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Blame America For Everything You Hate About "Internet Culture"
An anonymous reader writes If you hate cat videos, personality quizzes, and endless list stories about a specific school or region, then you should blame the USA according to this story. From the article: "'In France, articles about cats do not work,' Buzzfeed's Scott Lamb told Le Figaro, a leading Parisian paper. Instead, he explained, Buzzfeed's first year in the country has shown it that 'the French love sharing news and politics on social networks – in short, pretty serious stuff.' This is interesting for two reasons: first, as conclusive proof that the French are irredeemable snobs; second, as a crack in the glossy, understudied facade of what we commonly call 'Internet culture.'....American audiences love animals and 'light content,' Lamb said, but readers in other countries have reacted differently. Germans were skeptical of the site's feel-good frivolity, he said, and some Australians were outright 'hostile.' Meanwhile, in France — land of la mode and le Michelin — critics immediately complained, right at Buzzfeed's French launch, that the articles were too fluffy and poorly translated. Instead, Buzzfeed quickly found that readers were more likely to share articles about news, politics and regional identity, particularly in relation to the loved/hated Paris, than they were to share the site's other fare."
We already do blame America for everything which sucks, it just saves time.
Don't blame the cats at least.
If anything - you can't be upset at cats doing cat stuff. It's a relief.
French idea of relief is a bottle of wine and watching women walking by the café.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
... the world over. This is especially reflected in their politics.
How incredibly snobby to give a shit about what's going on in the world and how your country's being run rather than hur hur look at da crazy cat. The human race is filed.
So, in other words, Americans are a bunch of mindless drones who use their spare time posting mindless comments to mindless "news"... Who knew?
Oh noes, people want quality content instead of yet another cat video! We're doomed!
The french don't like cat videos?
So who is Henri le chat noir?
https://www.youtube.com/user/HenriLeChatNoir
When I was working in the UK at a wireless product design company, the American CEO of the American corporation that just purchased the company flew in to talk to us. We were all gathered in a big room. In his rambling talk, he referred to all the black people in the room as 'African Americans'.
Stupidity is not reserved for one nation alone.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
i thought buzzfeed was a non-straight dating website
I always thought it was a scam website. The story headlines are always so baited they have to be 'click to be infected' scams. I never dared click one.
Blame America For Everything You Hate About "Internet Culture"
This Simple Trick For Blaming America Will Change Your Life!
You Won't Believe What America Did Next
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
As is often the case, it's a little more complicated than that.
The French appreciate standardization and conformity more that Americans. Where Americans would care about getting a job done, the French care about doing the job correctly. Along with that, there is a distaste for frivolity and absurdity when those aren't the matter at hand.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
This is in the "Gossip" section of the WaPo. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Nothing to see here, move along....
That's because you never discovered the one weird trick, discovered by a single mom, to reading Buzzfeed!
#DeleteChrome
American's outsource their giving a shit to the tallest most attractive plutocrats with the best haircuts. We don't have to give a shit as long as the MSM mouthpiece for the plutocracy tells us we're the wealthiest, best-est, freedom-est country in the world. How can we possibly complain? We live in 'Merica. Fuck Yeah!
Personally, I'm WAY more interested in what has crawled up Paris Hilton's snatch recently than I am about the Supreme Court systematically dismantling the U.S. Constitution with bad precedent.
You can tell it's true because the advertisers that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News work for are way more interested in the news stories which are captivating to an audience that is highly suggestible and easily influenced by highly sophisticated tactics such as "attractive women will want your cock if you own/consume Product X" and my personal favorite: "OMG! You don't own/consume Product Y? Everyone else does! You must live under a rock! Enjoy missing the boat son!".
The good news is: "Get out the Vote!" campaigns are exceptionally effective at convincing this caliber of voter to show up and dilute the ballot box with ballots from people who are most likely to vote for the tallest, most attractive candidate with the best hair(that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have convinced them is most likely to win and therefore has the best name-recognition).
Self fulfilling prophecy? Only if plutocrats have the most money to spend on finding a "ken doll" to stand on a stage and regurgitate talking points engineered by bridge trolls like Karl Rove... Oh wait!
Convincing stupid Americans to vote for 4 more years of Plutocracy is about as easy as convincing fat girls to smoke cigarettes. "TARP bailouts? Lol, WTF is that? OMG! Look at the kitten!"
The idea that the French work a significantly shorter work week than Americans is a largely a myth. The French do enjoy longer annual leave, but I suspect that in the US, the productivity gains resulting from a little more rest at certain points in the year would more than make up for the lost working time.
American here. The Brit is right: the French are right about us.
Canadian here. The American is right: the Brit is right about the French.
I don't disagree that hours aren't what counts. If they were, Greece would be bailing out Germany.
However performing more work in fewer hours does not in any way refute the fact that the number of hours worked is, indeed, fewer.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Surprise, you don't represent the entire USA (nor does the average /.er).
