Is there such a thing as a sane American?

[stoffi]

I can't help it, I keep reading about how Americans are seemingly completely retarded. I was just reading an article about how school children in Texas are sent to prison for sending paper planes in class when they are 7 years old, ruining their lives.
But when a judge beats his child with a belt and is filmed, nothing is done about it.

One 12 year old kid was put in prison for flipping over a bench. Six years later, he is still in prison. Hundreds of pupils have to go to court every day in Texas.


Should Americans be allowed to run their own country? Are they too stupid to be in charge?

[Boukenkage]

It's a running joke about people in Texas being a joke. ...Unfortunately we recently had a president who was FROM Texas (Bush) so that doesn't help matters much. There ARE sane Americans around, but the insane ones seem to gobble up all the media and 'represent' the country.

That being said, humanity as a whole can be rather stupid. I guess with how big the population is here in America...we become a rather large sample size. :\

~tWS

[Palem]

Normal people aren't newsworthy...

Gawd, this thread's so stupid I'm almost considering it flame bait.

[Boukenkage]

Well, I found it useful in that it helped me up my post count? ^^;

Still, a thread about stupid people is stupid in a sense.

~tWS

[scorpio86]

There are millions of sane Americans, millions and millions of them mate.

America would **** on Norway.

However i understand what you are saying. In America if you walk down the wrong street wearing blue or red some black guy is going to shoot you. If you get into an arguement in a parking lot some hillbilly is going to shoot you. People that commit crimes get locked up and served with three meals a day, hot showers and beds, all at tax payers expense while homeless people who do not break the law go without.

But this isn't purely American, it is human behaviour. Take a look at the situation in Africa, not many Americans there, they still f#$k their own country up pretty well despite no Americans. Burma has done quite well also. Not to mention many other places that are not part of the U.S.

Do Humans deserve to run their own planet?

NOPE.

Are Humans too stupid to be in charge?

YES, look at the state of the world.

[KuhaN]

This thread should seriously be deleted. Stupidity and a lack of common sense rages me more than anything else in the world. So stoffi, youre basing all Americans on random **** you hear on the news, and youre gullible enough to believe that everybody must be like what you see in the media? All the politicians, celebs, and other "powerful" people you read about or see on television usually are messed up in the head, because any normal and good person has enough wisdom to not crave power. Stop being brainwashed by the media... Even in this day and age, you can still achieve so much in this Country, where so many great people were born. I love America, but I truly hate its government atm.

[stoffi]

This thread should seriously be deleted. Stupidity and a lack of common sense rages me more than anything else in the world. So stoffi, youre basing all Americans on random **** you hear on the news, and youre gullible enough to believe that everybody must be like what you see in the media? All the politicians, celebs, and other "powerful" people you read about or see on television usually are messed up in the head, because any normal and good person has enough wisdom to not crave power. Stop being brainwashed by the media... Even in this day and age, you can still achieve so much in this Country, where so many great people were born. I love America, but I truly hate its government atm.

Well, the generalising was meant to provoke, and I was pretty drunk, but to the world, Americans appear less intelligent. It's "common knowledge" in Norway that Americans are ignorant and stupid. I for one know that all Americans aren't stupid or ignorant, but the percentage of ignorant people seems to be very high compared to other countries. At least among many of those who vote and rule...

But let's talk about Texans here. Should THEY be allowed to run their own state? They seem to be doing everything wrong. I'm sure there's many sane Texans, but the majority seems uncapable of reasonable thought. How can anyone approve of imprisoning children for doing normal children-things?

[scorpio86]

Hey stoffi where is NASA based?

[stoffi]

Hey stoffi where is NASA based?

All over the US, but the HQ is in D.C. Mission control is in Houston, Texas.

I know what point you are trying to make but I don't see how it would relate to this as Houston is only one of many NASA bases, employees would be from all over the US and you can still be an educated, smart moron.

[lastunicorn]

Normal people aren't newsworthy...

Gawd, this thread's so stupid I'm almost considering it flame bait.

It's one of three recent threads where stoffi tries to provoke Americans. I'll decline to comment on this one.

[Killthemall]

Stupid law : Norway Law: If you challenge a man to a fist fight to the death, he must accept or pay a penalty of 4 deer.

Stupid law : Norway Law: By law males must go off on expeditions of rape and plunder to nearby countries at least every 5 years.

