I recently stumbled upon an AOL-hosted web page from 1996 titled The Evil of Pippi Longstocking in which the author claims that Pippi is the Antichrist, the devil, an evil concoction dreamt up by Germans and Swedes to fill the power vacuum left by Hitler’s death. I have to assume that David Nagel’s purpose in publishing his rather idiotic theories were to drum up controversy and revenue from the traffic the angered hordes would bring.
I can’t argue against that motive because that’s precisely the idea behind Richard’s Ramblings — find something interesting or informative to write about, slightly twist it around if it’s fictional, gratuitously sex it up with a sprinkling of bøøbs, bosoms, and breasts (oh, my!), and dish out a few comments designed to heat up the conversation. The extra traffic should increase revenues from click-through ads. Millions of websites have the same revenue model, as do Fox News and Howard Stern.
None of that works without the other side of the equation — the visitors. And, boy, are David’s Swedish readers riled! The visiting Swedes (Sweden being the country of Pippi’s origin) let their opinions fly:
- “Another stupid American; the world is full of them!“
- “You’re probably a stupid American åsshølë!“
- “I wipe my åss with the American flag and spit in your face.“
Being a citizen of the United States myself, I was curious as to the sentiment of others. So I decided to find some additional opinions by searching the Internet with Google, spelling left intact:
- “The only thing Americans can teach is how to corrupt countries and take their money. All Americans are is greety båstårds.” — I think countries have been corrupting themselves for thousands of years without the help of the United States. Also, most people worldwide work hard to better themselves and provide as much as possible for their families. Americans included. Yes, there are some really bad, greedy Americans that can ruin things for everyone, even on a global scale — but not everyone fits that description. Personally, I have no idea how to teach someone to corrupt an entire country.
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Photo © iStockPhoto.com / Michael Ciranni
“[The] US is the laughing stock of the world. American cars suck, American people are stupid, fat and ignorant, your technology sucks.” — Yes, spoken out of prejudice and ignorance, Americans can be conceived as being the laughing stock of the world. So would whichever country happens to be in the economic and military lead at the time.
Some American cars do suck, but the Yugo hasn’t won too many awards that I’m aware of. Interestingly, when I lived in Germany as a child, the fantasy car of choice by most Germans was a Pontiac — not a Mercedes or Porsche. I never understood that.
This 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air — the big yellow thing under the half-naked, non-fat girl, who herself was created in the United States — was made possible by the first mass-produced automobile perfected by Henry Ford in 1896. As, too, were headlights (on the car, not the model) by Horatio Allen in 1831, polarizing sunglasses (sunglasses invented by Sam Foster (Foster Grants) in 1929, and polarization by Edwin Land (Polaroid) in 1932), and the digital camera used to take the picture by Kodak in 1975.
You’re probably viewing the picture on either a personal computer (thanks to IBM in 1981) or a cellular phone (Motorola in 1973) over the Internet (sometime between 1960 and 1995, depending on your definition).
American scientists at Dow Corning invented the first silicone breast implants in 1961. The bikini, however, is French, and the fingernail polish is of Chinese origin.
Sadly, according to the OECD, the United States does lead the developing world in obesity rates, followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Chile, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Finland. The WHO also includes United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait in their fattest countries list. And, yes, some Americans are a combination of stupid, fat, and ignorant. So are some members of any other country in the world.
If Microsoft products are used as the sole measurement of our technology, then, yes, it sucks. But I haven’t seen any other countries that provide the number of major innovations that have stemmed from America in the last hundred years. That the Swedes could read David’s diatribe on the Internet at all is thanks to the United States.
- “Americans are full of shìt. ignorant, yet stuppied people. they are bvery norrow minded and veyr materiolistic.” — I already agreed that sum Amurikanz ar bvery stuppied. But not all; the first spell checking software was invented at UC Berkeley in 1972 — by an American.
- “You have a handful of smart and educated people who drive the country, and then you have this humongous blob of utterly clueless people who are hardly able to make a living.” — Can’t really argue with that. But, again, the same can be said for every other country.
- “You are all non-sensical inbred morons.” — Actually I don’t personally know anyone who is the result of inbreeding in the United States, although it may be common in certain areas of the country such as Tennessee (pronounced “Ken-tuck-ee”, if you’re from Tennesee). You think inbreeding didn’t occur within the European and Asian royals of the past? The Spanish Habsburgs died out due to inbreeding. Consanguineous marriages were also common in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and India, and 20-25% of marriages within many Muslim and Hindu societies are between first cousins.
