really need.

fuck cencorship. we're supposed to goto school to learn everything, but if they dont teach everything and they are trying to censor it all, how are we supposed to learn?

fuck you. you and your...your...umm..dammit. well i dont have one for you, your just fine

bye......this post has gotten a tad off subject and a bit out of hand.

samauri!

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-JameZ the Giant Hamster-

The Hamster Alliance
AIM: Gianthmstr
Multimedia Producer/designer/all of the above.,overall guru :)...and music music music! weee!!

[Ragnarok]

synj: "If you want to REALLY pick on anyone, pick on some parts of Spain and a few other countries that air video tapes of the entire murders and zoom in on the bodies (not the mention executions). TV and newspaper. And get your facts straight - especially before stereotyping an entire nation that doesn't do a single thing you said."

Pardon?? Look, I live in Spain AND thats NOT true. You are talking about true facts, but you post this! I'm very angry, sorry, but is not the first time they talk about Spain like a pile of shit that lives in a cave.

[faustgfx]

whatever, americans still need to napalm themselves and kill their pornography industry.



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone

[email protected] /
icq#35983387

[Giant Hamster]

americans are fucked up?

German Bukkake and Japscat!

[Bishop_Six]

Americans are a screwed up people(I myself am one). Someone was saying that the media tries to show sexuality as bad, and violence as good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every day, more sex is on tv and everywhere. Sex is not a bad thing, but it is a private thing. Not something to be thrown about meaninglessly.

Violence is constantly becoming more demonized on tv. I don't condone wanton violence, but it violence itself does have a place. As sad as it is, sometimes violence is the only way to deal with something.

The problem with violence on movies is that it's not portrayed realistically. You shoot a guy in the head with most any weapon and his head will be reduced to small, bloody bits. Hence, people don't realize what an awful thing it is to kill somebody.

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Semper Ubi Sub Ubi,
Bishop Six

[nightmare]

people are used to violence. we kill things all the time, going hunting and burning ants and ripping butterflies apart and tearing the heads off grasshoppers (none of which i have done, but have seen people do) without respect to animals' lives we have no respect for other humans' lives and therefore we condone violence. i'm talking about humans as a whole here, not just americans or whatever. u eat chicken right? what if that chicken was ur pet? what if it was your dog? they eat dogs in some parts of china. what if they ate your dog? you'd b pissed, or sad. of course this isn't quite the same as if someone killed your best friend or someone u love, but killing is killing. im not trying to make u vegetarian or something, even i eat meat. what i'm trying to say is that we don't value lives anymore. if u counted all the shrimp that people eat in a day and thought of them all as LIVES and not FOOD then u'd be shocked! thats a lot of freakin lives gone in one day. i know i'm rambling now but its true. we forget that we do a lot of minor killing all the time and thats y we condone violence and not sex. sex is a private thing and violence is done all the time. would u be more disturbed if a kid squished some ants or tried to have sex with them?! exactly.

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it's all a conspiracy!

[absinthe]

bishop: damn straight.

[Nex]

interresting point nightmare.

[Ragnarok]

"would u be more disturbed if a kid squished some ants or tried to have sex with them?! exactly." Hmm, he would have some problems, don't you think?
I see your point, but there is a good counter point: we need to kill to survive. If we would be worried about the animal's life we would have serious problems. But it's true, killing is less important that sex nowadays and that's disturbing.

[Affected]

Ragnarok, that's a load of shit. You and I have no need to kill anything to survive.

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Affected

Democracy is a lie

http://affected.xs.mw

[Ragnarok]

You and I haven't, but society has. Plants or animals, we need food. And please, don't be rude, it's unnecesary.

