Hello fellow ATSers from abroad (not the United States)

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: veracity

results come from what you call " looks". Caring how other countries perceive us is actually not all all caring about how we "look". Its expanding your mind to take in what others perceive as faults and finding a way to improve. An extremely intelligent person knows they always have something to learn, and know they do not "know it all" (thinking you know it all is actually what lower intelligent people do). Learning from others is one sure way to expand and become better.

Obama was very intelligent, its not surprising he cared what other countries thought about America.

No, results do not come how other countries perceive you. Most of the time those people, like the majority of people throughout the world, know America through media, advertisements, movies, but have never travelled there nor even talked to any Americans. Their perception is derived from propaganda. Their perception is false.

their perception is fake news?

is your perception fake news?

NO?

You mean you are the only one in all of the world who is NOT fake news, everyone else is?

WoW

So telling that you believe that ALL trump supporters including trump is NOT fake news and everyone else IS...EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD!

originally posted by: DBCowboy
Just curious, but now that we've established that America sucks, blahblhblah, what is the most perfect country?

What is the ideal country with the ideal laws, ideal weather, ideal citizens, ideal way to approach war, ideal history?

Because I want to move there, if they'll have me.

No country is perfect but some think they are more perfect than others.

originally posted by: Nikola014
a reply to: testingtesting

Are you aware of a simple fact, that the United States has the potential to conquer the whole Europe? Aside from Russia that is. You could never sanction them, and expect things to end well.
Sure, we're connected as we have never been before, but without the United States, Europe would be a mess. We've seen it before. Our whole history is just endless wars over territory. Don't believe me? Just look at the Ukrainian war. It's all because of territory.

So, many of the countries in Europe need to wake up and stop thinking like their voice matters, because it does not. We can all pretend in the name of democracy, that they have a voice, but the truth is, it doesn't really mean much. Europe is extremely dependent on the United States, and that's a simple fact.

In a case of a potential USA isolation politics, Europe would lose much, much more than the United States would. Plus, I am very confident in my assumption that without the USA, Europe would shortly fall back to its natural state of war.

I refer you to my earlier post. Thank you for explaining to us what life is like here.

a reply to: veracity

their perception is fake news?

is your perception fake new?

NO?

You mean you are the only one in all of the world who is NOT fake news, everyone else is?

WoW

That's not what I said, and misrepresenting what I did say doesn't help your case.

Personally, I've travelled through 61 countries, and out of all of them, America and Americans were near the top in terms of compassion, hospitality, and friendliness. The only people that were more hospitable were the Iranians.

Have you travelled anywhere?

Out of all the negative things said maybe the next thread should be if you could live in any country in the world which one would it be?

originally posted by: DBCowboy
Just curious, but now that we've established that America sucks, blahblhblah, what is the most perfect country?

What is the ideal country with the ideal laws, ideal weather, ideal citizens, ideal way to approach war, ideal history?

Because I want to move there, if they'll have me.

Bhutan - always top of the happiness lists.

Not for me though, too hilly!

a reply to: crazyewok

It just isn't number one at anything except military spending.

I am fairly certain we are number one at freedom of speech, or at the very least definitely above many or most European nations. Some times, I believe our freedom of speech is too loose, and needs to be reigned in a bit, especially with the prime time programming that kids inadvertently watch while pretending to do homework with their parents ignoring them nearby because of the hot steamy highly sexualized scene of a TV drama or perverse antics of adult cartoons that peddles itself as comedy.

We also produce more entertainment than anyone else in the world, or at the very least export more of it. Japan is pretty close, and China and India are catching up what with Bollywood and China owning the biggest stakes in Australian and American cinema as well as their acquisitions of Canadian and British cinemas as well. The best way to reach the hearts and minds of a population is still through the subliminal propaganda of big screen entertainment.

Norway has produced some quality content too though. Not a big fan of British dramas, I find them terribly dull. But the comedies can be quite funny! Many of yalls movies just suck absolute ass though!
a reply to: JohnnyCanuck
you made me feel bad, Not just bad, but really baaad

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Generalisation doesn't really help though as there is so much variation. For example, take California. My experiences of Northern California are lovely, helpful open people. I found Southern California to be the complete opposite. Deep down I know that can't be accurate.

originally posted by: knowledgehunter0986

This is some very poor logic.. you compare him to Bush then went on to state a bunch of irrelevant points, and then did it again with Cameron.

Please tell me what exactly did he do at G20 to show you this?

And if I have to explain to you the risk-reward, there's really no point.

I had assumed people knew the background so let me simplify this for you.

Bush was aiming to establish a New American Century. When he left, the US had less influence, less prestige and suffered an economic body blow.

Cameron was aiming to unify and liberalise the British Conservative Party. When he left, all the economic indicators for the UK started flashing amber. It took £248 billion of quantitative easing last August to calm the economy...in the short term.

Both took a gamble...and lost.

Trump, at the G20, did what Bush and Cameron did. He made noise and claimed it was a triumph. The other partners shook their heads and started doing business without him.

I understand if you can't articulate the risk-reward thing. Even if Trump was ten times the statesman, can anyone explain what he is trying to achieve with his maverick approach without using soundbites?

a reply to: Flavian

Generalisation doesn't really help though as there is so much variation. For example, take California. My experiences of Northern California are lovely, helpful open people. I found Southern California to be the complete opposite. Deep down I know that can't be accurate.

That's very true. It's a very large country.

