Perception of America...

[AngraRULES]

Yea, I guess you'r right... Bear does not aggree with me, and I don't aggree with him... oh well, I guess I was wrong at points and so was he... I dont see a problem in that, as long as we can still have a good time at progpower... Btw, keep trying to find the correlation, it's right there =P Regarding contradictions, even Kerry contradicted himself and he was candidate for the presidency... Maybe I shouldn't be considered a nobody for doing that...

 

[Angrafan]

Nope not just a band or member of a band, anyone period. If someone comes to the US to live and make a live and earnings and complains about it, well boo fucking hoo. Go back to where ever it is they got away from in teh first place and see if it is any better. That is the way I feel. I have many friends at not only my company and around the music scene that have come from other countries that are very very very happy and feel lucky enough to get a chance to make a good life here in the States as compared to what they came from. C'est La Vie is what I say and if you don't like what you see here, get the funk out

Bear

Well, it's not that easy.... A LOT of people who moved here from other countries did it for extreme reasons, mostly social or economical..
and that's the GREAT thing about the US... ANYONE can make a decent living... I mean, 7, 8 dollars an hour is a LOT for people from most of the world.
And those people don't move back to their original countries for those reasons, as they NEED the money for whatever reason... That doesn't take away their right to criticize a lot of different aspects about life in the US...


I am a foreigner myself... And I Know I am an exception, as I come from a family with a pretty good standard of living, even in my native Brazil... To be honest, we had a better standard of living in brazil (both my parents made more money than what they make here, we owened a few apartmente in Rio de Janeiro, etc)..
But we also had our reasons to move here, mostly for security reasons as we were fucking tired of being robbed all the time....
But that doesn't mean I heve to Kiss USA's ass! I mean, I appreciate a LOT all the opportunities I have here... Being able to go to College, work, start my own business...
But there are a lot of things that piss me off! And that doesn't take away my "right to criticize"....

 

[roamer]

Well, this is a fun little discussion. I am an American. I see a lot to complain about regarding humanity in general. Most of the time it doesn't do much good. I am pretty patriotic in general. I hear something really interesting here, though. People (might) be complaining about the USA or American attitude, or whatever. That is their opinion. Other people are saying they should shut the fuck up. That is their opinion. Neither group is silencing the other voice. There are no government agents beating down either door and locking them up. If one group threatens the other, then the government will at least try to intervene. This is not something that has been allowed in many times in many places, and don't forget that.
If you want to say - "you ought to be open minded!" Fine. Say it. It's your opinion. If you think your God-given mandate is to enforce open mindedness, then go and preach it, and have open minded revival meetings, and as long as you don't hurt anyone or threaten to do so, then for the most part you are free. If you don't want to be openminded...well hell- it is a free country and both sides can (and often do) debate it until they pass out. Better yet get drunk as hell first, and then have a debate. For the most part the free market will work it out anyway. Just be aware that if one group of metalheads says "We won't support a band who doesn't like our country", and then decides to not attend the show that a market force is being created, that is probably not going to be well understood, as the end result is going to be that a metal band tried to tour in the USA and couldn't sell out any of their shows. I have a feeling that fact is going to be far more clearly remembered than who believed what socio-politically.
-Adam-

 

[AngraRULES]

Angrafan kinda got my point...

Anyway, back to the whole maiden thing...
I think if a group of fans decide not to attend their concerts in the future, it won't do a lot of damage to the band. Hell, think about it, they still sell out arenas, and I think metalheads in general idolize maiden more than their country... lol That is not an insult, before someone gets me wrong again....

 

[aztattooedsean]

I am not going to complain for or against america.


I just think Iron Maiden needs to change up their set list. Bruce made me mad when he thought we didn't want to hear new songs. I don't have a problem with new songs played to promote the cds. I just want to hear different songs from the old cds like piece of mind or whatever. They have played mostly the same old tracks for what seems like forever.

 

[lady_space]

The way I see things is : Americans think that they're right in everything that they do, and whoever does it differently, they're doing it wrong. And that is very unfortunate, because this is the greatest nation of all, but so full of ignorant people (Don't get me wrong, I have tons of American friends and I love this country as much as you guys do). And can somebody explain why is that?

