Anti-Americanism in German TV

[Rational Agnostic]

Im not sure. While what you say is true, the documentary did festure factual parts of American life. Such as the Christian part, which is particularly strong in America.

Yes, but teenage kids having nothing in their room but bibles? Clearly the documentary was depicting a very abnormal family. Overall, I'd guess the average suburban family in the US is pretty similar to one in the UK. And most Americans are pretty apathetic about their religion, though evangelicals are obviously more common here than in Europe.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yes, but teenage kids having nothing in their room but bibles? Clearly the documentary was depicting a very abnormal family. Overall, I'd guess the average suburban family in the US is pretty similar to one in the UK. And most Americans are pretty apathetic about their religion, though evangelicals are obviously more common here than in Europe.

America is known for having an unusually large and active Evangelical base. Other countries, for example, don't have the amount of evolution deniers. Like public prayer. Its not a thing in much of the world. It was common when I lived in Indiana.

 

[sun rise]

"Good" is entirely a subjective preference. No country is objectively "better" than any other.

That's incorrect. There are many measures between nations such as poverty level, access to health care, tax burden etc. It's quite possible to look at those numbers in the aggregate and judge better and worse.

 

[QuestioningMind]

"Good" is entirely a subjective preference. No country is objectively "better" than any other.

And I certainly didn't claim that any country was 'better' than another. What I did say is that sometimes European countries do things better than we do. Are you suggesting that I'm wrong?

 

[sun rise]

Here's one example of what I had in mind: Report reveals the 10 best countries for kids to grow up in now

The US ranks 39th on the list of best places for children to flourish now, just below Bosnia and Herzegovina, and four spots ahead of China. That is a "poor" ranking compared with many other high-income countries, the study authors say, and even some middle-income countries.

Here is how the ranking breaks down:

Only 1.4 percent of foods targeted at kids in the US meet the guidelines set by the country's own Federal Trade Commission, the report finds.

The US ranks as the 11th most economically unequal country in the world.

On the sustainability list, it comes in at 173rd out of 180.

Essentially, children in the US are likely to have poor diets, setting them up for poorer health outcomes. They are also less likely to have access to opportunities in life, and their future may be under significant threat from climate change.

 

[Father Heathen]

The U.S. doesn't do the best job caring for its homeless, and evangelicals are strange and bizarre, but without seeing the programs in question it's hard to judge their accuracy and bias.

 

[Quintessence]

Well, it doesn't depict anything I've experienced living in the Midwestern United States. If you want a source developed by local producers that reflects the cultural diversity of the United States, watch PBS programming. There you will find tons of documentaries made by local content creators about local cultures.

 

[Heyo]

The U.S. doesn't do the best job caring for its homeless, and evangelicals are strange and bizarre, but without seeing the programs in question it's hard to judge their accuracy and bias.

Bibeltreue Supermacht - Evangelikale in den USA

This is the one about Evangelicals in the US. It may have an area code and not be visible outside Germany.

 

[Stevicus]

Anti-Americanism in German TV

Yesterday, I watched two documentations one after the other, produced by influential public channel ZDF. One was about poverty in America, depicting homeless people (many of them Blacks) illegally camping on sidewalks in Los Angeles. One recording had allegedly been taken “directly in Hollywood, which used to be the center of glamour”.

Hollywood has always been a sewer pit for as long as I can remember.

But the homeless problem is nationwide, caused mainly by the shortage of affordable housing, which is especially acute in states like California where housing is unbelievably expensive.

This isn't exactly a new problem, so I'm curious as to whether this documentary offered any explanations as to why this problem exists or if they had any suggestions for improvement. Or was it just presented as "America sucks because they have homeless people"?

The other one was about Evangelicalism, depicting a fairly well-off white family in a very beautiful suburb (I wondered whether it was something like a gated community). They were members of a church which was stated to run its own school, hospital and supermarket. The family had two teenage daughters, and it was stated that the parents paid 14,000 dollars a year to send the girls to said (private) school. They also showed many things which are considered odd for mainstream Europeans, such as prayer at school, the girls having nothing but Bibles in their room, a Christian music festival with ridiculously high daily money collections, anti-abortionism, creationism and the like.

Where did this family live? What denomination was the church they attended? Just curious.

I rarely use Facebook and wouldn’t consider myself somebody who believes in conspiracy theories, but I’ve learned to become critical of German TV also through the internet. I know these were “just documentaries” but I don’t know what to make of them as I consider them contradictory. Americans, do you consider yourself depicted accurately in such documentaries? What do you want others to believe about you?

Maybe I should mention that here in Germany we have to pay more than 50 EUR a quarter year in compulsory fees for public TV.

I'd have to see the documentaries in order to determine how accurate they are. However, I know that there are homeless people in L.A., so that would be a reasonably accurate statement. And, there are also religious people here, so that seems accurate enough. However, I don't believe the majority of Americans are either homeless or evangelicals, so if that's how they're presenting America, then it seems a bit lopsided or skewed.

Personally, I don't care all that much what others believe about America. However, I find it interesting when people from outside the U.S. chime in on US politics or other US-related issues. They often try to act so knowledgeable and expert, yet when questioned, it's clear that they don't really know as much about America as they seem to think.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

And I certainly didn't claim that any country was 'better' than another. What I did say is that sometimes European countries do things better than we do. Are you suggesting that I'm wrong?

Well, no, you're not wrong, because it's your opinion. And I'd agree that they do some things better than we do. But again, both of our statements are personal opinions and nothing more.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

That's incorrect. There are many measures between nations such as poverty level, access to health care, tax burden etc. It's quite possible to look at those numbers in the aggregate and judge better and worse.