My better interactions occurred mostly in the more rural areas, especially in the south. I've never had so many random conversations with strangers. As for the big cities, they were at least interesting.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: veracity

their perception is fake news?

is your perception fake new?

NO?

You mean you are the only one in all of the world who is NOT fake news, everyone else is?

WoW

That's not what I said, and misrepresenting what I did say doesn't help your case.

Personally, I've travelled through 61 countries, and out of all of them, America and Americans were near the top in terms of compassion, hospitality, and friendliness. The only people that were more hospitable were the Iranians.

Have you travelled anywhere?

No, i dont get to travel much, but its so insightful to know that you have and you know so much more than most and that the opinions of others are based off of fake news and yours is not.

But for some reason, im not inclined to talk to people who claim to know it all.

Good luck being the superstar in your group of like-minded friends

a reply to: veracity

No, i dont get to travel much, but its so insightful to know that you have and you know so much more than most and that the opinions of others are based off of fake news and yours is not.

But for some reason, im not inclined to talk to people who claim to know it all.

Good luck being the superstar in your group of like-minded friends

Good luck in your little bubble. Hopefully the opinions of others do not pop it.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Funny how stuff varies for people isn't it? In Europe, I have found people to be friendlier the further North i have gone. I've always put it down to being further away from any stifling heat!

a reply to: Flavian

Funny how stuff varies for people isn't it? In Europe, I have found people to be friendlier the further North i have gone. I've always put it down to being further away from any stifling heat!

Iceland was really good, but in the Scandinavian countries it seemed talking to strangers was faux pas. I got strange looks whenever I asked for directions. Some were a little rude about it. But nothing a beer or two couldn't fix.

But in general, people are the same everywhere. The human smile is a universal currency.

a reply to: Whodathunkdatcheese

You're doing it again. Making a bunch of irrelevant points.

Trump is not Bush, so to compare Bush's presidency with Trump's is stupid.

Same goes for Cameron.

No 2 people are the same, no 2 presidencies are the same, no 2 situations are the same and no 2 circumstances are the same.

You understand that right? Or do I need to further articulate the differences for you?

The rest of your post is hyperbolic nonsense, and I have just realized you aren't worth the time.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
The human smile is a universal currency.

Agreed, I smile at people naturally if we catch eye, I speak to more random people than I could shake a stick at, wherever I am in the world. Except Myanmar/Burma many years ago now, people were # scared because the government guy in a dodgy suit was keeping within ear shot of me.

Probably only place I've ever been in the world when a natural friendly smile didn't make a # of difference to my interactions with 'random' people. Yeah, I was reminded of my own UK 'freedom' there.

a reply to: ketsuko

In my husband's experience there are at least four distinct different flavors of German person. Divide the country along rough east/west (old iron curtain/Wall divide) and north/south axes and that gives you rough quadrants. He can pretty much tell after a time approximately which area of the country the German is from based on accent and overall attitude/personality.

You can tell your husband he´s not wrong but it´s of course a curde generalization. But yes, you can hear where someone comes from. You can even tell small local spots with diameters like 10-50km if you´re a local and travel a bit.
In the south alone, there are the following known dialects in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg known to me:

Nieder Schwäbisch (swabian)
Hoch Schwäbisch (high swabian)
Baden
Algäu (near Alps)
Fränkisch
Ober-Bayrisch
Nieder-Bayrisch

Those are of course sometimes sub-dialects.

It´s also a cultural thing. The north has more heavy industry like coal and the harbors that give access to the sea. The south is more rural, but has many specialized, often family run but also big companies that work in the field of construction and precision tool building.

From huge crankshafts for ship diesel motors to robotic/automation, MIC, and of course car builders like Porsche,AUDI, VW, BMW and Car refiners like RUF,ABT.

originally posted by: veracity

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: veracity

their perception is fake news?

is your perception fake new?

NO?

You mean you are the only one in all of the world who is NOT fake news, everyone else is?

WoW

That's not what I said, and misrepresenting what I did say doesn't help your case.

Personally, I've travelled through 61 countries, and out of all of them, America and Americans were near the top in terms of compassion, hospitality, and friendliness. The only people that were more hospitable were the Iranians.

Have you travelled anywhere?

No, i dont get to travel much, but its so insightful to know that you have and you know so much more than most and that the opinions of others are based off of fake news and yours is not.

But for some reason, im not inclined to talk to people who claim to know it all.

Good luck being the superstar in your group of like-minded friends

LOL

I guess academia really left you out in the cold and now you're bitter you have to pay off that loan? roflmao

Troll away......you might want to look in the mirror at how silly you are making yourself look! You certainly are not doing your political church a favor by youe immature and belligerent behavior to those who oppose your opinion?

a reply to: veracity

I've now seen you discredit any opinion or experience which doesn't directly align with your biases as being "someone who thinks they know it all." One side of your mouth is championing collection of knowledge from a wide variety of sources and criticizing Americans who don't bend over backwards to listen to foreign opinions, and the other side of your mouth is going "blah, blah, blah" to drown out any opinions that don't reaffirm your myopic view on not only the world, but the experiences of those who actually live in said world.

You started out with the wrong definitions of a couple of ideologies anyway. First of all, a lack of global empathy isn't a sign of lower intelligence. It's purely a lack of opinionated curiosity, especially when dealing with a topic such as this that is entirely seeking opinions in a vacuum devoid of facts. Some of the most brilliant individuals I've ever known were totally devoid of curiosity where opinions of others were concerned. Present them with facts or STFU, essentially.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

think what you want of me, you are allowed to have your opinion.