Vancouver Riots

[Assaultman67]

Seriously, what is with you europeans and your riots

That just doesn't happen very often in the US ...

Although, this is the first time I've heard about a riot in north america in quite a while ... and over hockey no less

I guess leave it to canadians to get worked up over hockey

[m3nace]

Seriously, what is with you europeans and your riots

We're very passionate about our sports beating each other up thank you .

[johndh]

Seriously, what is with you europeans and your riots

That just doesn't happen very often in the US ...

I can't remember us having a serious one for a while. The last big one I can think of is: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... t_activity

[Renegade_Turner]

Haha, the thing about violence in England among football fans is you'll generally get two teams whose fans absolutely hate the living fuck out of each other. For example, Millwall and West Ham would absolutely hate each other as a rule. In fact, Millwall is a pretty scummy part of London in general. My brother was over there on a training program for AOL and was in a bar. After a while he realised all the Millwall jerseys. He very quickly finished his drink and left.

Anyone who incites or causes violence over sports is already the lowest common denominator...actively fucking up your own city and the cars of people who have nothing to do with you is even more stupid. Fair enough rival supporters kicking the shit out of each other, whatever, leave them tear each other apart. If you want to see how bad it could be, look up a film called Rise Of The Footsoldier. But anyway these guys didn't care who or what they smashed up. I'm perfectly shocked every time I see something like this, and this is the largest scale one I think I've ever seen.

Seriously, what is with you europeans and your riots

Why are Europeans lumped into the same thing? Cultures from Italy and Spain and Portugal and France are about as far away as they possibly could be from Ireland. In fact, Ireland's culture is more similar to America's than those other countries I've named, only with less idiots and guns.

[Count Roland]

well of course Ireland has less idiots, you have a smaller population and probably better t.v.

[Renegade_Turner]

I didn't think I had to specify per percentage population.

[Count Roland]

You didn't I'm just throwing out excuses to try to justify still living in the US.

[m3nace]

It inspires defending your land by whatever means necessary. There's a distinction between violence in defense of something and violence as the unprovoked aggressor.

But I bet youtube doesn't really differ between violence as an act of defending your country and plain violence, while failblog vids are still not violence (although they can be violent).
I'm not out to defend anything here.

[Renegade_Turner]

You seem to be. I'm quite aware of what Youtube is capable of differentiating between. That's not the issue. The issue is how it should be, not how it is. That was the original point. How you missed that, I'm not sure.

[Renegade_Turner]

Here now, piss off with that, being amused by some guy from a riot getting hit in the balls is NOT on par with fucking up other people's property and in fact other people themselves for the sake of a hockey match. So yeah, that's bullshit.

[Assaultman67]

Seriously, what is with you europeans and your riots

Why are Europeans lumped into the same thing? Cultures from Italy and Spain and Portugal and France are about as far away as they possibly could be from Ireland. In fact, Ireland's culture is more similar to America's than those other countries I've named, only with less idiots and guns.

They are lumped together because its much easier to generalize, categorize and simplify ... its human nature. Its much easier to generalize than to make a bunch of exceptions.

Just the same way people generalize that all Americans are gun toting idiots. The majority of the population don't even own guns despite there being a very legitimate reason that the right to bear arms is in the bill of rights and is listed in the second amendment behind freedom of speech.

Then there is quite a large population of gun toting Americans who actually have valid reasons to carry guns. My grandparents for example have a rifle they use to kill coyotes so they don't attack calves.

I know alot of people think that the amendment is outdated and unnecessary because they think that governments can be overthrown using peaceful methods. This could or could not be true, it's entirely dependent upon the level of corruption within the government itself. I highly doubt that the people of Libya would be able to overthrow their government using peaceful methods.

Also, I disagree with the fact that having guns means that there will be violence. In switzerland, there are roughly 47 guns per 100 citizens in every household. Yet, gun related violence is incredibly low.

Haha, I totally have a boner for switzerland ... their political stances and policies are pretty much what america should be.

[Ragdollmaster]

That's so incredibly stupid, Assaultman. America is one country. Europe is dozens. The culture of each country is unique and the continent in general is extremely diverse. I'm European, and so is R_T, but I doubt we have many cultural similarities.

People generalize Americans as being idiots because, statistically, they are. Not everyone is, but if you're talking with someone from America, there's a greater chance of them being stupid than not.

[Assaultman67]

... People generalize Americans as being idiots because, statistically, they are. Not everyone is, but if you're talking with someone from America, there's a greater chance of them being stupid than not.

Ironically you just proved my point. It is human nature to generalize, categorize and simplify. You yourself said that statistically you would be talking to someone stupid than not ... however that means you just lumped some smart people in with stupid people.

Now when you think about that, you might realize that treating the entire population of the US as idiots might be wrong just as i have realized it is wrong to lump european countries together.

It's just human nature ... try not to get offended because I do something everyone does.

also ... *cough* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the ... of_Nations *cough*

I realize that lumping all the nations in Europe was wrong because its actually a mix of cultures and probably a somewhat offensive generalization, sorry about that ... but I still stand by the statement I made earlier that it's human nature to generalize, categorize, and simplify.

Edit: although I really hate to apologize ... i know i would never get an apology from someone without passively coaxing it out of them. (aka reverse psychology ... try to prove me wrong on this statement )

I guess I should have been a bit more clearer and added the phrase "even if it is sometimes wrong"

[Assaultman67]

That's so incredibly stupid, Assaultman. America is one country. Europe is dozens. The culture of each country is unique and the continent in general is extremely diverse.

Oh, there is another generalization ... you just generalized that all countries have the same culture.

cultural borders =/= country borders.

"how incredibly stupid of you"

Edit: Damn, I just categorized cultures ... that's also technically wrong because cultures don't really have borders. Infact I remember a debate about "cultural borders" in my human geography class.

[Renegade_Turner]

Your rambling puzzles me. Are you arguing against me or Ragdollmaster or yourself? It's hard to decipher.

Culture doesn't necessarily stop at a nation's border...for example people from the south-western border of Russia are extremely unlikely to be culturally similar to people from the south-eastern border. However, how a country is run and its various policies and political leanings definitely have a huge impact on their cultures. Furthermore, America is a fairly sheltered society, so I wouldn't be surprised that you could pick two states on opposite sides of America and they'd still be more culturally similar to each other than two countries from Europe such as, say, England and Greece. The fact that you'd even dispute that is slightly alarming.

Also, isn't IQ technically not how knowledgable or intelligent of a person you are, but moreso your mental potential? I'm not an expert on the matter but that's what I gleaned from it, and there seems to be a misconception about what IQ actually means.

Also, Switzerland is right on with a lot of things. This discussion came up pretty recently with a friend, and the exact comparisons you've made between Switzerland and the USA were the ones I made. An interesting point a friend made was how Switzerland has been on so many issues throughout the years, but then how wrong it has been on others. It wasn't until 1971 when women in Switzerland were given equal rights. Places such as the United States, England and Ireland had been done with that a good fifty years beforehand.

People in Switzerland are actually compulsorily trained in weapon regulation, safety and usage, and every household is decreed by law to have a rifle. I think it's something like every five years men are brought to train for a day or something to that effect.