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Thread ID: 81664	2007-08-03 03:22:00	Bridge Disaster In US	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
576086	2007-08-06 02:49:00	That's just rotten to say about ANYBODY dying..even from you. Have you no scruples or shame? By my reading he wasn't saying it about people dying Joe, it was a commentary on the incredible isolationism and ignorance of the greater American public of anything that happens outside the US of A. Present company excepted, but you are a little unique Joe. The average American "Joe in the Street" seems to know virtually nothing about the world outside the US. I say seems to know, because I travel to the States occasionally and have met plenty of your countrymen who not only knew where NZ was, but have actually been here, but I've met a few who didn't even know which direction to guess. Maybe we should blame US TV for presenting your fellows as fools and virtual morons on programs like the one that pitches adults against 5th graders. This is mind numbing stuff, but compulsive viewing. It is worthwatching just to see what sublime levels of ignorance and stupidity grown men and women can demonstrate. It is like watching a trainwreck (or a bridge collapse) to see a College graduate unable to do basic maths, to be ignorant of any geography outside the US, and in one notable instance, place the US in the eastern hemisphere depite living in the heart of the "western" world. That aside, and I'd like to think it was an exception but it's not, any program that shows unscripted and unrehearsed utterances from Mr & Mrs America is downright comedic. Like recent interviews where US citizens identified Australia as Iraq ( do they need a map of the world with "you are here" and "our boys are fighting there" flags?). There were many many more geographic bloopers on that particular program, including one who didn't know what country lay to the north of the Continental United States (big clue, it starts with c and has three a's, an n and a d. I'm not tarring all Americans with that brush Joe, but that is the image that your media chooses to broadcast to the world, and some of it is very very true. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
576087	2007-08-06 03:10:00	By my reading he wasn't saying it about people dying Joe, it was a commentary on the incredible isolationism and ignorance of the greater American public of anything that happens outside the US of A . Present company excepted, but you are a little unique Joe . The average American "Joe in the Street" seems to know virtually nothing about the world outside the US . I say seems to know, because I travel to the States occasionally and have met plenty of your countrymen who not only knew where NZ was, but have actually been here, but I've met a few who didn't even know which direction to guess . Maybe we should blame US TV for presenting your fellows as fools and virtual morons on programs like the one that pitches adults against 5th graders . This is mind numbing stuff, but compulsive viewing . It is worth viewing just to see what sublime levels of ignorance and stupidity grown men and women can demonstrate . It is like watching a trainwreck (or a bridge collapse) to see a College graduate unable to do basic maths, to be ignorant of any geography outside the US, and in one notable instance, place the US in the eastern hemisphere depite living in the heart of the "western" world . That aside, and I'd like to think it was an exception but it's not, any program that shows unscripted and unrehearsed utterances from Mr & Mrs America is downright comedic . Like recent interviews where US citizens identified Australia as Iraq ( do they need a map of the world with "you are here" and "our boys are fighting there" flags?) . There were many many more geographic bloopers on that particular program, including one who didn't know what country lay to the north of the Continental United States (big clue, it starts with c and has three a's, an n and a d . I'm not tarring all Americans with that brush Joe, but that is the image that your media chooses to broadcast to the world, and some of it is very very true . Cheers Billy 8-{) Oh, I donnow . . . sometimes it's all about the $$ . . so people can be bought to be as stupid as the show needs . . . and don't think they don't screen the boobs out of the people who CAN pour urine out of their boots . (Boob here in the US equates roughly with IDIOT in NZ-talk, not the supple . . . er . . nevermind) I bet that on any given day there are a lot of id-i-ots on every street . . . even paved ones with working bridges and with cars on the wrong/left side of the road . See? It isn't a fair cross-section to, as you said, paint with a broad brush . I personally like people with funny accents and strange words that aren't really English . . . be it German, Italian or Aussie . Notice how I left NZ out of that? I am beginning to learn the subtle differences in youse guys . But, I think we can all really celebrate our differences and languages and colloquialisms and such with a good amount of tail twisting and tongues-in-cheeks . As for the people on those game shows . . well I cannot apologize for them . . but have you ever watched any Japanese game shows? They are just plain cruel to people and it doesn't matter if they lose an arm or an eye in the quest for the almighty £, €, ¥, ¢ or $ . Pride is nowhere in sight either . And, yeah . . . let me soften my stand about that trainwreck . Truer words were not spoken about the "isolationist" feelings most Americans have . The schools here suck . . . they are advanced baby daycare centers . The students have too many "rights" . The teachers aren't paid enough . . but sports heroes are hideously overpaid . Cops have no rights, not even to protect themselves . Criminals have all the rights . . . they cannot even be executed when found totally guilty by a jury, ex: Charles Manson . . still alive and seeking parole . Traffic laws are scoffed at . . ever see Mad Max? It's rife with badness . . . even here . . and the people are all lemming-ing to the nearest cliff .	SurferJoe46 (51)