Romanian here: Well... I'm with you fellas.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
lately, US news and politics are more vapid and transparent than grumpy cat's take on things. the reality is that our political system is really because voters are gullible enough to thing they have a choice about what happens when it's really a one party system. the news spews lies about everything like it's DEFCON 1 everyday when they are speaking of meaninal bullshit. meanwhile there are serious matters that has caused a massive schism in the middle class and shit is hitting the fan. if you protest you are either cordoned off and ignored and/or abused by the police which are not help accountable for their actions. can you blame us for wanting an escape? (psst, the answer is here)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Period... There, fixed that for ya...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
To educate yourself.
To get a better general picture of the world.
To be able to make educated statements.
To be able to adjust your behaviour (boycotts, donations) in a proper way.
Your comment is the most stupid thing I read this entire year. The entire audience is now dumber. I reward you zero points.
People prefer what they are accustomed to? I had no idea....
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Maybe the French don't like cat videos because the cats remind them too much of themselves: picky, snobby, moody, ungrateful, and do nothing useful.
Could we try that without the confusing double negative? I thought I agreed with you, but now I'm not sure that you agree with you.
It's not an urban legend. France has a special appreciation for the comedic genius of Msr Jerry Lewis.
Jerry Lewis gets Legion of Honor medal
PARIS (AP) — France formalized its fascination with Jerry Lewis Thursday with a uniquely Gallic gift for his 80th birthday: a medal and induction into the Legion of Honor.
Legion of Honour
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur)[1] is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 May 1802. The Order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five degrees: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer), and Grand Croix (Grand Cross).
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
It's not about countries, it's about cultures.
Some cultures (e.g. Western European culture) favor more serious subjects versus others. Some others (e.g. Northern American) favor lighter subjects (unwind-type). Asian cultures apparently favor explosive feeling-related and augmentative headlines ("It's SUPER effective!"; "AMAZING performance!").
Nobody's to blame, really, except companies not doing their homeworks and trying to vomit their own culture-specific successes over other cultures and promptly failing.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Those who prétend that France is in any way different than the U.S. in stupid internet memes are liars, and I say that as someone who has lived here for 30+ years & tries to ignore as much of these idiotic stories as possible. However, the French "journalists" being in their great majority left of Ché Guevarra have an automatic knee-jerk reaction to everything in modern life that they do not like: Call it American &/or "ultra liberal" so that they can blame it on the USA or the UK.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
My guess is that they are trying to generate more web traffic using that one weird trick.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Maybe the French don't like cat videos because the cats remind them too much of themselves: picky, snobby, moody, ungrateful, and do nothing useful.
Cats surrender to the Germans?
Wow. Learn something new every day.
Have you ever thought that maybe they loved Jerry Lewis because all his characters were basically an "idiot American". Laughter is a response to something we identify with.
I think that many Americans also think that buzzfeed is crap, some are probably outright hostile. Critics have derided it as fluffy and poorly written. But with over 300 million people in the US, you do not have to attract a large share of the population to still end up with a large enough number of people to make a go of things. Particularly if your cost to produce is low and the cost of distribution lower (real example: http://slashdot.org/). But unless you can really minimize your localization costs (like with machine translators rather than real people), then there will not be enough people in the long-tail of the bell curve in a smaller market like France, so you need broader appeal.
But hey, if buzzfeed can manage a higher level of market share in France by sucking less, perhaps they will try something similar on this side of the Atlantic.
Another example of Politically Correct failures.
So, in other words, Americans are a bunch of mindless drones who use their spare time posting mindless comments to mindless "news"... Who knew?
You mean, like posting to slashdot?
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Most of what I hate about the internet originates in my subject line; LOLcats won't reach through your computer and steal your credit card.
Those who prÃf©tend that France is in any way different than the U.S. in stupid internet memes are liars, and I say that as someone who has lived here for 30+ years & tries to ignore as much of these idiotic stories as possible. However, the French "journalists" being in their great majority left of Che Guevarra have an automatic knee-jerk reaction to everything in modern life that they do not like: Call it American &/or "ultra liberal" so that they can blame it on the USA or the UK.
I've lived in France for fifty year, I /am/ French, and here people 'left of Che Guevarra' are a tiny minority, in the general population as well as among journalists. So either you are mistaken in believing you live in France, or you are deluded about the France you are living in, or you are deliberately misrepresenting the truth to pass your opinion as fact.
Yes, you work way too much and still will never become rich from your salary. It's a real pity.
An "idiot," certainly, but "idiot American"? I doubt that.
But I suppose turnabout is fair play.
A Shot In The Dark Funnies
Hilarious _ The Return of the Pink Panther
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
he referred to all the black people in the room as 'African Americans'.
Stupidity is not reserved for one nation alone.
Years ago I was in Florida, and was chatting with the hotel clerk when an English guy came in and started chatting as well. After a few moments the clerk said "I can't tell you two apart", meaning our accents.
The english guy and I just look at each other and burst out laughing, due to the fact that I'm white and the he was black.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Martian here: You're all nuts.
The French also obsess about silly and ridiculous stuff, they just do it in a different way. It's not all politics and news, that just happens to be what gets shared on social networks.
In his rambling talk, he referred to all the black people in the room as 'African Americans'.
If you haven't noticed from recent articles, US Internet Culture will absolutely eat you alive if you don't use Proper Politically Correct Language. For a recent example, see #ShirtStorm, where predominantly white male US Tumblr users threw a complete shit storm over the shirt a UK scientist got from his girlfriend, because it wasn't deemed sufficiently Politically Correct.
