silly things americans believe...

gimmesometruth27

cincybearcat wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

maybe we can add that "a large number of americans view the religion of islam in an unfavorable light"...

on cbs world news tonight they released a poll that said 42% of those surveyed viewed islam in an unfavorable light, 30 something percent had "no opinion" and the small remaining number viewed it in a favorable light. i tried to find a link but i could not find one. either way, if this is a good sample of the population, then it would certainly apply as a "silly thing americans believe"...

What about the large number of people here that view Christianity in a negative light?

what about them? i must be missing something....what is your point?

cajunkiwi

cincybearcat wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

maybe we can add that "a large number of americans view the religion of islam in an unfavorable light"...

on cbs world news tonight they released a poll that said 42% of those surveyed viewed islam in an unfavorable light, 30 something percent had "no opinion" and the small remaining number viewed it in a favorable light. i tried to find a link but i could not find one. either way, if this is a good sample of the population, then it would certainly apply as a "silly thing americans believe"...

What about the large number of people here that view Christianity in a negative light?

I believe those people are a tiny minority when compared to the people who view Islam in an unfavorable light.

Unless of course you believe the drivel coming from that moron Glenn Beck's mouth when he tries to convince you that everyone is after your freedoms and everyone hates you.

(Seriously? A rich white dude is going to reclaim the Civil Rights movement? A black guy is voted president and suddenly rich conservative white guys are running around deciding their rights are being trampled? lol)

gimmesometruth27

cajunkiwi wrote:

I believe those people are a tiny minority when compared to the people who view Islam in an unfavorable light.

Unless of course you believe the drivel coming from that moron Glenn Beck's mouth when he tries to convince you that everyone is after your freedoms and everyone hates you.

(Seriously? A rich white dude is going to reclaim the Civil Rights movement? A black guy is voted president and suddenly rich conservative white guys are running around deciding their rights are being trampled? lol)

yeah, dripping with irony, isn't it?

Jason P

Before anyone gets there pitchforks and torches out, please note that my following opinion is subjective based on my personal experiences . . . and I just made it up on the fly over lunch . . . SO BACK OFF!

I think the statistic of Americans that view Islam in an “unfavorable light” is probably right. The reason a good number of Americans view Islam in an "unfavorable light" has a lot to do with the exposure that most Americans had with Islam prior to and after 9/11. From my own personal experience of growing up in a small town in the Midwest, I really didn't know anything about Muslims or Islam until 9/11. Islam was brought up as much as Hinduism, which was basically never. It was out of sight, and out of mind.

9/11, unfortunately, was the first time most Americans were acquainted with Islam. Even though the hi-jackers were fanatics that don’t fairly represent the religion, the attacks were the first impression and association of Islam for a majority of Americans, myself included.

Luckily, I’m smart enough to educate myself and realize that the terrorists are hard-line fanatics and are not a fair representation of Muslims. But my Catholic grandmother in Wisconsin, who is in her 80's, views Islam very suspiciously. She is not full of hatred . . . more fear and misunderstanding then anything. If I told her I was bringing a Muslim friend over for diner, she wouldn’t say no or be rude. But I’m sure she would be watching them closely and suspiciously. Is there anyway to change her feelings on this? At this point in her life, probably not.

She doesn’t know how the internet works so most of her current exposure to Islam is through the local newspaper or the evening news. And I ask you this: What percentage of stories involving Muslims or Islam is associated with negative events? 80%? 90%? 100%? Why wouldn’t she be suspicious?

I think my grandmother’s outlook is typical to a sizable demographic. The average farmer in a small town is indoctrinated with the same negative new articles. There are not any local Muslims that can offer insight because they don’t exist in a majority of small towns.

The next question is, does “unfavorable light” = “Islamaphobia”. My grandmother looks at hippies in tie-dye shirts the same way she would a Muslim dressed in traditional garments. Maybe they should conduct a poll to see what percentage of Americans view Islam with great contempt. That would be a much better gauge of the American public’s tolerance.

