Are Americans Offended Too Easily?

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Once again Spink/Infatuation/Boddingtons starts a trash spam thread, walks away, and ends up smelling like a rose.

Mo-rons.

Sorry old man, but take a look at the post you contributed to the thread.

Thanks in advance!

[Roland]

Let me spoil this otherwise impeccably choreographed troll scene
by my unscheduled appearance and persistent cries of:
"What's all this then? What's all this then? What's all this then? What's all this then?"

[KrazyHorse]

Bah. I was the one who was picked on in elementary school until I was ~10. Being put up a grade tends to make you a target.

Even at that age I had more dignity than Giancarlo has ever managed to muster, though. I stopped caring about any insults thrown my way pretty quickly, and eventually learned to hit back when attacked physically. Giannie is 17 years old, and should learn to defend himself. I'm not saying that idiotic "admit it, Gian, you're gay" trolls are worthwhile or even permissible, but when the comments are clever/funny then they should be allowed. Otherwise Giannie has gained himself protected status due to his extraordinarily excitable nature.

[Solly]

I see Slowwhand and Chris62 amongst others are wedging themselves even further up MtG's arse. Only to be expected, of course as they can't think for themselves.

laz,

Spend any time in a British pub and you quickly learn that if you ridicule the wrong person (intentionally or not) you end up on the receiving end of a good kicking.

That's why you go with friends. You don't seriously thought I meant that I go around a pub mocking every individual in there? No. Just friendly banter with people we know.

AH,

Brits are famously thin skinned. The "whingeing Pom" is a legend in Australia. Complaining about everything is virtually their national pastime

You're joking, right? Americans over here complain because customer service is worse than they receive back home. We're prepared to accept.

Slowwhand,

Figures.
A thread, whining about how someone else whines.
What a whiner.

I'm not whining, just discussing. Hey if Americans want to get all riled-up and offended then that's their choice, it certainly makes the job of MarkG, AH and cohorts easier.

And in response to your "walking away" comment which you like to constantly repeat, I was sleeping.

MtG,

You say what happens externally is of no interest to the Mods in adjudicating. That's ridiculous - Giancarlo has sent nude pictures of "himself" to many posters, and complimented many male posters on their looks. He is gay.

If we then pertain to him being gay on the site, we get banned? That's plainly ridiculous. Should we not talk about anyone's sexuality in case it might offend them?

[KrazyHorse]

If we then pertain to him being gay on the site, we get banned?

Learn what words mean. You don't pertain to his sexuality; your statements pertain to his sexuality.

[Solly]

Geez man can't you forgive a simple typo!

[MikeH]

Whenever I've waded into one of these anti-American troll threads I've ended up finding that a lot of American posters (some exceptions) are quite happy to discuss problems with their own country especially if the person they are talking too is genuinely interested in finding out information and isn't generalising based on no real information.

If someone came up to me and said that what I believed (on any subject) was stupid and I must be stupid to believe it I'd get annoyed too. Especially if I continued to disagree and was labeled someone with no ideas of my own.

One annoyance is, obviously, the way some posters continually carry on with the whole "USA is the best country in the world, everyone else is just jealous..." thing but as I think they mainly only do it to wind us up and piss us off I try not to let that bother me anymore.

Another effective troll from Boddingtons.

You're joking, right? Americans over here complain because customer service is worse than they receive back home. We're prepared to accept.

That's not a good thing, things would be a lot better in this country if we demanded more, and better service and services. The whole shy English 'don't make a fuss' attitude really holds us back.

I think the whinging pom thing comes from Brits abroad. Brits are always complaining when things aren't what they have back home. There is an expectation (especially amongst older Brits, not so much in the young) that everywhere should cater for us exactly as we get back home. Hence the hundreds of places in Spanish holiday resorts that are English pubs or serve English food. We don't adapt very well. Personally I hate all that stuff. I like finding out about the local stuff. Americans have the same reputation, especially for food. If it's not like food in the US then it must be bad is the classic one. Again that's a generalisation and there are plenty of Americans who go abroad and aren't like that at all.