- “Americans are generally loud and stupid.” — Yeah, I hate American tourists, too. Again, I’d qualify that as “some”, rather than generalizing the population as a whole.
- “U.S.A is the biggest shìt hølë.” — According to Google, it seems that people all over the world are calling just about every country on the planet the “biggest shìt hølë”. And half of them claim that wherever they’re living now is the world’s biggest shìt hølë. I say we just all take a vote and decide once and for all. That’s the democratic way.
- “I thank God that I’m not a stupid åss-fûçkìng American.” — I thank God I’m not a stupid åss-fûçkìng American either. I can’t understand people’s obsession with anal sex. Sorry, I’m not into that. I’m just a regular American of above-average intelligence, eking out a living, trying to fulfill the dreams of my family.
I’d rather be considered a stupid American than have to resort to pointless name-calling in a vain attempt to gain national stature. I am hardly a Bible-toting, born-again Christian, but I find it difficult to disagree with these Proverbs:
“The proud and haughty man, ‘scoffer’ is his name; He works in the arrogance of pride… When pride comes, then comes shame, But with humility comes wisdom.”
Don’t lump every citizen of a country together under a single label; it just makes you look stupid.
You’re killing me, dude. (Did I say “dude?”). No, I didn’t. I wrote it.
Another stupid-åss American.
The sad thing is that these people [who made the original comments about Americans] can’t express themselves. But, following the tragedy of September 11th, it was only the Americans who asked “Why us?” The rest of the world, horrified as they were, knew why. Most Americans still have no idea of the many millions who suffer and die as a result of the United States’ intervention in other countries. So many “enemies” are people who came to power funded by the US. So many have died to protect the commercial interest of a handful of wealthy Americans. Alas, they are led by a controlled media, an active secret service who sow dissent wherever they perceive the most minor threat. They have no idea of what their government does in their name and, if they knew, I believe they are good enough people that they would not tolerate it. The few who do know, do act (the ones who aren’t in big business, etc). Never forget “Reefer Madness”, McCarthy and now one day you will look back and remember Kyoto and Iraq, a country who, as allies of the US, freely massacred and ethnically cleansed the Kurds using chemical weapons based on freely given US know-how. Stupid? No. Ignorant and perhaps a bit too complacent, definitely.
I can’t speak for all Americans, but I know I never asked “Why us?” Admittedly, out of ignorance and a false misplaced sense of elitism, I more had the attitude “How dare they!” America is young, and has been blissfully naive since its creation as terrorism has been a fact that most other countries have had to contend with for centuries; the past couple of years have seen international terrorism in the form of exploding car bombs (unrelated to the US or US targets) in Israel, Afghanistan, Spain, Columbia, Serbia, Russia, Saudia Arabia, Finland, Algeria, Bolivia, India, Peru, Kuwait, and dozens more. Not only was September 11th an inaugural act of international terrorism in the United States, it was one so-far unmatched and unparalleled in history. I believe the “up in arms” attitude and the state of shock and confusion exhibited by Americans has been understandable. – RDL
[A personal note to those people who hate Americans:] What a shame you feel that way, but always remember this… If your country is under attack the GOOD OLD USA will be the 1st to be there to defend your country OR would you rather have us stand back and watch your world fall apart around you. We would never ever wish a 9-11 on your country, but, then again, you have your opinions. Opinions are like åsshølës — everyone has one. I’m just glad your opinion means nothing to most of the world!!!
While promoting itself an emerging Pacific Island nation, EnenKio was reported to be a hoax by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2000. “…the Kingdom of Enenkio is not recognized in any international forum as a sovereign state nor is it a corporate or statutory entity.” – US SEC Litigation Release No. 16758 / October 6, 2000. The government of the Kingdom of EnenKio and the people loyal to the king of Eneen-Kio Atoll have been subjected to a wide assortment of deliberate disruptive actions by persons and agencies of the federal government of the United States. The reasons for these attacks are unknown, as EnenKio seeks only peace and the freedom to express the fundamental rights of the people of EnenKio, its monarch and the imperatives bestowed upon us by our loving Creator. [We want] to acquaint you with [the] history, claims and challenges we face as a people striving for equality in a world of antagonistic nations with egocentric goals seeking to “save” (dominate) lesser nations.
