Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

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Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by JzN » Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:53 pm

In the Meet&Greet, i think Fluffy mentioned to make a topic to entertain questions and common misconceptions about Austrlaia.

It is well known that the US has sterotyped Australia with Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin, the Croc hunter. We are not all rednecks with that heavy aussie accent. You really only find those people in central Australia, a minorty.

We do host an abundance of poisonous and venomous flora and fauna (animals, insects, plants, sea life). You rarely ever come into contact with such things in the city and if you do, they will be more scared of you than you of them (save for plants). Nearly all our spiders are venomous but you rarely find them in the cities.
In Victoria we have redback spiders http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider and you see them from time to time. The misconception here that although highly venomous, they won't kill you, just give you a nasty ass sting that feels like your skin if on fire. I've been bit before and got a rash from it when i was younger but it wasn't lethal (or maybe that's the way Aussies are built, hard!)

There are no koalas, dingos, crocs or emus running on the streets unless you are in the outback (far country side) although there are some places like wild life parks which house wild kangaroos, you will never encounter these in the cities. You will however see lots of jellyfish in the northern parts of Australia.

Our flies are massive though. The blow flies are dirty and loud as fk! Luckily you only encounter these in the less built areas and no they are not poisonous. However, they do lay maggots in food, so be sure to cover your food up.

Fosters Beer is our international Beer but it's actually not popular in Australia. Each state has their own variant and for Victoria, we have the famous Victoria Bitter (famous for its bitterness) and Carlton Draught. A common trait with Australian beers is that they are generally all heavy and full flavoured beers. As opposed to Corona, heiniken and Budweiser, they will tase like water compared to Aussie Beers.

We do have an aussie accent but not as exaggerated as Steve Irwin or the Dundee. I can understand how that it is unique, the same as if someone were speaking American english, you'd pick it up straight away. In saying that, i did find people staring at me when in asia and speaking with an aussie accent and even the . The slanty eye guy speaking the white man language!

Australia always hears about people in the US suing each other for the most minor things. Mcdonalds coffee too hot, slipped in the mall, copyright infrigment this and that (this might be a global thing though). The Australian culture towards such petty things is we tell you to "harden the fuck up!" or "comically tell you to "walk it off"

ie.
John: Gets punched in the face and gets angry.
Peter: "walk if off"

John: John: Girlfriends dumps hims
Peter: walk it off"

John: House explodes
Peter: Walk it off mate"


John: *breaks his leg and begins to cry*
Peter: You crying? Harden the fuck up!

*Hotwater spills on Johns hand and is suffering 3rd degree burns*
John: ahh it burns!
Peters: You pussy, Harden the Fuck up!

John: Gets shot in the face
Peter: you playing dead? Harden the fuck up!

No, seriously, this is how we joke around!

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Ho » Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:06 am

I've known a couple Aussies and have friends that have visited, so I've already had most of these stereotypes dispelled already. Also, I try not to assume too much about a culture until I experience it for myself or at least carefully consider the source when someone tells me something. I certainly didn't expect Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin to be representative of your entire culture any more than you should consider Michael Jackson or Tom Cruise to be representative of ours.

The one revelation you have given me, however, is about this tough attitude. I've not heard anything to the contrary, but it wasn't something that I had thought of or been mentioned to me in relation to Australian culture.

Personally, I think all the petty, frivolous lawsuits here are ridiculous, too. Although I'm guess that in both of our cases, they are overly hyped up by the media and not as prevalent as they may seem. I mean, in a population of > 300,000,000, you're going to have a few people doing weird or dumb stuff. We all know the media likes to focus on them and not the "normal" people. Certainly, most people I know think those lawsuits are ridiculous, too.
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Fluffyumpkins » Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:12 am

Questions:

1. Have you ever been to the USandA? If so, where?

2. Can I buy your coveted beer outside of Australia?

3. ¿ʎuunɟ ǝq oʇ sıɥʇ op ǝןdoǝd uǝɥʍ pǝssıd ʇǝb noʎ op

4. How much would a modest 2,000 square foot home cost in the suburbs? I don't know how else to measure a house's size.

5. I've read that, much like the USandA, Australia has a lot of fat people. What are your thoughts on the general health and wellness in your country?

6. Would you consider yourself a patriot? On a scale of 1-10, where would you rank yourself in love for your country? 1 would be looking for any excuse to leave, 10 would be flying a flag outside of your home and singing the national anthem every morning, and 5 would be the cutoff for generally liking vs generally disliking. For what it's worth, I'd probably be a 5 because I like USandA but I can't stand the average American citizen.