576088	2007-08-06 05:25:00	Countries that execute its citizens are bastard uncivilised countries. If I was Prime Minister I wouldnt allow citizens from these countries to come to NZ. Mad Max is Australian ,they have steering wheels on the right side. tedheath	tedheath (537)
576089	2007-08-06 05:31:00	Countries that execute its citizens are bastard uncivilised countries. If I was Prime Minister I wouldnt allow citizens from these countries to come to NZ. Mad Max is Australian ,they have steering wheels on the right side. tedheath Pardon me.... But I noticed that you are NOT celebrating our differences.	SurferJoe46 (51)
576090	2007-08-06 05:59:00	Countries that execute its citizens are bastard uncivilised countries. If I was Prime Minister I wouldnt allow citizens from these countries to come to NZ. Mad Max is Australian ,they have steering wheels on the right side. tedheath So, by that incredibly weird logic, the following countries and more were bastardly uncivilised before capital punishment was abolished: New Zealand before 1957. UK before 1964. Canada before 1962. France before 1977. (Madame Guillotine is much more civilised and quick than hanging, sometimes the hangman had to pull on the hangees feet to finish off the job if things went wrong :) ) web.amnesty.org	Terry Porritt (14)
576091	2007-08-06 08:21:00	The schools here suck...they are advanced baby daycare centers. The students have too many "rights". The teachers aren't paid enough..but sports heroes are hideously overpaid. Cops have no rights, not even to protect themselves. Criminals have all the rights...they cannot even be executed when found totally guilty by a jury, ex: Charles Manson..still alive and seeking parole. Traffic laws are scoffed at..ever see Mad Max? same story here too:groan: although i'm opposed to killing criminals, i do think that they should be incarcerated for the ENTIRE life, not just 7 years or whatever is is over here. i hear in the states that car theft scores you 5 years, over here it's 3 months:yuck:	motorbyclist (188)
576092	2007-08-06 11:32:00	although i'm opposed to killing criminals, i do think that they should be incarcerated for the ENTIRE life, not just 7 years or whatever is is over here. i hear in the States that car theft scores you 5 years, over here it's 3 months:yuck: A prison sentence in the US is a virtual death sentence anyway. If you are nice and soft you get the arse-injected death sentence (AIDS) quick smartish, faster if you drop the soap in the shower. If you are average tough & smartish you die of a drug overdose and if you are big and tough somebody bigger and tougher with 3 consecutive life sentences and nothing to lose will knife you for a cigarette or less, or maybe just for fun. US lawyers prosper on people's fears (that's not a criticism, it's a comment on the workload) and when multiple DUIs or a car wreck fatality can get you a life sentence, and you face elected Judges who may know virtually nothing of the law, it is worth selling your house and everything in it just to stay on the outside. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
576093	2007-08-06 11:53:00	Pardon me.... But I noticed that you are NOT celebrating our differences. I have a feeling that he is stirring the pot of flame.	Renmoo (66)
576094	2007-08-06 12:01:00	I can remember when drinking driving was a sport and not a crime tedheath	tedheath (537)
576095	2007-08-06 17:06:00	A prison sentence in the US is a virtual death sentence anyway. If you are nice and soft you get the arse-injected death sentence (AIDS) quick smartish, faster if you drop the soap in the shower. If you are average tough & smartish you die of a drug overdose and if you are big and tough somebody bigger and tougher with 3 consecutive life sentences and nothing to lose will knife you for a cigarette or less, or maybe just for fun. US lawyers prosper on people's fears (that's not a criticism, it's a comment on the workload) and when multiple DUIs or a car wreck fatality can get you a life sentence, and you face elected Judges who may know virtually nothing of the law, it is worth selling your house and everything in it just to stay on the outside. Cheers Billy 8-{) I don't know...perhaps you've been watching James Cagney movies again..... DUI is a very serious crime here nowadays..it's not so scoffed at to send a drunk to jail for the first offense....unless you are a Hollywood star. What you MAY not know..is the policy (state-by-state, not globally in the US) of "Third-Strike Laws" wherein if you receive TWO terms in prison (serious CRIMINAL acts only) the third time is the last time...as you are then sent to life in prison. Conceptionally, you can first be found guilty of second degree murder and another time get sentenced for drugs, etc, but the third offense...even if only caught stealing something over $200.00, is the last offense and gets you life in prison. That's good...a life of professional lawlessness deserves a life of incarceration. If one hasn't learned after the first two prison sentences, then they need to be institutionalized for their own good. Soap is on a lanyard that you wear around your neck...and lifers are not mixed with the general prison population. But, please, if the movies you are watching are in black and white, even if they HAVE sound, they are not really depicting things as they are in US prisons. There are exceptions...but Devil's Island doesn't exist any more either...sorry to bust your bubble. Besides..who ever said that prison is supposed to be Camp Snoopy?	SurferJoe46 (51)
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