This is off topic as we’re discussing the perceived stupidity of the American people, not the perceived stupidity of the American government! And, due to repeated stupid spammings on my site, you’ve now been banned from commenting, Robert! – RDL
My sympathy for all the intelligent Americans who have been offended by the idiotic anti-Americanism of certain elements on the Internet. While I am British (and would still rather be British than an American), and am rather sick of the anti-English racism in the American film industry (which Hollywood film doesn’t have a baddie with an English accent?), I believe that much of the anti-Americanism is at best ill-informed and at worst, well, racist.
True Lies (Arabic), Collateral Damage (Columbian), Spider-Man (American), XXX (Russian), Minority Report (American), Rush Hour (Oriental), Die Hard (German), Raiders of the Lost Ark (German), and, of course, just about any James Bond movie…
Back to the previous comment, I think that the reason people regard Americans as stupid is largely because many do not seem to know and are happy not knowing the many terrible things the Government has done historically. They also tend to ignore the terrible things that do come to light. The hypocricies are so manifest but the majority of the population go on blissfully unaware that the world at large is often being held to ransom by the ‘biggest kid on the block’. The recent banana wars, the fact that the only country in the world with a right to refuse weapons inspections is the US, the country that supports the copyrighting of things like rice and medicinal plants in use in the developing world for thousands of years. One person earlier spoke about the US coming to the aid of other countries in times of war. The US refused point blank to join in the 2nd world war, despite having clear evidence of the atrocities committed on the Jews, until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Saddam approached the US and informed them that if Kuwait was not brought under control in its dumping of oil on the market and stealing Iraqi oil he would attack. The US govt advised him that they would not interfere. Of course the rest is history. He gave the US a perfect excuse to dive in. The people of the US have been subject to many governments whose primary concern has been commercial exploitation and the lining of their own pockets. I will never deny for a minute that the majority of Americans are decent people, good and kind hearted. They just seem to be asleep.
It is perceived in the “rest of the world” that BornintheUSA is your typical American and so is correctly thought of as stupid.
If I pick apart the above sentence structure, I am lead to believe that Stephen is asserting that a person being a typical American leads to the forgone conclusion of that person being stupid. I started to call myself a typical American, and then realized that I have no idea what a typical American is. Perhaps I am not a typical American after all. I cannot even justifiably qualify myself as a typical Californian, or a typical San Josean, let alone put myself in the unenviable position of representing an entire country. I think it is inappropriate to judge a body of diverse people based on a single person, or even the perception of an average person. Perhaps Iraqis should be judged by the actions of Saddam Hussein, or Afghanis and Saudis by members of al Queda? – RDL
(No, I didn’t read all those comments first, so forgive me if I’m repeating…)
About Pippi; I myself am a young (20yo) Finnish student and though I didn’t spend my childhood reading Pippi, I know some other books written by Lindgren and also the theme behind Pippi. There is no reasonable way someone could in any way call Lindgren a satanist or Pippi as the antichrist. For one reason, Pippi’s names are different in swedish. Maybe the writer of that page got too scared of Pippi’s strong nature and independency? Or maybe he’s just a over-enthusiastic Christian…
September 11: Of course it was a terrible act and it had a tremendous impact on US, but did it really touch other countries? At least in Finland, it was all over the papers; Attack against the Western civilization (and I do think that Finland is a western country), a declare for war… And from what I’ve heard, major part of the Americans asked “Why us?” Now… Is that something you really have to ask? Since the dawn of United States, you have been meddling with things that actually don’t concern you. Just because you dominate world trades, technology, every day consuming, movie markets etc. doesn’t make US the world dominator.
During summer I heard this unbelievable news from the radio. United Nations made this new “law” about bringing soldiers (FROM ALL COUNTRIES) who have done different kind of crimes during wars, to be judged in Haag. The United States said that if any of their soldiers are brought to Haag and convicted, these convictions aren’t legal and the US will not act by them. How on Earth does the US (not all the citizens, but most of the bigshoes) think they can have this special right to decide what’s legal?
