I think people in europe are smarter than they are in america

[backbreaker]

No stats to backup my theory... no figures, nothing even to do with women really.


My fiancee is from right outside london and once a year we go back there for about 2 weeks. While I'm there, I generally watch some TV and the ads are so much better well done then they are here in America.

For instance, there is a car insurance website, that talks about how their prices "bypass the price comparison websites,s o be sure to check us out directly". that's actually brilliant. Because they know good and damn well their prices are higher, but you still go to their website.

They do alot more government related ads over there than here. If obama did as many ads he'd have rush Limbaugh down his throat. They do alot of social working ads, alot of drug prevention ads. Their seat belt buckle ad they do actually made me want to buckle up, they talked about point by point what happens to your body when you don't buckle up and get hit by a car. it's better than saying "buckle up it's the law"


I don't know... i just get the impression that the cliente over there is more informed and more thought provoking then here in America.

 

[synergy1]

American comedy certainly seems dumber than british comedy. Top gear pretty much wins over any american comedy show hands down.

As for being smarter, I doubt that is the case. I think Americans just act dumber than they are; humans around the world are genetically quite similar to one another.

 

[Warrior74]

It's called pandering to the lowest common denominator in order to sell to a larger population. The almighty dollar demands that it is such. Just give the Euro time...it will figure out how to do the same to Europeans. They'll dumb you down so they can sell/control you more.

 

[speakeasy]

Many people tend to think that. Europeans stereotype Americans as gullible and uncouth. There's often a grain of truth to stereotypes. I don't think Americans are dumber IQ-wise, I just think they're more easily misled by corporations, and there's more blind faith in this culture. For example, Europeans have much higher standards on things like pesticides and genetically modified foods. Americans don't seem to care much and will eat whatever is marketed to them. Health care access for all is seen as a given in Europe, but people here still fight about it like we're slipping into communism if we have a public health care option. This is the kind of sh*t that makes Europeans look at us and laugh.

I'm not sure Europeans read anymore news or are any better informed than Americans, maybe they are, I just don't know for sure. I think the difference mainly is that they are more skeptical and cynical.

 

[Forty0ztoFreedom]

I'm from a large European family, born and raised 1st generation in America . . This is a lot of nonsense. But maybe if I went to like the deep South I'd think otherwise.

 

[Evzone]

In before sh1tstorm.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

The UK and the rest of Europe are socialized countries, man. Of course you're going to see government ads everywhere, brainwashing and terrifying the ignorant proletarian masses.

Good thing big brother was there to make it all better!

Americans are only as stupid as europeans if we allow our country to fall into their pit of socialist squalor.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Here in Japan I come across various dudes from English speaking countries. My personal opinion is that people that aren't Americans certainly think they are the sh*t, Brits in particular.

It could be that you're experiencing the "vacation effect." Travel somewhere for only a couple of weeks, and you're not looking through your normal every day frame. Everyday pressure and anxiety is temporarily lifted, and everything is seen through rose colored glasses, so to speak.

One thing that also might be affecting your opinion is the London dialect. In an interesting study, they took people with several different dialects, and had them read the same paragraph. So they had a collection of fifty or so different English dialects reading the exact same paragraph.

Then they had hundreds of people listen to only one, and then guess the person's intelligence, based only the listening.

Hands down, Londoners were thought to be the smartest, while Texans were assumed to be the dumbest. The only thing different was the accent, the text was exactly the same.

 

[Taviii]

And this comes as a surprise to americans? :crackup:

 

[Jitterbug]

America is often stereotyped by outsiders as a nation of 1 million geniuses and 299 million dumbarses.

 

[Luthor Rex]

Here in Japan I come across various dudes from English speaking countries. My personal opinion is that people that aren't Americans certainly think they are the sh*t, Brits in particular.

Are you saying the Americans are the least arrogant? That would certainly go against stereotype.

 

[BigJimbo]

Don't know about the Western (boring) part of Europe, but I do know that the Eastern half (the part with the pretty girls) has no problems with American men.

When in doubt, you know Ukraine will always have its door open for the American male :rock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2e4--yYaeQ
:rock:
Silly, but I post it only because it is true. An American man enters and he has no confidence. Give him a week and he breathes fire. Ask any American man who has been. ANY. The place is the ultimate confidence booster. It is life changing. That unto itself gets it the 5 Star Rating from Big Jimbo!

 

[backbreaker]

Are you saying the Americans are the least arrogant? That would certainly go against stereotype.

no it would not.

people from London think their **** doesn't stink.

anyway it's just my personal opinion that I have formed actually over 3 years, not one visit. I think the overall population is more informed than that in the united states.

 

[Luthor Rex]

I was surprised to find out that places like Western Europe don't have guarantees to freedom of speech or religion like the U.S. does. I was also surprised to find out that a lot (or all) of the Western European nations support churches through taxation. There are also still blasphemy laws on the books. There was an episode of Penn & Teller that showed a woman comedian who got into legal trouble in Italy because she told a joke about the Pope. They came after her with Italy's blasphemy laws.

According to Wikipedia:

The United Kingdom abolished its laws in England and Wales against blasphemy in 2008.

