{"id":1409,"date":"2014-11-21T21:54:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T21:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/prussian\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2014-11-21T22:09:33","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T22:09:33","slug":"the-ugly-american-rears-his-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/prussian\/2014\/11\/21\/the-ugly-american-rears-his-head\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Ugly American” rears his head"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve never particularly liked the stereotype of the ‘Ugly American<\/a>‘ – the stereotype of Americans as\u00a0\u00a0loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric. \u00a0However, over the last few years, I’ve come to think that there is a certain subset of the US \u00a0that does, indeed, fall into that stereotype of being loud, arrogant bullies who think that the US gets to tell the rest of the world what to do.<\/p>\n

The example that springs to mind here would be PZ Myers<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Specifically he praises the American Astronomical Society’s ruling on Matt Taylor’s shirt<\/a>. \u00a0He takes the line that \u00a0if you object to the childish hysteria that’s been going around the last few days, you’re wrong because the American Astronomical society has pronounced on it.<\/p>\n

Except there’s this little detail that he seems to miss: The Philae lander is a project of the\u00a0European\u00a0<\/em>Space agency, and Matt Taylor is a British\u00a0<\/i>subject. \u00a0Got that? \u00a0The\u00a0American<\/em> Astronomical Society doesn’t have jurisdiction over here. \u00a0In fact, as a friend of mine pointed out, this ludicrous hysteria has come almost exclusively from American<\/i> feminists, as Europeans have something better to do.<\/p>\n

So both pontiff Myers and the AAS really living up to the worst stereotype of their nation.<\/p>\n

I think I speak for a lot of Europeans when I say this:<\/p>\n