US-centric posts on 9-11

September 11, 2006 2:54 PM

A usa-centric post is surely not the best of the web.
posted by sgt.serenity to etiquette/policy at 2:54 PM (82 comments total)

Neither are broken links.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:56 PM on September 11, 2006

c'mon a post on september the eleventh outlining a plan for the usa to reconquer the world of basketball ? - if that's not lame chest beating i don't know what is.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:56 PM on September 11, 2006

oh here it is , your better off with the 404.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:56 PM on September 11, 2006

Dude, today we are all Americans.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 2:58 PM on September 11, 2006

Are you going to link to the thousands of others too?
posted by cillit bang at 2:58 PM on September 11, 2006

wait a minute , here it is , this callout isnt going well at all....its more interesting than the post already though.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:58 PM on September 11, 2006

Dude, today we are all Americans.

Except for you, you left-wing socialist anti-American Islamofascistophile pencil-pushing menace to all that is good and right with American society. You're gonna burn. Burn, do you hear me? BURN!

Goddamned kids these days and their internet comic books
posted by scrump at 3:01 PM on September 11, 2006

this callout isnt going well at all

do they ever?
posted by dersins at 3:02 PM on September 11, 2006

The Straussian neocon PNAC agenda to take over basketball is a topic that concerns all of us, I think. The subversion of our long-established traditional recruiting practices indicates a sick mind, one lost in its grandiose dreams of dominance and displacing the natural order.
posted by sonofsamiam at 3:04 PM on September 11, 2006

This comment is not the best of the web.

(say can I trademark that and sue the living beejeebus out of everyone who uses it?)
posted by edgeways at 3:08 PM on September 11, 2006

I thought the post was fine. C-. You're stretching for the American dominance on 9/11 thing ...
posted by mrgrimm at 3:09 PM on September 11, 2006

While the article certainly isn't anything to write home about, it is decidedly not chest-beating. I would also argue, that the USA falloff in international competition is a curiosity for all who enjoy and follow international basketball. I bet the string of losses in recent years (and proffered explanations) has been extensively covered in the international press. Perhaps not in Scotland.

It is both far less "usa centric" and far less good than the Baseball Race post. So where does that leave us? Probably in agreement that an article pruned from yesterday's (American) ESPN front page is not a great FPP.
posted by kosem at 3:10 PM on September 11, 2006

Personally, I thought the kangaroo post was too Australia-centric. Surely not the best of the web--deprecated as that standard may be.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:11 PM on September 11, 2006

Worst. Callout. EVAR.
posted by clevershark at 3:22 PM on September 11, 2006

That baseballrace.com link was pretty USA-centric too. I say we dump any posts with baseball, mom and/or apple pie.
posted by eyeballkid at 3:23 PM on September 11, 2006

I hadnt seen that one actually , but i will launch a skirl in its general direction.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:27 PM on September 11, 2006

Roll out all the quality links about the UN.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:30 PM on September 11, 2006

I'm pretty sure 9/11 is pretty USA-centric. We should ditch all those too.
posted by bob sarabia at 3:31 PM on September 11, 2006

No ones disputing that 9/11 was tragic - i went to ground zero myself - If you can't see whats wrong with the basketball post , i really don't know what to say to you.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:41 PM on September 11, 2006

This is quite possibly the worst thing to ever happen in the entire history of worst things.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:42 PM on September 11, 2006

Absolutely fine to ban posts about baseball as long as we don't ban posts about cricket.
posted by athenian at 3:48 PM on September 11, 2006

It's not the best post, but I don't really get this. Is it because sports is the topic? I mean, there are posts all the time that focus exclusively on American domestic politics, but this one basketball post is the one that deserves a callout?
posted by Stauf at 3:51 PM on September 11, 2006

Says the guy who posted single-link posts about Margaret Thatcher and the East Enders. So UK-centric posts are the best of the web? Where does Canada fit in, because I was thinking the Tim Horton's webpage deserves some time on the front page.
posted by Gary at 3:51 PM on September 11, 2006

I'm confused about where to focus my outrage. Call me if you think you can help.
posted by OmieWise at 3:55 PM on September 11, 2006

i'll just quote from this charming essay :


"My plan is founded on a collection of five truths.


