Imagination... [OT???]

Bonedagger said:


(But isn't the most normal reason people who don't like americans give, that it's because of the ignorance that follow the jingoism?)

Perceived ignorance. I think others are as ignorant of the US as they feel the US is of them. Do people really believe that Americans are the way they're portrayed in the media? The media, as we know, tends to exaggerate greatly in the quest for advertising dollars.

I still am unsure of your point; it seems like you were trying to downplay American accomplishments. That's what I was getting at.
 

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that is why you only see the good movies from abroad, and then all the crap that your own country is makin. hell- i didnt even know that France had a movie studio until Le Pacte De [Loups] came out last year. And if "Life is Beautiful" is the best you brits can come up with, it is a sad day in Guam...

Uh... Life is Beautiful... hmm, wasn't that an Italian film?!

There are more than just a few good movies out there... the fact, well, what I perceive to be fact, is that the language barrier serves as more than a mere question of technology. Simply because we're subject to the American film industry the most, and are therefore subject to the good with the bad, it seems as if we're not exactly subject to the good French/German/Italian films out there as much as we could...

Not knowing about something doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a good thing, :cool:.
 

ColonelHardisson said:


Perceived ignorance. I think others are as ignorant of the US as they feel the US is of them. Do people really believe that Americans are the way they're portrayed in the media? The media, as we know, tends to exaggerate greatly in the quest for advertising dollars.

Yes I agree. It goes both ways.

ColonelHardisson said:
I still am unsure of your point; it seems like you were trying to downplay American accomplishments. That's what I was getting at.

I wasn't.
 

Originally posted by BMF


That's awesome. And true too.

I disagree that we have no culture, though. Our culture is a blend of all others. That doesn't mean we don't have one, it means the one we have is an amalgamation of all others.

It always amuses me when nations are described as having no culture for the simple fact that Nation is predicated on the existence of a Culture to sustain it.
The is especially true for the 'new world' colonies due to their lack of history and the need to quite literally create a Nation from amny disparate elements (such as Jefferson et al did with the original States).
This is the only thing I liked about Kevin Costners "The Postman" its study of how Nations are created by sharing a common ideal.


but we also create the most scientific inventions. In our brief 200+ year history, we have contributed more inventions to the world than any other country. The list is endless infact, light bulbs, Franklin stoves, automobile assembly lines, the internet, the personal computer, Windows, VCRs, televison, telephones, airplanes (although some disagree), luner exploration, weapons of mass destruction (thanks to the Germans), air conditioning, stealth jets, smart bombs, cancer treatments, and on and on and on.
[/B]

Okay now for my defense of New Zealand speech.

New Zealand (a small Island nation at the bottom of the Pacific) has a population which is only just approaching 4 million people (2000 Census) and in that time we have

Richard Pearse in March 1903 had invented and flew the FIRST aeroplane (resembled a modern microlight aircraft- however he crashed rather than landed and so did not achieve controlled flight (ie - the Wrights get that:))

Ernest Rutherford was from New Zealand

Peter Jackson is from New Zealand

So is Jango Fett:)
(and cousin Tem Morrison too)

Other New Zealand inventions - Trench Warfare (NZ Maori), Electric Refridgerator, Jetboat, Electric fence, Bungee jumping, hairclip, 3d sports graphics, Womens Liberation, DNA coding, Direct Marketing (Glaxo), Disposable Syringe, Tranquiliser Dart, Stamp Vending machines, cigarette dispenders, the Referees whistle, Jogging as exercise, the Rockets that took NASA into space,

Damn good for a country with less people than a lot of cities in the world...
 

Bonedagger said:

You see, when it comes to inventions countries don't take credit. Individuals do.


It's funny you say that BoneDagger. In general that might be true, but most Canadians for example know some things Canada invented but a huge percentage couldn't name a single inventor. Then add to the fact that a number of the inventions are assumed to have been made by Americans and we have a perfectly twisted case of why your statement isn't true ;)

Here is a list of some (not all) inventions by Canadians, you might be surprised at some you thought were American (Basketball and The JAVA language for example) ;)

