Originally posted by: Vigo
Ok, perhaps I should be more confident in what political leaders are saying, right?
Or listen to what YOUR, of course totally objective, media is reporting, right?
Originally posted by: lordjedi
That may be so. Albert Einstein was pretty famous too though. Of course, I'd bet most Americans don't know he invented the atom bomb and had to escape Germany as well. But there's really no reason to bring up any of this. I'm sure every country in the world has some sort of dark past. Most countries learn from their mistakes and try to get along with everyone else.
Maybe you should educate yourself on some of the "international treaties" that we're "violating" and not just watch the nightly news in your country.
Originally posted by: Vigo
No, feel free to tell me everything you want. I am not afraid to talk about our dark past. In fact, we Germans know best about our past than most other countries. We extensively learn it in school. Our television is full of in-depth historic reports of all our cruelties we did. Don´t think you can tell US anything which we already do not know.
On the other hand, most Americans will gladly point out that Hitler was the most famous German...
Originally posted by: lordjedi
Good job Vigo, now we have two ignorant posters. Maybe next time you'll simply point out to the spelling nazi that it's not spelled that way in your country. At least that way you won't make yourself look just as ignorant as the other guy.
I wouldn´t dare calling someone a Nazi for this reason. You know what a Nazi is? You know what Nazis did to people? I hate it when people use this word so lightly, as if Nazis were just "overly correct", fun spoiling people.
You see, it´s easy for anyone to make oneself look very ignorant.
I'm very well aware of what the nazis did Vigo and I don't take the term lightly. I used a common internet term to illustrate a point.
As soon as this word is used as a common term for annoying people, it is losing its true meaning. This is what´s bothering me. The same goes for "terrorist".
And I agree with you. The same can be said of racism or any other word. Everytime someone cries it out for a small incidence, it loses its meaning a little more.
Anyway, it looks like I touched a nerve and I'm sorry for that. My intent was to point out that you assumed a "lazy american" didn't know anything. Well, this "lazy American" has been beyond his country's borders (Japan and Mexico, I don't usually count Mexico). And no, I didn't look for a McDonald's when I got to Japan. This "lazy American" enjoyed your post, but I didn't enjoy your generalized attack on my nationality.
q]Originally posted by: Vigo
You know what really "wow" is? Learn to speak 3 different languages like myself. Oh wait, you don´t have to. You are probably American, and will most probably never set foot on another continent besides your own. And if you do, the first thing you will do is heading to the next McDonald´s, avoiding exposure to too much foreign culture mixing up your precious little brain.
You generalized about all Americans right here. You even felt it necessary to lump Canada in with it in a later post, simply because it's on the same continent. By that reasoning, anyone in either North or South America is fat, lazy, and stupid.
Now that I've read all the messages, I can see that you're not the only one with an axe to grind. I'll put my comments about Germany's dark past on hold.
Good job Vigo, now we have two ignorant posters. Maybe next time you'll simply point out to the spelling nazi that it's not spelled that way in your country. At least that way you won't make yourself look just as ignorant as the other guy.
I wouldn´t dare calling someone a Nazi for this reason. You know what a Nazi is? You know what Nazis did to people? I hate it when people use this word so lightly, as if Nazis were just "overly correct", fun spoiling people.
You see, it´s easy for anyone to make oneself look very ignorant.
I'm very well aware of what the nazis did Vigo and I don't take the term lightly. I used a common internet term to illustrate a point.
As soon as this word is used as a common term for annoying people, it is losing its true meaning. This is what´s bothering me. The same goes for "terrorist".
And I agree with you. The same can be said of racism or any other word. Everytime someone cries it out for a small incidence, it loses its meaning a little more.
Anyway, it looks like I touched a nerve and I'm sorry for that. My intent was to point out that you assumed a "lazy american" didn't know anything. Well, this "lazy American" has been beyond his country's borders (Japan and Mexico, I don't usually count Mexico). And no, I didn't look for a McDonald's when I got to Japan. This "lazy American" enjoyed your post, but I didn't enjoy your generalized attack on my nationality.
Originally posted by: VigoPoint out where I did you call you a "lazy American". And I am happy that you seem to be someone who knows other places aswell and are not afraid of other cultures.
q]Originally posted by: Vigo
You know what really "wow" is? Learn to speak 3 different languages like myself. Oh wait, you don´t have to. You are probably American, and will most probably never set foot on another continent besides your own. And if you do, the first thing you will do is heading to the next McDonald´s, avoiding exposure to too much foreign culture mixing up your precious little brain.
You generalized about all Americans right here. You even felt it necessary to lump Canada in with it in a later post, simply because it's on the same continent. By that reasoning, anyone in either North or South America is fat, lazy, and stupid.
Now that I've read all the messages, I can see that you're not the only one with an axe to grind. I'll put my comments about Germany's dark past on hold.
No, feel free to tell me everything you want. I am not afraid to talk about our dark past. In fact, we Germans know best about our past than most other countries. We extensively learn it in school. Our television is full of in-depth historic reports of all our cruelties we did. Don´t think you can tell US anything which we already do not know.
On the other hand, most Americans will gladly point out that Hitler was the most famous German...
That may be so. Albert Einstein was pretty famous too though. Of course, I'd bet most Americans don't know he invented the atom bomb and had to escape Germany as well. But there's really no reason to bring up any of this. I'm sure every country in the world has some sort of dark past. Most countries learn from their mistakes and try to get along with everyone else.
Maybe you should educate yourself on some of the "international treaties" that we're "violating" and not just watch the nightly news in your country.
Ok, perhaps I should be more confident in what political leaders are saying, right?
Or listen to what YOUR, of course totally objective, media is reporting, right? No. Look it up for yourself. A majority of Americans get their news from the evening news. I get mine from the internet, talk radio, and other sources. Just don't take everything you hear or read from the BBC (or wherever you get your news) at face value. No matter how bad the news sometimes looks, there's always either a reason or the story has been twisted beyond belief.
You're probably right that most Americans are fat, lazy, slobs (statistically it's not true though). Generalizing about all of us though is just as bad as using the terms the way we do ("grammar nazi" and all that). All we can do is educate ourselves and the people we come in contact with. As Obi Jeewhyen said, he asked for a correction, not a smackdown. Since we can only control ourselves and not those around us, I suggest that we simply learn from this and try to take things a bit easier next time.
This entire thread blew up because two people didn't know that the word was spelled differently in your country and one person felt the need to point out a different spelling. I even looked it up on Google and dictionary.com to see if there was a different British spelling (didn't know you were German). Having not found it, I simply assumed you meant restoration. Now that all this has come up though, I'm better for it since I know you said what you meant and that it is spelled differently in your country. You seem to be extremely upset about some other things as well, but I don't think we need to get into that here.
If you wish to discuss any of this in private, feel free to PM me or email me at jedimcg at gmail dot com. BTW, this message was hellishly difficult to edit, so I'm sorry if the quoting is a bit off.
Now can we please get back on topic?