This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
RULES ONE AND TWO, PEOPLE. ~Anonymous
Duckluck: Haha, no.
Later: A couple of these examples didn't seem relevant enough. Cut:
- Never, ever, ever bring up any current events in the Middle East online. 'Nuff said.
- NEVER bring up the US's economic standings on general message boards either. This troper has seen people say, "I've got a master's degree in (fill in the blank) and despite working in my field I make only slightly above minimum wage and work 60 hours a week so I can afford to eat catfood out of the can." get flamed, told to leave the country, told they're lazy, etc...
Later Still: Cut the You Tube examples because they were getting out of hand and didn't seem relevant enough:
"Go to any video of Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants and the comments section will be full of Greeks and Turks slagging each other off.
- Following that line of thought, use caution when viewing footage of dogfights between the Greek and Turkish air forces. While these aerial duels are typically bloodless, the comments section for the videos is not.
- The Chinese vs. Japanese vs. Koreans vs. Americans fights on WWII-related videos can get pretty bad, too.
- Also, Greeks vs Macedonians on a video of Iron Maiden's "Alexander the Great"
- The fights between the various nationals of the British Isles (Scots, Welsh, English and possibly the Irish) can get pretty bad.
- The sheer depth and breadth of stupidity on the You Tube comment sections is legendary.
- It's almost an unwritten rule of You Tube that if there is a video that involves the American military in any way, a British or Australian user will have made condescending snarks and jabs about Americans in it. Usually more than one.
- Simiarly, any video of a military aviation related accident is often assumed to involve the United States military—with the requisite snideness that Americans are unable to fly their way out of a paper bag. When the video is clearly of another nation's military, this can reveal the depth of bigoted ignorance of the snarkers in question.
- Just like everything involving this trope, this can go both ways. Any video that depicts a non-American military positively or patriotically is almost bound to have its comments filled with mini-essays on how the American military is far superior and would crush the military in question in a matter of days. And let's not get started on videos which depict any Middle-Eastern country in any way, shape, or form. Let's just say that a disturbingly high amount of people consider Nuke 'em to be an acceptable strategy in international relations.
- Often, that kind of sentiment is provoked by the former. Someone bashing Americans, their country, the competency of their military, or (worse) advocating more 9/11-style attacks (or just plain mass killing of Americans) will incite rage-filled responses full of Patriotic Fervor.
- This troper has seen the comments section of a random Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay video turn into a flame war about white supremacy. No joke.
- To further expand on the "rage-filled responses" bit above, a good internet and real-life example of that is the Stock Phrase "We saved your asses in WWII!" Its usage is often provoked by offensive remarks about Americans and their country, or the suggestion of such where there is a background of such attitudes. For example, this troper was listening to the director commentary for Starship Troopers; Paul Verhoeven was quite happily lumping the United States in with Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, making few distinctions. In other words, he saw the U.S. as a facist nation, hardly different from the United Citizen's Federation in the film. Ed Neumeier said the aforementioned phrase in response. Of course, this hasn't stopped people at IMDB cheering Verhoeven for his "brilliant potrayal" of the U.S. as The Evil American Empire, despite that it is a thinly veiled War On Straw."
I'm also starting to wonder if we should limit the examples section to clear-cut examples of sites (like Something Awful or You Tube) rather than just general feuds between countries (Americans vs. Europeans, Greeks vs. Turks, etc.). On the one hand it might help cut down on the wank this page has already started to attract, on the other hand it might sort of be missing the point. Thoughts?
Large Blunt Object: I agree with cutting back the examples. The specific examples are mostly just flamebait.
The Starship Maxima: Hey, I kinda like all these examples. I find it educational.
- Americans + Criticizeing the NRA for ANY reason = Berzerk Button Frenzy.
movie007: I would wonder if we should separate the article into two sections: the examples that have to do with nations, and the examples that don't. Political and religious flame ways would definitely apply for the latter - as well as arguments between Rabid Fans and Fan Haters, which may also overlap with Fandom Rivalry. It should probably also be noted that this would be a Real Life version of Not So Different.
