h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so for the past 2 months while i have been on here... i have run into alot of american bashing in threads i was in... and not just necessarily in debate threads...

why... just a few days ago i got it in my journal in a thread i started in the hopes that we could make peace and find some things that are good about americans.... a thread meant to be light and just filled with postings on whats good... this is what i found in one of the postings there:

>> Probably a lot of people get peeved because USA is certainly perceived to be a society which does "conspicuous consumption" big style...."Super Size me"... <<

The point i am making here is that, in this entry and threads on obeisity, it is fascinating that,


my oh my, how gentle you all are with yourselves when its YOU who have the problem.


As much flak as i took about the obeisity and over consumption of americans... i just assumed you guys didnt have that problem.

ha jokes on me i guess.

and dont give me any flak for saying what i just said ...because another gripe you guys have about us americans is we are gutless... i am not afraid to take you all on... i am afraid of hostility and nastiness... i avoid it but somehow it finds me... so this time i am making the first move... aaand dont go saying its just a few on here who do that, bash americans, because, as you have all sat idly by and watched those dogs worry their prey, you have been just as guilty by not doing anything about it.

obesity

Fluffy: We won't give you any flak at all - you are allowed to say all of these things!

allowed? oh. i didnt even consider that.

i was just talking about being given a hard time by the posters on here. And i wasnt addressing italics... no slight intended... i was just addressing my remarks to those who have witnessed or taken part in american bashing in the past.

There's no problem with it though - we allow people to say what they think within reason, as long as it's not against the House Rules. Even if it's italic criticism! Most remarks are made in fun, and if we removed everything we'd have to censor an awful lot of this site!

sure i can see that... but fun at whose expense?

It would be fine if bashing was taking part evenly... (well not fine but you know what i mean) but it's mainly people from the UK bashing other folks, mainly Americans. The BBC is English... but H2G2 was conceived to be a world site and, as you know, i dont see much welcoming for Americans. Which is a shame.

I believe that, more and more, the English are finding themselves in a similar position to what they find Americans in. And i have always maintained here that, if we could just be nice to our fellow earthlings, we might learn a few things that could get us out of our present world problems ...and enable us to get on with the fun stuff!!

If you are referring to the message i recently sent you, the poster in question was off topic in that thread and off color... it was not fun for me. It is fine if she wants to conduct herself that way in threads that are that way... but i have never given any indication that i am into vulgarity... and i set that thread up in my journal to follow a specific topic which was 'what is good about americans' I did not name it or set it up to discuss what is wrong with americans but all three postings had to mention something wrong about Americans. Believe me it has come as quite a shock that no one on here can think of anything nice to say about us.

I think that the powers that be should take a good look at this... because it may make or break this site. And i am very concerned about that because i think it is such a great idea! This is why i keep making new entries to provide things i feel would benefit the site.

I havent written any guide worthy entries yet because... well for two reasons actually... one i am nervous about peer review... i havent had such a great welcome here you know. And two... i havent thought of anything yet that would make a good entry that i know about.

i would just like to add that believe it or not i like most of the people on here. I am just trying to fix this terrible thing that seems to be happening. I keep bouncing back from some snipe and then, when i am in the midst of one of my little things... outa the woodwork comes another sniper and ruins it all for me. Believe me its difficult to stay creative when you never know when the next nasty little thing is going to pop up out of the blue.

sorry and one more thing... i am not addressing this situation so vehemently soley for my own sake. I am also concerned for the other poor suckers who stumble in here not knowing what they are in for if they dont measure up to the English Way of Doing Things.

We don't claim to be representative of any English (or any other) way of doing things. (The BBC is *British*). The site is h2g2 and we're happy to say our Researchers are from all over the place.

The italics try to ensure that debate goes on as freely as possible - unless, of course, it breaks the House Rules. Previous events have proved to us that censorship is not particularly popular on here, and we are not about to start censoring people for their opinions - especially when you are free to state the opposite opinion.

i am talking about ethnic slurs... check it out in wikipedia if youre interested.

and the kinds of opinions i am talking about are the ones that break house rules.

and if your researchers are from all over the place then how come the researchers on line drop to 20 while its sleep time in the UK?

I think you'll find that Peer Review is totally different from the rest of the site. In PR, people genuinely want to help make Entries all that they can be. Certainly though, if someone was the type of person unable to take criticism, I wouldn't advise it. Don't let the yahoos on the threads discourage you from writing Entries. In PR, we judge the writing, *not* the writer.

thanks SWL for the encouragement.

yeah, i took some silly poetry to AWW and really have enjoyed the critiques .