Having studied Chinese and spent time with Chinese people, I think this was absolutely a made-up Chinese person. The mentions of dervishes and "a man having as many wives as he can afford" seem very much like an Orientalist conflation of all cultures east of the Balkans. And the information about China--Shandong province and civil service exams-- are very dry textbook facts. This was a story written by and for Americans, which I think is interesting in itself.
Před měsícem+45
I agree, the "wives" part to me is the one that smells like "what an American thought China is like" the most
I think many of us are uninformed. A lot of us are just as smart as everyone else but we’re not given the same education as other people. This is my opinion
One can be smart in many things, and being knowledgeable is one kind of intelligence. Thankfully in this year and age people can become more informed (many sites that offer free/almost free book scans)
It really isn't a matter of formal education so much. Common sense and kindness shows a lot more intelligence. You don't need a college degree for that. With all the information available today it is also easy to educate yourself about a lot of things. So, there really is no excuse to be uninformed and ignorant of important things. Yet many people, college degree or no college degree, still are completely ignorant about a lot of things and they accept the dumbest and most awful behavior.
Intelligence is usually tested in ways that scale with formal education. Chances are schools are just diverse in ways that allow little better than in Europe and much worse. Ps. Leed exposure and debilitating (high caloric or not) malnutrition have a similar bias
"as smart as everyone else" George Carlin : think of how stupid the average petson is and realize half of them are stupider than that" Americans aren't any stupider than anyone else they just come across that way because their arrogance causes them to believe are always right and they are smarter than everyone else.That attitude can result in them looking real f.. stupid.
@@marniekilbourne608 I also think it’s important to understand that where and how you grow up impacts you greatly with how you consume media. If you grew up with your parents telling you one thing and the media/internet telling you another, you won’t know who to trust, and are more likely to go with your emotional bias.
I'm an American/Australian I love history, mythology classical music, classical art and I love Japanese Samurai cinema. Thankfully most of my American friends are very nice people and when we talk about philosophy they are very intelligent. Sadly I think a lot of Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world but with proper research and studies you can always improve your knowledge. I do think the American education system needs to change.
Yessss Some sketches of SNL are funny, but weirdly some of the ones with the most enthusiastic commentaries are the ones that I can't even imagine which parts were supposed to be funny
Given SNL is making fun of life in America and Americans, it makes sense that you as a European may not understand why an SNL skit is funny. Not that they are all funny even to us but I think you get my point.
SNL makes fun of celebrities and what's happening across America so if you're not completely up to date with what's happening it isn't going to be funny.
Many SNL skits are based on stuff that not even all Americans get. There are skits involving regions of the country that people in other areas don't relate to- The Californians, The Bodega skits for example. They might still be funny to us for other reasons but they do include lots of things that seem like inside jokes for east or west coast people.
Humor is HIGHLY cultural, sonethings may make sense but not everything. To this day I don't get most French humor (I get most of British humor only because I grew up watching British sitcoms on PBS in the US) even though I live here in France and partnered with a French person, and while my French partner loves most US humor he has to admit he doesn't get most "black" humor (which not only is super contextualized but also deals with the AASV dialect which he already doesn't understand) and I only understand it because of where I grew up, so I constantly have to explain those jokes to him. But for some reason Russian humor always made sense to me, lol, though it was always translated. And after living in Korea for 5 years Korean humor very slowly started to make sense, but yeah, French humor still alludes me, lol
Some French humor just doesn't work if put in a (for lack of a better word) non-fancy language because the way you say it can be a huge part of what makes it funny. English is very blunt and simple which lends itself well to quick punchlines, but not fancy humorous language juggling the way French and German do. It's why Asterix was a smash hit in French and German speaking countries, but not in English speaking ones, the jokes just translate a lot better between two grammatically fancier languages while they just come across as blunt in the English translation.
Not all humour is heavily dependent on culture though. American humour, for example, is constantly referencing pop culture or aspects of American life, hence it is not accessible to people unfamiliar with that. I have a much harder time understanding American comedy because of this. British humour, on the other hand, is usually language-based, so a lot of jokes don't hit as hard if you don't understand the English language. However, it also has some element of dark comedy, which is far more accessible and allows something like Mr. Bean (a wordless comedy) to have world-wide appeal. I also feel like Japanese comedy, which is mostly about absurdity and twists, also doesn't require the audience to be familiar with Japanese culture to be understood. Meanwhile, Korean comedy, which references pop culture just like American comedy does, requires that background knowledge for most of its humour to land. I can't comment on French humour though, since I am not familiar about that lol
I'm an American and I'm used to American humor. I also understand British humor having grown up with it. I understand most humor. This articles written in a way though that's very tongue in cheek and definitely written by an American and probably spoke Chinese and had a very scandalous conversation with this diplomat. And I can absolutely imagine in the time and place that he was found entertaining. People at dinner parties really were big on "one-up men ship" so it was all about who had the biggest most ridiculous thing to say true or not. And America definitely had a class system and some money was better than others. That's still true today if you hear people talk about new money versus old money old money is well respected and basically like having a title or an important name whereas new money well you do new money things which are usually flashing your cash which is considered uncouth even still. Well I have very little wealth to speak of people in my family are from old money and do have stupid amounts of it in their bank accounts that they can't touch because it's all invested in certain things and it's entrusts and blah blah so their ancestors have chosen wisely that the living only gets so much of it the rest of it is attached to the family name. As to general American intelligence, some people are well educated by books some people are well educated by culture. Some people are well educated by both and many have no education at all. Just like everywhere else in the world.😂
I wonder sometimes. My husband and I are both homeschool kids. When I got to college, I realized a lot of my peers couldn't proficiently read. Most couldn't do basic math, and almost all couldn't do the work without the internet, AI, or just cheating in general, and they didn't see anything wrong with that. Our education system is severely lacking. If you're lucky enough to get to come up outside of it, either private or home educated, you'll be better off, but it's bad. Lots of adults can't read or do basic math independently. The worst part is that most people lack common sense and critical thinking skills. They can't stop and think "wait that doesn't make sense." Because they both dont understand what they are seeing and hearing, but they also lack the thinking skills to sort the information they take in. Our culture is also very, very, very emotional. Many people make determinations and decisions not based on information available but rather just raw emotions in the moment. Not only does this result in violence, but because we aren't culturally encouraged to have self-control, it also creates hyper consumption and gimmie now culture. When all we do is focus on ourselves, our knee-jerk emotions, and our individual wants, it creates a population of very slow people intellectually. I blame our public schools. The statistics are indisputable. Our literacy rates are falling in young people, and it mostly affects public school attendees. That's the vast majority of the population. Our public schools are on their 3rd generation of creating people who can't think, let alone read and who aren't taught historical context. For the country that spends the 4th most per pupil on education on the planet Earth, we sure are dropping the ball, and I wonder where the money is going.