Stupid law : Norway Law: On long winter days, when the sun does not rise, women must make themselves available to satisfy their husbands sexual pleasures.

Stupid law : Norway Law: You may not spray your female dog or cat. However, male dogs can be neutered.

(Reuters/Thomas Winje Oijord/Scanpix)
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Norway's peace was shattered twice Friday when a bomb ripped open buildings in the heart of its government and a man dressed as a police officer gunned down youths at a summer camp. Police linked one Norwegian to both attacks, which killed a total of at least 16 people in this nation's worst violence since World War II.

Police said they did not know the motive or whether the attacks were the work of one person or a terrorist group, but Justice Minister Knut Storberget said the man who opened fire at the youth camp is Norwegian.

Hundreds of youths ran in terror at a camp on Utoya island where the prime minister had been scheduled to speak Saturday. Some even tried swimming to safety as the gunman fired.

A 15-year-old camper named Elise said she heard gunshots, but then saw a police officer and thought she was safe. Then he started shooting people right before her eyes.

to prove a point here this is an bit of some news from norway... so news flash there is stupidity all over the world even down the street from where you live...

[Magn]

This thread should seriously be deleted. Stupidity and a lack of common sense rages me more than anything else in the world. So stoffi, youre basing all Americans on random **** you hear on the news, and youre gullible enough to believe that everybody must be like what you see in the media? All the politicians, celebs, and other "powerful" people you read about or see on television usually are messed up in the head, because any normal and good person has enough wisdom to not crave power. Stop being brainwashed by the media... Even in this day and age, you can still achieve so much in this Country, where so many great people were born. I love America, but I truly hate its government atm.

Let's make this thread less stupid despite the poster's best efforts.

Craving for power is only messed up in the head when you crave for power for the sake of power. Then, you're just a control freak and you need therapy.

However, there is nothing wrong with entering the political arena when you see something wrong with society and you want to correct it (though I'll grand you that our current politics are not conductive to an enlightened debate).

When I was a kid, we didn't have the right to wear joggings at school. My mom thought that was stupid, so she joined the parents' committee and got it changed.

Furthermore, you need a group to manage the affairs of the country. Should that ground be more open and democratic then the people running our countries right now? Sure, but someone still has to do it.

This is a fine example of what politics should and can be about.

Concerning the main topic of the thread, I think it's not so much the people as the North American far right political movement (which found its roots in the U.S, but has since gained significant footing in Canada as well).

I firmly believe it has helped erode the quality of the political debate and has been hard at work ironing out the democratic element of our political system.

When you're an extremist, you don't care about democracy, you just care about having things your way and if people don't vote your way, you'll find plenty of ways to put a wedge into things to make sure the system doesn't work and then claim that only your way works properly.

[Palem]

Concerning the main topic of the thread, I think it's not so much the people as the North American far right political movement (which found its roots in the U.S, but has since gained significant footing in Canada as well).

Really? I was under the impression that Canada was pretty liberal...

[Magn]

Really? I was under the impression that Canada was pretty liberal...

Usually, but the liberals screwed up big last during the last decade (lots of scandals) and the Conservatives gained quite a bit of momentum as a result of that.

Furthermore, the current Conservatives aren't the old moderate center-right party we once had, but rather a merger of the old Tories (Conservative) and the much farther right Reform party from the West.

Given that at the time of the merger, Reformists outnumbered the old Tories by 4 to 1, they are the ones that are actually running the show in the party and their more extreme views is the only right of center option in the country (as my father once said, center right moderates don't really have a party to represent their views anymore).

Last election, about 40% of voters voted Conservative, but due to vote splitting amongst the other 60% that voted for the remaining center-left parties, the Conservatives got away with most of the seats (which is the equivalent of a 4 years dictatorship in Canada, at least for the powers that pertain to the federal government and not the provinces).

In short, rednecks are at the helm now.

Believe me, a great many voters here feel extremely let down by our political system (both the people running it as well as the system itself) and we are way past due for political reforms which the current party in power will never implement, because they won't remain in power if the quality of our democracy improves.

Ironically, our current PM (head of the new Conservatives and previously head of the Reform party) was screaming for political reforms when he was the head of the opposition, but has since failed to instate the reforms he previously promised as they are no longer politically convenient for him.

[[MaNIaC]]

yes, there are sane americans