In the US, the only safe term for referring to people of African descent is "African American." If you don't, you'll generate a gigantic shitstorm and may only possibly get away with apologizing. More likely you'll be forced to resign. (See: Eich and Mozilla.)
So Americans get used to using that phrase exclusively, even if it makes absolutely no fucking sense, because they know that if they slip up even once and use "black" they're quite likely going to become untouchable.
Thanks, in part, to sites like BuzzFeed, who will harp on such slips endlessly in the name of "social justice." Regardless of apologies, regardless of intent. At that point your only hope is to resign and hope you can find a new job in some field where people don't have to worry about what losers on the Internet think.
The wife and I were standing outside Buckingham Palace one day waiting for the Changing of the Guard and making idle chitchat with a French lady next to us (SWMBO fluently, moi haltingly) when a group of teenagers came by, hooting, catcalling, playing grabass and generally acting like teenagers. She looked down her nose at them at first; then when they got close and she heard them speaking French she blasted them. "VOUS ETES FRANCAIS! HONTE A VOUS!"
Trash is trash, wherever it came from.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
by working a full day, you mean doing around 15 min of work, and then fucking off on the computer for 6 hours. Americans spent longer at work, but get less done. Thats actually been proven. As far as sit around bitcing "if I where king", I think Americans do that just as much as everyone else.
How incredibly snobby to give a shit about what's going on in the world and how your country's being run rather than hur hur look at da crazy cat. The human race is filed.
Snobbery isn't about what you're interested in. Snobbery is about refusing to accept others may have different interests.
I don't find cat videos interesting. I prefer the news. --- Not Snobby
If you like cat videos you're clearly a moron! --- Snobby
Do I want to read political rants and endless arguments filled with fallacies, bigotry and name-calling?
I'll have the vapid pictures of pets and hot chicks, please.
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
I think Buzzfeed is the gold standard for retarded internet content.
There's probably some truth to that.
Three possible explainations:
1) I could imagine that overall presence of higher education is more dense in Europe than in the US.
2) Right now, life in general probalby sucks more in the US than in central/western Europe, hence the need for more distraction.
3) The US is used to quick sensations in media due to their TV history. In Europe the viewing habits are more ... 'sophisticated' ... although they have degenerated massively since the 80ies. Even prime news today is unbearably stupid and dumbed-down compared to two decades ago.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Welcome to the brainwashing that is political correctness. He might call all black people 'african americans', but that's because that's what the 'multicultural' leftist retards were teaching in school while he was young. If he used the term, it means he was trying to do the right thing. Of course, at least several european countries have the same kinds of stupidity, like refusing to acknowledge differences between the sexes because it offends idiot feminists. For example, sweden recently tried to force the use of 'ungendered' pronouns in schools, along with other stupid shit, like banning urinals.
Who can worry about Kitty Cat Memes, with all the Evil Clown crime? http://www.theatlantic.com/int...
My friends in Denmark and Norway tell me that the word "Friend" in the north is much more reserved, and it has held Facebook back. But like Halloween, differences in culture have a way of being only a generation deep. My mother in law, in southern France, is no slouch with the LOLs.
Gently reply
You mean how the 'blame america' people here get their 'anecdotes' about americans from the koolaid flavored media in their home countries?
Really? I've seen French culture firsthand. It has some good things, and a lot of bad. So they'd rather talk politics instead of watch cats do stupid crap? That only means they like to argue about bullshit. Plenty of that here on slashdot.
No. The french care about the enforcement of conformity and standardization than they do about correctness or individual liberty.
ITT, complete misunderstanding of history, due to a complete inability to understand history through anything but the lense of memes and pop culture
That makes you a hipster son. You're the hipster. Do you understand? You're the hipster.
Funny but the Germans aren't tactful either but we generally respect them while we have nothing but contempt for the French. The reason is that most of the German arrogance is actually warranted. The French arrogance isn't.
I just really hate the part where those durn Americans forced all the bits through those tubes. Forced them! Who asked the bits if they wanted to go through tubes?
And opening up the network to the masses. Who asked the data if it wants the People looking at it all day? What gives them the right?!
like banning urinals.
That just makes me sad.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Also the idea that the french are lazy or unproductive is also false
the French care about going on strike
FTFY
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Yep, we just mindlessly build technology for you to adopt. We don't know what it does, or why, we just meditate "Ohm, ohm, ohm," and work 80 hrs a week, and somehow there is a pile of networked computers at the end of the quarter.
I guess it is just an unlikely accident of history that a people so stupid invented so much, and continue to dominate the associated services.
Every generation everywhere has been a generation of fucktards, the internet just makes it more transparent.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Is that what they're teaching in liberal arts programs now?
Yeah I Clicked On This Link Cuz It Says Cat Videos Lolz
Where Be Da Cat Videoz? Jus Sum Stuff About Blame American 'N Shiat
Ima Wanna Da Cat Videoz Lolz
They simply foolishly don't fear our feline overlords. While Americans practice, training themselves to recognize the enemy.
Seriously, having lived in both France and the USA: most people in France will ignore the critics but yes, books and culture are seen as more important to people then they are in the USA. Being a public intellectual is considered a reasonable and high profile job.