This is one reason I switched to homeschooling! Public school had too many tests, no focus on mastery (or comprehension TBH) and there are so many gaps in the curriculum.
Excellently said! I also blame advertising. Since Americans had radio and TV widely available first, the products were woven seamlessly into the shows - ads are fiction meant to not only sell a product, but to create more consumers. To this day, any family who leaves radio, TV or streaming with ads running all day is being lightly hypnotized to consume more. Critical thinking and common sense can't compete. Madison Avenue is also largely to blame. Post-WWII, veterans came home addicted to cigarettes, put in their rations as advertisement. All media had to daily reinforce how necessary, even desirable that unhealthy habit was. American 1950s housewives were also created through advertising. "Buy better, be better." "Mad Men" portrays American consumer culture quite accurately. From then til today, the more we consume media, the more we're fed consumerism. Any family that leaves the TV on all day is dulling themselves, especially their children. The ads have pervaded our entire education system. It's why radio and TV was originally called "programming." Intelligently homeschooled kids tend to have their parents curate their media by finding quality content without ads, or watching/listening beside them and skipping the ads. People who learn the lie of advertising early tend to not lose their critical thinking skills. Though I went to public school, my mom taught the history of advertising and media alongside extra lessons at home. I passed that on to my family. We're all critical thinkers. Not "smarter" per se, just that critical thinkers can sort through everything that's thrown at us, to find what we actually need and want to consume. Statistically, MAGA families tend to leave Fox news or even more right-leaning media on all day. The January 6th insurrectionists were convinced their country was being destroyed, only because they had no other information. Consumerism begets willful ignorance. Facts are dry and boring.
Also we should delineate between secular and religious homeschooling. Since religion implies inculcation and narrower exposure, Christian homeschooling statistically lacks essential studies such as STEM. That, and charismatic church leaders interpretations of doctrine producing generations of people more likely to consume media ignorant of the long-term effects.
Public schools get most of their funding from the taxes in their cities. My husband had choices like astronomy in his public high school, whereas my high school was one long hallway. You can't even judge public schools fairly, because they are all so vastly different. I lament my lack of education opportunities simply because my family lived in rural Iowa and envy my husband's because he grew up in a rich suburb of Chicago.
Something something men meet so rarely and speak so little due to their position and religious believes that a conversation is being held, remembered, and still active even after a year long break
I am an American with a probably lower than average respect for my fellow Americans. Certainly, during this time politically, I am mostly ashamed of them. Regarding this article, I think that just about everything the man said was true. Our language is well known to be confusing because of the way that we just use one word for five meanings. It is certainly true that we are taught as children that almost every single item you could imagine was invented by an American, which I was shocked to find was not true when I grew up. All in all, I’m with the Chinese guy.
SNL isn’t really popular anymore, but I can see how some people don’t understand certain aspects of American comedy. For some reason people seem to struggle with “bragging” as a form a self deprecation. “WHAT IS A KILOMETER” saying things like “who needs castles when you have a Buccees”. Leaning into being ridiculously patriotic is a joke for most Americans, and I think this confuses some people who think Americans are just like that. (I think people have got what is a kilometer though) Basically, most meme culture is what your average young American likes. It’s extremely referential. That, or absurdism. Or referencing absurdist jokes. If you don’t know the memes, it’ll be confusing. Ironically a lot of memes you reference on the channel come from Americans (a lot of memes particularly come from black Americans due to the prevalence of aave in American comedy (why that is can and probably has been a topic for many essays and papers)) Honestly a lot of people find being confused funny. Some members of the older generations have a complete different look on humor. Then again, three hundred million people are going to all have different things they like. I know a girl who LOVES potty humor. Like I don’t even have to watch videos she puts on her story because I know the punchline will be poop. Not my thing, but live laugh love. There may be some truth to the culture gap with humor. Italian humor? Does not do it for me. Except this one lady whose name I don’t remember. She’s in some of the only Italian movies I like. I think she’s funny because I can relate her characters to people in any country. Someone like Roberto Benigni is pretty hit or miss, and the hits are just ok. In all fairness, there’s a time element to that as well. His contemporaries would be that Canadian group that also included Steve Martin (who is not Canadian) from the 90s. Admittedly I like a lot of those actors. Because I’m American and I grew up with them in movies I watched. Also, as someone accused of having “British humor” I feel like British humor isn’t all that different anymore. The overwhelming majority of Americans consume British media. We all have watched/ heard of Monty Python. Most Americans I know are perfectly capable of tongue in cheek humor and satire. It also happens that a lot of Americans think they are the exception and are not like the other girls when they consume any foreign media. They annoy me obviously less than the real idiots (the bigots), but annoy me nonetheless. In the eternal words of Aunt Eller (not a typo) “I don’t say I’m better than anybody else, but I’ll be damned if I ain’t just as good”
Thanks for taking the time and effort to analyze and read this entire article, Karolina. I particularly appreciate your comments on humor. I hadn't thought of some popular American tropes as odd or disrespectful but I see now. Please continue to find articles, read and comment on them. It's brilliant! (By the way, I adored my MIL.) 💜
A lot of people in the comments have not actually listened to the podcast and a just talking about the title 🙄. (They are probably Americans* lol). *Referring to citizens of the United States and not other citizens/residents of the continental Americas.
I think we are hearing the frustrations of the Chinese elite of that time due to the events of the 19th century, which included the fallout of the Opium Wars and Gunboat Diplomacy of the European/American powers that forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to the British. In his speech propping up the tenants of Chinese society, you are hearing what is in essence copium in reaction to the brutality that China has faced by the Americans/Europeans at the time, which is forcing Chinese elites to change towards a more industrial society with regional/global supply chains in an attempt to maintain it's sovereignty over its people. Japan was adapting to this dynamic at a much faster rate, which we see both in the First and Second Sino-Japanese War.
