# Please don't talk to the Americans **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 24, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804 "2003-04-24T06:32:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/1 "2003-04-24T06:32:52Z")
[http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=51AA6AB6-034B-4FE0-911C-04871E6B1EC5](http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=51AA6AB6-034B-4FE0-911C-04871E6B1EC5) This story is just kinda goofy, not worthy of a GD, but irritating enough for the pit. Lady wants to breast-feed her child. Sounds like she was kind of a dick about the specific rules, even though it was her right to do it. But her horrid, ultimately damning crime was, apparently SPEAKING TO AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. The guy apparently complained that her asking him if he had a problem with her breastfeeding her baby constituted an act by a ‘foreign national’ in international airspace made him feel the victim of terror and as such he wanted to file an assault charge." So, in the end, she has to sign an agreement promising not to talk to Americans on flights. If there is one thing our country doesn’t need, it’s bullying “foriegn nationals” (i.e. Canadians) into promising never to talk to us. Even if they are flinging their boobies around. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/2 "2003-04-24T06:40:00Z")
You know, I’ve really just lost all hope for society as a whole. I’m voting for the cockroaches from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/3 "2003-04-24T06:44:13Z")
> [@](#): > > (from the article) > Wolfe began to nurse the baby again, using her own bib and blanket. She says the man got out of his seat, walked over to hers and stood staring at her. She says she approached him afterward and twice asked if he had a problem with her feeding her son. > > “He marched past me and to the very back of the cabin to talk to the flight attendant,” she wrote. “He told her, ‘This woman just assaulted me.’ … He then explained that the asking of two questions by a ‘foreign national’ in international airspace made him feel the victim of terror and as such he wanted to file an assault charge.” Wow. Just…wow. This man deserves to be pointed and laughed at by every person he meets every day for the rest of his life for being such a complete fuckwitted wuss. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/4 "2003-04-24T08:06:38Z")
This man also deserves a new label, say, like “Loserriffic”. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/5 "2003-04-24T10:05:48Z")
What I don’t understand is this: Continental doesn’t have a policy regarding breastfeeding, but when another passenger complains, nursing mothers are requested to move to the back of the aircraft. Huh? Shouldn’t the answer be, “I’m sorry Sir, but Continental Airlines has a policy that allows breastfeeding on board”? Of course, the whole “foreign national” comitting an “act of terror” on an “American plane during a time of war” is completely ridiculous. What was she gonna do, knock the pilot out with her tits? ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/6 "2003-04-24T10:10:20Z")
What a delicate flower. Another vote for the cockroaches. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/7 "2003-04-24T12:48:53Z")
_La cucaracha, La cucaracha_ … **Coldie** , whap whap whap whap! “Uh, flight attendant, this man’s stupidity is assaulting me. Will you send him off to Gitmo now?” ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/8 "2003-04-24T12:57:39Z")
What a wonderfully repressed society we live in here. Just one evolutionary step up from the Taliban, it seems. Maybe half a step. Where exactly is the bible verse, “though shalt not feed thine children in public”? ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/9 "2003-04-24T13:09:07Z")
More and more I am considering petitioning for a new organization in the government that monitors stupidity. When we take note of a particularly stupid person or act, our agent administers the punishment for all to see: Take the hand waaaaay back, and delivers several tremendous smacks right out of “Ren and Stimpy.” [wwwwwhak! wwwwwwhak! wwwwwhak!] This will be called “Putting the Smack down on Stupidity,” and is designed to completely humiliate the “stoopid” in question. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/10 "2003-04-24T13:11:25Z")
How about **The War on Stupidity** Has a certain ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/11 "2003-04-24T13:33:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*How about > > **The War on Stupidity** > > Has a certain ring to it. \*\* We have the wrong government in place for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/12 "2003-04-24T13:37:25Z")
I’m so glad we have a president who is a uniter not a divider. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/13 "2003-04-24T13:52:15Z")
I have no objection to women breastfeeding in a tasteful manner wherever the heck they feel the need to do so, and the actions of the man in the story, if true, are remarkably assholish. However, from later in the article: > [@](#): > > Johnson told me that Wolfe’s version of the story is a lot different than that of the flight attendants and the man. He confirmed that she was issued a Level 1 complaint and threatened with Level 2 after she became “verbally aggressive with another customer on board while in the airplane’s aisle.” He says that a Level 2 complaint was never issued. I.e., we only have one person’s word that the other passenger claimed he felt like a “victim of terror” after being questioned by a non-American citizen. Not that there’s nothing to bitch about here, but roasting the male passenger in effigy may be premature. ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/14 "2003-04-24T15:16:32Z")
I agree the whole terrorism and foreign nationals bit is stupid, but there’s also this part of the article: “When an announcement then came over the public address system stating that all mothers should change diapers in the plane’s bathrooms, she decided to ignore it.” Given the extreme close quarters of airplane seats, this does not seem like an unreasonable rule. Changing diapers in your seat is at least as rude as changing them in a restaurant. I think the woman did deserve some form of reprimand for choosing to ignore this publically stated rule. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/15 "2003-04-24T15:30:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*I’m so glad we have a president who is a uniter not a divider. \*\* I’m so glad we have posters such as **Zebra** , for whom off-point shots at the President are the height of witless humor. Oh, wait - I’m not. Unless you can pull an amazing rabbit out of a hat, and meaningfully tie in President Bush to the events related in the OP, I’m going to call you a hapless half-wit. Let me know. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/16 "2003-04-24T15:31:20Z")
I agree on the diaper bit. Most diaper changing tables on airplanes look fine to me. Sure, they’re small, but I don’t see the risk of the kid rolling off if you’re standing right in front of it. Turbulence may be a factor, but then, turbulence can knock your kid into the overhead bins if it isn’t secured properly as well. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/17 "2003-04-24T15:33:20Z")
“This man deserves to be pointed and laughed at by every person he meets every day for the rest of his life for being such a complete fuckwitted wuss.” Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/18 "2003-04-24T15:39:37Z")
Does anyone know the exact words and tone of voice used when the woman asked if he had a problem with her breast feeding? A polite, low tone of voice saying ‘Excuse me, were you upset by my breast feeding my son?’ is not something to respond to like an asshole. However, if her statement was loud, sarcastic toned ‘Do you have a fucking problem with me?’ then his behavior is a little less over the top. Think about it, it’s incredibly easy to be very nasty with a sentence that starts ‘Do you have a problem’ if you use the right tone of voice and inflection, knowing full well that when the statement is written down it looks very innocuous. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/19 "2003-04-24T15:40:25Z")
BTW, the thread title reads like some sort of zoo warning to me. “PLEASE DON’T TALK TO THE AMERICANS. THEY’LL SLING SHIT AT YOU AND SPIT ON YOUR WIFE IF YOU DO.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804/20 "2003-04-24T15:48:54Z")
Wow people talking to me in an airport when I don’t want them to is an act of terrorism? Geez, I didn’t have any idea how often I had been victimized…😃 People are weird. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-talk-to-the-americans/170804.md?page=2)