Note I said "seen as more important" -- don't forget we're talking about the country that invented celebrity culture and "celeb journos", and in which the most popular restaurant is McDonalds. Nevertheless, the French are anti- a lot of things, but being intellectual isn't one of them.
I've been waiting for the guillotine to make a comeback.
Funny but the Germans aren't tactful either but we generally respect them while we have nothing but contempt for the French. The reason is that most of the German arrogance is actually warranted. The French arrogance isn't.
Americans respect Germans because they're very different (but that respect doesn't go very far since they still have bases in Germany 70 years after WW2). The French are very much like the Americans. This is an unconfortable truth, and so the love-hate relationship goes on since the late eighteen hundreds.
A Frenchman is an unrealised American. And the same is true on the other side, an intellectual American (yes yes they do exist) is very frenchlike. Had France kept its empire it would bullying the world as easy as the Americans have done since the end of WW2. Don't believe those that say that the French hate America. Frenchmen look to America and it reminds them of the French Grandeur that's never coming back.
It is a funny article for a few reasons. Did you even read it? Does it claim to refute the France works a significantly shorter week than the US? The answer to both is clearly "no." You googled for a story that says what you wanted to link to, but linked without really reading it.
It claims to be refuting the "myth" of France having a 35 hour work week. That is a very different thing than you said, because they could have a longer-than-35-hours work week and still be well behind the US work week. And indeed, looking at the story, they "bust" the myth by pointing out that salaried white collar workers often work 40 or 45 hrs a week, since they aren't paid by the hour. I guess you didn't consider that salaried US workers might work significantly more than that.
The even have a funny chart that lists the annual hours per worker by Nation. They didn't order the chart, not by hours, nor by name. It seems they just randomly ordered them. They did put France physically above the US on that list, but the list shows the French work 1,476 hours and the Americans work 1,704 hours. That is over 4 hrs per week more. So the link proves the "myth" to be true! Americans do work more hours per week than the French.
It is a hilarious and sarcastic story, but I don't think you got the jokes:
LOL, yes, average workers... like lawyers.
we just mindlessly build technology
In building the Internet we appear to have created the most effective conceivable means of disseminating "Blame America..." memes.
To do better you'd have to put it in the water.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Sorry that life doesn't imitate your nationalist stereotypes.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpb... "French workers are ...only marginally less productive than American workers."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us...
Yep, that is why we have higher productivity per worker, both per hour, and per year. We get more done per hour, and also work more hours. I'm assuming these "Americans" "fucking off" for 6 hrs on the computer... you saw them on the TV, right? Get back to work!!!
I realized that decades ago. Where in Satan's holy name is a self-taught American programmer with no degrees supposed to go? Galt's Gulch? Not fuckin' likely.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
[quote] French idea of relief is a bottle of wine and watching women walking by the café. [/quote]
and what's wrong with that?
Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
Incorrect. The french are more productive per hour, but not by much. Americans work a lot more hours and have a higher sum of productivity.
I've worked across the world and the only group that beats americans for "nose to the grindstone" is some groups in asia.
There's also the matter of effectiveness, and americans pretty much have everyone beat.
Like I said, it depends largely on what decade he was in school and what terms were in use while he was growing up. How many more times do the 'proper' terms have to be replaced? Perhaps the focus should be on why the terms become pejoratives over time and fix that instead. Of course, this would require a reexamination of ideology, culture, and behavior, which few have the backbone for.
Get uppity or don't. No one implied you had to get anyone's permission. I choose not to. I don't get upset if someone calls me 'cracker' or 'whitey' or 'whitebread' or 'redneck' instead of 'caucasian.' I'll laugh and call that person a slur appropriate for their race in return, whether it's in jest, or not. If he laughs in return then we've established a rapport. If he gets butthurt, then he's a hypocrite who's not worth my time. People who can't take it shouldn't dish it. Those who claim that attributes like race and sex shouldn't matter seem to spend lots of time obsessing over and enforcing the use of proper terms for them.
That's something Americans need to learn from the French. America needs more strikes.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
It's hilarious reading a bunch of French people arguing about who is more French! Just a Monty Python moment...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
... Who knew?
Just about everyone else on the planet?
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
The portion of the American population that actually does useful stuff like network computers is a tiny, tiny fraction that is pretty much considered a bunch of "weirdos" by the rest of society (and you know it). New technologies are almost all developed in universities which are mostly made up of immigrants. America is being propped up by immigrants and geeks, the very people everyone else hates. Wake up and realize that the country you're living in hates you and does not deserve your presence.
Yeah, as an American teenager who was repeatedly voted "smartest" in his class, I realized all that decades ago. That's why I've mostly lived in close proximity to academia for most of my life since then, and have associated mostly with a crowd that has a high proportion of "furriners". It also has a lot to do with my migration into the Internet-development field, where my professional connections tend to be the same sort of furriners.
