American Sterotypes...

[jathu_v]

Made a video the other day about a hysterical discovery I made on Google.

I myself am not American, and I do NOT want to offend any Americans, but just want to know your thoughts and opinions.

Would you find this rather ironic, considering Google is an American corporation?

And do you think this really how the rest of the world views the United States?

Edited April 19, 2010 by jathu_v

[Bonam]

Made a video the other day about a hysterical discovery I made on Google.

I myself am not American, and I do NOT want to offend any Americans, but just want to know your thoughts and opinions.

Would you find this rather ironic, considering Google is an American corporation?

And do you think this really how the rest of the world views the United States?

Heh, pretty funny.

To reply seriously though... the suggested search options are based on the amount of people that have searched that phrase previously and is not controlled by Google except to filter out explicit and banned terms. As such there is no irony in Google being an American corporation. I would bet a good chunk of those searches are probably done by Americans, and as such are probably more representative of how Americans view themselves (or how subgroups of the American people view other subgroups). Additionally, you will find some of the same terms popping up if you try the same process with other nationalities. Evidently people google these kinds of questions quite a lot.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Bonam

[jathu_v]

Heh, pretty funny.

To reply seriously though... the suggested search options are based on the amount of people that have searched that phrase previously and is not controlled by Google except to filter out explicit and banned terms. As such there is no irony in Google being an American corporation. I would bet a good chunk of those searches are probably done by Americans, and as such are probably more representative of how Americans view themselves (or how subgroups of the American people view other subgroups). Additionally, you will find some of the same terms popping up if you try the same process with other nationalities. Evidently people google these kinds of questions quite a lot.

I always thought Google added the search suggestions themselves, based on what people actually search though, when I tried the same search for other nationalities, I did not get half as many search suggestions as I did for Americans.

[bush_cheney2004]

No, I don't think the irony goes un-noticed, which is one of the reasons Americans don't worry as much about such perceptions compared to Canadians or other nationals. Google, YouTube, Windows/Mac/Unix OS, and even the very Internet Protcol Suite (e.g. TCP/IP) came from America...as did the Jackson 5 and ABC, written by Barry Gordy's Motown team.

What the world does with American pop culture and technology is far more important than what it may say about America.

[Bonam]

I always thought Google added the search suggestions themselves, based on what people actually search though

Yeah that's right. But it's done by an automatic process not by humans. And yes, less matches for other cultures but that's to be expected, since Americans are of course one of the biggest users of the internet and of Google, and you can bet most of those searches are done by Americans more than anyone else.

Also, I laughed at the "America Fuck Yeah" video that your post was in response to ;p

[Guest TrueMetis]

Nice Video. Of course there are people who view America like this and people in America who are like this. Sterotypes are almost always true to a degree.

[August1991]

What the world does with American pop culture and technology is far more important than what it may say about America.

This is a self-promoting thread, typical American trailer-trash pap.

The poster is trying to denigrate America to become famous. The irony!

Irony? It's pathetic that jathu uses an unknown Canadian political forum to publicize her/his name. Then again, maybe jathu is a go-getter, a typical American.

Edited April 19, 2010 by August1991

[waldo]

ultimately underlying javascript processing against stored popular searches/results populates the Google autocomplete (suggestion) dropdown:

example: http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=why%20are%20Americans%20s

results: window.google.ac.h(["why are Americans s",

[["why are americans so stupid","16,500,000 results","0"],

["why are americans so fat","4,240,000 results","1"],

["why are americans so ignorant","1,380,000 results","2"],

["why are americans so religious","25,500,000 results","3"],

["why are americans so dumb","5,780,000 results","4"],

["why are americans so arrogant","3,050,000 results","5"],

["why are americans so obese","1,600,000 results","6"],

["why are americans so lazy","9,130,000 results","7"],

["why are americans so rude","638,000 results","8"],

["why are americans so racist","7,010,000 results","9"]]])

try it... input the actual url and you'll receive the same return (subject to variances over time)... as you can see by the numerical results figures, Google doesn't offer up the dropdown list based strictly upon the numerical results (the number of actual times the search has been attempted (in some indeterminate period)). According to the Google FAQ:

If you're signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, suggestions are drawn from searches you've done, searches done by users all over the world, sites in our search index, and ads in our advertising network. If you're not signed in to your Google Account, no history-based suggestions are displayed.

[waldo]

This is a self-promoting thread, typical American trailer-trash pap.

The poster is trying to denigrate America to become famous. The irony!

Irony? It's pathetic that jathu uses an unknown Canadian political forum to publicize her/his name. Then again, maybe jathu is a go-getter, a typical American.

well... apparently... the numerical results of submitted queries, coupled with Google's own prioritizations, results in the dropdown presentation rankings. Might one suggest that Google is skewing the results for "reasons unknown" and/or the submitted query numerical results... speak for themselves?