Well, that's true, if we can all agree on what numbers are "good" and what numbers are "bad." But people's opinions seem to differ on this.

 

[QuestioningMind]

Well, no, you're not wrong, because it's your opinion. And I'd agree that they do some things better than we do. But again, both of our statements are personal opinions and nothing more.

Not everything is pure opinion. Things can be determined to be better or worse all based on verifiable evidence. For instance, statistics show that in the US of A the infant mortality rate in 5.8 per 1,000 live births, whereas in the European Union the rate is 4.0 per 1,000 live births. The evidence shows that Europeans are BETTER at keeping their children alive at birth than we are. It's not just an opinion, it's what the evidence indicates.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Not everything is pure opinion. Things can be determined to be better or worse all based on verifiable evidence. For instance, statistics show that in the US of A the infant mortality rate in 5.8 per 1,000 live births, whereas in the European Union the rate is 4.0 per 1,000 live births. The evidence shows that Europeans are BETTER at keeping their children alive at birth than we are. It's not just an opinion, it's what the evidence indicates.

I agree with you, yes, if we agree on what's good and bad to begin with, then, yes, some things can of course be objectively measured. But subjective opinions will always still differ. But in your example I agree the vast majority of us will agree on which numbers are better.

 

[QuestioningMind]

I agree with you, yes, if we agree on what's good and bad to begin with, then, yes, some things can of course be objectively measured. But subjective opinions will always still differ. But in your example I agree the vast majority of us will agree on which numbers are better.

Clearly I wasn't referring to subjective opinion when I stated that sometimes Europeans do things better than we do.

 

[SomeRandom]

Anti-Americanism in German TV

Yesterday, I watched two documentations one after the other, produced by influential public channel ZDF. One was about poverty in America, depicting homeless people (many of them Blacks) illegally camping on sidewalks in Los Angeles. One recording had allegedly been taken “directly in Hollywood, which used to be the center of glamour”.

The other one was about Evangelicalism, depicting a fairly well-off white family in a very beautiful suburb (I wondered whether it was something like a gated community). They were members of a church which was stated to run its own school, hospital and supermarket. The family had two teenage daughters, and it was stated that the parents paid 14,000 dollars a year to send the girls to said (private) school. They also showed many things which are considered odd for mainstream Europeans, such as prayer at school, the girls having nothing but Bibles in their room, a Christian music festival with ridiculously high daily money collections, anti-abortionism, creationism and the like. I rarely use Facebook and wouldn’t consider myself somebody who believes in conspiracy theories, but I’ve learned to become critical of German TV also through the internet. I know these were “just documentaries” but I don’t know what to make of them as I consider them contradictory. Americans, do you consider yourself depicted accurately in such documentaries? What do you want others to believe about you?

Maybe I should mention that here in Germany we have to pay more than 50 EUR a quarter year in compulsory fees for public TV.

Was it framed as “America has homeless people therefore they are bad” or more along the lines of “look at all the poor homeless people in America.”
The first would indicate bias, the second might just be because they happened to find homeless people in America. Which I mean yeah the housing crisis has been on the news recently I suppose.

As for the rest, honestly I’ve been watching incredulous American born Atheists tear down and mock such events for years now. So I mean surely it does exist in some parts of America.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Was it framed as “America has homeless people therefore they are bad” or more along the lines of “look at all the poor homeless people in America.”
The first would indicate bias, the second might just be because they happened to find homeless people in America. Which I mean yeah the housing crisis has been on the news recently I suppose.

As for the rest, honestly I’ve been watching incredulous American born Atheists tear down and mock such events for years now. So I mean surely it does exist in some parts of America.

Of course, it's not just a housing crisis...it's employment, education, mental health, a finance system that drives the unlucky (and yes, the incompetent sometimes) into bankruptcy over health, job loss or tragedy...

 

[SomeRandom]

Of course, it's not just a housing crisis...it's employment, education, mental health, a finance system that drives the unlucky (and yes, the incompetent sometimes) into bankruptcy over health, job loss or tragedy...

Fair enough. Although I still can’t quite comprehend bankruptcy over health reasons. Now that is truly an “American only” thing.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Fair enough. Although I still can’t quite comprehend bankruptcy over health reasons. Now that is truly an “American only” thing.

Yeah...healthcare primarily tied to employment, and a healthcare system that can charge essentially whatever it wants for its goods and services, and a catastrophic accident or major illness can lead to loss of employment, loss of insurance coverage, and then all costs are on the individual...

it's barbaric (Hell, I think barbarians probably had better healthcare systems than the US), but, by God, we've got freedom to choose if we want to have healthcare...and if you choose wrong, well, that's on you...

 

[SomeRandom]

Yeah...healthcare primarily tied to employment, and a healthcare system that can charge essentially whatever it wants for its goods and services, and a catastrophic accident or major illness can lead to loss of employment, loss of insurance coverage, and then all costs are on the individual...

it's barbaric (Hell, I think barbarians probably had better healthcare systems than the US), but, by God, we've got freedom to choose if we want to have healthcare...and if you choose wrong, well, that's on you...

Yikes!!

 

[sun rise]

Yeah...healthcare primarily tied to employment, and a healthcare system that can charge essentially whatever it wants for its goods and services, and a catastrophic accident or major illness can lead to loss of employment, loss of insurance coverage, and then all costs are on the individual...

it's barbaric (Hell, I think barbarians probably had better healthcare systems than the US), but, by God, we've got freedom to choose if we want to have healthcare...and if you choose wrong, well, that's on you...

If you choose wrong, the rest of us pay for your choice in higher health insurance bills because of unreimbursed hospital costs.