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Given how little many Americans know about the geography of their [i]own[/i] country, it's not surprising to hear these kinds of comments. I've had numerous conversations where it's really appalling the lack of geographic (not to mention cultural, historical, or political) knowledge that people have. I had one guy swear to me up and down that China and Russia were not on the same continent or anywhere near each other, because China was in Asia, as any fool knew, and another guy try to convince me that India was in Africa. Small wonder we get the reputation we sometimes do as good-hearted know-nothings -- we often deserve it! (The latter guy also, of course, tried to tell me that Texas and Nebraska were right next to each other, something he knew to be true because they both had good football teams there.)
The most recent info I've seen says that in a given year about 7% of Americans visit any country other than Mexico or Canada, with about the same percentage visiting Mexico and less heading to Canada. About 45% of the respondents in a CBS News poll at the end of February said they had traveled overseas at some point, with about 57% of those still willing to travel. (This poll was, of course, taken while the war was looming.) Of those who say they would not travel overseas, their main reason was fear. 51% mention fear of some kind behind their decision, either of war, terrorism, just fear in general, or they express concern about the safety of Americans. 26% say they simply have no desire to go overseas, and another 6% say they want to see America first. 7% say they just don’t like to fly. Most people cite Europe as where they'd like to go, if they do.
Interesting to contrast this with a November study where the majority of Americans report they see themselves as more respectful of cultures with different values than they were a year ago (even though in the same study they also note less interest in going abroad.) Not sure the rest of the world would agree all that much with that perception after we've spent the past couple of years bombing the heck out of people, but so it goes.
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by darkseid
[i]Purplengold,
If it is interpretation that changes, then it must be the judges that vary from state to state. In NYC, a majority of the ex-wives get MORE than half of the husband's income in alimony and child support. In california, it is a clear cut HALF of the salary and wealth. I am not sure of some other states but I guess they might be less pro-female than NYC and California which sucks for divorced males. [/i][/QUOTE]
Let me give an example. I sat in divorce court during two hearings. During the first, a lady who had been married for 1.5 years, the judge practically shit on the ***** because she was asking for 'half'. I thought he was gonna have the bailiff throw her ass out. Right after that, the same judge practically pleads with a woman who's been married 3 years to take as much as she can get. Apparently, the guy was moved by this second lady who didn't ask for alimony and just wanted the lesser of two automobiles. When the lady said, no to alimony the second time, the judge refused and granted her $1/month so that "when [she comes] to [her] senses" she could go back to court and sue for more.
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While we're on the subject of geo-clueless Americans...
I grew up about 2 hours drive from Mexico, and threw a bullshit flag on a professor when he told the class that less than 4 out of 5 Americans didn't know what country bordered us to the south. How could tha be?
Well, I had to eat that flag. I spent the day asking everyone what countries bordered us to the north and south. This is a Southern California University mind you. Out of, probably 150 students (many of whom had been to Tijuana), about 10 knew the answer and only myself and my best friend new where in hell Canada was. Oh, and a couple people told me LA bordered us to the north but there was only ocean to the south!
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And then there was the guy who refused to believe me when I told him Méjico has states just like we do (32) and that all of them have their own capitals.
But then there was the time when I was in Malta and met some guys in the Canadian Navy. They were complaining that they had to learn the capitals of all 50 US states but no Americans knew the capitals of all the Canadian provinces. I said I did and rattled them off. They tried to bust me for not knowing the capital of Nunavut, but I said that is a territory and not a province so they let me slide. They proceeded to buy me innumerable drinks and even more so when I told them I knew who the top two all-time Canadian home run hitters were and that hockey is not the national sport of Canada. We ended up singing the Canadian national anthem at high volume (there were eight sailors) in the Hard Rock Cafe and we got a standing ovation. Then we sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."
But I digress. Sorry.
Oh, PNG, maybe you ought not to throw that bullshit flag so often.
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by joe_zop
The most recent info I've seen says that in a given year about 7% of Americans visit any country other than Mexico or Canada, with about the same percentage visiting Mexico and less heading to Canada. About 45% of the respondents in a CBS News poll at the end of February said they had traveled overseas at some point, with about 57% of those still willing to travel. (This poll was, of course, taken while the war was looming.) Of those who say they would not travel overseas, their main reason was fear. 51% mention fear of some kind behind their decision, either of war, terrorism, just fear in general, or they express concern about the safety of Americans. 26% say they simply have no desire to go overseas, and another 6% say they want to see America first. 7% say they just don’t like to fly. Most people cite Europe as where they'd like to go, if they do.
Interesting to contrast this with a November study where the majority of Americans report they see themselves as more respectful of cultures with different values than they were a year ago (even though in the same study they also note less interest in going abroad.) Not sure the rest of the world would agree all that much with that perception after we've spent the past couple of years bombing the heck out of people, but so it goes. [/i][/QUOTE]
That poll is right on the money when they interviewed how many people make these excuses. One of the main excuses they are missing though is the fear of the language barriers which is another excuse among the majority that don't travel. One of my friends said he wanted to see America first but he didn't even see more than the tri-state area. He still makes this excuse to procrastinate on getting a passport to this day. He also never even been to Canada or Mexico because he feared that French is spoken in Canada and Spanish is spoken in Mexico. He is half right in that they do speak those languages but these people are bilingual and can also speak english. I understand the language barrier fear as far as going to other continents but one could always go with a foreign friend who knows the language so that is still not a legitimate excuse not to travel.
