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""Ugly American" Moments"
cmaybur 259 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Network TV Show Guest Star"
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04-15-02, 04:33 PM (EST)
 
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""Ugly American" Moments" |
LAST EDITED ON 04-15-02 AT 07:40 PM (EST)As much fun as "The Amazing Race" is to watch, we certainly have been treated to plenty of moments that perpetuate the "Ugly American" stereotype. How many moments can you remember from both races? In no particular order... 1) Amie and Ana both yell at and insult the natives of Zambia when they can't get directions to Batoka Gorge. 2) Paul and Amie create a scene at the Johannesburg Airport when they don't get the service they want (if Kim and Leslie are to be believed). 3) Kim and Leslie cut in line for a taxi at the airport in Paris. 4) Paul takes out his frustration on the Eiffel Tower by kicking the wall and assaulting a telescope. 5) Kim and Leslie pick a fight with their cab driver in Paris. 6) Pat and Brenda are loud when recovering their clue from the Panthéon in Paris. ("Here, kitty kitty kitty..." ... shhhh, it's a crypt, you have to be quiet...) 7) Amie is rude to the cab driver in Les Baux. 8) Joe and Bill yell at the camel wrangler at the Sahara Desert oasis pit stop. 9) Emily sets fire to the wall of the El Jem coliseum. (Okay, this was an accident, but you have to be careful when dealing with 2000-year-old monuments...) 10) Joe and Bill cause an international incident at the Tunis Airport. 11) Karyn is rude to numerous cab drivers in India. 12) Joe is rude to numerous people at the Red Fort Market in Delhi when they won't get out of the way of his rickshaw. 13) Emily is rude to numerous people at the same market when she can't get directions to the Taj Khema Hotel. 14) Joe screams "where's the damn manager" when he has cab trouble en route to the Taj Mahal. 15) Joe and Bill sneak into the Taj Mahal without paying. 16) The entire fast-forward challenge at the temple in Bangkok seems disrespectful. It consists of having the contestants running around the temple, topped off with Joe and Bill whooping and hollering when they win. So much for reverence... 17) Emily tells a person in Bangkok "screw you" when she can't get directions. 18) Joe and Bill and Kevin and Drew yell at their rickshaw drivers in Beijing to go faster. 19) Frank and Margarita hop numerous fences at the Great Wall instead of following the designated route. 20) Rob is rude to his cab driver in Beijing (though maybe he deserved it...) 21) Tara and Wil yell at their Brazilian cab driver in Spanish and are rude to him. 22) Wil is totally obnoxious to the "gondolier" (or whatever he's called) in Thailand. 23) Blake pulls his "offering" out of the fire in Bangkok and proceeds to smash it out on the floor of the shrine. 24) Wil is rude to the clerk in Namibia when arranging for a taxicab. 25) Gary makes insulting remarks to his cab driver in Bangkok about wishing that England had conquered Thailand so that he would speak English instead of Thai. (I think Gary can forget about ever being named Ambassador to Thailand). What else am I forgetting?
Chris
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Serendipity 525 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Reality Show Commentator"
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04-15-02, 07:16 PM (EST)
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1. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
No doubt some ugly behavior.Tourists in groups do not always behave well, and when you're in a race, it's probably only worse. Just this past fall I took my 87 year old grandmother into the ladies' room of a Greenwich Village restaurant. While we were waiting our turn for a stall, the door burst open. Without exageration, 35 to 40 Japanese tourists pushed in - couldn't even close the outside door. As the stalls were emptied, they just rushed in - regardless of the fact that several people were already waiting. Finally one of them realized what they had done, held everyone aside and waved my grandmother in. While touring in Germany last August, we visited the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber - a favorite of Japanese tourists. Twice we had restaurant tables stolen by young Japanese women who pushed past us. Their husbands/boyfriends all apologized, but didn't refrain from sitting down. An entire busload of tourists from Italy apologized to us profusely as they pushed past us to get into a museum. I even had my hand kissed because I had been pushed into a wall. Not trying to pick on any nationaly - have met so many great people from all contries - just trying to explain that tourists are not or should not always be held up as representatives of their countries. Especially not when they're in a race.