[Drekkus]

This whole Giancarlo thing is a big mystery to me. The Lord of the Flies like attack frenzy some people here indulge in stuns me. In some threads the kid makes a bold statement and within a few posts it's all about 'you're gay' vs. 'NO I'M NOT!!'. The name Giancarlo attracts people who enjoy attacking him because he goes ballistic so easily. People get so worked up about him they even post drunk threads in his dishonor. Everytime Giancarlo makes a post in a thread, I know the thread is doomed into becoming an insultingmatch, and that's just a shame.

Somehow the kid is too thick to understand that you can't win an argument like this. Time and time again people have told him to let it go, but he can't. Whatever happend on ICQ or email is no concern of mine and I certainly don't want to know. So what if he acts different here then elsewhere. It's the f#cking internet, zillions of people pretend to be bigger and better then they are IRL.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Drekkus
People get so worked up about him they even post drunk threads in his dishonor. Everytime Giancarlo makes a post in a thread, I know the thread is doomed into becoming an insultingmatch, and that's just a shame

Man, did you not see the crap that kid posts? He's convinced he's a great leader come to rid the world of communism, gays and Christians. First he wanted to be President of the US despite not being an American citizen. Then he wanted to work for the CIA. I think he wanted to be a DA the last I heard.

He also has a unique "argument" style that involves making up facts and figures (doing a very bad job of this, by the way), mentioning that his daddy works at an embassy and knows important South American military figures, and when all else fails whining for people to not attack him for his "opinions" because everybody has a right to their own. We nicknamed him BAM (Bald Assertion Man) for this style. His intense homophobia brought him (unprovoked usually) to the point of calling gays "fags" and threatening to kill as many as he could. I'll admit that some go overboard in baiting him, but the guy asks for it.

[KrazyHorse]

To respond to the original thread title, no, I don't think Americans are offended too easily. I notice Canadians getting a lot more insulted about things than Americans in general.

In this way, we're actually more American than the Americans. I don't know about Britain, but Germans primarily and other Europeans in general have a bit of a reputation for being brutally honest about things, without mincing words. I do notice, however, that self-deprecating humour doesn't seem as common down south as it is up here. A lot of our humour is based around parodying ourselves as we think others see us, and it's almost always irreverent.

In other words, Americans tend to take themselves pretty seriously, but might be better at dealing with uncomfortable truth than we are.

[Drekkus]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Man, did you not see the crap that kid posts? He's convinced he's a great leader come to rid the world of communism, gays and Christians. First he wanted to be President of the US despite not being an American citizen. Then he wanted to work for the CIA. I think he wanted to be a DA the last I heard.

He also has a unique "argument" style that involves making up facts and figures (doing a very bad job of this, by the way),

I've read his ludicrous posts and his reactions to other (better) arguments. At first I thought he was just a good troll (look at all the sigs he has made it to). But now I just feel sorry for the kid. Back in school I would be protective of those kids and tried to put the bullies in their place, but some people are just selfdestructive and (subconsiously) seek the humiliation.
Somewhere in july he posted a thread about how he should change. It was some masochismic exercise were everyone just shot from the hip and it ended with him leaving (for good...). Some people can't be helped, but maybe the people here can take a more relaxed attitude towards him and only attack when they are attacked by him.

[Roland]

"but Germans primarily and other Europeans in general have a bit of a reputation for being brutally honest about things, without mincing words."

?

[KrazyHorse]

Yup. If a German thinks you're doing sloppy work, he'll tell you flat-out. At least that's the attitude I've heard attributed to them.

[Roland]

From what I observe in academia, americans (and to some extent english) are a lot more blunt, while we "continentals" have elaborate rituals to sugarcoat criticism.

[KrazyHorse]

I don't know. Maybe we just don't know each other's rituals and end up sounding rude to foreigners?