I think its the same way it is in all countries. Its impossible to be educated in everything and to be fully versed in all aspects of life. In the US, it can be more pronounced because we are such a big country that is so spread out. Someone in a rural farming town in the us will get a totally different education than someone in a weathy urban or suburban cummunity. Someone in a rural farming town probably didnt have access to an art history class, or even a world history class (especially one that speaks on nonwestern history). They also likely don't vitally need that information, if they plan on remaining in that community. But I guarantee those rural farming people know a lot more about animal husbandry, lumber milling, and beekeeping, than most of the wealthy urban or suburban people. And again, the wealthy urban people probably don't vitally need any of that knowledge. There are many college educated people that do not know how to cook. Even in college someone with a history degree may be well versed in a particular timeframe of a particular country, but may have little to no crossover into a different timeframe of a different country. Perhaps that individual didnt take as many biology classes because they simply did not need to. I know this is a thing in other countries as well, because i'ts just human to be this way and to attain knowlede that is interesting ir useful to us. Just toady, I watched a little piece on Margaret Gallagher from Belcoo, County Fermanagh, N. Ireland, who lives in her rural home with no modern amenities and has a job educating people on local history and places, despite her leaving school at the age of 14, I think it was. We are all smart in our own ways, and in ways which are useful to us personally.
On American humor: a lot of shows like SNL are heavily, heavily based on references to other media, pop culture and the news. Shows like Colbert and the Daily Show specifically reference politics and social issues. If you are not American, if you are not keeping up with the popular media landscape of America, of course none of that will make sense to you. American comedy is often compared to British stuff like Monty Python. Monty Python has some British specific inspirations, like making fun of the rigid class system, but it's heavily based on absurdity. This makes it transcend its specific cultural context more. The American comedy landscape just don't have this as much. A lot of American comedy is going to be really time specific too, if it's based on current issues, and so it might not hit anymore even a year later. Sometimes, I see things in SNL or the Daily Show etc. that are really NYC specific too, because that's where all those comedians live and work. I have enough knowledge of life in the city to get what they are referencing, but even though I live only 2 hours north of the city the joke wont really punch the same way for me because it's just not speaking to my life and experience. Anywhere outside of NYC in America is basically another country in how different our lives are. I haven't watched SNL in a long time, but one of my favorite bits was the parody of a talkshow where things would just devolve into singing "whoooeeee what's up with that?" and nonsensical appearance of characters like a guy dressed up as Mothra. "Go Mothra, go Mothra, go Mothra!" Being a kid when I saw that, I didn't really know the kind of talkshow they were exaggerating in their parody, and I don't think you had to know that Mothra is a character from the Godzilla franchise; you could just enjoy it as over-the-top nonsense, and that really hit the spot. The Simpsons was also always really good at using references in ways where you didn't really have to get that it was a reference. I grew up watching the Simpsons, but being a kid didn't know a lot of the reference to movies or literature they were making, but enjoyed it despite. The Simpsons actually introduced me to a lot of cultural staples because of that. I watched a video recently where someone contrasted the Simpsons to Family Guy, which writes its jokes in ways that really only make any sense if you know the reference. It's much more like those SNL skits that really don't hit unless you know the exact piece of pop culture, celebrity gossip, or current events etc. that is the basis of the joke. I never found Family Guy all that funny, for that reason and some others. There's probably also something to be said about cultures of comedy. I lived in Japan for 6 years, know the language very well, but I don't really get most Japanese comedians. Their comedy just seems like slapstick goofball buffoonery, literally doesn't engage my mind at all. American comedy can be like a crossword puzzle; if you can decipher it you feel kind of smart, but Japanese society seems to get more out of seeing people just stop being so F-ing serious all the time. I do like rakugo though, a traditional Japanese style of comedic storytelling. That genre is more about set-up and punchline, much more like American standup than anything their goofballs do on their "variety" shows.
"American comedy can be like a crossword puzzle; if you can decipher it you feel kind of smart" Ehm, you don't need to figure anything out with American humour. Here's how American humour works, in my experience: It's like driving down a road and seing huge billboards advertising '5 minutes to funny!!!!', then travelling a bit further and seeing a road sign with a large red arrow saying 'This way to funny!' and then, a bit further along the road, a small roadside stop with an information sign where you get to read all about funny to prepare yourself, and then, when you've finally arrived at funny, you see the banner stretched between utility poles each side of the road saying 'You've arrived in funny! Welcome! Enjoy it to the fullest, hahahaha!' That's why I never find it funny. This goes especially for sarcasm and irony, which of course completely takes the edge off those humour forms.
Like other groups of immigrants to the USA at the end of the 19th Century (e.g. Irish, Italians, etc.), the Chinese immigrants were not welcome beyond the cheap labor they could provide the established White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (aka WASP) Yankee population. This is probably some sort of "parody" describing that sentiment. As far as your remark saying that the USA has a disproportionate level of crimes against Asian Americans, I would have to disagree. There is/was a very small, mentally ill group of residents who bought into the Q-Anon conspiracy theory that Asians were responsible for the COVID pandemic. This type of violence was viewed as horrific to 99.999% of Americans. Regarding learning of history of all kinds, I find that many people are too lazy to be bothered. I appreciate your sharing of these obscure period articles. Thank you! 🙂
It's a tricky question no matter how ypu ask it Is X nationality _rural_ class intelligent? They sure are knowledgable about the practical use of tools, machines, mechanic, agriculture, botanics or medicine, but don't know the thepriticals behind them. Are the _young_ intelligent, most don't care to know about important or commonplace knowledge, but do have the capacitie to learn and use large ammounts of informaton. Unlike money, which any fool can have, spend and lose, knowledge is truly elitist, not everyone has the same amount or type, not everyone uses it the same way, not everyone can be as inteligent as each other.
The American violence against asians is not committed by random Americans but almost universally by one particular group within our society. Please don’t paint us all with one brush. Love your channel! Thanks.
very interesting and not so untrue today of the dichotomies between Americans' and others' cultures. since i, as an American, studied abroad for a time as a teenager and young adult I had noticed a marked difference in pedological importance. What a fascinating article! And here's a "tip:" Bravo Karolina for your usual graceful & funny presentation! p.s.: re: mothers-in-law: i think mothers are naturally more protective of their children in terms of who they end up with as a partner, therefore making them more "meddling" and hence, more the subject of humor. i once had a mother-in-law (am since divorced of Her) and, let me tell you - She Was Not so easy for me to get along with. Maybe men sometimes choose women who are very opposite of their own mothers so their wives and mothers end up having very opposing opinions.
I wonder if the person who wrote that article knows that American is not a distinct ethnicity and that we are genetically very diverse? I did not have any ancestors in the US in the 1890s so it’s not my ancestors who he thought were dumb. But, whatever. Most people are pretty ignorant, including 19th century Chinese know-it-alls.
