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| Down Under | |
| AMERICANS STUPID? | |
| 2004-01-30 | |
| From an Australian Blogger, who is the scourge of the left. Although I am an Australian, one thing that really annoys me is the constant refrain among non-Americans to the effect that Americans are stupid. How did a stupid people get to be one of the most prosperous on earth? How did a stupid people get to be the world’s only superpower? How did a stupid people avoid ever having their cities bombed flat? How did a stupid people produce military equipment so advanced that no-one else can hope to match it? The Iraqi army put up a tenacious fight against the Iranian army but it just went home when a much smaller American military force arrived. How did a stupid people come to dominate the world with its cultural products? Ever heard of Hollywood or American popular music? And even Italians now make "Western" movies. How did a stupid people get to dominate the world with its products and business systems? Ever heard of Coca Cola, McDonald’s or KFC? How did America get to dominate the world with its intellectual products? Ever heard of Microsoft or IBM or Intel or all the American Nobel prize-winners? How did a stupid people get to integrate successfully within their ranks large numbers of people from every country in Europe? South America and North America are both large continents well-endowed with natural resouces so how come there is no South American equivalent of the USA? How come prosperity stops at the U.S.-Mexico border? And how come it is Europe that invented both Communism and Fascism and that it was America that had to rescue them from both? The truth is that Americans are a very wise and sophisticated people who very often affect a folksy style -- such as the style we see the high-achieving President George W. Bush or in the incredibly high-achieving investor Warren Buffett. But the REALLY stupid people are those who cannot see past the folksy style to the hard-working, dedicated, careful-thinking people beneath it. Only people as stupid as most Europeans could mistake style for substance. Really smart people would try to understand Americans rather than condemn them for having their own ways. They would see the folksiness as a sign of a less elitist and more democratic society rather than as a sign of stupidity. And it is not only Americans who affect folksiness. Australia’s most popular Prime Minister in the last 50 years was "Bob" Hawke -- a conservative in most ways but the leader of Australia’s major party of the Left. Although he was so thoroughly bourgeois as to be the son of a Protestant clergyman and brilliant enough win a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford university, he normally spoke during his political career with a broad working-class accent. He certainly wasn’t stupid but Australia too is a very egalitarian country where people of all classes are treated with respect.
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| Posted by:tipper |
| #12 The crowning irony is that even the Hate America Cult and the pop-culture left are largely American inventions. Howard Zinn? Noam Chomsky? Michael Moore? In fact, a young (32 iirc)genius named Thomas Frank has documented the advertising industry's creation of the modern Left in a remarkable book called The Conquest of Cool. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-1-31 12:32:00 AM |
| #11 Excellent rant! Although I don't agree with his conclusions. The problem is in eye of the beholder. If you want to know the real reason that large numbers of supposedly intelligent people particularly in Europe, although Australia has a goodly number, think Bush+Americans are stupid, then the answer lies in what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. If you and almost everyone you know thinks one way, but others think differently, then especially if those others appear to be richer, smarter and more succesful than you, then you unconciously rationalize it away by concluding they must be evil and stupid. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-1-30 11:10:27 PM |
| #10 Sorry about the double post.I hit the back button to many times |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-1-30 10:56:43 PM |
| #9 For that bit of praise I'd be tempted to offer the Aussie's statehood. But that would be insulting. We may have our disagreements with Oz and they with us but in my opinion they are the only true friend we have in the Pacific. The NZs are to self absorbed in their own New Age Bull Shit to see the way the world is going(they are todays isolationists)Japan will look out for Japan(that's fine, its what nation states do)China still sees themselves as the Middle Kingdom, Heaven n one side the Barbarians on the other. And speaking of Barbarians Indonesia will in my opinion be the big problem in the next 20 years |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-1-30 10:55:56 PM |
| #8 For that bit of praise I'd be tempted to offer the Aussie's statehood. But that would be insulting. We may have our disagreements with Oz and they with us but in my opinion they are the only true friend we have in the Pacific. The NZs are to self absorbed in their own New Age Bull Shit to see the way the world is going(they are todays isolationists)Japan will look out for Japan(that's fine, its what nation states do)China still sees themselves as the Middle Kingdom, Heaven n one side the Barbarians on the other. And speaking of Barbarians Indonesia will in my opinion be the big problem in the next 20 years |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-1-30 10:54:42 PM |
| #7 Gee, d'ya think maybe the European (and other) elitists misunderestimate Americans? Thank you, John Ray. Bless you, Australia. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-1-30 10:18:10 PM |
| #6 folksy is good way of describing one of the reasons I liked bush. give me bush (in my politics and bed) or give me death! |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-30 10:16:57 PM |
| #5 SHHHHhhh, John Ray, don tel 'em SMART u-rope-peens 'at we ain't as dumb as we look. It's sometimes an advantage to be under estimated by your adversaries. And unfortunately, the European elitists have taken an adversarial position.Thanks again John for your post. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-30 10:11:36 PM |
| #4 Posted my opinion at my website seconds before coming here, although I don't think we "affect" folksiness: The folksy people I admire are authentic. What you see is what you get. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-1-30 10:04:37 PM |
| #3 Sometimes I feel like the whole World is against us, and then I read something like this. At least we know who our real friends are... God Bless you Australia. |
| Posted by: Stupid American 2004-1-30 9:52:57 PM |
| #2 A nation founded by convicts and a nation founded by rebels are in the eyes of the EUnuchs the same thing. You are well respected and in good company Oz. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-30 9:47:12 PM |
| #1 The truth is that Americans are a very wise and sophisticated people who very often affect a folksy style "Dang, Beauregard- we bin found out. Did yew leave yer biotechnology books on the cee-ment porch agin?" |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-1-30 9:37:52 PM |