[OPTX]

And all this spawned from watching a lil video with some chics tits bouncin'...BAHAHAHA!!! PORN + GUNS = FUN!!! Honestly guys and gals (referring to those from outside the USA) Don't think that just because what you see, hear or read tells you one thing that that is how it is here in the United States. Regardless of what some old guy whose anal retentive in a position of political power throws up as a law or way of living for society doesn't mean you have to follow it. People seem to have an odd stigma that they must follow laws, that they must adhere to society's views and assumptions of what does and doesn't go on, not only in the USA but anywhere on this planet for that matter. Thing is you make choices for yourself as an individual whether the consequences are bad or good. If you know them and don't mind bad outcomes and you make that choice, it's one you freely made regardless. Bottom line...I'm going to do what I damn well please, if you don't like it deal with it or get out of my way. Make your own choices, never let others limit potential whether bad or good, otherwise life would be boring. Laterz.

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My imagination won't leave me alone.

[faustgfx]

(pornography is still bad.)



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone

[email protected] /
icq#35983387

[Starseed]

First, I didn't read all of the posts, so if I'm repeating/overlooking what someone has already said, sorry.

Ok, I agree with Nex and the Europeans who commented because some of the americans who have commented have provided the more narrow minded shit you are all trying to say we shouldn't pin on you.

Let's look at this beatiful "say shit about your own country but don't you dare talk about mine if you have something bad to say, dont you dare!" Oh my god, sorry, but get over yourself and your nationalism. Your country is flawed like the rest, and it deserves to have its weaknesses pointed out. And dont you dare bring in the generalization issue. "Just because a few people do it, you cant paint us with the same brush." That is just how our minds work - the only way they work. Yours works the same.

You hear that an unusual amount of A occurs in country Z compared to A's occurence in your own country or all other countries. Conclusion: the brain says, lets make this into something I can understand. More A in Z than my country and a lot of others. You generalize.

It's true that in general, americans feel guns and violence on tv are much normal and acceptable in life than seeing nudity/sex. Don't go protesting because you and your friends, and the people you like don't think that. Most people in your generation probably think like you do, but there is still a huge population that doesn't comprise of people in your social stratosphere.

That's all I have to say. I feel better now.

-mt

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everything is relative

[Starseed]

Just read the other half.

Bishop You're right, and thats one of the most thoughtful things anyone's said on the subject. Violence is part of life. It happens, and it so happens that it's exciting to watch sometimes. What's key thought is portraying it realistically. The only time a bullet realistically doesn't amazingly always puncture a vital artery is when a bad guy is shot, and just for anticlimax purposes, he "raises from the dead" to have another stab at our protagonist before being dealt his final death blow.

Affected, I think you're wrong.

Ragnarok, you're right, and I'll go further. Humans have to go way out of our way to get the nutriets we need to stay healthy if we dont eat meat. We're omnivores who can live as herbavores (sp?) but not easily. Lets take supermarkets out of the equation, if you're camping and you want to backpack a ways to a nice site, you dont bring along tons of food. You rely on fish or rabbits, etc. for food. There is no way you can ingest what you need to operate well by finding the closest 'greens' and eating them. Vegetarianism is a privilege of modern civilization. And still, it is, to me at least, inhuman, to not eat any meat just as some statement. Do you also have a problem with the food chain among thousands of animals/insects, etc? Those big fish should just forage on seaweed and other crap they find floating around until they finally die because they can't nourish themselves.

I'd like to hear a vegetarians argument to that.

-mt

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everything is relative

[faustgfx]

although i am strongly against turning into a veggie grass eater, i can represent the vegetarian argument to that anyway.

"MURDERERS!"

the discussion 'veggies vs meaters' has been done a hundred times, and it's always the same.

just my two cents of a meat eater (and loving every bit of it) is, why say no to good food when no matter how hard you try you can't save the world?

were you a underweight phuq like i am, meat would be rather essential to keep yourself in a state where wind still hits you...



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone

[email protected] /
icq#35983387

[Duckman2]

I don't know what other countries hear about America as far as porn goes but for the most part the media in this country is extremly conservative about sex but less so about violence. Personally I'd rather have my kid watching some chick getting naked than have the kid watch "Faces of Death part 5". You see the conservative christians have the largest voice in America because they have the most money and therefore the most air time. Personally I think all of the christian channels should be scrambled along with playboy and the Spice networkbecause they are infinatley more damaging to a young mind than a vagina.