Ok I've seen this going on in quite a few threads now and I need to get this off my chest. America is a huge place full of many different kinds of people and communities. Seeing comments like "America needs to grow up" or "God that would NEVER happen here, what's wrong with that place" gets me mad. Have you ever been here? Have you visited all the states, regions, and seen the WIDE variety of culture that exists here? Then why all the high and mighty internet speech? A lot of the complaints I've seen coming from bronies feeling left out and discriminated against come from notoriously intolerant regions. If you feel the need to vent about it, why not call out that region? Why the whole country? I HAVE traveled abroad to many different places and what I've found is we all have flaws, our governments have flaws, and corruption exists everywhere. Yes, people are treated unfairly sometimes, but to judge an entire nation of people based on a few occurrences perpetrated by DUMB people against your fellow brony is really...ignorant. From those who've seen my posts, you know I'll never tell you what to say, or tread on your freedom to say it. All I ask is be to mindful of every pony's feelings before you post big, sweeping generalizations, especially when said brony works for the government and knows many, like her, who took the oath of office to try and make a difference for our countrymen and countrywomen.
Sorry, I really reget posting that. It was a silly thing to say. I was definitely talking about the minority, I certainly shouldn't have generalised like I did. I know that the vast majority of Americans are perfectly decent people and the nation as a whole has a great potential and power to do good, but I wasn't considering that when reading Saikyos story. Stories like that really tick me off, whereever they come from. It's certainly not an issue that America faces alone, and I'm sure in most cases it isn't an issue at all. But yeah, sorry for being so blunt. No offense was meant to anyone, honestly.
Whilst I completely agree with the notions made here (really, I do. This stereotyping nonsense is rather childish) it's also important to know that people who don't live in the country in question, nor have done so in the past will look at representatives of that country to get an idea for what that country is like. These representatives needn't be elected, they simply need be from that country or place to be used as a sample for the greater value of the populace. Still, its a very ludicrous thing to try and base any sort of assumption on a random sample. I'm sorry you feel like this is a personal attack against you Novella, you have every right to put these assumptions to bed.
I kind of agree with you, but I also agree with some of the other comments, America as a whole is a great place and I feel blessed to call it my stomping grounds, but like I sadi earlier, 85% percent of the American government is completely and utterly messed up.
Oh if it were just you, I wouldn't have posted. *super duper hugs* its honestly not a big deal, and Saiko has every right to be mad. In a lot of cases though, It sounds more like specific individuals have a beef, but since that beef went to the principal and an administrative action was taken, yes he should get his parents involved. Its stories like those that DO get to the media, and I've seen stories like that before in the news here. But in this case, I think it was over zealousness of two uppity school officials. I know several kids that didn't stand for the pledge, heck I didn't say it for a while back in high school. I never got a bat of an eye let alone a suspension. I don't agree, I'd say only a small fraction of the federal government is messed up, unfortunately many of those people are in charge. And those are the only people in the government you ever hear about 100% of the time
Unfortunately, here in the states our crazy minorities of radicals be they right wing or left wing are very, very, very loud. Most of what other countries see of us is that, since those insane people is what makes for good news. The other +95% of us are just facepalming at their idiocy.
Very true. It's a shame that over here we only get the crazy sensationalist stories. The media always stresses how broken America is, and for the most part it sells. It's also interesting how I sometimes catch myself thinking of America as a nation of radicals and gun nuts, even though that obviously isnt the case. The problem is that we hear so much about them, and it's easy to forget the vastness of the diversity found in the US, as well as it's staggering population. This makes it easy to imagine the undesirables as being more common, even though they're almost insignificant minorities.
I agree. Among many other conversational habits, it is a dead giveaway to me that someone isn't that bright when they say things like "we" when describing, usually inaccurately, the history, activities, or opinions, of millions of people. Even worse is when they say "we did X" when they had zero participation in whatever X was. Is it really that hard to be judged as an individual these days? Everyone just wants to wrap themselves up in the anonymity of some nauseatingly vague collective.