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geobandito 3 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "American Cancer Society Spokesperson"
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04-16-02, 05:05 PM (EST)
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2. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
Blake has had a couple more that I can remember. Shortly after the flaming car incident, when they had to pray, he prayed for the 'confused people' of Thailand and hoped that they would find Jesus. My other favorite was when he thought he could charm the woman at the airport by giving her a carved rhino, and then felt the need to tell her, "It's a rhino."
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curveball 225 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Network TV Show Guest Star"
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04-16-02, 05:17 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
first of all, I have always thought Gary was an idiot, and not very funny. However, you cannot include his attempt at humor while talking into the camera as an ugly American moment. What Wil does to the locals is ugly for sure, and Joe and Bill were rude, but Gary is harmless. And you have CBS to blame for most of it, because they really should not be sending the racers to places where running is not allowed, or loud talking is offensive. It is a race, for a million dollars, these people will not take the time to be respectful.
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cmaybur 259 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Network TV Show Guest Star"
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04-17-02, 09:03 AM (EST)
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5. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
<< I have always thought Gary was an idiot, and not very funny. However, you cannot include his attempt at humor while talking into the camera as an ugly American moment. >>I disagree. He may not offend someone at the time that he says it, but he will offend someone when they finally see the episode. This is no different than in the first episode of the first race when the teams were trying to get to Batoka Gorge. Amie got beligerent with one local woman who either couldn't provide directions or understand what she (Amie) was saying. She was totally obnoxious, and was probably the worst behavior in that episode. Ana also became upset with the locals, but saved her snarky comments for Matt (and the audience) by not insulting the local to his/her face. Neither Amie nor Ana were behaving well in that circumstance, though Amie's behavior was certainly worse. Plus, Gary's idiotic comment about colonizing Thailand was made inside the cab where the driver could hear him. << Gary is harmless. >> I disagree. << And you have CBS to blame for most of it, because they really should not be sending the racers to places where running is not allowed, or loud talking is offensive. >> Partially. I think the fast-forward challenge at the temple in Bangkok was a poor choice because it forced the contestants into playing that silly game in a place of reverence. They were running around, and it seemed like they were trying to be semi-quiet, but the pressure of the situation caused some yelling. Then again, I think the producers cooked up that task at the last minute to capitalize on the competition between Team Guido and Nancy/Emily. Had only one team gone after it, what would have been the point of playing the game? Other than losing precious time trying to find the right bowl of coins?
Chris
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curveball 225 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Network TV Show Guest Star"
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04-17-02, 02:40 PM (EST)
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7. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
Chris - first of all, I still think Gary is an idiot. His comment made in the taxi cab was a joke. There is nothing wrong with him wishing SOMEONE spoke english there. If the taxi cab driver did speak English enough to understand him, then he should have agreed with him, one word that is 18 letters long is a bit much. If I was in a cab where some non-Americans were going off, in their own language, about English and how confusing it is that "wood" and "would" are the pronounced the same, or "two" and "too", or whatever, I'd have to agree with them. What I'm getting at is that first of all I doubt the cab driver had a clue what Gary was going off about (or else he probably wouldn't have been going off about nobody speaking English) and secondly, if he did understand him, he'd know he was joking. But maybe I'm wrong there, because you don't seem to think he was joking. And finally, I don't think going off about someone else's language is grounds for "An Ugly American Moment" What really gets me is when they start yelling at the cab drivers, and the drivers clearly don't understand them, and are trying to help, but just don't get it. LAsy year, I thought the driver Guido had at the end was going to cry they were so rude to him.