Humor is very biased based on what you read, watch, & otherwise consume. I also think it depends on how good you are at reading between the lines & gauging tone. Also, taste. I don’t find other men generally as funny, as I find women, POC, or other queer people. I like wit & referential humor more than bawdy humor. I don’t generally like humor at the expense of other people, or angry white man humor (yelling just isn’t very funny). I think Americans can be funny, but so are Brits, Australians, Europeans, Koreans, etc. It all depends on the person & if you “get” what is funny (or if you think what is being said is really something to laugh at). SNL is funny on a skit by skit basis. Many Americans live in a bubble of American-ness & so are unaware of other cultures, their art, music, etc. I think everyone is stupid about something (I know very little about cars & almost sports). The truly stupid are people who think they know everything & stop learning & listening to others (especially those unlike them).
Well, he certainly wasn't winning friends. The civil service requirements of China are stringent. The education level, evidently even then, was superior. He describes the American life as very superficial among the wealthy. More about showmanship than actual knowledge or merit. It's very glaring to him, whether he's really a Chinese person or not. Understand that Americans have had the belief that it is the best, most free, smartest, superior nation in the world and that this is fed to us from childhood without question.
whoo that bit about americans stealing other countries' inventions xDDD anything else could've been written by someone whose not chinese, but that bit makes me think an actual chinese person wrote it.... or a white person heard a chinese person say it and stole their words, ironically enough.
@@calmcat8073 The OP is referring to a time when “Polish jokes” were popular here in the States. They were derogatory in nature, depicting Polish people as highly unintelligent. Like every other immigrant group that came here, they were made fun of because their language, religion and customs. The Polish just happened to get pegged as stupid for some reason. They say it was started by German Americans that were already established here and had a negative history with them back in Europe. Not sure if that’s true or not.
@@clearyourhead333I was referring to most countries having Polish jokes but you go with what you know. Polish jokes weren’t started by “German Americans” in the U.S.. It was started by real Germans in Germany. Don’t speak for other people because you don’t know what you’re talking about.
The confusion you expressed about Gentlemen you kind of explained at the end with Bully! and a bully. The word gentleman referred to men of a certain social class/standing. It was a point of honour to reply "I'm a Gentleman" (or gentlewoman) when asked you job or position. It meant someone who was able to exist without earning a living, generally from inherited money. It also suggested you were from a family of social standing, not nouveau riche. There is also another difference which i can use a modern parallel to explain. A man could be a Gentleman but not be a gentleman. Just in the same way a person can call himself a Nice Guy but not be at all a nice guy. A true gentleman showed it in his every deed and conversation and all his behaviour. If he had to reassure you he was a gentleman without you knowing it then...
Narrator: says something vaguely pro-women KZ: “yay feminism!” Narrator: also encourages polygamy What? No “yay feminism”? As for the claims that “China invented everything”, have you not seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? In it, the main character’s father constantly and proudly claims that the Greeks invented everything. That kind of nationalistic pride would have been common in the 19th century. As far as “going farther than Columbus”, that’s in reference to Zheng He. He commissioned a massive trade ship and went to ports in areas known to Ming as a means of collecting tribute: and while he traveled farther as far as kilometers than Columbus, he did not go anywhere new and his expedition had such a massive lack of financial return that it was hushed up (except for nationalistic boasting or “uwu west man bad” rhetoric by self-loathing westerners)
Short answer? No. Not at all. Long answer? As someone who's lived all forty-six years of my life here, some of us are but the vast majority are unwashed, uneducated & uncultured.
Hi Karolina I'm Canadian now living in Boston. Us Canadians often make fun of Americans especially political humor. Canadian and American culture are very similar but Canada is very rooted in British culture. I don't like SNL. I much prefer the comedy of yesterday like Laural and Hardy, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd etcetera. Kindest regards Lloyd K Bradshaw ❤️ thank you
Qualifier: the no is for US Americans. America is two continents and I don't want to group everyone else in with us 😅 for good reasons, not for exceptionalist reasons
I would never say something so general, but american market is one of mostly isolated market of the world. Americans consumes only american music, watch american movies and read american authors, and some japanese stuff like anime. From outside it llooks closeminded, ignorant and autoreferential af.
As an American, I think we are intelligent, but on the internet some lack common sense and the ability to read context clues or do research to learn about things.
Yes. Next question? We're genetically identical to the rest of humanity and therefore as intelligent as everyone else. Perhaps the asker of that question was really asking something else because that one was.... um... stupid. 😊
As a Brazilian is really misleading when people say americans, when they are really talking about North America in specific. South America have nothing to do with all that.
When American is used on its own, it’s generally referring to people from The United States of America just as Brazilians are people from Brazil. We are not United Statesians here.
How are we supposed to believe you with a channel name like Arson Dark Sea? Nobody’s taking your Jesus advice seriously. You’re not gonna turn hearts with a name like that. You’re definitely turning stomachs, but not hearts. Do better. Do it for Jesus!
Having studied Chinese and spent time with Chinese people, I think this was absolutely a made-up Chinese person. The mentions of dervishes and "a man having as many wives as he can afford" seem very much like an Orientalist conflation of all cultures east of the Balkans. And the information about China--Shandong province and civil service exams-- are very dry textbook facts. This was a story written by and for Americans, which I think is interesting in itself.
I agree, the "wives" part to me is the one that smells like "what an American thought China is like" the most
As someone with an East Asian Studies degree, I agree that the wives comment was a dead giveaway this Chinese man is fictional.
As an American I absolutely needed to click this lol
Never clicked something soooooo quickly. 😹
I can't really disagree with the sentiment that being a politician disqualifies a person from being a gentlemen
Or a lady lmao
Karolina out here asking the real questions.
I heard "...you are invited to die" and just accepted it
I think many of us are uninformed. A lot of us are just as smart as everyone else but we’re not given the same education as other people. This is my opinion
One can be smart in many things, and being knowledgeable is one kind of intelligence.
Thankfully in this year and age people can become more informed (many sites that offer free/almost free book scans)
It really isn't a matter of formal education so much. Common sense and kindness shows a lot more intelligence. You don't need a college degree for that. With all the information available today it is also easy to educate yourself about a lot of things. So, there really is no excuse to be uninformed and ignorant of important things. Yet many people, college degree or no college degree, still are completely ignorant about a lot of things and they accept the dumbest and most awful behavior.
Intelligence is usually tested in ways that scale with formal education.
Chances are schools are just diverse in ways that allow little better than in Europe and much worse.
Ps. Leed exposure and debilitating (high caloric or not) malnutrition have a similar bias
"as smart as everyone else"
George Carlin : think of how stupid the average petson is and realize half of them are stupider than that"
Americans aren't any stupider than anyone else they just come across that way because their arrogance causes them to believe are always right and they are smarter than everyone else.That attitude can result in them looking real f.. stupid.
@@marniekilbourne608 I also think it’s important to understand that where and how you grow up impacts you greatly with how you consume media. If you grew up with your parents telling you one thing and the media/internet telling you another, you won’t know who to trust, and are more likely to go with your emotional bias.
