# To Erasticity and his "Americans are stupid" sig... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 16, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509 "2004-02-16T18:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/41 "2004-02-17T15:52:19Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > As for the “fucking moron” snipe. You may want to read for comprehension and see that I didn’t resort to name calling. **Winston** called **jar** a moron and when chucked her roll eyes at me instead of him I made a joke about that. I’m fairly certain **jarbabyj** ’s rolleyes smilie _was_directed at **WinstonSmith**. That’s how I read it, anyway. Maybe she’ll come along and explain. And on preview, I see she has. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/42 "2004-02-17T15:55:00Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > It’s almost like I need a sig about the underestimating the intelligence of people. THE ROLLEYES WAS FOR WINSTON,CHARLIE. That’s why I put it at the end, after a comment about Winston. OK, I see what you mean now. That wasn’t a big deal anyway. You did at least realize that I was making fun of Winston’s post and not calling you a name, right? Haj ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/43 "2004-02-17T16:08:33Z")
Not until right now, no. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/44 "2004-02-17T16:10:10Z")
> [@Hey you!](#): > > I could see such a statement as humourous if it was put in context with other statements that give one an idea as to it’s intent. \>snip\< But hey, I’m only American, what do I know? Well, for one thing, you know how to spell ‘humorous’ in the British way, which, considering your ‘All American’ stance, is either suspicious, or funny (as in strange). Freedom Fries with that? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/45 "2004-02-17T16:13:01Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] **Hey You!** , oh yeah…I remember now. The Japanese! The war in the Pacific! So **jjimm** wasn’t exactly correct when he said that we were sitting on our asses before we decided to come and save theirs. We had been fighting another, more dangerous war for our troops for a couple of years. [QUOTE] Zoe, I am trying to say this in as nice a maner as possible, but that was a shockingly ignorant (of the facts of history) post. You’re a poster who has crossed my radar as someone with whom I usually disagree, but not as a lunatic or a partisan fool or anything like that, so this isn’t personal, I haven’t interacted with you enough for it to be personal. If you’re not sure of such a major fact, it would behoove you in the future to look it up. Missing something like that is like denying the horrible, brutal pogroms that followed Hitler’s unprevolked attack on Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/46 "2004-02-17T16:23:51Z")
And no, the irony is not lost on me that in a thread where everyone is taking offense to the idiocy of Americans, hajario and i got into a giant clusterfuck over a smilie. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/47 "2004-02-17T16:40:42Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > So, he wasn’t comparing the target of his rant to Hitler (i.e. invoking Godwin) and, as he says, he wasn’t comparing Mencken to Hitler (which really wouldn’t have been Godwin anyway). He was just contrasting a couple of quotes. It still looks to me like the OP(erson) was, in the OP(ost), contrasting the quote in **Erasticity** ’s sig with that of Hitler specifically, merely because of this: _…“the person to whom that quote is attributed underestimated the American people too – and got his ass handed to him as a result.”_ > [@](#): > > Then you twist a bunch of shit together and say that “technically” **jar** was right. Then you say that _I’m_ being pedantic. It is to laugh. Lordy…it’s obvious that I’m being pedantic, no? But…I still think that my pedantism beats up your pedantism and takes its lunch money, for reasons outlined above. But! I’m willing to concede that it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that the OP was not specifically comparing the sig to Hitler. I just don’t think’s what happened…even though the OP later said that wasn’t what he was doing. I think he may have rethought it in the interim. But…he’s not a bad person for doing it, and it’s really not vitally important that I end up being right. On principle, I don’t agree with the OP…because I agree (to an extent) with BOTH of the quotes presented. Americans spend a lot of money on some HOLY SHIT HOW FUCKING STUPID things, and it IS lucky for a lot of rulers that people, _on the whole_, don’t give a whole lot of thought to what’s actually happening in their government. > [@](#): > > As for the “fucking moron” snipe. You may want to read for comprehension and see that I didn’t resort to name calling. **Winston** called **jar** a moron and when chucked her roll eyes at me instead of him I made a joke about that. Yeah, but you and jar have, subsequent to the post I’m quoting, realized that there was some miscommunication, and I was working under some of the same misunderstandings. So…I take it back, **you’re** not a fucking moron and **jarbabyj** ’s not a fucking moron, but **WinstonSmith** is, and **I** probably am. 😃 > [@](#): > > You need a clue. Um? DUH? To whom is THAT news? ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/48 "2004-02-17T17:01:07Z")
> [@dutchboy208](#): > > I assume you mean mine- and you got the wrong end of the stick. Hitler didn’t underestimate America; he misjudged its President. He never planned to fight _them_, after all. Remember, the majority of Americans didn’t want to go to war, and only FDR’s influence made them. No, Hitler declaring war on the US is what made us fight in Europe, and thanks to George Marshall were able to do it. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/49 "2004-02-17T17:05:46Z")