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mavsfan 693 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Reality Show Commentator"
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04-18-02, 03:13 AM (EST)
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8. "Consider the context" |
I would point out that even with the mandatory pit stops, the teams are frequently way stressed out and apparently exhausted.You listed 25 "ugly America incidents". You mentioned several incidents with cab drivers, and while I don't want to say it's all the cabbies fault, they aren't completely blameless either. 1) We've seen several cabbies indicate "Yes I know where ******* is, then once the players are in the cab, it becomes apparent they have no clue where they are going." 2) We've seen 2 cabbies drop off the players at a location that WAS NOT the expected destination. 3) Not to mention, we've also seen cabbies apparently jack up the price of the ride after they've already negotiated a price. Regarding getting directions, we've seen several locals who apparently understood little or no English nod and say "Yeah" to every question the player posed to them. Or the locals start giving contradictory directions to a location they knew nothing about. I don't mean to say this justifys angry reactions from the players, sometimes they make me cringe. But considering they are tired, stressed, and frustrated, I don't think their reaction are surprising. Regarding Blake praying for the "Heathens" and pulling the offering out of the fire, I think your being a little hard on him. I think Blakes prayer for the "poor people who don't know Jesus and worship Idols" was the best prayer he could come up with on the spur of the moment. I suspect he takes serious the commandment about don't pray to idol and he was put into a position by the game where he had to pray before Budda. Given the personal crisis he was placed in between his faith and the game, I think he prayer was the best he could come up with on the spur of the moment. I don't think he was trying to be insulting. As for the offering, I think he just panicked. He realized he had to burn his offering to get the next clue, and didn't stop to think, "Ok, just buy a new offering." He just thought "Oh, no, I'm not going to get the next clue. I'm going to lose the game." Finally, I've got to think the producers OK'd it with the management of the facilities where the send the players. (They don't just set up a Pit Stop or Detour any old place). If they put a Pit Stop or Detour in a museum, library, church, or temple they have to realize the players are likely to cause some disruption. If thats not acceptable, don't put the Pit Stop or Detour there.
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jase 187 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Blistex Spokesperson"
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04-18-02, 02:50 PM (EST)
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9. "RE: Consider the context" |
I agree with mavsfan's comments about Blake. He made a bad decision taking the offering out of the fire, BUT, during the moments in which the teams discuss/reflect on a situation, he did say it was stupid for him to take the offering out and he was sorry he did so.
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Esbea 7377 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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09-05-02, 11:53 AM (EST)
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11. "RE: Consider the context" |
>Regarding Blake praying for the "Heathens"
>and pulling the offering out
>of the fire, I think
>your being a little hard
>on him. I think
>Blakes prayer for the "poor
>people who don't know Jesus
>and worship Idols" was the
>best prayer he could come
>up with on the spur
>of the moment. I
>suspect he takes serious the
>commandment about don't pray to
>idol and he was put
>into a position by the
>game where he had to
>pray before Budda. Given
>the personal crisis he was
>placed in between his faith
>and the game, I think
>he prayer was the best
>he could come up with
>on the spur of the
>moment. I don't think
>he was trying to be
>insulting. As for the offering,
>I think he just panicked.
> He realized he had
>to burn his offering to
>get the next clue, and
>didn't stop to think, "Ok,
>just buy a new offering."
> He just thought "Oh,
>no, I'm not going to
>get the next clue.
>I'm going to lose the
>game."
>
(prefaced by saying that Im not a Blake-basher)
I always had an issue with this. Blakes comment about praying to false idols was rude. No one told him to "pray to Buddah" just to say a prayer. THe whole point of the thing was to honor your ancestors....pretty common in all religions. My take on him taking the flaming car out of the fire was that it was a vain attempt to save some money..that he could just take it to the right temple and burn it there. Possibly his lack of travel experience hurt him a bit here, but just because its not HIS religion doesnt mean that he should show such disrespect for the adherents.
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magpie 1 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "American Cancer Society Spokesperson"
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09-05-02, 10:41 AM (EST)
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10. "RE: "Ugly American" Moments" |
Sorry about the late posting but TAR2 finished screening this week in OZ.I almost took offence to Paige when ariving in Hawaii when she said something along the lines of "its good to be back in the USA where they speak English" having just come from Australia and New Zealand until she got in a taxi and the driver, a native(?), didn't speak much english! Unfortunaley while racing they would have relized they where pasting through greater countries.
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