I'm an American/Australian I love history, mythology classical music, classical art and I love Japanese Samurai cinema. Thankfully most of my American friends are very nice people and when we talk about philosophy they are very intelligent. Sadly I think a lot of Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world but with proper research and studies you can always improve your knowledge. I do think the American education system needs to change.
I love that the debate has been going on for ages. 🤣
Yessss Some sketches of SNL are funny, but weirdly some of the ones with the most enthusiastic commentaries are the ones that I can't even imagine which parts were supposed to be funny
Given SNL is making fun of life in America and Americans, it makes sense that you as a European may not understand why an SNL skit is funny. Not that they are all funny even to us but I think you get my point.
SNL makes fun of celebrities and what's happening across America so if you're not completely up to date with what's happening it isn't going to be funny.
Many SNL skits are based on stuff that not even all Americans get. There are skits involving regions of the country that people in other areas don't relate to- The Californians, The Bodega skits for example. They might still be funny to us for other reasons but they do include lots of things that seem like inside jokes for east or west coast people.
Excellent and just what I needed while painting this morning. Love your appetite for historical letters.
Humor is HIGHLY cultural, sonethings may make sense but not everything. To this day I don't get most French humor (I get most of British humor only because I grew up watching British sitcoms on PBS in the US) even though I live here in France and partnered with a French person, and while my French partner loves most US humor he has to admit he doesn't get most "black" humor (which not only is super contextualized but also deals with the AASV dialect which he already doesn't understand) and I only understand it because of where I grew up, so I constantly have to explain those jokes to him. But for some reason Russian humor always made sense to me, lol, though it was always translated. And after living in Korea for 5 years Korean humor very slowly started to make sense, but yeah, French humor still alludes me, lol
Some French humor just doesn't work if put in a (for lack of a better word) non-fancy language because the way you say it can be a huge part of what makes it funny. English is very blunt and simple which lends itself well to quick punchlines, but not fancy humorous language juggling the way French and German do. It's why Asterix was a smash hit in French and German speaking countries, but not in English speaking ones, the jokes just translate a lot better between two grammatically fancier languages while they just come across as blunt in the English translation.
Not all humour is heavily dependent on culture though. American humour, for example, is constantly referencing pop culture or aspects of American life, hence it is not accessible to people unfamiliar with that. I have a much harder time understanding American comedy because of this.
British humour, on the other hand, is usually language-based, so a lot of jokes don't hit as hard if you don't understand the English language. However, it also has some element of dark comedy, which is far more accessible and allows something like Mr. Bean (a wordless comedy) to have world-wide appeal.
I also feel like Japanese comedy, which is mostly about absurdity and twists, also doesn't require the audience to be familiar with Japanese culture to be understood. Meanwhile, Korean comedy, which references pop culture just like American comedy does, requires that background knowledge for most of its humour to land.
I can't comment on French humour though, since I am not familiar about that lol
I'm an American and I'm used to American humor. I also understand British humor having grown up with it. I understand most humor. This articles written in a way though that's very tongue in cheek and definitely written by an American and probably spoke Chinese and had a very scandalous conversation with this diplomat. And I can absolutely imagine in the time and place that he was found entertaining. People at dinner parties really were big on "one-up men ship" so it was all about who had the biggest most ridiculous thing to say true or not. And America definitely had a class system and some money was better than others. That's still true today if you hear people talk about new money versus old money old money is well respected and basically like having a title or an important name whereas new money well you do new money things which are usually flashing your cash which is considered uncouth even still. Well I have very little wealth to speak of people in my family are from old money and do have stupid amounts of it in their bank accounts that they can't touch because it's all invested in certain things and it's entrusts and blah blah so their ancestors have chosen wisely that the living only gets so much of it the rest of it is attached to the family name.
As to general American intelligence, some people are well educated by books some people are well educated by culture. Some people are well educated by both and many have no education at all. Just like everywhere else in the world.😂
Mucho texto
"someone kicked me under the table."
My experience at every dinner lol
Hey I may be stupid, but I’m also dumb.
I wonder sometimes. My husband and I are both homeschool kids. When I got to college, I realized a lot of my peers couldn't proficiently read. Most couldn't do basic math, and almost all couldn't do the work without the internet, AI, or just cheating in general, and they didn't see anything wrong with that.
Our education system is severely lacking. If you're lucky enough to get to come up outside of it, either private or home educated, you'll be better off, but it's bad. Lots of adults can't read or do basic math independently. The worst part is that most people lack common sense and critical thinking skills. They can't stop and think "wait that doesn't make sense." Because they both dont understand what they are seeing and hearing, but they also lack the thinking skills to sort the information they take in. Our culture is also very, very, very emotional. Many people make determinations and decisions not based on information available but rather just raw emotions in the moment. Not only does this result in violence, but because we aren't culturally encouraged to have self-control, it also creates hyper consumption and gimmie now culture. When all we do is focus on ourselves, our knee-jerk emotions, and our individual wants, it creates a population of very slow people intellectually.
I blame our public schools. The statistics are indisputable. Our literacy rates are falling in young people, and it mostly affects public school attendees. That's the vast majority of the population. Our public schools are on their 3rd generation of creating people who can't think, let alone read and who aren't taught historical context. For the country that spends the 4th most per pupil on education on the planet Earth, we sure are dropping the ball, and I wonder where the money is going.
This is one reason I switched to homeschooling! Public school had too many tests, no focus on mastery (or comprehension TBH) and there are so many gaps in the curriculum.
Public schools are indoctrination centers. The money is going to fund the bureaucracy and not towards educating the children.
Excellently said! I also blame advertising. Since Americans had radio and TV widely available first, the products were woven seamlessly into the shows - ads are fiction meant to not only sell a product, but to create more consumers. To this day, any family who leaves radio, TV or streaming with ads running all day is being lightly hypnotized to consume more. Critical thinking and common sense can't compete.
Madison Avenue is also largely to blame. Post-WWII, veterans came home addicted to cigarettes, put in their rations as advertisement. All media had to daily reinforce how necessary, even desirable that unhealthy habit was. American 1950s housewives were also created through advertising. "Buy better, be better."
"Mad Men" portrays American consumer culture quite accurately. From then til today, the more we consume media, the more we're fed consumerism. Any family that leaves the TV on all day is dulling themselves, especially their children. The ads have pervaded our entire education system. It's why radio and TV was originally called "programming."
Intelligently homeschooled kids tend to have their parents curate their media by finding quality content without ads, or watching/listening beside them and skipping the ads. People who learn the lie of advertising early tend to not lose their critical thinking skills.
