Badmovies.org Forum

...but this is something that must be seen to be believed:

Why People think Americans are Stupid (http://www.shoutfile.com/v/gSfSsCpR)

"STEWPID!STEWPID,STEWPID,STEWPID!"

"Well, he's from Texas, he's gotta be right"  :bouncegiggle:

Jay Leno regularly does a sequence on his show called Jay Walking where he goes out on the street to ask people these same kinds of questions. We make enough fun of ourselves that we shouldn't be upset by someone else doing it.

I would like to see someone do the same thing in another country, stupid people aren't limited to living in the U.S.

Haha!

Sure stupid people aren't limited to the states, but hey, you guys are easy targets after all.  :teddyr:

Of course you really wonder how much they edited out...

Good Ol' CNNNN.  This is special because it's an Aussie show, well was an Aussie show.  These guys are from a group called the Chaser, who basically go around causing havoc, mostly in the political sense.  Ambush television for the most part, but also part satire and as you can see, sometimes just plain fun.  Alot of their jokes are from going out into the street, and either approaching politicians or, obviously, just people in public and gauging their reactions.

I suppose they're more of the political left [well here at least] so quite a bit is a p**s-take on US culture and in particular, US politics.  Very funny for the most part, but you do take some of it with a grain of salt.

They have done a few shows which have quite a cult following here: CNNNN, obviously a parody of CNN and just news in general.  They have also done a good show worth looking up called "The Chaser's War on Everything". 

You may not agree with alot of what they do, or even like it, but I do highly reccommend either of those two shows as something to watch.  Well I watch it because I find it very funny [though like anything they have their weaker moments]

Just for your enjoyment I did a quick search to find more of their work [some have a bit of language though, so enjoy!]:

More making fun of Americans with a segment on:

The Superbowl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr90Z5QrlVc) Something which you could very easily transfer to our culture for Cricket or AFL [Aussie Rules Football]

A segment on protecting landmarks from Terrorist attacks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McB9tsabPn0)

One on US bible shows which tend to screen early weekday mornings [around 3/4am]  Yes it is like shooting fish in a barrel... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8GvrZutbcE)

And just for some others which can make fun of our own ways:

The New Australian Tourism Campaign (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbzMFTWxJmI)

Chas' Bonehead Challenge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af9dE7fnHvE) [getting on camera during our equivalent of the Emmy's]

Yup, not subtle at all these guys...

Yes, yes, yes.  We Americans are sooo stupid.
OK, show of hands, who's put men into space -- US, USSR, oh, and you now China, how cute, doing what we did 40 years ago.
OK, now who's put men on the moon --- anyone besides us stupid redneck cowboys?
(meant humorously)

I don't mind such shows, really they leave off everyone who mentions Uganda or Uruguay.

Good point Raj............................

Sure we've got stupid people here, but while travelling for years all over the world I can guarantee that we do not have the market cornered. I've met plenty of morons in all countries.
I'm sure, no I'm positive that if you took a the street and asked those question you could find just as many or more that could answer the questions as to those that could not, but that wouldn't be funny would it?
So yeah, while the rest of the world love to dog out and make fun of America, for some odd reason it has never stemmed the flood on immigrates coming here.

@raj ... don't forget

Ukraine
Uzbekistan
USA
UK
UAE

Maybe all the other nations realised sooner how useless the whole "send-people-to-the-moon" business is.
(meant humorously)

And yes, these is obviously ambush-type humour, is not meant to be taken seriously. If carried out in any other country, I'm sure it would have shown similar levels of stupidity. And yes, obviously they have edited out the right answers. This said, part of the fun of the segment is that it takes place on the USA. I've always wondered if Americans are aware of how everything that takes place inside their borders is transmitted, magnified and analised in the rest of the world, which inmediately takes positions in favour or against the matter.

It goes with the notoriety and the cultural influence, I guess. It's like when Britney Spears decides it's a good idea not to wear undergarments that day, nobody would care if our neighbour did it, but having become sort of a role model it's like she's asking for the flak.

By which I don't mean your country has exposed its crotch, married a loser or is embarrasing itself in every public appearence. I just mean the bigger the notoriety of the spoofed country, the bigger the fun.

Anyway, it's really cool you seem to like the video. Given the current polemics over the U.S. outdoors policy, I just wanted to make sure everybody took the whole thing with a pinch of salt, hence the title of the thread.

Neville, it's Ok. We know you didn't intend any disrespect.

I also have seen this type video before and have fun watching stuff like this and I also really have a deep respect for people of all cultures, but sometimes I'm very offended by foreigners who come here and think we are idiots and they get all puffed up about their way of life or attempt to point out where other countries do it better without remembering that they couldn't have done it lest we did it first. That is why the world is coming here and to other Western nations. To experience the pinnacle of civilization no matter how bad it is. Hypocrites who dont want to live in their native country and want to put down the U.S. while wanting to live here. These people make no sense and are as dumb as the people in the video.