It was MASSIVE culture shock for my ex when he came here. He's from Japan, a society that puts Japanese culture first at all times and only allows immigration in VERY strict circumstances. He didn't get why we had so much racially-driven violence, and thought that only certain races were "evil" or "racist" becuase that was all he saw in the media. Imagine his shock when "---------" people started using horrid racial slurs against him becuase they hated asians, and they were not of the color he was lead to think would say such things. It also didn't compute when I explained that all cultures are taken into consideration and becuase of that there is no "standard" culture here. He found that VERY confusing and difficult to grasp. Trying to juggle one ball is easy, trying to juggle thousands without dropping one or discarding them is not worth the effort? Not so much.
I apoligize if I offended anyone, but some crazy loudmouths are making America look bad. I understand a country that huge must be hard to unify. Sweden is essentially just as large as a single state and have for most part a united culture. That being said I absolutly hate the religious fundamentalists that at first glance seem to be in abundance. Not allowing same-sex couples to get married is a huge offense to human rights in my book, and sometimes it seems like people are essentialy forced to be christians. This has not really exclusive to America though, it is a problem for basicly everywhere except scandinavia. But as is probably evident, I do have respect for the founding fathers and the values which the United States were founded upon. After all, the country that came up with MLP:FIM can't be too bad, the values of this show is the best I have ever seen, superior to the moral codes of all nations and religions in the world. Let's say that there are nations I despise more, like Iran or North Korea.
i'll just say: go to some Croatian site/blog/forum etc. and look what people from Croatia write about Croatia. Of course USA is at magnifying glass off rest of world since since it gets 80% of all attention (specially on internet). example: there was 6.3 earthquake in Pennsylvania, no damage, no dead or injured. mayor news. 2 days later: 8.0 earthquake in Peru, about 300 people killed, lot of damage and people left homeless , no word of it at all (I only saw it on Croatian news on internet). So, whatever comes up in usa, specially if it's bad, it's news, if it happens anywhere else, no one hears for it, since it suppose we (other countries) are not important enough
This is the kind of thing the OP is talking about. Why do you think that a few crazy people speak for everyone in the geographical area known as America? Crazy people on the news don't make me look bad. If someone living in another country thinks less of me because of a totally unrelated individual speaking on the television, then it shows more of their lack of character than my own. The "country" did not come up with MLP:FiM. Attributing the accomplishments of a handful of writers, animators, and producers to millions of people is the same kind of thinking that assumes that the beliefs of vocal religious fundamentalists represent everyone living here. Did you ever stop to consider that perhaps there is a reason why you are shown, repeatedly, these kinds of images of America?
also, mlp:fim was actually made in Vancouver, Canada (animation, voice acting etc, only story was made in LA, Cali)
I agree with the above statement... to a point. While it is unfair to judge a country based on the words or actions of a few of its citizens, it might also be said that sometimes the bystanders who weren't guilty of those words or actions that have been deemed faulty are oibligated to do something. I feel that when people say, to use your example, "What's wrong with America?", they are asking first, why the minority would do something like that, and second, why the majority doesn't go in and stop them. I feel that the statement can even be taken figuratively. Still, I appreciate your comment.
While I enjoy living in America, my biggest issue is with today's youth being painfully uneducated or disrespectful. This is my generation and newer ones. Bigotry and ignorance is becoming a bigger and bigger problem here. I don't feel our government is being led down the right path, but I don't solely blame any single person in a political position.
I don't think education is the sole thing to blame for kids today. I blame the lack of good role models and the ones that are good are to "uncool" or whatever. -- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
I think if the media showed that being nice actually made you friends and good connections, people would be a bit more encouraged to. Currently, "trolling" on the internet has become an extreme fad in real life as well. A large issue is parents. We grow up with our parents' beliefs and opinions often times. It's rare that someone grows up with such world-wise views as mine.