Though I went to public school, my mom taught the history of advertising and media alongside extra lessons at home. I passed that on to my family. We're all critical thinkers. Not "smarter" per se, just that critical thinkers can sort through everything that's thrown at us, to find what we actually need and want to consume.
Statistically, MAGA families tend to leave Fox news or even more right-leaning media on all day. The January 6th insurrectionists were convinced their country was being destroyed, only because they had no other information. Consumerism begets willful ignorance. Facts are dry and boring.
Also we should delineate between secular and religious homeschooling. Since religion implies inculcation and narrower exposure, Christian homeschooling statistically lacks essential studies such as STEM. That, and charismatic church leaders interpretations of doctrine producing generations of people more likely to consume media ignorant of the long-term effects.
Public schools get most of their funding from the taxes in their cities. My husband had choices like astronomy in his public high school, whereas my high school was one long hallway. You can't even judge public schools fairly, because they are all so vastly different. I lament my lack of education opportunities simply because my family lived in rural Iowa and envy my husband's because he grew up in a rich suburb of Chicago.
people commenting without even listening to the first five seconds 😭
(also, as an american, i rarely find SNL funny)
Im still confused about the fried banana joke
Something something men meet so rarely and speak so little due to their position and religious believes that a conversation is being held, remembered, and still active even after a year long break
@@sillyjellyfish2421 thank you silly jellyfish :)
I am an American with a probably lower than average respect for my fellow Americans. Certainly, during this time politically, I am mostly ashamed of them. Regarding this article, I think that just about everything the man said was true. Our language is well known to be confusing because of the way that we just use one word for five meanings. It is certainly true that we are taught as children that almost every single item you could imagine was invented by an American, which I was shocked to find was not true when I grew up. All in all, I’m with the Chinese guy.
SNL isn’t really popular anymore, but I can see how some people don’t understand certain aspects of American comedy. For some reason people seem to struggle with “bragging” as a form a self deprecation. “WHAT IS A KILOMETER” saying things like “who needs castles when you have a Buccees”. Leaning into being ridiculously patriotic is a joke for most Americans, and I think this confuses some people who think Americans are just like that. (I think people have got what is a kilometer though) Basically, most meme culture is what your average young American likes. It’s extremely referential. That, or absurdism. Or referencing absurdist jokes. If you don’t know the memes, it’ll be confusing. Ironically a lot of memes you reference on the channel come from Americans (a lot of memes particularly come from black Americans due to the prevalence of aave in American comedy (why that is can and probably has been a topic for many essays and papers)) Honestly a lot of people find being confused funny. Some members of the older generations have a complete different look on humor. Then again, three hundred million people are going to all have different things they like. I know a girl who LOVES potty humor. Like I don’t even have to watch videos she puts on her story because I know the punchline will be poop. Not my thing, but live laugh love. There may be some truth to the culture gap with humor. Italian humor? Does not do it for me. Except this one lady whose name I don’t remember. She’s in some of the only Italian movies I like. I think she’s funny because I can relate her characters to people in any country. Someone like Roberto Benigni is pretty hit or miss, and the hits are just ok. In all fairness, there’s a time element to that as well. His contemporaries would be that Canadian group that also included Steve Martin (who is not Canadian) from the 90s. Admittedly I like a lot of those actors. Because I’m American and I grew up with them in movies I watched. Also, as someone accused of having “British humor” I feel like British humor isn’t all that different anymore. The overwhelming majority of Americans consume British media. We all have watched/ heard of Monty Python. Most Americans I know are perfectly capable of tongue in cheek humor and satire. It also happens that a lot of Americans think they are the exception and are not like the other girls when they consume any foreign media. They annoy me obviously less than the real idiots (the bigots), but annoy me nonetheless. In the eternal words of Aunt Eller (not a typo) “I don’t say I’m better than anybody else, but I’ll be damned if I ain’t just as good”
Holy fucking shit I wrote an essay
the tried and true american tradition of my source is that I made it the fuck up
Thank you Alex Jones.
@21:18 "Cuteness" here stands for "acuteness," "acuity," = mental sharpness.
For the first few seconds, my thoughts were: Hey, I came here for things about America, NOT TO LEARN ABOUT MY OWN HISTORY AND CULTURE!
多谢!
Thanks for taking the time and effort to analyze and read this entire article, Karolina. I particularly appreciate your comments on humor. I hadn't thought of some popular American tropes as odd or disrespectful but I see now. Please continue to find articles, read and comment on them. It's brilliant! (By the way, I adored my MIL.) 💜
A lot of people in the comments have not actually listened to the podcast and a just talking about the title 🙄. (They are probably Americans* lol).
*Referring to citizens of the United States and not other citizens/residents of the continental Americas.
Not always too sure about that myself, and I'm an American saying that.
I think we are hearing the frustrations of the Chinese elite of that time due to the events of the 19th century, which included the fallout of the Opium Wars and Gunboat Diplomacy of the European/American powers that forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to the British. In his speech propping up the tenants of Chinese society, you are hearing what is in essence copium in reaction to the brutality that China has faced by the Americans/Europeans at the time, which is forcing Chinese elites to change towards a more industrial society with regional/global supply chains in an attempt to maintain it's sovereignty over its people. Japan was adapting to this dynamic at a much faster rate, which we see both in the First and Second Sino-Japanese War.
Thanks! I think The common people understand more that the upper class
I think its the same way it is in all countries. Its impossible to be educated in everything and to be fully versed in all aspects of life. In the US, it can be more pronounced because we are such a big country that is so spread out. Someone in a rural farming town in the us will get a totally different education than someone in a weathy urban or suburban cummunity. Someone in a rural farming town probably didnt have access to an art history class, or even a world history class (especially one that speaks on nonwestern history). They also likely don't vitally need that information, if they plan on remaining in that community. But I guarantee those rural farming people know a lot more about animal husbandry, lumber milling, and beekeeping, than most of the wealthy urban or suburban people. And again, the wealthy urban people probably don't vitally need any of that knowledge. There are many college educated people that do not know how to cook. Even in college someone with a history degree may be well versed in a particular timeframe of a particular country, but may have little to no crossover into a different timeframe of a different country. Perhaps that individual didnt take as many biology classes because they simply did not need to. I know this is a thing in other countries as well, because i'ts just human to be this way and to attain knowlede that is interesting ir useful to us. Just toady, I watched a little piece on Margaret Gallagher from Belcoo, County Fermanagh, N. Ireland, who lives in her rural home with no modern amenities and has a job educating people on local history and places, despite her leaving school at the age of 14, I think it was. We are all smart in our own ways, and in ways which are useful to us personally.