Generalizations about the citizens of a country are generally nonsense. I have lots of friends in other countries that I've never met, and I personally don't consider that at all odd. It's one of the things that this Internet thing was more-or-less designed to encourage. The practice of categorizing people by the accident of where they were born is ultimately doomed, though I expect it to live on long after it has become nonsense. Sorta like categorizing people by their sex or age or race or religion or ... ;-)
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I'm not saying either stereotype is correct, but I think the standard stereotype of Americans is the cowboy that draws out a gun and shoots you as his form of complaint, and the Frenchman whines over his cheese and finishes it off with an impolitic insult.
I wondered about why we still had so many troops in Germany so long after WW2 and I remember one of my commanders telling me it was because if we pulled out entirely the Germans would take over and we'd have to come back and bail the French out again.
Yep, here is one now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
You can tell it is a French cat because of the silly floppy-hat color pattern, and it tries to stick its tongue in the German's mouth while still on video.
Yes, blame America!
How politically correct!
Hate the creators.
Losers.
How defeatist - nothing makes any difference so why should I even try.
All I see is making excuses for inaction. From the "blame culture" that is the US, I guess I'm not too surprised.
How about this, stand up for your beliefs and take action - not only for the betterment of fellow citizens but also for your own country.
It won't be easy - it will require some pain - but the question is, how strong are your convictions?
Working more than 40 hours/week salaried?! Dear lord! Glad I don't do that, while being salaried.
Says the country that finds Jerry Lewis to be funny. But yeah, the Internet was so much better before the Americans came along and... invented it!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I understand there's money to be made in black-hattery. Observe the 11th commandment, however.
It's not just stupid, it's insulting to the audience. And the video will look just as stupid back in the US because of context.
Look, I love a good amount of "pointless" fun and frivolity, but my experience as a life long American is that 95% of people here don't want to ever talk about anything serious or consequential. I'm not talking about being a killjoy, a downer, or trying to shove unorthodox political views down someone's throat (most of the people I talk to share my general political views). Rather, let's say that just a couple of times a day I try to bring up a serious political issue that might affect how someone votes. By and large, whether offline or online (most of the day I'm working in a social environment with a variety changing faces), the response I usually get is either a kind of cold silence--as if I've destroyed the mood--or that I'm a loser for actually caring about something (i.e. sort of like "why are you talking about something serious when we could be having fun? We must be having fun at ALL TIMES!").
I have not experienced other cultures (never had the opportunity to leave the U.S.) and of course this is just my personal experience, but can any Europeans or other Americans chime in if they've experienced this sort of thing with Americans? If so, that could explain a lot about why our democracy is so dysfunctional (among other reasons, of course).
I always wondered why George Washington had the same hat as Napoleon. It all makes perfect sense now.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Well, it could be worse.
Depends where you mean in Asia. East Asian cultures may seem like that, but it's mostly due to really poor translation. Well, that and the fact that merely translating the worlds rarely conveys the full meaning or gives you any kind of cultural context.
For example, Japanese people often refer to things as "sugoi", which is usually translated as "amazing". It can actually mean a whole range of things, from surprising to astounding but the exact meaning is conveyed by the way it is said and context. On top of that there is this weird stereotype of the over-the-top Japanese TV advert, but honestly they are on the whole subdued than British and especially American adverts.
South Asia I don't know much about.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Apparently then I'd never have to see the name Kardashian in print again.
French idea of relief is a bottle of wine and watching women walking by the café.
O'reilly? Even the women?
Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but I'd say it's true!
The French workforce may strike more (and be particularly obnoxious about it, shutting down highways and city centers), but they also get more vacation, better hours, better pay, full healthcare, and retirement. American workers have lost all of their power, which is why they are increasingly losing all of their benefits and living wages. Welcome to "unfettered capitalism".
Sounds like a typical socialist to me. No solutions, only complaints
Bloody worthless bastards, they've taken everything we had!
Except for universal health care, higher standards of living, better working conditions, and lower crime rates, what has any socialist government ever done for its people?
So a clickbait site in France would have to provide those political stories to get enough clicks.
I have never seen a woman in a bikini giving birth to an octopus while three old men yell at her as an advertisement for a tire brand in the US, but I have in Japan. Nothing even remotely close to that happens in the west. Where you get the idea that Japanese advertisement is more subdued than others I do not know. Call it irrationality.
And what additional benefits do these American workers reap? They work (at least) 4 extra hours each week so their standard of living should be better, if it's not and all the extra work means more profits for their employer, then trying to portray that as a good thing is just plain dumb (unless you are one of the employers in which case you can laugh your head off at the dumb notion of said workers and their superiority complex over working more for the same of lower wages).
ahhh the classic "THE YOUNG ARE GOING TO RUIN THIS COUNTRY!" argument, that's been passed down each successive generation.
Sure, just like a virus it has morphed slightly to differentiate itself from the previous generation, but underneath the structure is the same.
WÌÌfÍ--ÍSÌÒÍ...Í...ÌHÌÍfÍÍÍ--ÍÍÍ
Mod parent funny...that made me snicker
... yes, whatever, Euros good, Americans bad. And nobody loves chanting that more than a certain type of neighbor-hating American.
On the topic itself: maybe we don't want to be obsessed with politics all the time, and don't want to politicize everything. That's bad?
With their beady little eyes and flapping heads so full of lies.
Actually, it's a triple negative (don't, disagree, aren't).
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
>> French idea of relief is a bottle of wine and watching women walking by the café.