I think it may be just as much arrogance as ignorance--not only do many Americans not know the rest of the world's POV, I don't think most of them give two shits. Plus you have to remember, this is a country who finds the most gap-toothed, most ignorant redneck to show on TV after the tornado suprises them by destroying their trailer. IOW, the ignorant (and the arrogant) seem to get more attention than anyone else.

That said, I probably wouldn't live anywhere else.

 

[Firehead]

Maybe the Maiden boys should worry a little more about making a album that doesn't sound like shit, rather than people's attitudes, 'cause DoD was a turd.

Hope I didn't offend Bruce & Co. with my pissy attitude...

Amen to that!


Funny how someone in IM (not Nicko) doesn't like to play the U.S., ONLY after they have made millions and millions of dollars here. Kind of hypocritical, don't you think?

 

[Angrafan]

I think it may be just as much arrogance as ignorance--not only do many Americans not know the rest of the world's POV, I don't think most of them give two shits. Plus you have to remember, this is a country who finds the most gap-toothed, most ignorant redneck to show on TV after the tornado suprises them by destroying their trailer. IOW, the ignorant (and the arrogant) seem to get more attention than anyone else.

That said, I probably wouldn't live anywhere else.

That's true... People tend to give more attention to the ignorant...


Another thing that must be pointed out is that it's VERY trendy to be anti-america right now... a lot of people hate america and they don't even know why... LOL
People say a lot of stupid things about the American people without ever meeting an American in person... People generalize too much....

And the argument that Americans are stupid and have bad taste in music is just non-sense...I can say for a fact that Brazilian pop music is just as bad and stupid. Not only our music is crap, but we also buy/listen to imported bad music.. LOL

 

[AngraRULES]

Brazillian pop-music is worse than St. Anger.... Millions of times, if one could believe it...

 

[Met-Al]

I'll try to make this brief.
If you have a negative view on touring a particular country because of money or attendance issues, that's fine. I understand that many bands have it hard in that respect. It's a whole other issue, however, when you have a negative view on touring a particular country because you assume that the minds of the enitre country are closed. That's the vibe I'm getting from Iron Maiden right now. I don't see how they would want to further limit their tours of America when half of their units were sold in this country. Their shows still draw MULTIPLES of 1,000 (how many metal bands can say that about shows in this country), and though they aren't exactly topping the Billboard charts, their sales are still strong enough (especially with their back catalog) to give reason for a lengthy U.S. tour. I agree with Tatooed Sean about their set list. A focus on new material is fine, but I can do without the standard six-song "Number Of The Beast material" closer for every show. When was the last time they played anything off of "Somewhere In Time?" If they stop touring the States, they're giving a large percentage of their fans a whopping pimp slap to the face. I'm really hoping that they reconsider it. The last time I found out that an artist refuses to tour this country, I got rid of my entire Gary Moore collection. I can't say that I don't have my complaints about this country and its masses, but generalizations are just that. Don't say that the country as a whole sucks. If you have any sort of fanbase within the country, don't insult them by saying that you don't want to play for them, even if that is the truth. As for Bruce Dickinson bitching about people throwing stuff on stage, it's not only Americans who do that. I'm sure there's an asshole in Iceland waiting for Maiden to make an appearance so he or she can do the same thing. People get drunk and do stupid things. If anybody should understand that, it's Dickinson. After all, he did publish a novel.


Stay metal. Never rust.
Met-Al

 

[Pellaz]

I think it may be just as much arrogance as ignorance--not only do many Americans not know the rest of the world's POV, I don't think most of them give two shits. Plus you have to remember, this is a country who finds the most gap-toothed, most ignorant redneck to show on TV after the tornado suprises them by destroying their trailer. IOW, the ignorant (and the arrogant) seem to get more attention than anyone else.

That said, I probably wouldn't live anywhere else.

Me, either (unless I were really wealthy and could move to tax-free Monaco or something ).

Speaking of ignorance, many of our friends overseas form their opinions about America not only from American media (movies, TV series), but also from astonishingly biased news outlets. It's as if (almost) every newspaper article was an op-ed piece, and every news anchor was a commentator. The quote at the top of this message appeared on the front page of a British daily. I'm sure Americans get a fair review within its pages......not!

So many of my friends overseas think America is Just Like the Movies. No, not everyone in the USA carries a gun and herds cattle. No, there aren't gangland shootings and car-chases all the time here (okay, maybe once a week in Atlanta ). This is not reality.......but overseas, Perception Is Reality.