Anti-American sentiment in SL forums

Oh my goodness, there's anti-Americanism out there! They're being so mean to us! It's unfair! We never do that to them!

Welcome to super-power status, people. We are the predominant culture and the most powerful political entity on the planet. With that comes lots and lots of criticism. If Monaco were in our position there would be an equal amount of anti-Monegasque feeling in the forums too. Yeah, a lot of the criticism is unwarranted, a lot is broad generalization too. So? You don't think Americans engage in the same kind of criticism about other countries and cultures? All those flag-waving Christian Republicans eating their freedom fries ring any bells?

So get over it. As long as the USA plays the role it does in the world today there will be lots and lots of people criticizing us. Some of it will be justified, some won't. We are, in effect, the Anshe Chungs of Real Life. Mere mention of our name causes some to go into knee jerk reactions. Everyone knows who we are and has an opinion about us. All we can do is act like adults about it. And crying that there's anti-Amercan sentiment in SL forums is juvenile. Respect the criticism that's warranted and debate, ignore or ridicule the criticism that isn't. But don't bitch that we're being criticized. Enjoy it. Because when it stops we won't be on top anymore, and that's going to suck.

I'm too sleepy to really add anything valid to this thread, other than to say that I, personally, blame old people and oil companies for the whole thing.

... but, then again, I blame old people and oil companies for everything. Literally. Dinosaur extinction, the Hindenburg, the eventual heat-death of the universe, it's all old people and oil companies.

I find it interesting that you seem the first to cry foul when anything is said about Anshe, yet you use her as your example while telling us to just suck it up. Acting like an adult is addressing a problem head on and standing up to it. Yeah, white people are the majority in the US, it doesn't make it any more acceptable to bash them. Oh wah, the US is in power, so it's open season on Americans? How about we start some rants about Europeans and see how far that flies, eh?

Wow, talk about misreading a post. This is the comparison I made concerning Anshe:



See, I didn't use her as my example of sucking it up. The comparison was between her status in SL and the USA's status in RL.

And yeah, I respond when people make stupid comments about Anshe. Which is just what I said to do when stupid comments are made about the USA.



I never said it was acceptable to bash anybody. Now it's not just criticism it's bashing? Talk about exaggeration. Next you'll be telling us we're victims. I never said anti-Americanism was acceptable, I just tried to point out that it was inevitable. We can either deal with it like adults or we can whine about it and threaten to engage in the same behavior ourselves.

Deal with the specific criticisms, but complaining about being criticized is juvenile. It's part of super-power status. You can't change it, so live with it gracefully.

In all fairness, the United States of America has spent its last two centuries being a beacon of hope for hundreds of millions of people while driving trillions of dollars of technological innovation to global markets. Whereas the party you're describing makes a bit of money while throwing bi-monthly public temper tantrums while everyone else looks on with loathing.

I mean, I kind of see what you're saying, but the comparison could be a bit more effective, I think.

Thanks for proving my point.

Sorry, twas a joke. I guess not an obvious one.

I am a little confused Michael.

Do you want us not to respond, or to respond?

Pick one.

This is what I said:



Seems clear enough to me. Hope that clears up your confusion.

I see. I thought as much.

You are going to decide for others when a response is warranted. Nevermind that your personal subjectivity has no bearing on that of others eh? I'll just drop you an IM next time I am considering responding, to ok it with you. If you're not online, sucks for me, I'll just have to belay my thoughts until you are.

It clears it up alright.

Sorry about the name, I know it pisses me off when people reply back to "Dianna" (happens quite a bit actually).

Maybe I am wrong to put you in the racist camp then. You have my sincere apologies if I was wrong about that.

My point about racism (again IMO), was that there is a serious amount of anti-Asian racist remarks made on this forum. Speaking as someone who lives in a predominantly Asian area and has many Chinese, Japanese and Korean friends (and some family members), I find it kind of shocking and a bit repulsive.

This mostly rears it's ugly head in posts about Anshe Chung.

Sometimes it seems like there is hardly a thread about her that's been made that some jerk doesn't make some kind of pointed remark that connects her (purported, but usually unsubstantiated), "bad behaviour" with her race. This is usually followed by loud guffaws from all the big forum weenies or at least a snicker up the sleeve.

A case in point that comes to mind is when B*lly made a "movie" about Anshe that had no humour at all beyond "funny Chinese voices" and some "Chinglish" signs and headers. Basically making out that Anshe was "funny" because she was Chinese. Most of the frequent posters seemed to think it was hilarious, yet a similar movie with "comical black people" in it would be an outrage of course.

From my point of view, I see this stuff all the time and "you Americans" (that's a joke ), don't even seem to notice it. I can only assume that there aren't that many Chinese folks down there.

Anyway, apologies if I included you or your friends in that crowd if you are not in fact a part of it. I don't really have the time and energy to scour all the posts for the last six months to see if you were in fact laughing along with that crap, but I shall assume you weren't.