[waldo]

equal opportunity...... WTF! For some reason, Google has chosen to rank 3 'negative type' queries, those with lower query result submissions, in the top 5... bastardos! (note: my Google account is not active during the processing)

http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=why%20are%20Canadians%20s

window.google.ac.h(["why are Canadians s",

[["why are canadians so rude","55,600 results","0"],

["why are canadians so stupid","232,000 results","1"],

["why are canadians so nice","647,000 results","2"],

["why are canadians scared of the dark","560,000 results","3"],

["why are canadians so weird","126,000 results","4"],

["why are canadians so hot","840,000 results","5"],

["why are canadians so funny","294,000 results","6"],

["why are canadians so proud of their country","197,000 results","7"],

["why are canadians so friendly","1,820,000 results","8"],

["why are canadians so good at hockey","677,000 results","9"]]])

[jathu_v]

This is a self-promoting thread, typical American trailer-trash pap.

The poster is trying to denigrate America to become famous. The irony!

Irony? It's pathetic that jathu uses an unknown Canadian political forum to publicize her/his name. Then again, maybe jathu is a go-getter, a typical American.

Hey man, I'm a Canadian citizen and I'm not trying to publicize my name, I am just curious to see what other peoples thoughts and opinions. I have nothing against Americans

[Shady]

Hey man, I'm a Canadian citizen and I'm not trying to publicize my name, I am just curious to see what other peoples thoughts and opinions. I have nothing against Americans

Why do you have this thread titled American steroytypes, but not on YouTube or the actual video?

[Shady]

Btw, the video that it was in response to is hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI

[bush_cheney2004]

Btw, the video that it was in response to is hilarious!

Yep! That was a lotta fun...thanks for sharing.

[Guest American Woman]

One comment .....

I find it interesting how so many people are much more eager to believe the negative stereotypes about the U.S. than the positive ones.

[Guest TrueMetis]

One comment .....

I find it interesting how so many people are much more eager to believe the negative stereotypes about the U.S. than the positive ones.

It's probably because they're less known, honestly I'm drawing a blank on positive American stereotypes other than when they have your back they have got you freaking back, you've got nothing to worry about. It's like having the heavy weight champ in you corner, the other people can bring it own.

[Guest American Woman]

It's probably because they're less known...

Which proves my point.

[Bonam]

Positive American stereotypes would probably revolve around independence, innovation, individualism, etc. At least that's what I think of when considering how American culture differs from others, though perhaps this was more true a few generations ago and not as much today.

In any case, most of these are oftentimes cast in a negative rather than a positive light these days anyway so don't help much as positive stereotypes I suppose. I guess being rich is another stereotype of Americans, which can be cast in either a negative or positive light depending on the context (though again, probably most often negative, like all other signs of success).

Edited April 21, 2010 by Bonam

[Shady]

Which proves my point.

You're exactly right. But negative American stereotypes seem to be much more prevalent among left leaning people. It's certainly true in Canada, as well as in Europe. It seems to be the only prejudice that's acceptable within their group anymore. In fact, I wish they'd apply the same standards to Americans that they provide to Muslims.

Also, does anybody else find it more than a little ironic, that the creator of the video misspelled stereotypes in the thread title? I guess it's not just American's that are dumb, eh jathu_v?

[bloodyminded]

You're exactly right. But negative American stereotypes seem to be much more prevalent among left leaning people. It's certainly true in Canada, as well as in Europe. It seems to be the only prejudice that's acceptable within their group anymore. In fact, I wish they'd apply the same standards to Americans that they provide to Muslims.

Also, does anybody else find it more than a little ironic, that the creator of the video misspelled stereotypes in the thread title? I guess it's not just American's that are dumb, eh jathu_v?

I only do this when someone corrects spelling or grammar, while simultaneously making mistakes:

You misspelled "Americans."

[Shady]

I only do this when someone corrects spelling or grammar, while simultaneously making mistakes:

You misspelled "Americans."

Was I the one calling them dumb?

[BubberMiley]

Was I the one calling them dumb?

And since you're Canadian, you were only emphasizing your point that it is not just "American's" who are dumb. I get it.

[bloodyminded]

Was I the one calling them dumb?

??? No. Either was I. (Quite the opposite, in fact.)

I only pointed out that it doesn't look good to correct someone's spelling...in the same post as you make an error in spelling.

[bloodyminded]

And since you're Canadian, you were only emphasizing your point that it is not just "American's" who are dumb. I get it.

I suppose his assertion is accurate by definition.

[Shady]

??? No. Either was I. (Quite the opposite, in fact.)

I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to the original poster, and his/her video.

I only pointed out that it doesn't look good to correct someone's spelling...in the same post as you make an error in spelling.

Yes, but again, I wasn't the one calling a group of people dumb. The original poster was. I simply stated that if you're going to label an entire group dumb, try correctly spelling all of you words during said accusation. Is it that hard for you to understand?