That does it: I'm moving to France!
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
they keep their government in check
What?!? If we really kept the government in check, the authors of "Responsable but not guilty" would be in jail. If you don't understand the reference, you don't know enough about french politics to be making comments.
and take the streets at the hint of an real or perceived BS coming from it
They? Who is this they? Ahhh, the lucky few life public transport workers who are in guaranteed life long jobs and can go on strike without any repercussions meanwhile forcing millions of others to spend hours more getting to/from work.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Except it's apparently only more transparent on the English-speaking Internet (actually more specific: English-speaking and not Australian-focused), not on sites in other languages.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
No wonder the French are literate, savvy and experienced social creatures online....just a reflection how dumb-down is U.S.-style Internet.
The French led home terminal connectivity 10 years before the Internet launched nationwide in United States homes. Minitel terminals were text based phone company-issued devices which the French affectionately hung onto well after the internet age arrived. It took an act of government to dismantle the service.
It's OK if some people like different things than you.
French people liking to discuss politics online doesn't make them snobs. It just makes them people who like discussing politics online. And I know some very smart and politically involved Americans who are suckers for a cute dog video. Perhaps they'd be up for more poliltical discussion if every two years they were deluged with sly, dishonest, soul-suckingly stupid political advertisements. In France, with a population oif 63 million, presidential candidate spending is limited to 30 million dollars. My state has 1/10 the population of france, and the two leading candidates inthe last Senatorial election spent 85 billion -- and that's in an off year. So we Americans get exposed to a lot more unsolicited political communication than the French do.
But let's suppose that all things being equal, the French enjoy a good political argument online more than Americans do. So what?
I think resentment -- or even excessive concern -- over people who like different things than you is a sign of insecurity. When someone gets to the point where they insiste everyone join their side or be branded a fool or a snob, that's defeinitely someone who's seeking the safety of the herd.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
There is a reason why self made milionaires/billionaires are a dime a dozen in the US and not so much in France.
France has actually a large share of millionaires. Crédit suisse Research Institute's Global Wealth Report claims 9% of worldwide millionaires are in France. The number is interesting as it suggests France's taxes are not that bad for the wealthiers
Where in Satan's holy name is a self-taught American programmer with no degrees supposed to go?
To school?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
> And what additional benefits do these American workers reap?
The money to do something interesting with my time off instead of camping or having a "staycation". I also don't have to stay in one of those gawdawful French hotels that looks like and feels like a poorly done cruise ship cabin.
Plus I can actually make that kind of comparison.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
If you had ever been to the UK you would know it has a lot of empty space. For example, the coast road on the West of Scotland is a lot less populated than the great ocean road here in Oz.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
That was my first impression too. How snobby of the French to care about serious matters like politics and current events. How dare they not be as interested in cats and /b.
There certainly is a problem, and separately a snob problem even, but it certainly isn't with the French in TFS.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Wow, that article makes it sound like the French people don't have any fun - they just "... love sharing news and politics on social networks – in short, pretty serious stuff” and that they are "irredeemable snobs". Fortunately that's not true, as evidenced by this video.
There has to be at least one!
Maybe set it in the back of the bathroom like so:
|U|T|T|T|T|
| |
|
| |_ _ _ _
|_|T|T|T|T|
This way boys can still test their might and see how far they can peep without hosing a toilet.
Yes. Although in that case it's to make cutting remarks about their fashion sense.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The "African American" thing is actually just a case of the US being the US. In sane countries people are free to use "white" and "black" to describe people. It has nothing to do with multiculturalism or "leftism", but the ridiculous nature of US politics. Sweden didn't force the use of "hen", but simply said it can be used in various situations within school. It doesn't help your case if you make stuff up and get offended at it, but it doesn't surprise me, as you have a history of being a small-minded, hate-drenched muppet.
Save your breath. That guy loves to hate on women, minorities, socialism, the left in general, and anything else he perceives as threats to his insecure, pathetic, scared, ignorant little world. You can point him at actual studies outlining why he's incorrect, and he won't change his opinion. He might think of himself as, and even present himself as, a wonderful sceptic, but he's clearly a cynic, as nothing can change his mind.
"as conclusive proof that the French are irredeemable snobs"
Or that French people understood a long time ago that if you do not take politic seriously, you end up with two right wing party in a two party oligarchy.
But hey don't let that disturb you. Why don't you add a "rifle not used , dropped once" joke as you are at it.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
What are you talking about ?
Transistor: Austrian-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, A. Turing: a British mathematician, John von Neumann: Hungarian, naturalized at 37, Charles Babbage: British, Konrad Zuse: German, Tommy Flowers: British, Maurice Wilkes: British, F. Williams: British, British, F. Faggin: Italian, ...
Seems to me like US is good at industrialization and commercialization but when it comes about fundamental research Europe (UK, Germany, Hungary, Italy, ...) is to be expected... Seems like US and Europe are making a good team.
So please tell me how I refer to the colour of your skin or your race in general. Whatever has been said in history as managed to offend someone.
What ethnicity are you? Caucasian? Mongoloid? Negroid? Those are three alternatives, yet using the last one will typically get you a reply of "Did you just call me a nigger?" But getting all scientific is tough so we approximate with visual descriptions: White, Asian, Black. Oh wait we can't call black people black any more because they get offended by that now too?