But ummm… anyways… I found this site when looking for web design articles (as I’m studying to become a graphic designer), and I came across the GODDESSY article… So someone has actually paid for her designing? Unbelievable…
Sir, as a Finnish-born teenager with plenty of travelling experience I found some of the attitudes on this page sincerely shocking. Before you accuse me of having no experience of American life, I would like to point out that I did live there and have travelled to many parts of the country. Seven years ago, while living in Italy, I idolized many Americans. I spent my time in an American school and found the work challenging yet fulfilling. When told that I would be moving to America, I looked forward to it with great enthusiasm. At first I enjoyed the size of the place and all the luxuries. I went to school, did my work and made friends. It was, however, all too obvious that the state school was moving too slowly. I used to be a “B” student, but here I was getting ridiculously good results. Eventually, I discovered that people were not interested in politics or morals, but would much rather discuss television and food. So much so, in fact, that it drove me crazy and I was taken out of the school by my parents. I tried the other schools in the area, and found them to be exactly the same. My parents decided that the education I was receiving was ridiculously poor and so I was shipped back to England to take my qualifications. Arriving as someone who had grown a strong dislike towards the American way of life, I thought I would find little sympathy, but all of my friends felt that americans are stupid. In fact, the stupidity of George Bush and how he was voted in is a frequently recurring topic of conversation. You see, the difference between the majority of Americans and myself is that I crave knowledge, understanding, philosophy, culture and art, none of which most Americans seem bothered by. It’s far too evident that America will collapse. I fully accept that there are intelligent Americans and that millions flock to America, but the fact of the matter is that you have no social credibility any longer. You lack art and sophistication. Raucous, that’s how you’re perceived. Perhaps you can prove me wrong, but I doubt it. Corruption, ignorance, poor education, laziness and greed ruined your country long ago. America has done many great things, but it has done so much wrong, too! You can keep your Bush and bland television shows with lifeless interviewers. I’ll stick with my beloved “Have I got news for you” and Jeremy Paxman.
I’m going to go out on a limb and agree with you on some points. Public education in the United States up to and including high school is laughable at best. However, lack of an education on par with a few other countries cannot logically reflect on intelligence, nor does a difference in values. In some respects I’d like to garner your opinion of me as to whether I’m a typical American or not. But it would be a bit unfair because, admittedly, I’ve been exposed to more of the world than most and attended schools in Europe for five years. So, I’m not exactly your typical American, whatever that is. And, thankfully, television networks in the United States have not adopted England’s Beat the Crusher, a game show oozing with class and sophistication… – RDL
Americans are hated because successive US governments abused the unprecedented power they gained after WWII e.g. Guatemala 1954, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam (1955-1975), Indonesia (1958, 1965), Italy (1948), Grenada (1983), Greece (1967), Nicaragua (1980s) (a complete list would take entire web pages). Not to mention the fact that American military had invaded Mexico 13 times, Dominican Republic 6 times, Haiti 5 times, Nicaragua 5 times as part of the Monroe Doctrine. Recently, US successfully violated every international law by tearing the province of Kosovo out of Serbia (Kosovo has been part of Serbia since the Medieval eras)!! US sanctions against Iraq that killed one million children was done under the assumption that starvation would be the incentive for the Iraqis to overthrow Saddam Hussein! I wouldn’t blame the Soviets for their paranoia of the United States because US troops invaded Russia in 1918-1920 in a bid to kill the infant communist country. Each time the US governmentt said that the reason they intervened was to “save” these countries from either communism, banditism, or terrorism. This is typical bûllshìt as the racialist notion of white man’s burden used by the former Imperial powers last century. How would you feel if you were a Vietnamese farmer that had his house destroyed by US napalm, saying that the US did this to save him from communism? Americans are too ignorant of the outside world and always eat the propaganda their government gives them. Just look at how Americans react to the WTC attack (the terrorists hate us for our freedom and liberty). They think that the US is the best country in the world and other countries can’t survive without American help. Until the US stops being a serious international bully, America will still be universally despised!
Actually, history shows that the United States gained its status as a world superpower after the Spanish-American War, not after WWII. Your University of Queensland offers some excellent courses in world history including HIST2006, HIST2408, and HIST3402, which would give you greater insight and understanding into the roots of the American nation as well as some worldly perspective of some of the political mistakes of other great nations, including Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and the radical right-wing politics of Western and Eastern Europe over the last two centuries. – RDL
As a well-educated, bilingual, well-travelled, politically left-leaning, geographically inclined American (yes, there are one or two of us), I always read such posts with amusement. I like the sentences that begin, “You Americans…”
Who do you direct these comments to? All 287 million of us? To which “kind” of American are you directing comments that begin “you Americans”? Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, native American, naturalized citizens from Europe? Men and women? Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Christian, Sikh or Pagan? Gay or straight? Conservative or liberal? For we are all Americans, we share radically different views, different levels of education, different politics, different religions, different ethnicities… we even speak English differently.
