Military Power

I know that many of our American members have taken offense at some of the generalizations that a particular British member, and I would like to even go so far as to say "friend and colleague of mine", has said on here in the past (and will probably say in the future).

I was having a discussion with General Forestry earlier over IM and made the comment "American's are retarded". He later commented saying other such unflattering comments about Americans, which, after some name calling (in jest) he mentioned that he was talking about the hot-headed rich kids of America today who have no respect for anyone, which is another generalization in and of itself, but we won't go there.

That got me to thinking, If we, as Americans, lump ourselves in with the good (and the bad), how can we blame others, especially those who are outside of the arena that is being discussed (such as those from other countries, who just have news and TV/Movies to see what we are like), for doing the same? And, why is it "all in jest" or "all in good fun" if a fellow American is talking bad about Americans, but is an "act of war" almost if outsiders do?

Just some food for thought.

I think its the same situation as you would find between family members. Of course there are relatives which you may not care for at all, get under your skin or just plain piss you off every time you meet them, but in all situations if one of them was in trouble or was being talked down about from someone outside of the family, you would defend them. It's the same kind of situation. Americans treat each other as family members, and lets say if the fearless French talk bad about Americans or even if they talked bad about someone like Paris Hilton, most Americans would shun the French and oust them.

Messed up aint it? But I think that is how the world works these days...

I have received a curt note from the Commission of the European Union reminding me that it is strictly forbidden to make jokes about Americans.

Apparently it is now a contravention of EU Health and Safety regulations. There is a danger that someone in the US might be so offended that they could drop their Martini glass into their Swimming Pool (Mischievous wink).

Oh! Naughty Naughty Hobilar

I see your point KT, and I think AP may be on to something with his post, but you also have to consider, it may not be all the fault of us Americans. You have to take history into account. Someone who has, historically, been perceived to TRY to get a rise out of people will probably be treated differently than someone who has not got that stigma attached to them.

To quote Band of Brothers:
Ronald Spiers: You want to ask me, don't you?
Carwood Lipton: Ask you what, sir?
Ronald Spiers: You want to know if they're true or not... the stories about me. Did you ever notice with stories like that, everyone says they heard it from someone who was there. But then when you ask *that* person, they say *they* heard it from someone who was there. It's nothing new, really. I bet if you went back two thousand years, you'd hear a couple of centurions standing around, yakking about how Tertius lopped off the heads of some Carthaginian prisoners.
Carwood Lipton: Well, maybe they kept talking about it because they never heard Tertius deny it.
Ronald Spiers: Well, maybe that's because Tertius knew there was some value to the men thinking he was the meanest, toughest son of a bitch in the whole Roman Legion.