Wow, wtf UK, behind the times a bit there?

In place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult". A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Apparently the rest of Europe thinks the Enlightenment never happened.

When it comes to speech:

French law prohibits public speech or writings that incite to racial or religious hatred, as well as those that deny the Holocaust.

This seems common in Europe. Of course "religious hatred" can be defined to be so vague that I'm surprised Richard Dawkins hasn't been thrown in jail.

Oh and you can go to jail for being a Holocaust denier in a good number of European countries.

I'm really surprised that supposedly "free" nations have such restrictions. It's rather disturbing really.

 

[Inquisitus]

Think of it, the Europeans you meet in the US are the people who are the most curious about stuff and have the resources to travel. The sample of people you'd meet could most likely be smarter than average.

 

[BigJimbo]

I was surprised to find out that places like Western Europe don't have guarantees to freedom of speech or religion like the U.S. does. I was also surprised to find out that a lot (or all) of the Western European nations support churches through taxation. There are also still blasphemy laws on the books. There was an episode of Penn & Teller that showed a woman comedian who got into legal trouble in Italy because she told a joke about the Pope. They came after her with Italy's blasphemy laws.

According to Wikipedia:



Wow, wtf UK, behind the times a bit there?



Apparently the rest of Europe thinks the Enlightenment never happened.

When it comes to speech:



This seems common in Europe. Of course "religious hatred" can be defined to be so vague that I'm surprised Richard Dawkins hasn't been thrown in jail.

Oh and you can go to jail for being a Holocaust denier in a good number of European countries.

I'm really surprised that supposedly "free" nations have such restrictions. It's rather disturbing really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkHw9F6txxI&NR=1
Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, or the Balkans. You see it even at Inter games in Milan and Real Madrid games in Madrid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZpdX_AN5RA&feature=related
More Nazi fans at games. Yes, there are stadiums filled with thousands of pro-Nazi fans on gameday. This does not exist in the UK which is much like America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WWv18BsIiU&feature=related
The famous Paolo Di Canio. Always quick to throw out a special lil' salute your way . He enjoys cult like status among MANY Italians.

Sorry, but you boys need to travel. Few ENFORCED rules at all in Europe. You do what you want. You feel free. America is a place with severe laws. America is strict. It is dull and bland. You boys prove it. Scared and uncertain. America does it to men.

 

[jonwon]

No stats to backup my theory... no figures, nothing even to do with women really.


My fiancee is from right outside london and once a year we go back there for about 2 weeks. While I'm there, I generally watch some TV and the ads are so much better well done then they are here in America.

For instance, there is a car insurance website, that talks about how their prices "bypass the price comparison websites,s o be sure to check us out directly". that's actually brilliant. Because they know good and damn well their prices are higher, but you still go to their website.

They do alot more government related ads over there than here. If obama did as many ads he'd have rush Limbaugh down his throat. They do alot of social working ads, alot of drug prevention ads. Their seat belt buckle ad they do actually made me want to buckle up, they talked about point by point what happens to your body when you don't buckle up and get hit by a car. it's better than saying "buckle up it's the law"


I don't know... i just get the impression that the cliente over there is more informed and more thought provoking then here in America.

We also get alot of brainwashing government spin adverts too;

Co2 adverts telling us to drive 5 miles less

Government advert about teenage abuse - totally orchastrated on male to female violance - i.e a teenage boy abusing his teenage GF

Co2 Adverts designed for kids - about a father reading a nursery book to his young child about how the world is going to die - full of such things like polar bears and other such things falling from the sky

Edit -

Not forgetting the child line adverts, portraying men as the only sex capable of abusing children

Believe me being in the UK can make your blood boil sometimes.

Oh dont forget that if you live in the UK - it's almost impossible to travel more than 2 miles before your filmed on a CCTV camera and the vast majourity of them being owned by the government - Picture walking around your local town center and having about 3-5 camera's on you - That's the UK.

 

[CaptainJ]

I'm British, and I have noticed that British comedy is MUCH funnier than American comedy. In American comedy, it seems like all the comedian has to do is say a sexual innuendo, and the audience will go into hysterics, clapping like stupid children. Is America that sexually repressed that they find sex such a funny topic? The level of sophisicated humour seems to be much lower. Where in Britain, there is an abundance of hilarious comedians.

Now I'm not saying American comedians are bad, on the contrary, I find them fvcking hilarious. It just seems their audience is quite stupid, so they know they can get away without needing to write clever jokes. But then take those same comedians over to Britain and they realise that type of comedy won't fly with us, so they become hilarious, revealing their true comedic side.

Regardless of comedy, I have to say I love the American Ideology of self-sufficiency, patriotism, freedom and independence. Britain has become too socialised for my liking. The BBC, now generally accepted by most people as the guardians of all thing moral and wise, continually shove left wing socialist crap down your throats. It's a well hidden and extremely effective propaganda machine

 

[Amazing]

People in europe are better educated. That means they talk a lot more feeling they know wtf they are saying when it is just babble.

 

[logic1]

I like it when people think I'm dumb. It gives me the advantage.