On American humor: a lot of shows like SNL are heavily, heavily based on references to other media, pop culture and the news. Shows like Colbert and the Daily Show specifically reference politics and social issues. If you are not American, if you are not keeping up with the popular media landscape of America, of course none of that will make sense to you. American comedy is often compared to British stuff like Monty Python. Monty Python has some British specific inspirations, like making fun of the rigid class system, but it's heavily based on absurdity. This makes it transcend its specific cultural context more. The American comedy landscape just don't have this as much. A lot of American comedy is going to be really time specific too, if it's based on current issues, and so it might not hit anymore even a year later. Sometimes, I see things in SNL or the Daily Show etc. that are really NYC specific too, because that's where all those comedians live and work. I have enough knowledge of life in the city to get what they are referencing, but even though I live only 2 hours north of the city the joke wont really punch the same way for me because it's just not speaking to my life and experience. Anywhere outside of NYC in America is basically another country in how different our lives are.
I haven't watched SNL in a long time, but one of my favorite bits was the parody of a talkshow where things would just devolve into singing "whoooeeee what's up with that?" and nonsensical appearance of characters like a guy dressed up as Mothra. "Go Mothra, go Mothra, go Mothra!" Being a kid when I saw that, I didn't really know the kind of talkshow they were exaggerating in their parody, and I don't think you had to know that Mothra is a character from the Godzilla franchise; you could just enjoy it as over-the-top nonsense, and that really hit the spot. The Simpsons was also always really good at using references in ways where you didn't really have to get that it was a reference. I grew up watching the Simpsons, but being a kid didn't know a lot of the reference to movies or literature they were making, but enjoyed it despite. The Simpsons actually introduced me to a lot of cultural staples because of that. I watched a video recently where someone contrasted the Simpsons to Family Guy, which writes its jokes in ways that really only make any sense if you know the reference. It's much more like those SNL skits that really don't hit unless you know the exact piece of pop culture, celebrity gossip, or current events etc. that is the basis of the joke. I never found Family Guy all that funny, for that reason and some others.
There's probably also something to be said about cultures of comedy. I lived in Japan for 6 years, know the language very well, but I don't really get most Japanese comedians. Their comedy just seems like slapstick goofball buffoonery, literally doesn't engage my mind at all. American comedy can be like a crossword puzzle; if you can decipher it you feel kind of smart, but Japanese society seems to get more out of seeing people just stop being so F-ing serious all the time. I do like rakugo though, a traditional Japanese style of comedic storytelling. That genre is more about set-up and punchline, much more like American standup than anything their goofballs do on their "variety" shows.
"American comedy can be like a crossword puzzle; if you can decipher it you feel kind of smart" Ehm, you don't need to figure anything out with American humour. Here's how American humour works, in my experience: It's like driving down a road and seing huge billboards advertising '5 minutes to funny!!!!', then travelling a bit further and seeing a road sign with a large red arrow saying 'This way to funny!' and then, a bit further along the road, a small roadside stop with an information sign where you get to read all about funny to prepare yourself, and then, when you've finally arrived at funny, you see the banner stretched between utility poles each side of the road saying 'You've arrived in funny! Welcome! Enjoy it to the fullest, hahahaha!' That's why I never find it funny. This goes especially for sarcasm and irony, which of course completely takes the edge off those humour forms.
You should do something on the dress made entirely of glass in 1893 and worn by a European princess whilst visiting America. Regards Lloyd
"That reminds me of a story" 😂
And I’m sat
Perhaps it was written pseudonymously by Edith Wharton :)
Cool stories, it's interesting someone actually wrote that. 😅😳
Like other groups of immigrants to the USA at the end of the 19th Century (e.g. Irish, Italians, etc.), the Chinese immigrants were not welcome beyond the cheap labor they could provide the established White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (aka WASP) Yankee population. This is probably some sort of "parody" describing that sentiment. As far as your remark saying that the USA has a disproportionate level of crimes against Asian Americans, I would have to disagree. There is/was a very small, mentally ill group of residents who bought into the Q-Anon conspiracy theory that Asians were responsible for the COVID pandemic. This type of violence was viewed as horrific to 99.999% of Americans. Regarding learning of history of all kinds, I find that many people are too lazy to be bothered. I appreciate your sharing of these obscure period articles. Thank you! 🙂
Hi, American here, no we are not
Maybe I’ve been too exposed to Americans content but I don’t see why you would find American humor hard to understand.
Me, an American, reading the title question: Nope
no but neither are europeans
Nice video. Kocham Polskę. Jestem Niemcem.
I dunno, but the only person who can answer such questions is a Polish fashion consultant...
It's a tricky question no matter how ypu ask it
Is X nationality _rural_ class intelligent? They sure are knowledgable about the practical use of tools, machines, mechanic, agriculture, botanics or medicine, but don't know the thepriticals behind them.
Are the _young_ intelligent, most don't care to know about important or commonplace knowledge, but do have the capacitie to learn and use large ammounts of informaton.
Unlike money, which any fool can have, spend and lose, knowledge is truly elitist, not everyone has the same amount or type, not everyone uses it the same way, not everyone can be as inteligent as each other.
The American violence against asians is not committed by random Americans but almost universally by one particular group within our society. Please don’t paint us all with one brush. Love your channel! Thanks.
very interesting and not so untrue today of the dichotomies between Americans' and others' cultures. since i, as an American, studied abroad for a time as a teenager and young adult I had noticed a marked difference in pedological importance. What a fascinating article! And here's a "tip:" Bravo Karolina for your usual graceful & funny presentation!
p.s.: re: mothers-in-law: i think mothers are naturally more protective of their children in terms of who they end up with as a partner, therefore making them more "meddling" and hence, more the subject of humor. i once had a mother-in-law (am since divorced of Her) and, let me tell you - She Was Not so easy for me to get along with. Maybe men sometimes choose women who are very opposite of their own mothers so their wives and mothers end up having very opposing opinions.
It was a very good article, and although generalities, I believe that it is still basically correct.
I wonder if the person who wrote that article knows that American is not a distinct ethnicity and that we are genetically very diverse? I did not have any ancestors in the US in the 1890s so it’s not my ancestors who he thought were dumb. But, whatever. Most people are pretty ignorant, including 19th century Chinese know-it-alls.
Yes they are 🙂
Humor is very biased based on what you read, watch, & otherwise consume. I also think it depends on how good you are at reading between the lines & gauging tone. Also, taste. I don’t find other men generally as funny, as I find women, POC, or other queer people. I like wit & referential humor more than bawdy humor. I don’t generally like humor at the expense of other people, or angry white man humor (yelling just isn’t very funny). I think Americans can be funny, but so are Brits, Australians, Europeans, Koreans, etc. It all depends on the person & if you “get” what is funny (or if you think what is being said is really something to laugh at). SNL is funny on a skit by skit basis.
