dumb Americans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751537#Comment_119751537

Speaking as a native born Irish person, if an American took a walk down Batchelor's Quay or the canals in Dublin, saw the track suits off their tits on heroin and cider and cider at 9AM, and then tried to say that was a fair representation of the average Irish person, well, you'd be more than entitled to find that insulting.

Mister Vain

The film Idiocracy is starting to look more like a documentary.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119750868#Comment_119750868

Yeah, Americans haven't clue, some of them don't know the difference between immigrate and emigrate.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752005#Comment_119752005

TBF, we are not talking about social problems or criminality. The States has that in spades as well.

satguy

The had to stop going to the moon because they ran out of German scientists.

But to be fair, the USA was booming from the 20's to the 70's, but as the influx of white Europeans dried up, so did the boom times..

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752122#Comment_119752122

What are you on about!?

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752005#Comment_119752005

The proportion of morbidly obese Americans to non obese is far greater than the zombie junkies to ordinary decent Irish people

EOQRTL

When you look at the last two presidents they've elected they deserve the dumb remarks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752142#Comment_119752142

Mmm... OK, let's just agree to disagree on that one. Personally I didn't see that myself in the US, I mean yes, you are totally correct that there is an obesity problem, it's just that the idea that some slob walking around a holiday theme park in Florida gives a reflection of say a rural farm worker in Idaho seems a bit odd. You're taking an awfully small slice of the population and using it as some sort of demographic for the entire nation. The country is the same size as Europe after all, so it's like comparing the people in Malta with the Norwegians in the coal mines up in Svalbard.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752213#Comment_119752213

Not some slob, literally thousands,across a handful of theme parks. And as it's a theme park there are people from across the entire country here, every state represented.

Where in the US were you that you didn't see the obesity problem on every street corner?

Starfire20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752122#Comment_119752122

forgetting about the depression?

a lot of the boom the US enjoyed was due to postwar economics. Europe was decimated and the US never had to fight the axis powers on home soil.

they became a manufacturing powerhouse and the reconstruction of Europe was profitable.

The 50s were known as an economic golden age, and was also a time of 90% + tax rates on the wealthy.

Im also ignoring your not so cleverly disguised dog whistle

Still stihl waters 3

Most Americans are witty and intelligent, a different sort of wit but funny nonetheless, they don't get Irish sarcasm so we think they're a bit dumb but most yanks I know are well informed and articulate if a little dull when compared to dealing with Irish people

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752258#Comment_119752258

Honestly though, do you think that's a fair picture of 350 million people? I mean they've also won more Olympic medals that any other country, wouldn't that be an equally fair (or actually unfair!) comparison?

Also I didn't say that there wasn't an obesity problem, I only got the impression from your post that you might think it's a far far bigger percentage of the population there than is the case.

Anyway, that's drifting way too far from the OP's opening post and the point raised by the thread - the totally false perception of Americans being a bit stupid as opposed to fat.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752182#Comment_119752182

It's not like there was a wide array of options

Most Americans I've met have been a decent sort and quite open to learning about things they don't know about

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119752327#Comment_119752327

Honestly, I do. And I'm basing it on what I witness around me. I don't see Michael Phelps, Simon Biles or any olympians (maybe there are 1 or 2) walking around, but I'm literally surrounded by obese and morbidly obese everywhere I turn. The amount of obese people moving around on mobility scooters is nothing short of disgraceful. They seem to be beyond the point of no return.

And it's not just in Florida, I've witnesses it in California, New York, Chicago and Missouri so it seems fairly ingrained across the country.

It's not overly surprising though when you see the soda fountains (free refills) in every food establishment, the size of food portions, the muck that passes for food here, the distance between venues that discourages walking, and more.

Anyway, off topic as you say.

Brid Hegarty

@Royale with Cheese It's the way they talk, some of them at least anyway, with that inflection at the end of every sentence. 

Remember Sarah Sidle from CSI?!

Count Dracula

I met a fair few when I was there. I don't really like the place if I am honest. There is a remarkable amount of white trash living on the margins who have a weird existence.

They all look like they are porn stars. Even the ones with weight problems.

In saying all that they have some very smart and intriguing citizens, they will survive.

