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Originally posted by André Lux:

Just as you are...

And they are not so exagerated as you may think. Just see what your countrimates are saying about things they don't know anything (like monkeys throwing **** on each other), just because they believe in what they see on The Simpsons and etc.

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That's funny that YOU are allowed to make ridiculous sweeping generalizations about
us, yet we aren't allowed to make ones about you. You know that I was only trying to get your goat with the feces-throwing monkeys part- and of course I don't think that way about South Americans. The truth is that you know as little about the average American than we do of the average Brasilian. I suggest we hold a summit, meet each other and learn what the other's life and culture are like. You can come up to the U.S. first- we'll have clean clothes waiting for you, and YES, you can bring your monkey...

Geographically speaking they are two continents, North America and South America.

Central America is a region, not a continent

Geographers define a continent as a large land mass surrounded by water containing multiple political entities. (Geologists might have a different view.)

Continents can be joined by land bridges and still be continents.

It is this reason that some Geographers don’t consider Australia a continent. While it meets the land mass requirement, it doesn’t meet the political ones.

But Antarctica, Eurasia, Africa do.

For example, I think movies like Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbour are totally stupid, and are lying to the people of the United States of America about said events. On the other hand, Lancelot seems to take total offense to this because he believes these films are excellent re-creations of unimportant history; does the USA need to make their Somalia film? Not really.

Here Lance, useful info from award-winning writer and environmentalist George Monbiot:

from The Guardian, Tuesday January 29, 2002

"the US government handed over the administration of Somalia to
the United Nations in 1993, it had already made several fundamental
mistakes. It had backed the clan chiefs Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali
Mahdi against another warlord, shoring up their power just as it had
started to collapse. It had failed to recognise that the competing
clan chiefs were ready to accept large-scale disarmament, if it were
carried out impartially. Far from resolving the conflict between the
clans, the US accidentally enhanced it....the UN's Pakistani peacekeepers tried to seize
Aideed's radio station, which was broadcasting anti-UN propaganda.
The raid was bungled, and 25 of the soldiers were killed by Aideed's
supporters. A few days later, Pakistani troops fired on an unarmed
crowd, killing women and children. The United Nations force,
commanded by a US admiral, was drawn into a blood feud with Aideed's
militia. As the feud escalated, US special forces were brought in to
deal with the man now described by American intelligence as "the
Hitler of Somalia". Aideed, who was certainly a ruthless and
dangerous man but also just one of several clan leaders competing for
power in the country, was blamed for all Somalia's troubles. The UN's
peacekeeping mission had been transformed into a partisan
war....The special forces, over-confident and hopelessly ill-informed,
raided, in quick succession, the headquarters of the UN development
programme, the charity World Concern and the offices of Medecins sans
Frontieres. They managed to capture, among scores of innocent
civilians and aid workers, the chief of the UN's police force. But
farce was soon repeated as tragedy. When some of the most senior
members of Aideed's clan gathered in a building in Mogadishu to
discuss a peace agreement with the United Nations, the US forces,
misinformed as ever, blew them up, killing 54 people. Thus they
succeeded in making enemies of all the Somalis. The special forces
were harried by gunmen from all sides. In return, US troops in the UN
compound began firing missiles at residential areas....So the raid on one of Aideed's buildings on October 3 1993, which led
to the destruction of two Black Hawk helicopters and the deaths of 18
American soldiers, was just another round of America's grudge match
with the warlord. The troops who captured Aideed's officials were
attacked by everyone: gunmen came even from the rival militias to
avenge the deaths of the civilians the Americans had killed. The US
special forces, with an understandable but ruthless regard for their
own safety, locked Somali women and children into the house in which
they were besieged."

NP: Chungking Express - ocean shores DVD

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Originally posted by Tim_P:
The truth is that you know as little about the average American than we do of the average Brasilian. I suggest we hold a summit, meet each other and learn what the other's life and culture are like. You can come up to the U.S. first-
Tim

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That's your mistake. I've being on USA before (5 times to be exactly) and know a lot about it - and don't forget that we learn World Geography and History here (not only "our" own).