Leftist retards is the right phrase for people who find the names of their own race offensive without offering any alternative by which to describe them. Just like feminist man-hating retard is the right phrase for my highschool english teacher who was offended at the use of the word manhole because it had the word "man" in it and then gave detention to a student (not me) who pointed out the Germanic etymology of "man" stems from the meaning human, and not male.
If you can't see why British people, or people from any other country, might mock someone who flew into their home country and called them American then you don't sound like a valueable lifeform ;)
The French do enjoy longer annual leave, but I suspect that in the US, the productivity gains resulting from a little more rest at certain points in the year would more than make up for the lost working time.
21st-Century business axiom:
"If you have time to rest, we need to lay some people off and add their job responsibilities to yours".
We've repaid the favor, twice. In fact, as much as I dislike the French, I know we'd go save them again if we had to.
Yes, it is a shame the rest of the world equates Americans with Texans.
like banning urinals.
It's got nothing to do with feminism or political correctness though, even if the media tries to paint it that way. It's a hygiene issue. Basically many men piss on the floor or the toilet seat, while women's bathrooms tend to be cleaner because they can't miss and it's in everyone's interests to keep the seats reasonably clean.
It's not just Sweden, men in South Korea and France have been proposing it too. Note that it's men proposing it in all cases, it's not some feminazi conspiracy. Also, it happened in the US first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
That's because the US has always been the dumping ground of the world's dregs...puritans, slaves, shithead brats who hated their families and just had to move to another continent, shithead brats whose rich familes hated them and forced them to attend school in the US, Mexico and South America's uneducated and unemployed, Canada's alcoholics and meth heads, and, historically, the drunkest of the inbred Irish and the cattiest of the catty Dutch.
And for political posturing reasons, the US will continue to fill up with morons with no skills or social graces (who would leave their family, really?) which makes the US moron footprint on the internet even more over-represented.
The funny part is that anyone smart is really planning a exit strategy long-term, if they haven't left already. The US economy is like emptying a bath with the faucet of petrodollars left on. You could optimistically call the vortex above the drain a "whirlwind of activity"...but no, thats the sucking sound that happens at the end, and after sufficient time, the petrodollar will cease to exist and the bath will drain really quickly >:O
The real path to male liberation
Buzzfeed is that site that I keep seeing people share links to, and every once in a while one of them does look interesting and I want to follow it, but when I do, it never actually works because the site just wont work unless you allow your browser to load content and run scripts from half the internet, and I consider that a bit like walking up to a table with 10 people who all rise and start unbuttoning their pants as I am being told "here we don't shake hands, instead we have unprotected anal sex"....
In any case, I have never actually cared enough to figure out which sites I need to let have its way with me to actually read one of their articles. Eventually I just started auto ignoring any link to buzzfeed.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
In the other hand, they keep their government in check and take the streets at the hint of an real or perceived BS coming from it
Yeah, except that hasn't really produced a better country. It just means a lot more headaches for the people living there and having to deal with periodic riots.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I'm pretty sure you could walk up to any old person in any country at any time in history, ask them what they think of the younger generation, and get the same basic answer. Even Plato and Jesus complained about the younger generation.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
There was a change sometime in the early 1980s where the French went from being just about the most liked nation by Americans (they helped found your nation after all) to intensely disliked "cheese eating surrender monkies". It may coincide with France extending a middle finger to US requests to shut down their centuries old hemp industry or the French complaints about Reagan's missile posturing that restarted the cold war after the USSR had just about given up.
Out of date. We're China's bitch now unless the USA is watching.
An interesting correlation here is that French people don't work nearly as many hours as US people do. For example, according to the OECD numbers (which include part-time workers), US workers average about 34.5 hours a week, while French workers average about 26.8. Their typical work week is 30 hours, not 40.
Perhaps the issue here is that French readers still have energy left after work to engage in higher civic pursuits. Meanwhile US readers when they finally get a few moments free are too brain-dead from all the work to be up for anything more challenging that laughing at cats playing piano.
I personally love that Buzzfeed exists; anytime someone one my Facebook feed posts a Buzzfeed like, I unfriend them or at least take them out of my news feed. I hope Buzzfeed achieves a 100% monopoly on links to time wasting internet garbage so I can filter it ~all out.
...the US will continue to fill up with morons with no skills or social graces...
The irony of this quote is astounding. :)
In French we say "cheeseburger".
Watch this Heartland Institute video
it's not some feminazi conspiracy
u wot m8?
Seriously?
Urinals are a much better use of floor space than stalls. You can fit far more in a given space. Also, men seem perfectly capable of pissing all over a toilet seat. I'd much rather there were slightly messy uninals so I can take a shit without sitting in someone's piss.
Also the US thing seemed to be nothing to do with hygine, and all to do with a bunch of nutcases.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Don't underestimate the Legion of Honour -- Arnold Schwarzenegger has one.
(I think the French give them to people like Jerry Lewis and Arnold Schwarzenegger just to poke fun at America, like "look, that's the best you have!").
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Sigh, when will we catch up to Japan in our advertising??