-Will


acrylics
Actar 911 CPR Dummy - Dianne Croteau, Richard Brault and Jonathan Vinden
air-conditioned vehicle
aircraft de-icer
antigravity suit - Wilbur R. Franks (1940)
Balderdash - Laura Robinson and Paul Toyne (1984)
basketball - James Naismith (1892)
batteryless radio (AC radio tube) - Edward Samuel Rogers Sr. (1925)
bovril
butter substitute
Canadarm - SPAR and the National Aeronautical Establishment (1981)
calcium carbide and acetylene gas (production of) - Thomas L. "Carbide" Wilson (1892)
carcino embryonic antigen (CEA) blood test - Dr. Phil Gold (1968)
cardiac intensive care unit (first)
cobalt bomb - University of Saskatchewan and Eldorado Mining and Refining (1951)
compound revolving snow shovel (trains)
computerized braille
crash position indicator (C.P.I) - Harry T. Stevinson and David M. Makow (1959)
dental mirror
disintegrating plastic
ear piercer
electric cooking range - Thomas Ahearn (1882)
electric hand prosthesis for children - Helmut Lukas (1971)
electrical car (North America's first)
electric wheelchair - George J. Klein
electron microscope - Prof. E. F. Burton and Cecil Hall, James Hillier and Albert Prebus (late 1930s)
electronic wave organ - Frank Morse Robb (1927)
explosives vapour detector - Dr Lorne Elias (1990)
film developing tank
five pin bowling - Thomas E. Ryan (1909)
foghorn - Robert Foulis (1854)
frozen fish - Dr. Archibald G. Huntsman (1926)
garbage bag (green plastic) - Harry Wasyluk and Larry Hanson (1950s)
Gestalt Photo Mapper - G. Hobrough (1975)
gingerale - John J. McLaughlin (1904)
goalie mask - Jacques Plante (1959)
Green ink - Thomas Sterry Hunt (1862)
hair tonic
heart valve operation (first)
helicopter trap (for landing on ships)
helium as a substitute for hydrogen in airships
hydrofoil boat - Alexander Graham Bell and Casey Baldwin (1908)
IMAX - Grahame Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr (1968)
instant potato flakes - Dr. Edward Asselbegs and the Food Research Institute (1962)
insulation
insulin (as diabetes treatment) - Dr. Frederick Banting, Dr. Charles Best and Dr. Collip (1921)
Java - James Gosling
Jetline
jolly jumper - Olivia Poole
kerosene - Abraham Gesner (1840)
lacrosse - played since the 1600s; William George Beers set out standard rules (1860)
laser (sailboat) - Bruce Kirby, Ian Bruce and Hans Fogh (1969)
lightbulb (first patented) - Henry Woodward (1874)
liposomes
machine gun tracer bullet
MacPherson gas mask
measure for footwear
Muskol
Newtsuit - Phil Nuytten
newsprint - Charles Fenerty (1838)
Nursing Mother Breast Pads - Marsha Skrypuch (1986)
pablum - Drs. Alan Brown, Fred Tisdall, and Theo Drake (1930s)
pacemaker - Wilfred Bigelow
paint roller - Norman Breakey (1940)
panoramic camera - John Connon (1887)
Phi (position homing indicator for aircraft)
Pictionary - Rob Angel (1986)
pizza pizza telephone computer delivery services
portable high chair
Puzz-3D
(A) Question of Scruples - Robert Simpson (1984)
radar profile recorder - NRC (1947)
radio compass
retractable beer carton handle (Tuck-away-handle Beer Carton) - Steve Pasjac (1957)
rollerskate
screw propeller
ski-binding
snowblower - Arthur Sicard (1927)
snowmobile - Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1937)
snowplow (rotary) - invented by J.W. Elliot (1869), first built by Leslie Brothers (1883)
steam foghorn
standard time - Sir Sanford Fleming (1879)
Stanley Cup - (Canada's Governor-General) Lord Stanley of Preston (1893)
Stol aircraft - de Havilland Canada (1948)
submarine telegraph cable
Superman - Joe Shuster and Jerome Siegel (1938)
table hockey - Donald Munro (1930s)
telephone - Alexander Graham Bell (1874)
Trivial Pursuit - Chris Haney, John Haney and Scott Abbott (1982)
variable Pitch Propeller - Wallace Rupert Turnbull (1918)
Walkie-Talkie - Donald L. Hings (1942)
washing machine
wirephoto - Sir William Stephenson (1921)
Yachtzee
zipper - Gideon Sundback (1913)
 

Oh. But aren't you making the same mistake (Or at least that is what I would call it): "...but most Canadians for example know some things Canada invented".

I think people should stop focusing on who made the invention and focus more one who makes the best out of it. But, yes. People do tend to give the USA credit for many inventions.
(I blame bad media like CNN and movies in the style of "Independence Day". They do tend to tell americans that the rest of the world consist of helpless idiots :D)
 
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And, the media tends to tell the world that Americans are stupid, arrogant and uncaring of events elsewhere in the world. That's actually a good description of the American media, not the American people.
 

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