My parents try to convince me to stay home in the US during this time because of terrorism. But I ignore their pleas because I go to neutral countries like Brazil or Germany. Also you get great deals on airfare because of the failing airtravel businesses. I paid half as much now as I would have paid before the September 11th attack. My parents are one of those 51% with the irrational fears of terrorism.
When the polls say there is only 7% who fears flying, I think there is actually more than that. I think they ALL have the fear of flying because they fear adventure and fear what's new and different. I embrace new things and different cultures because I LOVE variety. The people that fear travelling are the same people that would eat McDonald's every single day of their lives and never try anything new. Even if McDonald's presents a new sandwich, they still order the Big Mac. This neophobe is the same reason they stay in America and think it is the only way of living and never travel outside the USA.
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darkseid
I've read many of your posts here and shared many of your views about american women and being an asian in the U.S. I'm also a well educated asian around your age and living in the tri-state area. I enjoy travelling just like you. I've read your posts on the Brazil board and find it very interesting on how you said about how asian are rare in Brazil. I've never been to South America and would love to visit. The thing is that I don't know any one there and don't have any friend who has ever been to South America or has interest in going there. So I was wondering if you can email me (traveling_buddy@yahoo.com) so that I can ask you more and perhaps to join you on your next Brazil trip. Thank you in advance.
Oh, this board has been pretty useful in a sense that I was able to get to know someone on this board and end up going to Bangkok together. He was a nice guy and showed me around Thailand and the DOs and DONTs since he's been there so many time mongering, and that was my first time and the only time so far. I've never felt comfortable going to a strange place by myself the first time.
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American or non-american. Women all over the world have changed. I'm from Asia, and the views posted here on American women are much the same here too, only difference is on economic power, its not the stone age story any more, and partly I feel we have to share the blame, for "ladies first" and pulling the chair thing.
In stone age women wanted men for everything for security food sheltor, not any more, the law is on there side, they work, they live alone, they have everything now to equal men, their demands just like men are manifold, there must be some different approach to get women now.
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Loser,
Same approach still works: flash money at them.
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Darkseid,
Just returned from Prague and had a great, great time.
One of the clubs I went to in Prague is called K5. It's about the best club in Prague and is frequented by many Asian guys. Spoke with a group of them before I settled on a girl and learned that they were from Korea. Great bunch of guys and we had a blast. One of them even jumped up on stage with one of the girls who was stripping. They charged many rounds of drinks and one guy mentioned that they like K5 and Prague in particular because of a complete lack of prejudice towards Asians. In fact, the girls in the club seemed to be quite interested in them. When a guy would motion for a girl to come over, she walked over immediately. After awhile, they all had a girl sitting with them and everyone was having a great and drunken time. I thought of you and have no doubt that you would have hade a blast at K5.
So, next time you pan a trip, you might want to consider Prague.
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Paddy,
What did your post have to do with the topic of this thread?
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P&G,
Darkseid often laments about prejudicial issues on this thread in regard to Asians and I saw the exact opposite when I was there. Thought he might be interested.
Sorry if I ruined your day. Didn't know that you were such a "purist" in regard to content on this thread.
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Percent of Male population used prostitutes.
I was having this discussion with my buddy. He maintains that the total male population used prostitutes (in their life time) is very small, may be about 5% or less. I totally disagree, my contention is at least 50% if not more. He contended that most males do not use prostitutes because of legal, disease or financial reasons. I disagree. Are there any unbiased study out there on this topic? Thanks
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There was a study done here that said that one in six men had paid for sex. Obviously that's in Australia, but I can't see us being too different to America. Another study I read said that a third of all men have paid for sex - I think that was from Amsterdam or Germany, so the rates would be a bit higher because of it's legality. Just type something like "percentage, men, visit prostitutes" into a search engine and see what comes up. (You may want to try sex worker instead of prostitute as well).
Personally I think one in six sounds a little low - I daresay there would probably be men in the study groups who would lie about it!
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Paddy
[i]P&G,
Darkseid often laments about prejudicial issues on this thread in regard to Asians and I saw the exact opposite when I was there. Thought he might be interested.
Sorry if I ruined your day. Didn't know that you were such a "purist" in regard to content on this thread. [/i][/QUOTE]
Sorry to tell you that you can't ruin my day. I'm not a purist, but your post really belongs in the Prague section.
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Kinsey's stats (from the 40s/50s, which might well be different, since it's before the days of the pill) were as follows: 69% of white males had had at least one experience with a prostitute; among unmarried males, sex with a prostitute was about 10% of the total premarital intercourse (this seems unlikely in terms of things today); among married males, sex with a prostitute was never more than 1.7% of the total sexual "outlet" reported. Now, there's a tremendous amount out there arguing that Kinsey's stats are generally high on just about everything except for the physiological stuff, but I've been unable to find anything else that really quantifies things. (Probably time for me to make a good statistics research day at one of the uni libraries -- sure seems like someone must have done this, somewhere.) There's a bit out there talking about estimated composition of clients from a prostitute perspective -- a lot of which conflicts with Kinsey in that most estimate a pretty high percentage of married men as customers -- but little about participation of the population at large.