Wifeswap: Unbearable British snob can't stand Midwestern hick chick

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FunkyMunkey said:
They are proud of what their country stands for.

"1. Feeling pleasurable satisfaction over an act, possession, quality, or relationship by which one measures one's stature or self-worth."

I have NO idea who the hell gave you guys such a butchered and seemingly almost mistranslated definition of "proud".
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When you have something to really be proud of, you'll understand that it is more than just semantic word play.

Gotta go folks. As a proud "person genetically predisposed to tooth decay", I have a dentist appointment.
 
I was wondering when this story would hit GAF.

Here's a bit from the local SF Chronicle article last Weds:

A longtime family friend of the Fowlers, who attended the family's TV viewing party Jan. 30, said Fowler had prepared friends for his appearance by telling them that he'd hammed it up for the cameras and followed the producer's directions to be confrontational.

The friend, who asked that his name be withheld to avoid being caught "in the target zone" that Fowler now finds himself, said the viewing party was awkward at times, marked by silences, but ultimately friends were supportive.

"He was definitely playing a character," the friend said. "He just carried a bad choice too far."
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KRS7 said:
I think being proud of your country is like being proud of your grandparents and their accomplishments. You don't choose your parents or grandparents, nor do you usually have much to do with their accomplishments, but can't you still be proud of them? Or is pride only reserved for your own accomplishment. Maybe this is just an argument on semantics.
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Luckily for us, a bunch of smart, old men have already argued about this when defining it.

Arguing with the dictionary is a different game now.

Grug said:
When you have something to really be proud of, you'll understand that it is more than just semantic word play.
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And as soon you either glance in the dictionary, or converse with a normal person in your life, you will too.

Good luck at the dentist. I'm proud of you for going!

I will agree that pride can be destructive, though.
 
SINCE THE SUBJECT OF THIS THREAD HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED


I'll say that I find having pride in countries is a limiting thought. Countries themselves are a anti-progressive idea. At this point, with such global communication and ability to interact, I think we should be moving towards a universal identity separated by individuals, rather than a country and racial identity united by groupthink.

So, its not just that where I'm born is a random occurrence, but that I more relate to identity through my personal self than my circumstantial self, and the only group I would voluntarily align myself with is humanity. Countries are just something that change over time. They rise and fall. Far too temporal a thing to be worried about when we will have to eventually align as one planetary identity to continue on.
 
To your country you exist as a number. They cash the money you give them and spend it on things that maintain the status quo.

Feel proud of your country if you like, but it doesn't mean anything.
 
Grug said:
This is about MISPLACED pride. People cracked the shits when that woman had the audacity to suggest that she wasn't proud of being American on the mere fact that she was born here.
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The "hick" husband said, "I get the feeling you're not a proud American" or something to that effect. The woman then immediately assumed he meant "I get the feeling that you're not proud to have been born here." How do we know her interpretation was correct? She could have misunderstood the guy, so why are we limited to only discussing her own stupid interpretation?

The phrase doesn't HAVE to mean "proud to be born here," so we're perfectly within reason to discuss the more acceptable meaning of the phrase "proud American."
 
What an arrogant, elitist, condescending prick. It's ironic that his wife is so proud of her hippie "faith-healing" techniques and that he doesn't bat an eye. And it's fairly obvious that the show picked two stereotypical extremes- the far right and the far left- and stuck them together for comedy. Screw the producers too.

And for all of you people saying it's impossible to be proud of your country, I hope you aren't proud of your kids either. You know, considering they have a mind of their own and it really isn't your choice what they do. Or proud of your friends, or neighbors, or anybody else that isn't you for that matter.
 
That's some fuckin' deep shit there, etiolate! ;)

I agree but also disagree. True, we are all human beings. But I don't know if the eventual aligning as "one planetary identity" to continue on will happen, at least during our short lives.

I do, as I said, take some pride in the fact that I'm from a westernized country... not, say, North Korea. But all of the "proud to be an American" crap makes me lulz.
 
mre said:
All right. Thanks for clearing that up. Good to know there's nothing to like about this country thanks to Bush's fuckery.
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I never said that.