When I was young I was just another USA "patriotic" (yes, I live in a country 100% influenced by USA culture) and only when I start to grow up (fisically and mentaly) I begin to understand what's going on behind all those people waving your flag all the time...

Lets face: 90% of unitedstadians doesn't have a clue about what's going on in the rest of the world (except from what they learn from David Letterman or CNN - which is the same as nothing). That's why so many people get angry when I or any other "third-world monkey" (as you like to call the non-USAians) start to say things you are not ware of.

Better to just shup me up instead of trying to learn something new...

But I am getting used to it!

Anyway, lets just call Stu Phillips and fire this Elfman hack once and for all...

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Americans have that attitude about the rest of the world; a superiority complex, while they are most insecure

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I hate to burst your bubble, but your thinking is so illogical as to defy belief. Ask any first-year psychology student, "Which of the following two people exhibits traits of superiority complex and insecurity - a person who constantly criticizes and berates others, or the person who defends themself against the attacks of the first person?"

What do you think the answer would be? Hmmm?

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Americans on this board react in such a defensive manner to people like me (from Canada) and people like André (from Brasil) who criticize the average American and their simplistic beliefs

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When did I say either of those movies were "accurate depictions of history"? I said they were good movies. Black Hawk Down certainly does not glorify anything. Actually, I think if either of those films has a valid point in it, it's the fact that volunteers who fight are the pawns of politics.

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When I was young I was just another USA "patriotic" (yes, I live in a country 100% influenced by USA culture) and only when I start to grow up (fisically and mentaly) I begin to understand what's going on behind all those people waving your flag all the time...

Lets face: 90% of unitedstadians doesn't have a clue about what's going on in the rest of the world (except from what they learn from David Letterman or CNN - which is the same as nothing). That's why so many people get angry when I or any other "third-world monkey" (as you like to call the non-USAians) start to say things you are not ware of.

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I pity you, Andre. I really, really do. You know nothing of what makes the United States great and I'm sorry that your mind has been filled with such disdain for us.

I don't know exactly what makes you think you are in a position to judge. If it's education, I'm here to tell you I have more years of education and degrees than you can even begin to dream about.

If it's reading, I can assure you that I read more widely (books, magazines, newspapers from all around the world) than just about anyone I ever met.

If it's travel, I have traveled all over the world (and would travel more if my wife and job permitted it).

Whatever it is that makes you think YOU have the inside story on the U.S.A. that all of "clueless" Americans have missed, you are wrong.

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Originally posted by Andre Lux: Just as you are...

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Ok? Great.

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Even that ludicrous song composed for that old Marvel animated cartoon would be acceptable here...

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Originally posted by Dinko:
North America: Canada, United States, Mexico... and France.
http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/english.html

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Originally posted by Nicolai P. Zwar:
So what does Stu Phillips think? Did somebody call him yet?

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Originally posted by PeterK:
Stu complained over the weekend about there being too many wistitis south of Mexico and couldn't think clearly about anything as a result.

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There be wistitis up north too. But they're for display only. Store manager said "I'm sorry kid, but I can't sell them. It's illegal because they're a protected specie"

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Originally posted by PeterK:
Andre, thanks for telling me what I am supposed to know and think about civilization south of Mexico. I always thought there were some pretty awesome people down that way, including some long-time friends of mine from Brazil! But wait, you tell me what I am supposed to think (as an American): there are nothing but monkeys south of Mexico. Uhhh, ok. You win. Central and South America is full of nothing but monkeys.

Ok? Great.

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Peter, your attempt on jokes need some huge improvement!!

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Originally posted by Lancelot:

[Message edited by Lancelot on 05-24-2002]

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Originally posted by Good King Harry:
The only simplistic beliefs being displayed on this board are those of people who have a built-in, knee-jerk reaction against anything even remotely connected with the United States as country.

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Good Henry, you are indeed a true USA patriot - just like that missiles your army use to throw over "third world monkeys" in the past (now you have even better ones).
Gorgeous Bush must be proud!!