Time for another edition of ASK AN AMERICAN!
Dear American,
Why are you people such bible thumpers? It’s always, ”God bless this and God bless that!” And I can’t believe you morons are so stupid that you question Darwin. Everyone knows that evolution is gospel! Umm, I mean … true. God had his day and that day was a long time ago! Now we have science and science is never wrong. Why don’t you people just get with the program?
Signed, Smug with all the Answers
Dear Smug,
Oh Puh-Leeze! No one knows what the F--- is really going on yet! Science is great but they are always telling us, "Er, guys, remember when we said .. Blah, Blah ... well we screwed up and found out it is really like this .... Blah". Of course the world is not 6,000 years old and the theory of evolution seems to be the best answer to how we evolved but no one really knows how life began in the first place! Those Holy Rollers have as much to say, on that subject at least, as Einstein. You Europeans were so screwed by the Church over so many centuries that of course you can’t stand religion. We did not have that problem. To many Americans God is not a four letter word, and it seems to me that the extent of our knowledge still leaves a little mystery left. So, the next time you are so sure of your beliefs … remember that at one time the scientific consensus was - the world is flat!
Signed, American
Dear American,
Living in Germany - the land of whispers - I have noticed that Americans talk rather loudly e.g. while waiting in the check-out, on the sidewalk and wherever else. Private conversations are held loudly as if nobody understood anyway. Again, this is coming from an observation made in Germany. Why do you talk so loudly as if you were the only one around?
Signed, Up-Tight German Whisperer
Dear Up-Tight,
I’ll tell you why … It’s because most Americans are born in, grow up in, and live in ….. HOUSES! We don’t have to worry about neighbors on top of us, to the side of us, below us, etc. listening in to our conversations about our hemorrhoids through the window of the patio. Our nearest neighbor might be 50 meters away. It is simply a function of environment and adaptation. We have to learn to communicate with other loud Americans downstairs, or way in the front yard, etc. It also might be because we are not worried about the Gestapo or the Stasi overhearing us.
Signed, American
Dear American,
How come in the movies if an American is being mistreated or arrested by a policeman in Europe or something they always say, “You can’t do that to me I’m an American!” What’s up with that? Do you people think you are so much better than anyone else that your precious freedom cannot be messed with?
Signed, Takes it Like a Man When Arrested
Dear Takes it Well,
I have three words for you ….IT’S A JOKE! The director of the movie is obviously making fun of Americans who would say something stupid like,” You can’t do that to me I’m an American ….!” Etc. It is funny (to Europeans) to make fun of Americans who think they are somehow above the law. Obviously we are not – so get a sense of humor and laugh at the stereotype of an arrogant American like you’re supposed to! And stop thinking that movies are real life!
Signed, American
Questions for an American: LaMadridFiles@gmail.com
11 comments:
The silence is deafening. I feel like somebody should have asked me if I am some kind of creationist - I’m not. Maybe this discussion is only taking place in my head….
My commentary on the first letter is that there are many shades to the debate on what role God plays (if any) on the question of how we got here… It is very common for modern people raised on the absolutes of science to feel that one has to be stupid to bring up God on this subject. I don’t think that is necessarily so. There are many questions still to be answered. With all we do know, we really still don’t know Jack Squat about the universe.
I am having a deja vu. I had the same Darwinical conversation 2 weeks ago with a smug American man. I explained to him that evolution was a theory..'the theory of evolution.' He patiently explained to me that gravity was a theory also (what?!)...'there was in fact no proof that gravity existed' WHAT?! Quel jackass. Creation is a marvelous mystery! Maybe Darwin was on to something, maybe not. And yes, Americans speak loudly, so do bloody Spaniards!! I speak english, french and spanish. English a bit forcefully, french quite softly and spanish very deeply. It is the nature of the language. English is a bit hard comme language. Nothing wrong with that. Cheers, enjoy your blog!
Carl,
Maybe you need to put a link from Meneame to stir up the rabble. You're bound to get several comments, some probably not fit for publication.
Bilingual, No I'm happy with low drama ....
I’m afraid that the “smug American” is right. There is no controversy concerning evolution in the scientific community, although fundamentalist Christians and Muslims have a hard time accepting this. I suggest you read Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestor’s Tale, a fascinating backward chronology of evolution on planet earth. Think of this book as a secular version of Genesis. Dawkins’ criticism of religious views on creation is that they don’t do justice to the true beauty of this subject if you look at what science is uncovering every day.
Hi Leftbanker, My point is science revises itself daily with new information. I have no problem with evolution, I believe it of course. But we don't know it all and we don't really know how the pool of muck (life) started - to then be able to evolve. We have theories.
Kurt Vonnegut says it was giant cockroach aliens dumping their trash on Earth. This is what got the "life soup" going.. As good a story as any. But if people want to say God had a hand in it - what's wrong with that?
It’s wrong when people hinder science with their Bronze Age religious myths by desperately trying to shoe-horn their biblical interpretations of creation into American schools. It sets an anti-intellectual atmosphere that goes against what education is trying to establish in our youth: critical thinking skills.
Scientists now have a very good picture of how it all started. I think what terrifies the religious fanatics is that we now see that life be explained in scientific terms, terms which deconstruct the childish religious explanations that have ruled human thought for thousands of years.
If someone wants to say that god had a hand in it, that’s their prerogative. I don’t care if people privately think Elvis made it all happen. However, these folks shouldn’t be allowed to have their beliefs taught in our secular schools masquerading as some pseudo-scientific theory like the laughable intelligent design movement. These ignorant hicks feel that evolution is some wild, unproven theory…it isn’t. Evolution can be observed in as little as two or three generations. It is the cornerstone of modern biology.
P.S. Vonnegut was mocking the biblical creationist myths.
Hi Leftbanker, It just seems to me that people on "both sides" of the issue are strangely threatened by the other camp, i.e., the so-called scientific community and the so-called religious fanatics.
Of course I expect it from the religious side, but why does the "science side" get so pissed off at any mention of God? As you said, we only have a "pretty good idea" of how it all started...
That "Ask an American" letter was not about the school debate. It was simply meant to point out that, in my opinion, people are not automatically stupid if they believe in God. And believing in God doesn't always mean literal interpretations of the Bible. I am not a religious person actually, but I have learned to temper my previous anti-god reactions. I'm trying to see a little bit of their side, but that is another story.
Oh and, Kurt Vonnegut was MOCKING the bible? No kidding! I'm shocked.
Et alors...'ignorant hicks' I love that. I am neither a fundamentalist religious fanatic nor a hick my friend. Correct me if I am wrong but it is referred to as Darwin's "theory" of evolution? THEORY? is that not the word used to refer to it? Smug American referred to it as the LAW of evolution. It is not. I deal with words and their meanings and I loathe the dull cunt who cannot see the difference between the two...
I deal with words and their meanings and I loathe the dull cunt who cannot see the difference between the two...
There is a difference between words and their meanings? I am afraid that you are too clever to be understood. Or are you speaking of “law” and “theory?” I know of no scientists who refer to evolution with a word like "law." As I stated earlier, biological evolution is observable. Biologists consider the existence of biological evolution to be a fact.
The theory involved in evolution is only in the mechanics. Man evolved from a lesser being (fact); the mechanism (theory) for how this happened may be something other than that believed by scientists today. Stephen J. Gould wrote that Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's theory, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. Scientists have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. The difference between science and religion is that science stays afloat by forever changing and accepting new concepts and ideas while religion drowns in dogma and superstition.
En fin, I think we can see that intelligent people can have differing views on the subject.
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