Grouping us into “You Americans” is as naive as saying… “All Europeans are alike… you know… Swedes, Turks, Italians, Greeks… they all think alike… I mean, they’re all Europeans, right?” Hollywood may portray a neat package of what “an American” is like, but Hollywood is fantasy, and too many non-Americans watch a Bruce Willis movie and become experts on what Americans are like. Based on one holiday visit to New York City… everyone becomes an instant expert in defining “The American Experience.”
Simplistically generalizing a whole people into one stereotype is a form of racism… anti-Americanism based on stereotypes is the only form of socially acceptable racism left to the world. It betrays ignorance… though it may seem fashionable and elite. Like people of all other countries, we can’t be summed up in a phrase, an editorial, a slur, or any kind of sound bite. Let’s rid the world of stereotypes… whether it be toward Muslims, ethnic minorities, homosexuals… or Americans. They are all equally destructive to progress.
Just because I’ve been to Stamford, Connecticut, and now read comments by a Stamfordian doesn’t mean I or anyone else can judge the inhabitants of the city as a whole, now does it?! At least YOU get the point of what I’m saying! – RDL
Errr… Tracey, Europe is a group of nations, America is one nation, does that help? If you don’t understand the difference, I suggest a basic education might help.
Errr… Stephen? Ever heard of the European Union? Tracey can finish this one… – RDL
Thank you, Stephen, for underscoring the point of my e-mail with your Pavlovian, knee-jerk sarcastic comment. I couldn’t have produced a better reinforcement of my point.
To further expound on my original post, the U.S. is a union comprised of 54 independent state and territorial governments, making it a vast (geographically larger than Europe) amalgamation of different cultures, political ideologies, languages and governments. After the final steps in the creation of the European Union, the two entities will function in a similar manner (on some points).
And California, broken out by itself, has a greater economy than that of all of France, despite its smaller population of 34 million versus France’s 61 million. Yet France should not be lumped into its respective greater union, while California should? – RDL
Dear me, IQs really have dropped in the US… ONE passport for Americans (if any of you have bothered to get one), that means ONE country, numerous DIFFERENT passports within the European Union. I’m not German, French or Italian etc, I’m English, I have an English passport, and by the way you wouldn’t know a Pavlovian response even if the slavering dogs bit your åss.
Now this REALLY is stupid:
9,390 – Number of people murdered with handguns in the United States in 1996.
15 – Number murdered by handguns in Japan during the same year. Compare the U.S. figure with: 2 in New Zealand, 30 in Great Britain, 106 in Canada, and only 213 handgun murders in Germany during the same year.
30,708 – Number of Americans killed by all types of guns in 1998. In comparison, 33,651 Americans were killed in the Korean War and 58,148 were killed in the Vietnam War.
15 to 24 – In 2000, the leading cause of death for African-American males in this age group was homicide by firearms.
22 times more likely – That’s how much more likely it is that a gun kept in the home will kill a family member or friend, instead of an intruder in self-defense.
192,000,000 – The number of firearms currently in the United States. That’s two guns for every family of three.
10 – The number of youth under 19-years-old killed with firearms, every day in 2000.
Every 6 hours – A child between 10 and 19 years old commits suicide with a handgun.
3 times the risk – Increase in chance that a homicide will occur in the home when there is a gun in there.
Every 3 hours – A child dies in America as a result of a firearm.
$100 million per year – The estimated cost to treat a year’s worth of gunshot injuries at a typical county hospital.
31 – The number of states (in 2000) without a waiting period for handgun purchases.
And meaningless statistics relating to various economic, educational, and legal conditions have WHAT to do with the perception of intelligence? More than 17% of Britain’s population fall below the poverty line as opposed to just under 13% of the United States. The unemployment rate in the United States is lower than that of England. Even staid and stoic British Rail unabashedly solved the problem of lateness in train service by redefining “on time” as arriving within one hour of the scheduled time. Should those be used as measurements of the intelligence of the British in general? I don’t think so. – RDL