Change is a good thing

Watch the linked video. It's hilariously funny, and yet also very disturbing. It makes me not want to ever visit the south of the USA, and although the US was probably my highest ranking wishlist destination when I was younger (Disneyland - I mean, what more could you want?), I've pretty much decided that if I die never having visited the "land of the free" I'll be none the worse for having missed it.

See, the thing that angers me in particular is that videos like this (the Chasers' War on Everything clips also come to mind) solicit similar responses from Americans. They believe that we've singled out the stupid people in their country in order to make them look bad. In the comments, people suggest that the video is staged, that the presenters deserved the violent response they got, that they should be shot for doing what they did. The problem is that Americans don't see the image that the rest of the world has of them and go "oh no... we should really do something to fix that", they see it and decide that we're picking on them. That we're singling them out for ridicule by creating false situations. But it's JUST NOT THE CASE.

If you're a citizen of the USA, and you're reading this, please be aware that you have a really bad image in the rest of the world, and truth be told, you deserve it. Perhaps you could do something about it? Go and vote. Educate your kids about the rest of the world, and identify things about other countries and their cultures that are better then your own. It's just worth identifying that you're not perfect - it reminds you that you should constantly be improving.

Rant done - go about your business, citizens.