Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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No_Mind
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by No_Mind »

chownah wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:17 pm Soul?
chownah
The permanent, eternal thingy inside us .. I assumed Spiny's uncle was a Christian.

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mikenz66
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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Saengnapha wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:20 pm
Dinsdale wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:54 pm One of my uncles was in the British army in WW2, and was captured by the Japanese. He died building the Burma railway.
A few years back, we drove up to Kanchanaburi and visited the monument and museum they built there. The bridge is right there in town. We then drove all the way up to 3 Pagoda Pass on the Myanmar border. This is a beautiful area, still very pristine. I thought about the travail these people must have encountered building this railway. Dense forest, mountainous terrain, malaria, and systematically being worked to death. Now, it is a very peaceful area and well worth a trip if you ever get out this way.
Yes, it's an amazing area. I spent New Year up near the border. It's quite a drive!

The movie The Railway Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Man_(film) is worth seeking out, the story having a basis in fact (Lomax and Takashi Nagase both wrote books about their experiences during and after the war, though the movie, inevitably, plays up some aspects for dramatic effect).

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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by Saengnapha »

mikenz66 wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:52 pm
Saengnapha wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:20 pm
Dinsdale wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:54 pm One of my uncles was in the British army in WW2, and was captured by the Japanese. He died building the Burma railway.
A few years back, we drove up to Kanchanaburi and visited the monument and museum they built there. The bridge is right there in town. We then drove all the way up to 3 Pagoda Pass on the Myanmar border. This is a beautiful area, still very pristine. I thought about the travail these people must have encountered building this railway. Dense forest, mountainous terrain, malaria, and systematically being worked to death. Now, it is a very peaceful area and well worth a trip if you ever get out this way.
Yes, it's an amazing area. I spent New Year up near the border. It's quite a drive!

The movie The Railway Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Man_(film) is worth seeking out, the story having a basis in fact (Lomax and Takashi Nagase both wrote books about their experiences during and after the war, though the movie, inevitably, plays up some aspects for dramatic effect).

:heart:
Mike
The novel 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North', by Richard Flanagan inspired me to go there. The book won some prizes, I believe.
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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No_Mind wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:34 pm
chownah wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:17 pm Soul?
chownah
The permanent, eternal thingy inside us .. I assumed Spiny's uncle was a Christian.

:namaste:
I think he was Church of England, and therefore not religious. ;)
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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No_Mind wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:34 pm
chownah wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:17 pm Soul?
chownah
The permanent, eternal thingy inside us .. I assumed Spiny's uncle was a Christian.

:namaste:
I don't know what you are talking about.....but it seems to be off topic so please don't explain.
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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Wyoming, Arkansas, Bible Belt, Delaware, Ohio, Cape Cod MA, Spokane Washington

Add to the list Richmond.

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"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”― Albert Camus
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by LostOne »

To answer your question...Americans will assume any ".com" domain is automatically American...(isn't it?) and will assume every other person is most likely American as well. ("Those foreign people have their own websites")

...and since, you know, we invented everything... :tongue:

Hope it helps.

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Kim OHara
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by Kim OHara »

LostOne wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 1:27 am To answer your question...Americans will assume any ".com" domain is automatically American...(isn't it?) and will assume every other person is most likely American as well. ("Those foreign people have their own websites")

...and since, you know, we invented everything... :tongue:

Hope it helps.

:anjali:
Sigh.
And they assume any religious person is Christian.

:thinking:

The funny thing is, Americans are not alone in any of this. We all assume that "we" are normal and that any undefined "other" is more or less like ourselves, until shown otherwise.
Also, of course, that "different" is almost synonymous with "inferior" or "wrong", as in "Those foreign people drive on the wrong side of the road!"

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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by Kim OHara »

Saengnapha wrote: Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:51 am The novel 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North', by Richard Flanagan inspired me to go there. The book won some prizes, I believe.
Lots of Aussies died on the Burma Railway, too, so it was part of the WW2 history we learned in school.