Jonathan Gruber, is that you? :-D
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Yep, showing that they aren't thinking, just mechanically reacting and regurgitating the stuff that's force/spoon fed to them.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Probably the funniest cat video I've seen
...richie - It is a good day to code.
I watched a cat video once. It was dumb. With that said, however...
> The French love sharing news and politics on social networks
If I had to choose between sitting through a hundred hours of nonstop stupid cat videos or thirty minutes of news and politics on social networks, I'd take the stupid cat videos every time. It's clearly the lesser of those two evils.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
The French are informed thinking citizens of a lively democracy. Americans are too often none of those things. The French aren't snobs. They are doing what Americans SHOULD be doing for America to function well.....
Only boring people are ever bored.
The "bullshit" is the ideas that shape our world. No wonder America is a mess.
Only boring people are ever bored.
your generalisations might be terribly wrong. i moved from NA to western europe and i find people very dull. niether interested in serious subjects or cat videos.
somewhere, on a Big Red Sign:
if(color==blue){speed--;}
Accurate documentary of Murica's future...
I think that women's toilets being cleaner than men's is a myth. Women can be filthy slobs just as much as men.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Japan's easy: Watch their shows; watch their ads; watch their music; watch their products. All, with very few exceptions, are way over the top.
China's really too big to be momolithic in this approach. It's a subcontinent by itself, to the extent that people from the North side don't speak the same language as those from the South, therefore one can't say "Chinese culture" without over-generalizing.
South Korea is gravitating toward extremes as well.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
If you can't see why British people, or people from any other country, might mock someone who flew into their home country and called them American then you don't sound like a valueable lifeform ;)
Americans would mock him too... "duh"
I just don't think it should trump his own needs. He should use speech that fits his own needs. If the speech is tailored for the people in the room, or for people not in the room, he should decide that based on his own needs. If you don't realize that, you don't sound like a very valued lifeform.
...nobody, except the French. A reminder that Jerry Springer is popular in France, too.
WWW
It's not about countries, it's about cultures.
Some cultures (e.g. Western European culture) favor more serious subjects versus others. Some others (e.g. Northern American) favor lighter subjects (unwind-type). Asian cultures apparently favor explosive feeling-related and augmentative headlines ("It's SUPER effective!"; "AMAZING performance!").
Nobody's to blame, really, except companies not doing their homeworks and trying to vomit their own culture-specific successes over other cultures and promptly failing.
The difference is in the quality/richness of education. French/Europe get bored with useless drival from social networks. On the other hand, Americans like to waste time posting trivia. Another factor is the 6/4 situation with monetizing minutes of connection. Six minutes of important stuff and 4 minutes of commercials. How many crime programs do you need to see on the web?
We are shaped by what we visit. KISS applies more for North American users.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
I don't get paid enough for that shit.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
I'm dead serious. American labor is spineless, which is why capital fucks labor up the ass on a regular basis.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
"We live in 'Merica. Fuck Yeah!"
Did you ever notice that it's OK to mock "red state" speech patterns
It's mocking an attitude, a reference to the source material: Team America, which reserved it hatred equally for the left and the right.
Kind of like how it's OK to mock Christianity, but Islam has to be held up as a "beautiful religion of peace".
I don't know of anyone, besides actual Muslims (and often the fundamentalists) who hold that value. Now there ARE liberals who hate Christianity and like to mock it (and usually other religions). And there ARE also liberals who think that Islam should be held up as a "beautiful religion of peace." But they're not the same people. Neither liberals nor conservatives are monocultures.
It's almost as if liberals despise success and greatness, and appreciate failure.
Too stupid to adequately respond to.
Here in the US, people can discuss (for example) banning hand guns or abortion - but its a fruitless conversation as these things are not up to simple majority rule.
And thats a Good Thing.
Of course it's up for majority rule, if the majority is large enough. The US Constitution isn't set in stone, ordained by God. You just need a Constitutional Amendment, which requires majorities of a certain number of states. But Americans don't feel strongly enough about banning hand guns or abortion.
Hey look, I got one!
You are welcome on my lawn.
Is that a dictator over the sun god?
American culture spends so much time being exceptional and telling itself it's the best, it just doesn't have the time or the energy left for quality control. Anything that attracts a cli... ooh, look! A Funny cat!!! LOLz!!!! =)))
Yeah, probably true. But I just couldn't help quoting Monty Python to make a point...
yes I did.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Oh dear God.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
He succeeded in offending the two black people I was standing next to that I worked with at the time, who were both British.
From then on we had an early taste of the idiocy of the CEO and later on he did many other things to confirm our initial opinion.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
>So please tell me how I refer to the colour of your skin or your race in general. Whatever has been said in history as managed to offend someone.
What offended the black British people in the room was being told they were American.
I now live in the US and I see many American are scared of their own language and overload additional semantics to words which makes their use of language twisted, over complicated and prone to (often deliberate) misinterpretation.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I can't tell if I'm supposed to hate myself for being from the US or not.
No, Slashdot is all about cats. I think so, maybe I should RTFA
The French were sitting around the fountain yelling insults and obscenities in French at those walking by.
These were Belgians faking they were French with Parisian accent and all. It's always fun to do that.