Whenever a foreign person insists that I must like football because I'm American, I just say, "What, you mean soccer?" until they give up out of frustration. Points for realism. Also, my problem with a lot of social movements that have come out in the past couple years *cough*occupywallstreet*cough* has been that they unified too many causes under one banner, hiding behind slogans instead of making realistic demands. The women's suffrage movement wanted one simple thing, and while it was hard to achieve, they got it in the end. We need to start citing very explicit problems whenever we get angry, because it's the only way to use our anger. And man, do we ever need to use it.
Not even I fit into the "Typical American" stereotype completely. I've always preferred baseball, and I stopped watching NFL games when Michael Vick was allowed to return the league. It really depends on where you are in the United States. A lot of people (especially Europeans) forget that the Continental U.S. is similar in size to the entirety of Europe. It would be ignorant and incorrect of me to say that Swedes are just like French or Germans, so why do people assume that every region of the U.S. is the same? Don't get me started on Occupy. I was very involved in the local Occupy group, standing out by the road every day for six weeks with a sign, putting out flyers and pamphlets, camping in the park almost every night, even making food to bring to the other protesters. It was frustrating, because at twenty-three, I was the youngest person there. This of course meant that any ideas or opinions that I had were frequently dismissed. After all, I was just the stupid kid. What did I know? Besides, eventually somebody would suggest something that I had recommended a half hour earlier, and my ideas would get used anyway. Despite my frustration, I said nothing. After all, Occupy was about the group, not the individual. Eventually, after I ran off some Tea Party members that had come looking for a fight, the group decided that I would be in charge of security for the camp. This entailed keeping the camp and everybody in it safe, day and night. I ended up going entirely without sleep for days on end, making sure that I did my part for the movement. Then one day I realized that I standing by the road, holding a sign about ending corporate greed. You know, the basic premise of the entire movement. I realized that the people on either side of me were holding signs for causes ranging from the legalization of marijuana to ending the use of high fructose corn syrup. There were even signs supporting causes that I was actively opposed to, like citizenship for illegal immigrants and legalizing late-term abortion. I was, of course, angry, but I decided to stick with it. I had made a commitment to the cause. That night, the temperature fell to well below freezing. I was only wearing a light jacket, and didn't realize how cold it gotten. The next morning, I headed home for a change of clothes, and was greeting by my mother looking absolutely terrified. My skin was bright red, and my body temperature was below 90°F. Not a single person that I talked to that morning bothered to mention that I was showing the classic signs of hypothermia. It is not an exaggeration to say that I came very close to freezing to death. That was the final straw for me. I decided that I wasn't willing to die for people that weren't even fighting for the same things that I was. About a week later, somebody destroyed the camp during the night, and the whole group fell apart. Six weeks, hundreds of hours of effort, and absolutely nothing came of it. Everybody wants things to change, but nobody can agree on what needs to change. People get so wrapped up fighting for their personal causes that they can't see anything that's happening around them. Nobody cares about the greater good. When they finally take a stand, it's usually for selfish reasons.
I'd love to visit America, Y'know, If I didn't despise the idea of boats in the middle of the ocean, Airports with the crowds, Aeroplanes themselves. I'm probably never going abroad. Haha~
An enthralling read. That was also my perspective on the occupy movement, but thank you for sharing your story.
Thats probably the only way we're gonna do it. AS far as i can tell the corporations and politicians are dug too far in to make any protests achiements permanent.
I think you mean after some Scandinavian country perfects the teleporter. As long as 2/3 of the people call evolution the work of Satan, we'll continue to lag in the area of scientific discovery.
Its more like 8/10. I dunno, Satan had more sympathy potential than god ever did. He actually never killed anyone. God did. God is apparently fond of murdering everything. The whole reason man was punished for eating the fruit is because god lost his ****. Despite the facts that. He knows the past present and future, Therefore he knew there we gonna eat it. BUT HE STILL PUT IT THERE AND DID NOTHING TO STOP THEM.
[video=youtube;TivqZTq5u6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivqZTq5u6Y[/video] - - Auto Merge - - I'd say that you're both way off. From what I've seen and read, the majority of Americans believe in evolution. It's not difficult to reconcile religious beliefs with scientific facts. In fact, the Creationists are a relatively small group. They're just so outspoken that they seem more influential than they actually are. Kind of like 4Channers.
2/3 was the figure I got from Huffington Post. Now sure, evolution doesn't need people to "believe in" it in order for it to continue being the best scientific model to explain biodiversity, but the fact that I hear "So yer sayin' we came from monkeys?" so damn often kind of cements me into a rather pessimistic disposition towards my fellow Americans.
I love America, but I find myself being constantly disappointed and disgusted by Americans. It's rather disheartening.
I think that the majority of Americans believe in evolution, but that's just based on my own experience. The way that such a survey's questions are worded can often provoke certain kinds of responses. As for those online statistics, news anchor Jon Oliver got it right: the reason why so many Americans think that things like climate change and evolution are up for debate is because the word "debate" is often used in conversations about those things. Information outlets don't represent the majority of the scientific community, they represent whomever is loud enough to be heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, as my father always said. And so Americans are falsely led to believe that there is some real debate over what is commonly accepted as true.
I never said that they were still Nazis, nor did I say that they were Nazis in WW1. Also, hashtags. Dishonor on your cow.