7. Just for context, how old are you and what do you do for a living? You don't have to answer if that's too personal.

8. What is your favorite arcade? Is it this one?
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/arcad ... ionid=1699

Comments:

We almost never tell each other to bootstrap up, and we rarely take responsibility for our actions. If life isn't fair, you're just a Facebook post away from all the consolation and deflection you could ever want. If I told someone to walk it off or harden up, I'd be labeled an asshole.

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Ho » Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:29 am

Fluffyumpkins wrote:We almost never tell each other to bootstrap up, and we rarely take responsibility for our actions. If life isn't fair, you're just a Facebook post away from all the consolation and deflection you could ever want. If I told someone to walk it off or harden up, I'd be labeled an asshole.
I usually internalize my desire to tell people to "grow the fuck up" for this very reason. In general, I think an alarming number of Americans are "big babbys."
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Riot » Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:58 am

I love how everyone says babby now without a second thought.
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Merk » Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:50 am

I wasn't going to say anything but Brian's post did make me crack a smile with the use of the word "babby"
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Pokebis » Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:11 pm

I never really held these social stereotypes about Aussies, perhaps because I know a good number from my internet adventures, but one thing that you haven't mentioned is Australia's relationship with censorship.
Video games in particular. Didn't Saints Row 4 get banned or something because the ratings board refused to rate it? I've heard of similar things happening in Australia before which results in a lot of censored video games and that's no good. Especially when I hear that your prices are much higher per game too. Is that true? I've heard when God of War 3 came out it was the equivalent of $113 USD or so new. That's a bit more than we pay.
We have a lot of people screaming for censorship of the most benign thing in the US, but our government (well, most of it I think) and ratings board has fortunately not taken any action because the people complaining rarely have any grounds with our Freedom of Speeches and such. I just think it would be horrible if our government also held this whipped mindset when it comes to media and it sounds like it's sort of like that in Australia. Like I believe that hardass social life might not be translating into your higher-up's mindset?

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by JzN » Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:09 am

1. Have you ever been to the USandA? If so, where?
No but I am planning to ocme in the near future. Propbably NY and all the touristy things that come along with it. I doubt I’d be visiting Indiana but if I do, then I’ll be sure to holla!

2. Can I buy your coveted beer outside of Australia?
The local variants are specific to each region and to my knowledge, are not available internationally. However, there are probably specialty/craft stores that could be importing it. This would obviously be on a case by case basis.

3. ¿ʎuunɟ ǝq oʇ sıɥʇ op ǝןdoǝd uǝɥʍ pǝssıd ʇǝb noʎ op
No, I can read this fine. sudTeIs sOhw tAht aS lnOg aS tHe fRsiT aNd lSat ltErtS aRe tErHe, yUor mNid fLLis iN tHe bAnLks!

4. How much would a modest 2,000 square foot home cost in the suburbs? I don't know how else to measure a house's size.
2000sqF = 185.81m2 (metric). Buying a property is generally around 360m2, where the House is around 185.81m2.
$100,000 to build a new house and including the land would be on average total of $360,000 - $400,000 in the run of the mill area, standard 3 bedroom house.

5. I've read that, much like the USandA, Australia has a lot of fat people. What are your thoughts on the general health and wellness in your country?
We are catching up to the US in terms of fat people, per capita (not ratio). There are plenty of government initiatives in place, specifically in schools which promote healthy life styles and mandatory sports. Currently there is a boom in health foods and products, so we are aware that obesity is on the rise. We would probably never be as large as the US, from what I can see, our large meals are actually your small meals, but people here do become very lazy as you can’t really walk anywhere, everyone relies on cars.

6. Would you consider yourself a patriot? On a scale of 1-10, where would you rank yourself in love for your country? 1 would be looking for any excuse to leave, 10 would be flying a flag outside of your home and singing the national anthem every morning, and 5 would be the cutoff for generally liking vs generally disliking. For what it's worth, I'd probably be a 5 because I like USandA but I can't stand the average American citizen.
8, I love this country for its freedom and good quality of life. There are obviously some drawbacks, where we are very behind in technology; slow infrastructure, relative expensive cost of living (sort of) and small businesses find it hard to boom. There is however a bit of racism for being apparently a multicultural nation. Each Nationality has had their time with racism and funnily enough, they pass the racism onto the next batch of immigrants. Racism in Australia looks sort of like this, where the former nationality becomes accepted and the latter becomes subject to racism.
1950 – 1970 – Italian and Greeks
1970 – 1990 – Chinese
1990 – 2000 – Vietnamese
2000 – 2010 – Indians
2010 – Current – Suadnese and Africans
Circle of life…

7. Just for context, how old are you and what do you do for a living? You don't have to answer if that's too personal.
24, I studied engineering and switched to law. I currently work for the Government (prosecutions) as a law clerk and aspire to become a lawyer. On the poorer side of the middle class family.