This whole thread is reading like a Marx Brothers sketch . . . get a grip, people ! ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/50 "2004-02-17T17:30:32Z")
> [@London\_Calling](#): > > This whole thread is reading like a Marx Brothers sketch . . . get a grip, people ! You say that like it’s a _ **bad** _ thing. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/51 "2004-02-17T17:38:20Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > You say that like it’s a _ **bad** _ thing. Well, it not overly clever when the whole thread is predacated on the notion that a German geek is calling Americans stupid - and then, in defence, the hurt American invokes Adolph, or doesn’t, before we find out the so-called German geek is from some friggin farm in Indiana. What is this Smallville meets A Night at the Opera meets The Producers ? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/52 "2004-02-17T18:07:40Z")
> [@](#): > > What is this Smallville meets A Night at the Opera meets The Producers? Give that man a box of Snickers. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/53 "2004-02-17T18:18:49Z")
Last night I shot a German superhero in my pyjamas. What he was doung there, I’ll never know . . . ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/54 "2004-02-17T20:37:22Z")
“I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality … - GOETHE” ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/55 "2004-02-17T20:50:06Z")
Oh wow, that unspeakable Nazi thing is a real heavy voodoo. It’ll kill dead or derail a thread like nothing else. Why bring in Godwin if not to stop a debate? And why would you think this debate, as far as there was any, was ruined by the mere mention of a cite by Hitler? He did not imply **Erasticity** was a Nazi or that his sig. was Nazi material or whatever. Inflation has taken rot in Godwin’s law like nothing else. The way it’s often being misused around here, I feel it’s only hindering a debate of our common Nazi history and it’s relation to current events. There is nothing mysterious magic about the Nazis that they should never be mentioned. On the contrary, it is of the greatest importance that we never cease talking about them, that we never forget. Nazi atrocities taught humanity a moral lesson we must remember for all time. As far as I’m concerned Godwin’s law deal mostly with situations of Nazi name calling. The way you choose to wield it reminds me most of Faulty Towers’ “Don’t Mention the War”. And if you don’t agree with me go fuck Eva Braun you fucking Nazi moron. Also it’s really quite remarkable that of the two quotes in the OP: _“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”_ and _“What luck for rulers that men do not think”_ the one by Hitler is by far the most interesting. For while Mencken’s little jab was little more than a bit of fun on behalf of the stupid Americans (always great fun admittedly) Hitler’s tells us something generally for all time: _Use yer brains fuckheads or your politicians will screw you over!_ - something even, I can heartily agree with, and directly from the horse’s mouth so to speak. “[The Germans] have no conception how vile they are” “[…]wheresoever Germany penetrated, she ruins culture” - Nietzsche /Rune ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/56 "2004-02-17T20:56:52Z")
> [@WinstonSmith](#): > > “[The Germans] have no conception how vile they are” > “[…]wheresoever Germany penetrated, she ruins culture” > > - Nietzsche > > /Rune Very fucking brilliant. Good to know you hold this quote in high enough regard to post it here. Did yer daddy tell you to hate the Germans? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/57 "2004-02-17T21:05:35Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > Very fucking brilliant. Good to know you hold this quote in high enough regard to post it here. Did yer daddy tell you to hate the Germans? You stupid Nazi bastard, I just posted those quotes in the overall spirit of the thread. If you ask me, I think **mascaroni’s** Goethe quote has more bite. And of course I was taught to hate the Germans on my fathers lap; I’m Danish. Don’t you know anything – so stupid, you must be American. (heh heh) - Rune ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/58 "2004-02-17T21:08:42Z")
I’ll be honest. This thread has lead me on a psychedelic acid trip of unmeasurable porportions. It reminds me of the Simpsons (of course) Teenager1: Are you being sarcastic? Teenager2: I don’t even know any more. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/59 "2004-02-17T21:24:39Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > I’ll be honest. This thread has lead me on a psychedelic acid trip of unmeasurable porportions. It reminds me of the Simpsons (of course) > > Teenager1: Are you being sarcastic? > > Teenager2: I don’t even know any more. Stupid American. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509/60 "2004-02-17T22:18:03Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > Did yer daddy tell you to hate the Germans? You _are_ aware that Germany occupied Denmark during WWII, aren’t you? As for Godwin’s law: > [@](#): > > “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin’s Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin’s Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful. From [here.](http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/g/Godwin_s_Law.html) Carry on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-erasticity-and-his-americans-are-stupid-sig/229509.md?page=4)