When my daughter spent almost a year in Japan as part of an international program from her school she was shocked by some of the misconceptions people from other countries have about us. In particular were a couple of girls from China who were terrified to come to the U. S.  because everyone is carrying a gun and we apparently have daily shootouts. The actual truth is that we have a lot of guns in private hands but they are owned by only 1/4 of the U.S. population.

We are a big target and that's why people shoot at us with this stuff.  We do a pretty good job of lambasting ourselves. We tolerate these things because it's the price of living in a democracy.



Yes, we had a stellar record for achievements such as these, but I worry about the future because we have so few young people going into the sciences these days. We're importing talent at an alarming rate.

Very true Trek Geezer. Our times are not the times of the turn of the century when an inventor had more basic components to work with for major break throughs. Now you have mostly innovations of complex things that already exist. No real big break through ideas, but rather making existing things better, and Americans are rather content with what they have and don't delve much deeper into science and other creative ideas. They only want cable and an automobile. By the time they figure this isn't enough their education days are behind them and they are stuck working some lowly job. You can always go back to school, but it's proven that genius is when your in your 20's. Most scientific breakthroughs happen at earlier ages. Read a book on the subject that broke down the age of individual genius.

I'm still waiting for anti-gravity and teleportation. It may be easier than we think. Excuse me while I get back to the lab.  :smile:

This doesn't only happen in other countries, it's also present in other states of our own country. We were labled as loonies because we were from California. I was in high school at the time, once some of the people found out I was from California they wouldn't even talk to me. It's a very strange feeling. Thank God I have a since of humor.

Re: guns, a lot of it does get stirred up by liberals in the US too, with scary images of concealed carry permitt holders having daily shootouts.  This despite all evidence to the contrary.  That is a problem when you want to demonize something, you don't let facts get in the way.

As for California, when I lived in Oregon -- coming from New York -- I had no problems.  People there reserved their bile for Californians, because Oregonians felt that Californians were coming in and buying up all their houses.  (Didn't stop them from selling, though)

And "since of humor"? :wink:

Watch those damn flies...

All you can do is laugh at these things; I don't get folks getting their underwear in a bunch over something like this.

A segment like this is either staged, completely fake, the people are purposefully hamming it up (to get their 15 minutes), miscue because being nervous/put on the spot or they genuinely don't know the answers.  If the latter, there probably are not many who don't know ANY of the answers - notice how generally they show a different person for each question.  I'd like to know how many correct answers they had to cut out to get that footage, just out of curiosity.

Regardless of the answer, it IS funny.  And it would be funny from any country; I will admit that many of us Americans set ourselves up to be superior and I get the joy of knocking a few of us down a peg.

I think my favorite part in the whole thing was how they relabeled Australia as France, Iran, North Korea, etc and asked folks to find it on a map..I'm still chuckling over that....Get ready for the invasion, Dean!!   :smile:

Yep, that was hysterical. I would have loved to see a reaction of any of those who did notice the fraud.

BTW, if France is in Australia this means my country has been mistaken for years. All my live we called the neighbours up north french, for Christ sake. That would explain their hatred of Spaniards.

(http://www.andypryke.com/twiki/pub/Andypublic/BlogJune2005/flies.jpg)

Scott your YATTA: National Anthem song would go perfect with that picture... :teddyr:

YATTA is my national anthem and I watch it everyday before going to bed and upon getting up. It's the meaning of life. There would be peace on the earth if everone would watch YATTA.

I think the fly on the left is kind of cute, Poogie is that you?

:bouncegiggle:   :bouncegiggle:  :bouncegiggle:  :bouncegiggle:
 :bouncegiggle: You're funny.............

 :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle:

(http://town.williston.vt.us/IMAGES/swat1.jpg)

Hey, I'm looking for that guy with the fly swatter..........  :buggedout:
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p240/denjoy73/mon_fly.jpg)

You guys think you have it bad ~ we are awash in crime and corruption here in South Africa and our leaders deny the existence of any problems.   :hatred:  Sure they can deny it: they have several bodyguards all paid for by the taxpayer!

They only have one thing in their heads, namely the 2010 Soccer World Cup and only get their panties in a knot when an Afrikaans singer releases a song entitled De La Rey (a call for the late Boer General Koos De La Rey to return and lead the Afrikaners again) and they slam it as subversive propaganda.  :buggedout:

I really thought that when democracy came here in 1994 that things would be better, but it is not so.

Yeah, the female fly in that picture may be pretty shapely, but just think of how a fly eats its food.

Been reading this thread, kind of hard to get too worked up over the "Dumb Americans" cliche. Between Jay Leno and that Street Smarts game show that used to air, we hammer on ourselves pretty good about it already. Between the editing, the attention seekers, and the wannabe actors and reality TV stars (game shows like that and all those dating shows are notoriously full of people looking to get anything on an acting resume').

I feel cheated, "dumb Polack" jokes finally seem to be dying out in the US, even among the truly lame, and now the world is picking on Americans for being dumb. Just can't catch a break.