(3) Pick 15 players who would rather die in an Iraqi dungeon than lose to the likes of Puerto Rico"
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:58 PM on September 11, 2006

I can see lots of things wrong with that post, but it doesn't seem much worse than most of what gets posted here, every day. I mean, I agree with you, but why this one specifically?
posted by dg at 4:00 PM on September 11, 2006

I agree with you , chinese water torture is a terrible thing , but why this drip specifically ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:04 PM on September 11, 2006

Ah, sarge is just pissed off because they won't let him smoke on the bus. He gets a free pass from me. But, yeah, this isn't the best callout in the history of callouts.
posted by languagehat at 4:05 PM on September 11, 2006

It's the best callout in the last half hour though.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:17 PM on September 11, 2006

Just because a post is USA-centric doesn't mean it isn't or cannot be "best of the web."
posted by pwb503 at 4:23 PM on September 11, 2006

We ran out of the "best of the web" eight months ago. Now we're looking for the "next best" of the web.
posted by ?! at 4:26 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Am i the only non yank left on metafilter ? Deserted by my european comrades , i can only mount some sort of final last stand etc
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:53 PM on September 11, 2006

I'm not a huge fan of his, but it is Chuck Klosterman, noted music critic and drug user, writing about something that's as ostensibly non-hipster as it comes.

Similar to DF Wallace being obssesed with Roger Federer.

So I guess being into macho things unironically is the new irony. Or something. Oh, and this callout makes me wanna scream ""A chac! An t-siùrsach sin na Galla, dhàirich sinn is ghoid i mo mhàileid!"
posted by bardic at 5:00 PM on September 11, 2006

You've watched too much dotaman.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:03 PM on September 11, 2006

If it would make you happy, I or someone else could write a post about what a giant dickhead Michael Schumacher is and how F1 will be immensely better starting next season unless the stewards hand him a few wins even though he isn't driving. Also, he has a bananahead that bends in the middle. How he shares genes with Ralf, who seems classy enough and has a non-bendy head, I dunno.

Also, David Coulthard has a very big, very square head. Nyaah.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:25 PM on September 11, 2006

roo h8r
posted by owhydididoit at 5:28 PM on September 11, 2006

Oh sgt you cad!
posted by riotgrrl69 at 5:38 PM on September 11, 2006

lol

ur kidding rite?
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:39 PM on September 11, 2006

That'll show those fucking yankees, right sarge?
posted by bob sarabia at 6:11 PM on September 11, 2006

It's a one link post to an op-ed, and by that standard, it's not a great post, no. But it has nothing to do with it's Americentricity. And as one link posts to op-eds go, it's vastly different than the usual sort we get around here, and the discussion has been somewhat interesting.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:14 PM on September 11, 2006

I hope you guys are in the mood for a 30-day string of Chilean-national-volleyball-team-posts.
posted by signal at 6:22 PM on September 11, 2006

awesome. thanks, bardic. DFW's article in Tennis magazine back in 1995 or so is one of my favorite pieces of his. (anybody got a link to the full Federer story? $4.95? jeez.)
posted by mrgrimm at 6:26 PM on September 11, 2006

Ummm.... (nsfw)
posted by dersins at 6:26 PM on September 11, 2006

say can I trademark that and sue the living beejeebus out of everyone who uses it?

Please do.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:32 PM on September 11, 2006

a scotland-centric post would just get eaten by nessie.
posted by quonsar at 6:37 PM on September 11, 2006

Deserted by my european comrades
Says the man who didn't turn up for his own meetup! :)
posted by bonaldi at 7:27 PM on September 11, 2006

HAGGIS, YE WEE NONCY GITS
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:22 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I am guilty of pretty much only posting about New Zealand related things - but then again you don't hear the term "Kiwi-Imperialism" as often as you think you would, in any discussion outside rugby and sheep shearing.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 8:24 PM on September 11, 2006

sgt serenity, you're just pissed because international basketball rules don't allow scotsmen to bring stepladders on court so they can score once in awhile
posted by pyramid termite at 8:47 PM on September 11, 2006

This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cellphone at 8:32 AM on September 12, 2006

No it's not.
posted by MrMustard at 8:55 AM on September 12, 2006

I don't understand how sgt.serenity can complain about this post when he's posted about the East Enders. Unless it's specifically US-centric posts he doesn't like. And although I'm all in favor of TWIAVBP activism, complaining about US-centric content on a website whose membership is 90% American is pretty silly.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:59 AM on September 12, 2006

Says the man who didn't turn up for his own meetup! :)

yeah , i was sorry about that - i was there at 12 then i turned it into a kind of conceptual turn up at the meetup thing - i thought jack would be pleased - but when i saw his moist wee eyes radiating disapointment later in the week , oh i felt such a heel : (
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:25 AM on September 12, 2006

Am i the only non yank left on metafilter ?

No, just the loudest.

This week.

/Purchases megaphone.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:37 AM on September 12, 2006

Stop calling it the Eastenders you cultural imperialist fudgenipples.
posted by biffa at 10:11 AM on September 12, 2006

Miguel would be proud, sarge. You've managed to achieve his level of wankery in a metatalk post while simultaneously sneering at american provincialism. Pour yourself a brandy, boy.
posted by crunchland at 10:20 AM on September 12, 2006

Am i the only non yank left on metafilter ? - sgt.serenity

Certainly not. But as Stauf points out: there are posts all the time that focus exclusively on American domestic politics, but this one basketball post is the one that deserves a callout?