Many Americans live in a bubble of American-ness & so are unaware of other cultures, their art, music, etc. I think everyone is stupid about something (I know very little about cars & almost sports). The truly stupid are people who think they know everything & stop learning & listening to others (especially those unlike them).
Imperfect feminism, maybe, but I'd rather talk to the diplomat than anyone else at the table
ballsy
💜💜💜💜
Well, he certainly wasn't winning friends. The civil service requirements of China are stringent. The education level, evidently even then, was superior. He describes the American life as very superficial among the wealthy. More about showmanship than actual knowledge or merit. It's very glaring to him, whether he's really a Chinese person or not. Understand that Americans have had the belief that it is the best, most free, smartest, superior nation in the world and that this is fed to us from childhood without question.
As a civil servant, I had to pass many tests that were extremely difficult to prove my superior intelligence. I'm also extremely humble. Just ask me.😅
whoo that bit about americans stealing other countries' inventions xDDD
anything else could've been written by someone whose not chinese, but that bit makes me think an actual chinese person wrote it.... or a white person heard a chinese person say it and stole their words, ironically enough.
Most Americans don’t think SNL is funny 90% of the time.
Senator Bonaparte?
Co powiesz o Studiu Filmów Rysunkowych w Bielsku-Białej?
❤
That’s a funny title coming from a Pole😂🤣
why?
can u elaborate?
@@calmcat8073 The OP is referring to a time when “Polish jokes” were popular here in the States. They were derogatory in nature, depicting Polish people as highly unintelligent. Like every other immigrant group that came here, they were made fun of because their language, religion and customs. The Polish just happened to get pegged as stupid for some reason. They say it was started by German Americans that were already established here and had a negative history with them back in Europe. Not sure if that’s true or not.
@@clearyourhead333I was referring to most countries having Polish jokes but you go with what you know. Polish jokes weren’t started by “German Americans” in the U.S.. It was started by real Germans in Germany. Don’t speak for other people because you don’t know what you’re talking about.
@@TheRealAsteria I clearly stated that I didn’t know whether that was true or not.
As an American, I enjoyed this. But then again I AM from New York, where a lot of us intelligent Americans come from. ;-)
I've seen Americans not knowing where to locate America on the map nor other simple Countries and Continents. You can't make that up
The confusion you expressed about Gentlemen you kind of explained at the end with Bully! and a bully.
The word gentleman referred to men of a certain social class/standing. It was a point of honour to reply "I'm a Gentleman" (or gentlewoman) when asked you job or position. It meant someone who was able to exist without earning a living, generally from inherited money. It also suggested you were from a family of social standing, not nouveau riche.
There is also another difference which i can use a modern parallel to explain. A man could be a Gentleman but not be a gentleman. Just in the same way a person can call himself a Nice Guy but not be at all a nice guy. A true gentleman showed it in his every deed and conversation and all his behaviour. If he had to reassure you he was a gentleman without you knowing it then...
Is Adam Duda intelligent?
Did you really hear so strange a people as Americans? Honestly......not really, lol
Comment for engagement!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
stopp I'm scared to watch this
no, next question
to be fair, we don’t care for SNL either.
Without facts
Narrator: says something vaguely pro-women
KZ: “yay feminism!”
Narrator: also encourages polygamy
What? No “yay feminism”?
As for the claims that “China invented everything”, have you not seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? In it, the main character’s father constantly and proudly claims that the Greeks invented everything. That kind of nationalistic pride would have been common in the 19th century.
As far as “going farther than Columbus”, that’s in reference to Zheng He. He commissioned a massive trade ship and went to ports in areas known to Ming as a means of collecting tribute: and while he traveled farther as far as kilometers than Columbus, he did not go anywhere new and his expedition had such a massive lack of financial return that it was hushed up (except for nationalistic boasting or “uwu west man bad” rhetoric by self-loathing westerners)
Guess the author wasn't actually a feminist 😆
Yes
I‘m screaming at the title! 😂 (I‘m European)
This reminded me of the movie quote "Wow, is it true that half the people you meet are *below* average intelligence?"
Is that really an intelligent question? No, not really.
You really should listen to the video.
Short answer? No. Not at all.
Long answer? As someone who's lived all forty-six years of my life here, some of us are but the vast majority are unwashed, uneducated & uncultured.
Hi Karolina I'm Canadian now living in Boston. Us Canadians often make fun of Americans especially political humor. Canadian and American culture are very similar but Canada is very rooted in British culture. I don't like SNL. I much prefer the comedy of yesterday like Laural and Hardy, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd etcetera. Kindest regards Lloyd K Bradshaw ❤️ thank you
A good Canadian comedy show is SCTV. I believe that it is on CZcams.
Haven’t watched the video, but my answer is no. I'm an American BTW 😅
All you had to say was “no” and we could have easily figured out the rest 😂
Qualifier: the no is for US Americans. America is two continents and I don't want to group everyone else in with us 😅 for good reasons, not for exceptionalist reasons
Don’t worry Americans don’t understand SNL either. 😂
But, honestly, the Natives of North America didn't originate from China.😂 (good propoganda from him though)
Are Americans intelligent? The world wonders 😏😉😉
I would never say something so general, but american market is one of mostly isolated market of the world. Americans consumes only american music, watch american movies and read american authors, and some japanese stuff like anime. From outside it llooks closeminded, ignorant and autoreferential af.
As an American, I think we are intelligent, but on the internet some lack common sense and the ability to read context clues or do research to learn about things.
The answer is no
Yes, they are. Look at Kamala. She is not silly.
Yes. Next question?
We're genetically identical to the rest of humanity and therefore as intelligent as everyone else. Perhaps the asker of that question was really asking something else because that one was.... um... stupid. 😊
As a Brazilian is really misleading when people say americans, when they are really talking about North America in specific. South America have nothing to do with all that.
When American is used on its own, it’s generally referring to people from The United States of America just as Brazilians are people from Brazil. We are not United Statesians here.
I’m American I’m not worried TRUMP 2024❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
No
Ĝood morning! God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the name above all names & the only way to Heaven❤😊
Is it though LOL
Time and place my guy
How are we supposed to believe you with a channel name like Arson Dark Sea? Nobody’s taking your Jesus advice seriously. You’re not gonna turn hearts with a name like that. You’re definitely turning stomachs, but not hearts. Do better. Do it for Jesus!