I think the builders of the NY mosque understand this attitude and they had hopes that they could help people understand the positive side of Islam . . . it just back-fired horribly. I think the root causes of the back-fire are rabble-rousing politicians and pundits. If the readers of AMT remember, the mosque issue came up as a topic at least three weeks before it became a media firestorm. It started to pick up some media slowly, but it wasn’t until Obama was dumb enough to comment on the issue that news pundits and politicians jumped at the chance for exposure.

I’m not going to doubt that there are people that suffer “Islamaphobia”. Every society has their fair share of idiots and people filled with hate and anger for no good reason. Unfortunately, those people are always going to exist and the media will be sure to capitalize off their antics.

Anywho, those are my thoughts … for now.

Onward and upward.

AELARA

You're right, but in my opinion 80 year old people are not representative of a whole nation. What matters most, in my view, is what younger people do. They do have the choice to inform themselves but do they?
If yes, like you do then they can be more objective and tolerant of other people's beliefs and ways of life.
If not, they are suspicious of the different, or even worse they hate the "others", the "strangers", you name it. And what is more they believe whatever the media or politicians tell them (for their own reasons). That, in my opinion, is pathetic.

Jason P

AELARA wrote:

You're right, but in my opinion 80 year old people are not representative of a whole nation. What matters most, in my view, is what younger people do. They do have the choice to inform themselves but do they?
If yes, like you do then they can be more objective and tolerant of other people's beliefs and ways of life.
If not, they are suspicious of the different, or even worse they hate the "others", the "strangers", you name it. And what is more they believe whatever the media or politicians tell them (for their own reasons). That, in my opinion, is pathetic.

The demographic I was thinking about is the 55 - 80 range. My parents look at an iPhone as if it was an Ouija board. They can barely surf the internet and trying to teach them how to download information is like a flight tower trying to get a passenger to land a 747 . . . it can be done, just not easily.

Younger people should be better educated but there are quite a few uneducated people in America. Just visit your local Walmart. Think of all your classmates that quit school before graduating. Or check to see how many Nickleback and Hell Yeah albums have been sold. And we are one of the most educated nations! Yikes.

AELARA

The demographic I was thinking about is the 55 - 80 range. My parents look at an iPhone as if it was an Ouija board. They can barely surf the internet and trying to teach them how to download information is like a flight tower trying to get a passenger to land a 747 . . . it can be done, just not easily.

Younger people should be better educated but there are quite a few uneducated people in America. Just visit your local Walmart. Think of all your classmates that quit school before graduating. Or check to see how many Nickleback and Hell Yeah albums have been sold. And we are one of the most educated nations! Yikes.[/quote]

Well, I'm not american but the same thing happens here, more or less. My parents know little about technology and so do most of the people of their age. But technology is something different from information. I mean, it's not just the internet through which you can learn things. How did people get information and knowledge in older times? Through different sources like books, newspapers, magazines etc. Right? However some of us find it too old-fashioned. I believe that's what we (younger people) should do.
Of course uneducated and naive people exist everywhere in the world but being the majority, that is the problem. And I'm afraid that is the case in Greece, at least (I can't talk about the States).

Cosmo

cincybearcat wrote:

What about the large number of people here that view Christianity in a negative light?

...
Maybe... could it be that a large number of Christians compose the large number of Americans that view Islam in a negative light?
I don't know... maybe that is one of the silly things I believe.

OnTheEdge

fife wrote:

I don't have stats for this but one thing i find silly that American believe is that driving around in a great oval is a sport.

Godfather.

that there are flying saucers
Elvis is still alive
Bigfoot is real
yeti is real
there is a monster in my closet
obama knows what he's doing
locness monster is real
pot is harmless
space aliens built the great pyramids
and last but not least....people that work for their wealth should share it with those that
do not want to work and earn their own wealth.



Godfather.

Cosmo

Godfather. wrote:

people that work for their wealth should share it with those that
do not want to work and earn their own wealth.