They have executed over 370 people since 2010 alone. An average of 31 people a year. This statistic gets more sinister when you realise that only 11 states actually ever complete a death sentence. They are phucking psychos.

Any of their population, dumb or not, can buy a firearm and use it to defend themselves, it is terrifying.

BaywatchHQ

Intelligence is mostly a genetic trait so it doesn't matter how many universities are in a country. If someone has unfortunate genes they aren't going to attend those top universities.

Americans are just like any other country in terms of intelligence but maybe their extroverted personalities make them seem unintelligent.

For Forks Sake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIpKfw17-yY

..

tonycascarino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751448#Comment_119751448

How many Irish people can do that? Very few I would say.

There is no point in Irish people giving out about ''dumb'' Americans when we have our fair share of native Irish dumbos here.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766113#Comment_119766113

We all share about 99.9% of the same DNA. Intelligence can also be influenced strongly by environmental factors. The old "nature versus nurture" discussion.

The population of America is mostly descended from very recent arrivals, not the people who were there for thousands of years. So their genes should not have deviated too far from their relations in Ireland or wherever.

Tony EH

America is a nation of over 330,000,000 people. There's bound to be an element of thickos among that number. But Americans, in general, aren't stupid as it were. They're just quite juvenile in many respects, due to a rather dumbed down view of things that's fed to them, and they can be very easily led into binary positions. Look at their political landscape and you can see this in effect to a rather frightening degree.

Over the years I've met a great deal of people from the US, both inside and outside of it and the vast majority have been of an average intelligence, neither Mensa candidates or dribbling morons. Just ordinary folk, like the vast majority of people elsewhere. I'd also add that one needs to be careful of what the deem to be "America", because New York ain't Arizona and Seattle ain't Texas. In other words, America and Americans are very different depending on where you go and whom you're speaking to.

I will say though, that of the Americans that I've met, a lot of them tend to quickly form an opinion on nearly everything even if they know bugger all about the subject under discussion and, furthermore, they can be quite loud about it too. I believe that's because they are encouraged to speak their mind from a young age. Unfortunately this can lead to misstatements and whatnot giving the impression of being a bit on the dumb side.

gameoverdude

Why the ridicule. I'm too lazy and old to have a six pack. Be happy in your own skin.

slither12

One thing I've noticed about Americans is that there's an element of fake positivity in social interactions. I think the Irish and British are polite as well but wouldn't hesitate to be 'straight up' with you regarding what they think about someone/something.

y0ssar1an22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmI6YpGew1w&t=297s&ab_channel=DannyOz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_pw8duzGUg&ab_channel=AdamJohnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJlY9C7YWzI&ab_channel=MartinSimmons

ss

snowstorm445

Some of it is just the voice and the pitch. We tend to forget that Americans naturally talk LOUDER than we do, for whatever reason. Perhaps it's more of a reflection on us being quieter people (along with a lot of Northern Europeans) but their regular volume is just a lot higher than ours. And a lot slower, especially than your average Irish conversation.

But there are other factors too. I've noticed that a lot of Americans, especially online, come across as incredibly navel-gazing and introspective. They implicitly treat America as the default country. References to the rest of the world often include very vague generalised labels (e.g. "in Europe they do this..."). A lot of them will specifically remind you that they are American when in foreign company (i.e. "as an American" vs just "as a foreigner"), as if it adds weight or importance to whatever opinion they make.

There's also the simple fact that America is unlike every other western country in that it is a cultural hegemon. We import American culture and are expected to know a lot about them. Same goes for the vast majority of Europe, the Commonwealth etc. But it doesn't apply in reverse. Americans rarely receive foreign cultural inputs to the same extent as we do, and so can grow up in absolute ignorance of the rest of the world in a way that would be impossible/unacceptable for us. It's an imbalanced cultural dynamic.

Rothko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119767010#Comment_119767010

I don't believe that at all

I wouldn't consider myself dumb nor the brightest American.But living here over 20 yrs I've noticed your not much better in the grand scheme of life.And even here you have adopted our lingo and even cultures such as dreamcatchers in your holy shops.So if we are so dumb why does most of film,music,and cultures are copied by countries who have never had that experience?

kirk.

I was at university there for a year and work for another year

A lot of them eat a lot of processed food and believe a lot of garbage

There was really smart people there though I met