In your dreams. 
Why on earth should Americans care about Victoria Station or the Sydney Opera House? Americans donât feel the need to obsess about other countries. Smacks of a serious inferiority complex, donât you think?
This all sounds like a bunch of 12 year old boys discussing sex during school recess. None of them know anything about the subject other than from a few glimpses from their daddysâ Playboy but theyâre all experts on the subject.
Kumbaya, yaâll! 
And we get itâŚit just amuses us to see yâall get all pissed off and huffy. Put cher little noses up in tha air and sniff like a hog farted in your hatâŚthat jes tickles us plum pink!
Iâve heard that Americans are not capable of detecting the irony of the original post and think this is a serious thread. Is this true ?
Uh guys, if you couldnât tell, my OP was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but if weâre going to get serious here then Iâll give you ânever been to America-iansâ the real deal in black and white. You can gain a comprehensive and deep understanding of America from the one and only:
Hamburglar
Ach, Doctor Evil just has pebble in his boatshoe and wrinkled slacks. Heâll be fine in a little while.
[quote=âurodacusâ]get over your cultural cringe, guys.
it is undeniable that the country that most westerners have most access to culturally and visualy is the United States, because of its dominance of TV and film. ergo, us foreigners CAN have a much deeper understanding of america than most americans will ever have of other countries, without having set foot in the place. i can describe times square or hollywood boulevarde to you pretty faithfully: can you describe londonâs victoria station or tell me what part of sydney the opera house is in?
[/quote]
Ha, you see ⌠itâs not Google earth that terrorists use to attack the US, they just watch a lot of movies ⌠
[quote=âbelgian pieâ][quote=âurodacusâ]get over your cultural cringe, guys.
it is undeniable that the country that most westerners have most access to culturally and visualy is the United States, because of its dominance of TV and film. ergo, us foreigners CAN have a much deeper understanding of america than most americans will ever have of other countries, without having set foot in the place. i can describe times square or hollywood boulevarde to you pretty faithfully: can you describe londonâs victoria station or tell me what part of sydney the opera house is in?
[/quote]
Ha, you see ⌠itâs not Google earth that terrorists use to attack the US, they just watch a lot of movies ⌠[/quote]
Yeah, and ramming planes into the HOLLYWOOD sign would have been far less effective than the twin towers.
Erhu, you are so funny and smart and purdie and sassy!
Which doesnât surprise me at all since most women on American TV are like that.
From watching the TV I understand America to beâŚ
Full of bullies and people who are being cheated by bullies. (Jerry Springer, Oprah etc.)
A place where the police canât help. (The dukes of Hazard)
Loaded with helpful vigilantes. (The A-team, Macgyver, The equalizer.)
Full of caring parents. (Blossom, My two dads, Boy meets world.)
Egad! The Hamburglar is a ginga!
Wow, this explains why Taiwanese people all have such an easy and intuitive grasp on American values, culture and society. I was wondering about that.
I have no idea what other people do or donât get, or what they may be touchy about â so I guess I can only give you my own opinion. I do think I âgetâ your basic point, and I agree with you that American culture, through TV, movies and otherwise, is widely seen by people other countries (more so than the TV or movies of other countries are in the US, without question).
The part where I, respectfully, disagree with your characterization is when you use words like âinvasionâ and âimperialismâ, suggesting that there is an element of coercion involved. I can certainly see why the popularity of American entertainment products might rub people in other countries the wrong way (and I agree with you --and disagree with some others on this thread-- that most Americans know less about other countries than people in those countries know about the US), but the there are no military or political or other nefarious forces responsible for the fact that a large percentage of the films being shown in Shanghai or London are made in the US. The terms âinvasionâ and âimperialismâ obviously have negative connotations, but beyond that they imply that someone is using threats or some other form of coercion to force or otherwise unjustly compel people to choose to see one film at the cinema over others â and that is simply not the case.