I guess I must one of those silly Americans that believe Charity is a positive character trait... that the strong should protect the weak.
Silly me.

gimmesometruth27

Godfather. wrote:

that there are flying saucers

space aliens built the great pyramids

i don't know about you, but i think that it is very arrogant to assume that in all of the vastness of space, the millions of stars and the billions of planets in those star systems, that human beings are the only or most intelligent life forms out there. they may not have traveled here, but there is a good possibility that they have. and as far as the pyramids go, do you think that slaves built those by themselves in biblical times when in certain areas of our country we can't even build a house that will stand up in a very minor earthquake?

haffajappa

AELARA wrote:

Many people here consider american people naive.. I have never been to the U.S.A so I can't have my own opinion. But I've found a pic which shows what is the idea americans have for the world. Or at least what other people believe on how americans see the world...

http://www.funnyflash.com/img/funnies/submissions/19/american_view.jpg

OnTheEdge

haffajappa wrote:

AELARA wrote:

Many people here consider american people naive.. I have never been to the U.S.A so I can't have my own opinion. But I've found a pic which shows what is the idea americans have for the world. Or at least what other people believe on how americans see the world...

http://www.funnyflash.com/img/funnies/submissions/19/american_view.jpg

Hey look....the Mouse Head thinks it's funny....

Godfather.

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

that there are flying saucers

space aliens built the great pyramids

i don't know about you, but i think that it is very arrogant to assume that in all of the vastness of space, the millions of stars and the billions of planets in those star systems, that human beings are the only or most intelligent life forms out there. they may not have traveled here, but there is a good possibility that they have. and as far as the pyramids go, do you think that slaves built those by themselves in biblical times when in certain areas of our country we can't even build a house that will stand up in a very minor earthquake?

I am far from arrogant I just think it's funny that some people assume that the people that designed and built the pyramids were less intelligent and could not have done the work to build them them selfs and the flying saucer thing is so sensationalized on the t.v that these people look and sound like kid's waiting for Santa clause it's comical to watch sometimes,man did not survive all these years being stupid and I don't think that brain activity and/or size has increased in man over the last 2000 + years has it ? if Archimedes could invent a mechanical computer of sorts why couldn't man find a way to move,carve and set heavy stones ?

and cosmo you are right I was more making a joke about obamas comment of spreading the wealth and the health care disaster we are going through.

Godfather.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

the same people that view ANY organized religion in a not-so-positive light, not just Christianity. For some reason many Christians take it personally, when it has not as much to do with their religion as it does with all or most religions in general.

And for most of us, it's not Christianity, it's the radical Christians, not the 99% of the good ones, who misinterpret the message and use it for their own purposes (see: GWB).

cincybearcat wrote:

What about the large number of people here that view Christianity in a negative light?

Kel Varnsen

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

as far as the pyramids go, do you think that slaves built those by themselves in biblical times when in certain areas of our country we can't even build a house that will stand up in a very minor earthquake?

Actually the idea that slaves built the pyramids is kind of a myth. I mean think about it, the pharaoh was basically a god walking on earth, do you think his people would want to leave the building of his tomb up to slaves who worshipped a different god to build it, or would they want skilled builders who were actual believers to build it. Getting a chance to contribute to your god's tomb was actually a pretty big deal. Plus if you use non-believer slave labour you get what you pay for, and the tolerances on the pyramids (the fact that the bottom is pretty close to a perfect square) are really quite impressive.

Kel Varnsen

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

I think the whole thing where people believe he is a muslim shows how uninformed people are about other religions.
I mean would a muslim really host a beer sumit?

Godfather.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

as far as the pyramids go, do you think that slaves built those by themselves in biblical times when in certain areas of our country we can't even build a house that will stand up in a very minor earthquake?

Actually the idea that slaves built the pyramids is kind of a myth. I mean think about it, the pharaoh was basically a god walking on earth, do you think his people would want to leave the building of his tomb up to slaves who worshipped a different god to build it, or would they want skilled builders who were actual believers to build it. Getting a chance to contribute to your god's tomb was actually a pretty big deal. Plus if you use non-believer slave labour you get what you pay for, and the tolerances on the pyramids (the fact that the bottom is pretty close to a perfect square) are really quite impressive.

the pyramids were not built by slaves, remains of some of the laborers have been found in the pyramids them selfs in small tumbs with gifts and personal Items that a slave would not own or be given......and non of them had space helmets on. LOL!

Godfather.

arq

The pyramids were built by Michael Jackson and you all know it...