8. What is your favourite arcade? Is it this one?
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/arcad ... ionid=1699

I cannot believe you found that. It is mainly a Chinese demography there and yes I do go here. I can only name 4 arcades that I know of and they are quickly and surely dying.

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by JzN » Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:21 am

is Australia's relationship with censorship.
Oh BABY, earlier this year or late last, the goverment just passed that Australia can now have R 18+ games!!!!

Winner!

I have to say, we have heavy censorship rules but in the end we still receive the same products and games/movies as others. There is only a small minority who kick up a fuss but for the majoirty there is no problem.

Prices are another problem, i agree, for some reason everything is higher taxed or priced in Australia than most. Games are generally $100 each where as in asia and us, it seems like they are only $60. Same goes for technology. Even apple products who claim to set an international set price, is higher in Australia. I think this may be due to Australia being a minor contributor to sales (as a whole) compared to the rest of the world.

Most complanies, like microsoft, apple have offshore support centres and rarely ever have HQs built here.

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by JzN » Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:02 am

Does every american own a gun?

I know better but there is a sterotype about americans that they think they are the superior nation of the world. I do agree, that the US position of the world is high and has done great things in terms of protection of other nations. I find though, that you lack the humbleness of a power nation and tend to abuse your power in contraversial things (iraq, WW2, etc).

Would you somewhat agree there is a majority (of Americans) that are ignorant to the outside world?

Also, apparently you've never heard of Red Rooster. It's a takeaway chain here in Australia where they sell Roast chicken. Apparently, there is no such thing as roast chicken, only fried in america.

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by MonMotha » Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:16 am

JzN wrote:Does every american own a gun?
Not even close, but firearm ownership rates in the US are higher than many other countries outside of the middle east and parts of Africa (or of course countries like Switzerland that issue firearms to their population). Handgun ownership (as opposed to "long guns" like rifles or shotguns) is probably more common than almost anywhere else in the world. Gun violence varies quite a bit with where you are and can be anywhere from somewhat extreme (mostly gang/drug related) to relatively unheard of and usually in connection with some other major crime. Violent crime rates seem comparable to many, say, western European countries, though the use of a firearm in said crime is slightly more common. Most of our crime is "non-violent" which is basically a codeword for "drugs are involved".

I'd say maybe 30-40% of the people I know own at least one firearm of some form, but at least half of those are "family heirloom" type things that haven't been fired in decades, and many of the owners don't have any ammunition and wouldn't feel comfortable firing the gun outside of extreme circumstances due to its questionable condition. Most of these are also rifles or shotguns left over from a rural farmhouse and were in many cases used (often a century ago) for hunting or protection from wildlife.

The remainder often own several firearms. Most firearm owners seem pretty responsible: they train regularly and definitely have the "I sure hope I never need to actually use this thing" type mindset. Unfortunately, some of the least responsible are also the most vocal.
JzN wrote: I know better but there is a sterotype about americans that they think they are the superior nation of the world. I do agree, that the US position of the world is high and has done great things in terms of protection of other nations. I find though, that you lack the humbleness of a power nation and tend to abuse your power in contraversial things (iraq, WW2, etc).

Would you somewhat agree there is a majority (of Americans) that are ignorant to the outside world?
Unchecked patriotism is prevalent in some communities. It's promoted somewhat heavily in many public schools. It's far more common in rural areas than cities, and it's also more common among lower income groups than the upper-middle class.

I'm a bit young to have much of an opinion, but most people in the USA seem to agree that most of the USA's actions in WW2 were justified. Some people still discuss the use of nuclear weapons against Japan, and this discussion will probably continue for some time.

A great many people agree that the war(s) in Iraq is/are/was/were a disaster that shouldn't have happened. There were similar reactions to the US's involvement in Vietnam at the time. The US is a large, populous country, and there's a lot of difference in opinion on a lot of these things. The war in Afghanistan is a bit more debated, from what I can see, but I would certainly not say that the population's opinion of it is universally positive.
JzN wrote:Also, apparently you've never heard of Red Rooster. It's a takeaway chain here in Australia where they sell Roast chicken. Apparently, there is no such thing as roast chicken, only fried in america.
I don't think that's true, though "Red Rooster" is certainly at least not around here (it may be an Australian chain).