You are one of the posters with respect to whom Iâm never quite sure when you are being serious, or a little tongue-in-cheek, or just completely taking the piss, so apologies if I got it wrong this time. But if your quote above was a sincere question then that I think this is a sincere answer: no problem with your point about the dominance of American entertainment products, no problem with the argument that non-Americans probably tend to know more about the US than vice-versa, but a respectful disagreement with the notion that the choice of which DVD to buy that is made by a consumer at a Taipei nightmarket represents any kind of âimperial invasion.â
Cheers,
H
[quote=âDoctor Evilâ]Why on earth should Americans care about Victoria Station or the Sydney Opera House? Americans donât feel the need to obsess about other countries. Smacks of a serious inferiority complex, donât you think?
[/quote]
smacks of complete ignorance and a blinkered mentality to me. and you have just proved the point to us all out here, too. thanks for doing it better than i could.
how on earth can americans entertain the idea that, for example, the world series of baseball is a world series at all? because they donât comprehend that there is a world outside that is any different to theirs. arrogant gnats.
flame me. i have strong opinions, i am not being judgemental!
[quote=âbelgian pieâ]
Ha, you see ⌠itâs not Google earth that terrorists use to attack the US, they just watch a lot of movies ⌠
[/quote]
But in America they blacklist movies that involve ideas ChimpyMcHitlerstein doesnât like. [i]Everyone[/i] knows that.
[quote=âurodacusâ]
how on earth can americans entertain the idea that, for example, the world series of baseball is a world series at all?[/quote]
Why should we care what citizens (or subjects, whatever) from some pissant country think? Baseball. Whatâs the matter? Americans calling it the World Series make your pee-pee shrink up even smaller than it already is? What a sad, empty life you must lead.
Well, since youâre such an expert on all things American, youâve surely heard the old saying about opinions and assholes.
NowâŚdonât you have a kangaroo to molest or something?
Kumbaya, yaâll!
The thing about American TV is that it is made for people who sit around and watch TV. So it is only a representation of what that particular slice of culture wants to see. Not everyone gets off work and goes straight to their television. Also keep in mind that not all shows get shown outside of the US. Just the ones that people outside the US have interest in. Between these two facts alone the âAmerican cultureâ that people see from TV is slanted and biased.
[quote=âHobbesâ]words like âinvasionâ and âimperialismâ, suggesting that there is an element of coercion involved
The terms âinvasionâ and âimperialismâ obviously have negative connotations, but beyond that they imply that someone is using threats or some other form of coercion to force or otherwise unjustly compel people to choose to see one film at the cinema over others â and that is simply not the case. [/quote]
it is not my terminology, i am using it in the same sense that it is commonly used elsewhere by many other interested parties as a descriptor from non-american speaking countries with small TV production houses of their own. generally the antipathy comes from being unable to compete with american sitcoms in terms of purchase cost per episode, and therefore being priced out of their own market by the cheaper offerings from USA. this is a problem when kids and many adults learn a lot of their social background through TV. being given only american stuff to look at leads to a kid from australia becoming interested in baseball, basketball, Halloweeen, Thanksgiving, cheerleading, barbie, etc: the kind of stuff that was not originally part of the australian or NZ or irish or South African society but has forced its way in by stealth, as it were. proactive campaigns to protect the culture of these countries by the creation of local content quotas are immediatley attacked by the US and the WTO as anticompetitive. on that front, yes, it is an invasion. but no, there is probably not a sinister gang of TV execs plotting the âdownfall of the classic stereotypical aussie teenagerâ by âcultural imperialismâ, though that is still the end result.
thanks for the compliment. i am often not sure myself.
Television reflects an artistic representation of life, and not a true picture of life.
Judging anything by what you see on TV is using poor judgement.
respect, courtesy to others, civility, all those supposedly christian values that you like to boast of.
thanks for proving your point once again.
what is kumbaya? isnt it a rallying call for all people of the world to come to God? what sort of a hypocrite are you becoming? step back a little and see how what you are saying will be interpreted by others, please.
personally, i think god is a myth, all of them.
One doesnât need to gain an education about America by going there since in any global fast food chain in any major city, you are bound to hear them from across the room!