I'm just used to so much USA focused stuff here. Many members are American, they do a lot of American posts. I either read them and learn about the US, or I skip them and learn about other interesting things.
posted by raedyn at 10:20 AM on September 12, 2006

I'm all in favor of TWIAVBP activism

Twisting Wombats In A Vat of Berry Pulp? Geez.

At least you're not for SPEBQSIA activism. Unless you are, in which case I shall start calling you Pervy McPervert.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:45 AM on September 12, 2006

no one ever gets compared to crunchland , eh ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:49 AM on September 12, 2006

pervy mcpervert ? thats a good one , not as good as my hoped for new name though ...if i ever get five bucks..
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:49 AM on September 12, 2006

Wait, I'm still confused here. They play football in Scotland?
posted by koeselitz at 11:50 AM on September 12, 2006

They do, but they call it "haggis," so it's easy to get confused.
posted by languagehat at 12:00 PM on September 12, 2006

if i ever get five bucks..

Don't you mean 2.67 pounds? Because 5 bucks is so usa-centric.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 12:22 PM on September 12, 2006

posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 1:17 PM on September 12, 2006

sgt.serenity posted "A usa-centric post is surely not the best of the web."

At least it wasn't a post about a sandwich shop closing in NYC.

signal writes "hope you guys are in the mood for a 30-day string of Chilean-national-volleyball-team-posts"

It would be interesting if only to see what you can come up with on days 29 and 30.
posted by Mitheral at 2:17 PM on September 12, 2006

At least it wasn't a post about a sandwich shop closing in NYC.

Hey, that post got 222 comments, and a lot more people cared about it than about, at a rough guess, 80% of the posts around here.
posted by languagehat at 2:44 PM on September 12, 2006

not enough to keep the sandwich shop open , unfortunately.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:04 PM on September 12, 2006

ah yes the 80% > 222 rule?

Don't post a thread unless 80% of mefi cares enough to post 222 comments on it. Failure to comply will result in all comments being made in meta instead.
posted by srboisvert at 4:06 PM on September 12, 2006

people shouldnt post unless their name is madamejujujive.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:10 PM on September 12, 2006

None of you deserve knoblewurst. None of you deserve kishka.
posted by kosem at 4:35 PM on September 12, 2006

you don't hear the term "Kiwi-Imperialism" as often as you think you would, in any discussion outside rugby and sheep shearing

"shearing"?

You kiwis have the strangest slang.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:36 PM on September 12, 2006

People have been complaining about the US-centric posts for a long time round here. It makes no difference, because most of the members, and the BD*, are themselves of 'the yank persuasion'.

The odds on them agreeing with the estimable Sarge are about the same as them voting to increase tax on petrol (aka gas, though it's a liquid....) - no matter how sensible that is, it's not in their self-interest to admit it.

Sigh. It's OK in the end. Accept it in the knowledge that, if we are still here in a few years to come - the yanks will be making the same complaint..

at metatalk.metafilter.cn

*BD = Big Dog, or Benevolent Dictator, or ... I dunno, Bona Dick?
posted by dash_slot- at 4:53 PM on September 12, 2006

OK, from now on, I say: only Kazakh-centric posts! Who's with me?
posted by languagehat at 5:04 PM on September 12, 2006

Yes! *sings* Throw the Yank down the well
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:40 PM on September 12, 2006

Throw the Yank down the well
So MeFilter can be free
You must grab him by his horns
Then we have a big party
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:43 PM on September 12, 2006

You know what is even worse than that thread?


The Holocaust.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:09 PM on September 12, 2006

Ah, Scotland.
posted by dersins at 6:31 PM on September 12, 2006

USA pwn joo
posted by spaltavian at 6:33 PM on September 12, 2006

I'm up for that languagehat - United Nations supports Kazakhstan’s efforts regarding interfaith relations (purposed to fill gap in misunderstanding or incomprehension of cultures, valuables, traditions of various nations, residing on earth).
posted by tellurian at 6:34 PM on September 12, 2006

Am i the only non yank left on metafilter ? Deserted by my european comrades , i can only mount some sort of final last stand etc

We'll do whatever you want if only you punctuate properly for Christ's sake.
posted by fleacircus at 11:35 PM on September 12, 2006

"We'll do whatever you want if only you punctuate properly[][,] for Christ's sake."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:48 PM on September 12, 2006

And so it begins!
posted by languagehat at 6:58 AM on September 14, 2006