Many places that sell fried chicken also sell some form of roast or grilled chicken, at least these days. Heck, even the venerable KFC (formerly "Kentucky Fried Chicken") has a grilled option, now, but it's loaded with salt. The closest thing I can think of based on your description that would compare is perhaps Boston Market, which is in something of a decline. There's also something called "Broaster" foods, which is a national brand name but is sold via locally owned shops, but that's fried (some places selling Broaster products do also have a roasted or grilled option).

Oven roasted/rotisserie whole chickens are readily available at basically every supermarket and are actually quite popular for family meals.
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Fluffyumpkins » Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:20 am

Does every american own a gun?
Just yesterday I overheard conversations in the company break room from 3 different people regarding rifles/scopes. Gun ownership may not be ubiquitous, but gun culture is a big thing.
Would you somewhat agree there is a majority (of Americans) that are ignorant to the outside world?
Yes. The average american is ethnocentric. In general, we celebrate being stupid and uninformed. It's better in larger cities, but pretty awful in rural regions. Here's a gross simplification:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _state.svg

The areas in red have a higher concentration of uneducated backwater religious zealots that throw around racial slurs as if it were the 1970s. I'm not going to pretend I'm all that much better, but I have enough perspective to know when I'm acting like a rube. Here's where I grew up:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8065255

"Hurrr them birds is sure making some noise. I cut down my trees cause birds is livin in 'em! I park my car in my lawn cause I ain't queer."
Also, apparently you've never heard of Red Rooster. It's a takeaway chain here in Australia where they sell Roast chicken. Apparently, there is no such thing as roast chicken, only fried in america.
I most commonly see either fried chicken or grilled chicken. You can usually order either at any fast food (takeaway) restaurant. We also love chicken wings. They're a go-to food for big gatherings and sports events. Do they eat a lot of chicken wings in Australia?

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Pokebis » Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:42 pm

Fluffyumpkins wrote: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8065255

"Hurrr them birds is sure making some noise. I cut down my trees cause birds is livin in 'em! I park my car in my lawn cause I ain't queer."
I watched the video and I didn't hear them saying anything like that. They wanted the trees they had on their property to be removed and, frankly, I see nothing wrong with that. If something is disturbing them why are we patronizing them for removing it? They're not removing a forest or a park, just a few trees in the yard that they own. Sure this is pretty dumb as a news story, but this is shit news stations do to make money. I feel more comfortable with shitty, local news stories that don't really mean anything over mass manipulation and provocation of issues. It seems like you're the one projecting and making generalizations about people in this post, not them.
I also don't think you have much grounds discounting an entire political party as "uneducated religious zealots."
I realize America is far from not having these issues, but I don't understand why you're perpetuating stereotypes based on your own, apparently strong, biases.

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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Riot » Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:56 pm

Yeah screw you Fluffyumpkins, you TRAITOR.
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Re: Clearing misconceptions about Australia/America

Post by Fluffyumpkins » Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:18 pm

It's less about wanting to remove trees, and more about the general attitude of the people. There's a sort of redneck parlance that gives it away. I can't really post my experience of having lived in Kentucky, but there's a sort of attitude that bumpkins have that shames things like education, morals, and generally taking care of one's self. And you're right, I am making generalizations. It's a heuristic based on what I've seen/done in my life.

Higher concentration was poor word choice. What I mean is that in a sampling of a random 100 people from the region, they are more likely to be uneducated religious zealots. There are known trends with the conservative party, so for the purposes of this conversation I think the map is a fair simplification.
I don't understand why you're perpetuating stereotypes based on your own, apparently strong, biases.
I don't think these stereotypes are unfairly given. I think we all have a subset of people that'd we would avoid based on location. People avoid neighborhoods, bars, restaurants, sporting events, and concerts because of the kind of people that show up. I'm just expanding that to 60% of the nation's geography. :)

I agree that I do have a strong bias.

Edit: But I'll say a few nice things about America:

1. I like that I can post dumb bullshit without fear of government censorship.
2. I think American microbrew is really good.
3. We have great parks and forests.
4. There is a significant amount of wealth in the country, and I've avoided a lot of problems in life by being around wealth.
5. America has food that I think is pretty good.
6. Land is cheap. Home ownership should be within most people's reach.
7. I actually like our police. They do a good job, and are usually really nice people.
8. People are generally pretty polite and willing to help each other out.
9. Corruption could be much much worse.
10. The metric system is stupid. God measures freedom in feet.

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