Envy is a very bad emotion but it seems very prevalent today and mainly directed at Americans
People buy the BS that all Americans have every thing or that their lives are easier than other people’s but its not true all of us have a hard time and when we have good times its not so obvious.
We are all humanity and a diverse lot at that

Now the important thing, can I have Vegemite in stead of Marmite a much better taste

Dianne, I'm American and you better believe I have noticed it. I can't STAND it.

coco

Nolan, you seem pretty determined to misread me today. First you imply that I'm contradicting myself, and when I show I'm not, you post this:


I didn't say anything about me deciding anything for anyone. For the umpteenth time, this is what I said:



See? Nothing about me deciding when a response is necessary. I foolishly assumed that since the thrust of my post was "Act Like an Adult" that people would understand that they get to decide for themselves which criticisms are warranted and which are not. The only thing I said not to do was to bitch about being criticized in the first place.

No, Michael, we are all different, we are not you. Your idea of what is warranted or not is not the same for everyone else. I find that juvenile and self-absorbed -- expecting everyone else to magically crawl inside your brain, figure out how you personally think, and then into lock step with that. Your statement about responding to what is warranted is based on the presumption that what you think is warranted is what should be replied to. Try looking past the end of your own nose, there's a whole big world out there with different value sets, ideas and so on.

You are leaving yourself a lot of wriggle-room here, likely intentionally, so I'll let you get on with the Michael Control Show.

Adieu.

So what's all this aboot, eh?

Are you even reading my posts?



Didn't imply that at all. Didn't say it, didn't mean it, didn't imply it. Here's the quote again, please read it this time.



In no way did I say I was the judge of what is warranted or not. If I said "take the best cookie" would you have to crawl in my head to figure out which cookie to take, or would you just simply take the cookie you felt was best?



Now let's reread my statement:


Notice I didn't say to respond to what's warranted. I actually said to "debate, ignore or ridicule the criticism that isn't. I didn't say not to respond to warranted criticism either, all I said was "respect the criticism that's warranted." That's all I said. Nothing about any of the nonsense you wrote.

And in response to this:


What you see as wriggle-room is probably just the simple fact that you have completely, and repeatedly misunderstood what I wrote. I've tried to point that out, but you seem pretty set on you're own imaginary version of my post.

That's the second person you've responded this way to in this thread....

I think that says quite a bit about your perspective and reading of the thread. Don't you?

(No.. that really is not asking for a response.)

G*ddamn right!

We DESERVE our SUVs, Big Macs, and McMansions.

The disturbing thing is that you would ever find yourself in a situation having to appologise for something like that.



People hate Anshe for reasons unconnected to her race. Anshe played the race card as much as anyone else, early on, though, so I can understand the people who use it against her. That's not exactly racism, in context.



I haven't seen the movie in question, but I would suggest, in this case, it's a matter of context, not race. Believe it or not, not everything connected to a person's race, even in less than flattering light, is not racism.



So why not just assume something good /from the get go/, instead of assuming the worst and then having to appologise? Preemptive libel isn't a trait I would want to assosiate myself with.

I'm insulted you think I deserve a Big Mac. In seventeen countries and three states of this country I could kill you where you stand for such an insult.

Baloney, it's inherent in your "point". "ignore or ridicule the criticism that isn't"

You are saying that we can ridicule (respond to) the criticism that isn't. This presumes that you know which is and which isn't, and expect others to follow suit. I don't expect you to get it. Those with a narrow field of view and sense of complacency never do.

How can anyone write a sentence like this and live with himself?

Speak for yourself. I don't hate Anshe in the slightest. For that matter, hating ANYONE in a fricking online game is a complete waste of soul.

I consider this libel - statements like this. It's not the first time I've seen them here, and not the first person I've seen them about. It is an incredibly arrogant and presumptive thing to say.

Speak for yourself, or for you and your six friends who may actually engage in such unwarranted hate.

coco

Nope, wrong again. How many times is it now? First you say I'm contradicting myself. I wasn't. When I pointed that out, did you apologize? Nope, you ignored that and instead went on to accuse me of trying to tell people what criticisms they can and can't respond to. When I showed you that wasn't the case, you went on to say that I said that people could only respond to warranted criticisms. Didn't say that either, did I? Did you apologize for those mistakes? Nope.

Now you're complaining that I said to "debate, ignore or ridicule the criticism" that isn't warranted. How on earth does that statement mean "Michael wants to control debate"? It's pretty clear that I'm saying "DO WHAT YOU WANT". The only thing I said not to do was to bitch about being criticized.

The point of my post was simple. Maybe too simple? Here, let's try it again.

DEAL WITH THE SPECIFIC CRITICISMS ABOUT THE USA, BUT DON'T BITCH ABOUT BEING CRITICIZED BECAUSE IT'S SIMPLY PART OF BEING A SUPER-POWER AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT ANYWAY.

Jumpin' Haysoos on a pogo stick, is that clear enough? Or will your next post accuse me of trying to control the pork belly market?

Yeah, but this is coming from the same person who was going to call an attorney because a few people didn't her remarks and weren't afraid to say so. So, you know, grain of salt.