Flanagan is one of Australia's internationally-respected novelists. He's brilliant but most of his books are quite difficult, as in painful, to read - compelling but very dark. Here's an American review of the Narrow Road: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertai ... story.html

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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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Kim OHara wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 11:26 am The funny thing is, Americans are not alone in any of this. We all assume that "we" are normal and that any undefined "other" is more or less like ourselves, until shown otherwise.
Also, of course, that "different" is almost synonymous with "inferior" or "wrong", as in "Those foreign people drive on the wrong side of the road!"

:coffee:
Kim

Not to stir up controversy but Americans are quite alone in this.

Germans do not think rest of the world has beer with breakfast (okay shortly after breakfast but still very early by anyone else's standards), British do not assume rest of the world has pudding at end of a meal and so on.

Trust me .. if you ask 1,000 American kids tomorrow morning .. who won Eurovision song contest on Saturday .. they would not be able to answer. Let alone know about Asia or Australia .. they have no clue about Europe.

Ask them which US state has an ongoing emergency due to natural disaster and has requested federal assistance .. let me see how many of the 1,000 can answer. In my experience no more than 80.

They are completely insulated from rest of the world.


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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by Saengnapha »

Kim OHara wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 11:41 am
Saengnapha wrote: Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:51 am The novel 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North', by Richard Flanagan inspired me to go there. The book won some prizes, I believe.
Lots of Aussies died on the Burma Railway, too, so it was part of the WW2 history we learned in school.

Flanagan is one of Australia's internationally-respected novelists. He's brilliant but most of his books are quite difficult, as in painful, to read - compelling but very dark. Here's an American review of the Narrow Road: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertai ... story.html

:coffee:
Kim
The Aussies seemed to have pumped a bit of money into the museum and some monuments there. They certainly took a lot of losses along with all the SE Asian civiilians that were used as slaves.
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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No_Mind wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 12:18 pm They are completely insulated from rest of the world.
Do you have any evidence to back this up or are you somehow able to make this observation through a screen? If you would have made this statement in 1999 I would have agreed with you, but don't sleep on the American youth these days, they are actually well informed --- perhaps a bit too intense, too dramatic and too leftist, but well informed nonetheless.
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

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SDC wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 2:47 pm
No_Mind wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 12:18 pm They are completely insulated from rest of the world.
Do you have any evidence to back this up or are you somehow able to make this observation through a screen? If you would have made this statement in 1999 I would have agreed with you, but don't sleep on the American youth these days, they are actually well informed --- perhaps a bit too intense, too dramatic and too leftist, but well informed nonetheless.
I am teaching them for 12 years including right now .. I talk with them.

Unless you are a teacher, I can confidently say I have greater interaction with them than you. They are random from all states (not Hawaii or Alaska though), all ethnicities, all income groups.

They love to talk to a friendly adult .. apparently we are more patient than adults they know. So I know.

No slur intended. Just an observation. Such as most Indians working in call centers have funny accent -- just an observation .. like that.

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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by SDC »

No_Mind wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 2:56 pm
SDC wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 2:47 pm
No_Mind wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 12:18 pm They are completely insulated from rest of the world.
Do you have any evidence to back this up or are you somehow able to make this observation through a screen? If you would have made this statement in 1999 I would have agreed with you, but don't sleep on the American youth these days, they are actually well informed --- perhaps a bit too intense, too dramatic and too leftist, but well informed nonetheless.
I am teaching them for 12 years including right now .. I talk with them.
Teaching them in India or in America? What age?

I apprentice people in their late teens/early 20's, I talk with them too. So...
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
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Re: Why do Americans not have to announce which country they are from?

Post by No_Mind »

SDC wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 3:43 pm
No_Mind wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 2:56 pm
SDC wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 2:47 pm

Do you have any evidence to back this up or are you somehow able to make this observation through a screen? If you would have made this statement in 1999 I would have agreed with you, but don't sleep on the American youth these days, they are actually well informed --- perhaps a bit too intense, too dramatic and too leftist, but well informed nonetheless.
I am teaching them for 12 years including right now .. I talk with them.
Teaching them in India or in America? What age?

I apprentice people in their late teens/early 20's, I talk with them too. So...
Of course not in India!! Almost fully high school students and few (say 10%) from community colleges, nursing school, exam prep to be a firefighter or ASVAB

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"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”― Albert Camus
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