Of course there are things to like about this country, and benefits to living here. But the US is also responsible for more current suffering and death than any other nation on the planet. I understand completely how lucky I am to have water, food, clothing, shelter, electricity, and the right to call Bush a fucker even when he was in office. But the wars, the secret prisons, the torture...anyone who can read about that shit and still think "I'm so proud of my country" and not "let's focus on stopping this now, and worry about pride later" is not someone I can have much respect for.
 
chaostrophy said:
I never said that.

Of course there are things to like about this country, and benefits to living here. But the US is also responsible for more current suffering and death than any other nation on the planet.
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WHAT?

Should I take some acid and watch a brain washing film such as zeitgeist so we'll be on the same level?
 
This thread is like the shitstorm Crytek 2 engine vs. Killzone 2 engine in the Gaming section. Patriotism CAN be limiting, but it can also bring out the good in people. See also: religion.
 
FunkyMunkey said:
Grug and Fortified actually made me laugh out loud hard reading this thread.

Hard to imagine people like you guys really exist. What tangled and lonely lives you must live.

And apparently you cant be proud of America unless you vote right?

Can I be proud of my grandma when, through her shaky hands, paints a picture? Yes. Did I paint it? Did I help her? Did I grab her arm and draw it for her? No. But I still am proud.

Being proud doesn't mean you have to have any direct influence. God damn.

proud (proud)
adj. proud·er, proud·est
1. Feeling pleasurable satisfaction over an act, possession, quality, or relationship by which one measures one's stature or self-worth

Now swallow.
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You measure your self-worth and stature by your grandmas ability to paint?
 
pakkit said:
This thread is like the shitstorm Crytek 2 engine vs. Killzone 2 engine in the Gaming section. Patriotism CAN be limiting, but it can also bring out the good in people. See also: religion.
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Oh no, you said the secret word. You know GAF only deals in absolutes.
 
Dr.Guru of Peru said:
You measure your self-worth and stature by your grandmas ability to paint?
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No, through relation and the fact that it would be hard as hell for me to paint, if I was in her shoes.

I'm also proud my father is a teacher. But wait! He was a teacher before I was born. Darn :/.
 
chaostrophy said:
I never said that.

Of course there are things to like about this country, and benefits to living here. But the US is also responsible for more current suffering and death than any other nation on the planet. I understand completely how lucky I am to have water, food, clothing, shelter, electricity, and the right to call Bush a fucker even when he was in office. But the wars, the secret prisons, the torture...anyone who can read about that shit and still think "I'm so proud of my country" and not "let's focus on stopping this now, and worry about pride later" is not someone I can have much respect for.
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I don't see having pride in your country and recognizing that it has flaws and shortcomings that must be fixed as two incompatible positions. Anyone who fails to see their nation's shortcomings is not being honest in their assessment of their nation.

I do not agree with the bolded, but that is an entirely other topic.
 
FunkyMunkey said:
No, through relation and the fact that it would be hard as hell for me to paint, if I was in her shoes.

I'm also proud my father is a teacher. But wait! He was a teacher before I was born. Darn :/.
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That really doesn't make any sense, but whatever. Personally, I think overly proud people are annoying. Thats probably why they put something about it in the bible.
 
Dr.Guru of Peru said:
Personally, I think overly pride people are annoying. Thats probably why they put something about it in the bible.
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I agree completely and I think it's a huge issue tugging society downward.
 
I'm usually not a violent person, but that British guy needs his nose broken.

I agree with a lot of his philosophies, like being a "citizen of the world" rather than of a country, but the way he conducts himself otherwise is unbearable.
 