Trevor, is much of popular music in South Africa that political? We have music here that idealizes and even fetishizes "Johnny Reb"/Dixie/The Civil War/Rebel Flags/The South shall rise again. Mostly country music, southern and some hard rock, and white boy rap (Kid Rock - who's from the North BTW) but it's treated mostly as a goof, tough guy posturing, or sentimental hero worship. It's more imagery and attitude than substance.  But the turmoil and changes in your country are more recent. Is De La Rey (a major figure from the Second Boer War from what I read) that much of a rallying point in South Africa among Afrikaners? Or is this phenomenon new?

True. Isn't Borat an american movie, despite the actor being British?

 :cheers:

Hi, Yaddo  :smile:

In the old SA (i.e. 1948 ~ 1993) music was political but rather subtly so. People were being indoctrinated without knowing it, censorship was rampant and if I had to tell you which classic films were banned and for what reason you would think that I was lying. There was even a film called Kaptein Caprivi (Captain Caprivi) which had a prologue in which a govt minister exhorts the nation to make the supreme sacrifice for the nation  :buggedout:

I think this De La Rey thing is a new phenomenon and another attempt by Afrikaners to establish identity. There are differing views, of course: my mom is an Afrikaner and she does not buy into this new Afrikaner thing ~ her thoughts are thus Dit is 'n klomp stront! ~ translation: It is a lot of s---.  :teddyr:

My opinion as the son of a British descendant (my Dad came down without a parachute  :twirl: and an Afrikaner: all people who live in Africa irrespective of race, you are African, accept it and be proud of it. Just like that.  :thumbup:

 :hot: Foul Cursed Californians... I work for the Oregon branch of a Southern California company and they do indeed treat us like a cute little colony.  Look what happened to the Front Range in Colorado, it got discovered by the Californians and now its LA with snow.  The folks what serve the frappachinos or repair rthe computers can't even live in the towns where they are serving them.  Its getting that way here now.   :hot:

OK ranting done.  I hate to see anything local being turned into havens for chain stores and restaurants.  Everywhere is rapidly turning into everywhere else.   We're losing so much neat stuff in the drive to "develop".

Of course all the Californians here are not like that.  And if you want my house, it'll be $450,000 :teddyr:
-Ed

Ed....How many rooms does it have?  :bouncegiggle: Around here you would get 1 bedroom and a pot to pee in, 3 blades of grass, and oh, maybe it will have a roof.  :bouncegiggle: Just kidding. But it's getting pretty close to that. It's funny how we're getting pushed out of here because so many people want to live here. This state has people from all over the world put in one little area. I can go about a block away from my house and it's like I'm in another country, can't even read the signs on buildings, they're in a different language depending on the majority of people living in that area. If you decide to go into the store you have to find that one person who speaks English. Is it like that in Oregon yet? It's a very strange feeling.  :smile:

Actually it's kind of funny to drive down Valley Blvd. (main street, runs from Pomona to downtown L.A.) in San Gabriel and see all the signs in Chinese and Vietnamese and then see one for McDonald's or Taco Bell. This neighborhood has changed a lot in the last twenty years, I like living here.

Trevor, thanks for your reply. I was aware of names like Johnny Clegg and Savuka they got a lot of mention on MTV here during the 80s (and even some airplay). I knew that Trevor Rabin of Yes and movie soundtrack fame was from SA and was in the pop/rock band Rabbit.

Do you have a link or list of films banned in SA during the apartheid era, I am curious actually? I'm guessing even non-classics (but still good films) like The Wilby Conspiracy didn't makle the cut. What about The Wild Geese, not South African, but deals with issues of post-colonial Africa.

I once saw the South African cop flick Vengence Cops on TV here. It was odd, the cars looked like 70s models, but the clothes and hairstyles looked like the late 60s. You could see highway signs that identified SA cities but no black people appeared in the film at all. What should have been a straight forward genre action flick had an air of unreality to it. Oh, I bought Kill and Kill Again a few years ago, also odd but more for the goofy story and cetain scenes rather than political elements.

Hi Yaddo  :smile:

I have a list and will post it here soon or will create a new thread with it ~ you and the brothers and sisters of BM.org will be shocked at what was banned and why ~ most of the time, the Censor Board didn't have to give a reason beyond this: "We find this film / publication / song offensive so it is banned forthwith." They had scary powers those guys ~ our new censors can be found at www.fpb.gov.za (http://www.fpb.gov.za). I would rather find them in the toilet.

That film you mentioned is locally known as Flying Squad (1971) and the film Vengeance Cops is its' other title and oddly enough, the film also includes footage from Flying Squad's sequel Gold Squad. A friend of mine directed both of these, incidentally and they were propaganda films portraying the feared SA Police as avanging angels ~ where they failed was trying to mimic Dirty Harry and getting mighty dirty in the process. :teddyr:

Trevor, I look forward to your list, why films cross the line in various locales around the world always interests me.

Thanks for your info on that film as well, when I saw it on Speedvision there was little info about it. IMDB at the time was little help also (haven't checked it lately), and gave the release date as 1988! I'm guessing that date had something to do with a video or TV release in the USA maybe.