Grug said:
This is about MISPLACED pride. People cracked the shits when that woman had the audacity to suggest that she wasn't proud of being American on the mere fact that she was born here.
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I want to know how she feels about being proud of being a contributing American. (It's easy to make fun of her career(s) since for the most part they are luxury professions but conceptually they're all designed to make people better and get them on the right track. Since presumably most of the people she assists are Americans, she's a contributing member to America's success.)

edit: I only watched the condensed clips. If this is actually covered in the ep then apologies on my part.
 
mre said:
I don't see having pride in your country and recognizing that it has flaws and shortcomings that must be fixed as two incompatible positions. Anyone who fails to see their nation's shortcomings is not being honest in their assessment of their nation.
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Agreed on both points. Whether you are proud of your country or not is a value judgment that takes the good and the bad into account. And to me, the current bad is really, really bad. Murderous and sadistic. Seriously- not using those terms to be dramatic or to try to change your mind, just saying how I see it. While the good seems mostly inherited by the America of my lifetime rather than earned (the genius of the Constitution, the courage of early 20th century labor organizers, the geography that kept the US relatively unscathed by WWI and WWII, etc.).
 
chaostrophy said:
I never said that.

Of course there are things to like about this country, and benefits to living here. But the US is also responsible for more current suffering and death than any other nation on the planet. I understand completely how lucky I am to have water, food, clothing, shelter, electricity, and the right to call Bush a fucker even when he was in office. But the wars, the secret prisons, the torture...anyone who can read about that shit and still think "I'm so proud of my country" and not "let's focus on stopping this now, and worry about pride later" is not someone I can have much respect for.
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The anarchy and chaos in Africa. The insanity right now in North Korea. Either you are ignoring 3/4ths of the globe or you have no idea what you are talking about.

Also folks don't believe the "Hamming it up" crap. I've been to San Fran and Berkely many times. This is how a lot of people there act. That stereotype is much closer to reality than others
 
Wow, what a douche. It's not so much his views I take issue with, it's his insistence on judging other people for their life choices.

And I'll say the same thing about his lack of pride in America as I do for all the foreigners coming into Australia and complaining that they'd rather be back in Lebanon/China/Greece/UK or where ever they're from: nobody asked you to come here. Go back to your own fucking country if you don't like it, because we sure as hell ain't going to change ours to suit you.
 
WOW!!! I so wanted to beat the shit out of that guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words cant express....


and lol at his wife at the end, she was totally facepalming!!!
 
erm im not sure what the rules on this are... but i was wondering if anyone knew of a torrent for this particular episode? im living in sweden and there is NO way on earth this show will ever make it over here...and certainly not in any form i could purchase.
 
ScientificNinja said:
And I'll say the same thing about his lack of pride in America
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How exactly can you take 'pride' in an artificial division of man-made boundaries? I can respect notions of liberty and freedom but this is hardly a nation specific concept. The truth is that 'nations', 'boundaries', and artificial lines to separate people are bullshit; they're an archaic notion left over from a time in which they were necessitated by language and cultural barriers. This is increasingly no longer the case in the modern era. We are all citizens of the world and eventually all nations will be united in a globally unified political and economic structure to represent that fact.
 
xabre said:
This is increasingly no longer the case in the modern era. We are all citizens of the world and eventually all nations will be united in a globally unified political and economic structure to represent that fact.
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I see no reason to take pride in some artificial concept of planetary boundaries. I'm a citizen of the multiverse.
 
Thanks for that - It was a hoot.

It's fairly obvious he's playing up to the camera. I was under the impression this show was as real life as The Hills/Laguna Beach - am I now to believe that it's 100% real life?
 
While it was very sad and alarming to watch the elitist asshole go off, its equally alarming at how stupid the elitist's wife was when asked about the American thing. Its so amazingly clear that this dude's a fucking control freak, and even the lady can't think for herself, let alone have her own (strong) opinions. It was like she was backpedaling based on the dude's programming on what it means to be American.

But seriously though, I have to admit that I used to be like that guy, too, but I've learned since, and know better. Completely condescending with every utterance of a word, elitist, and ultimately, a total douchebag who isn't in touch with sensitivity and human needs.

Not surprised the wife called him out on her blog.
 
Oh God :lol

You can't write that shit. I am proud of my fellow countryman, that was amazing.

But yeah, it was all edited to make it look a lot worse, especially the kids responses. These shows never show things how they really are.
 
RedShift said:
Oh God :lol

You can't write that shit. I am proud of my fellow countryman, that was amazing.

But yeah, it was all edited to make it look a lot worse, especially the kids responses. These shows never show things how they really are.
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it cant get much worse that constantly berating a lady by calling her fat and stupid on national television.
 
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