How Do We Re-Balance America?

[pieces o nine]

^   from your mouth to Roger Ailes's ear!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Seriously? It doesn't look like that from here, but then again you are our resident Tory since beagle left...

[Aggie]

I also notice that the Beeb's news website has taken on a distinctly tabloid feel/format  (although the content appears about the same) in the past few months.   

[Swatopluk]

Seems to an outsider that Bob has a very good point.  Your media stir up all sorts of trouble.  What you Americans need is to get the BBC to run your broadcasting.  They're so biased towards the liberal-left that it's become a national joke.

US broadcasting corporations have a certain tardition* to not leave BBC programs untouched. Monty Python's Flying Circus got hacked to pieces and rearranged (without even telling them) and David Attenborough's nature programs get dubbed** (in the past the BBC was able to prevent it but now we have dubs by among others Sigourney Weaver*** and Oprah Winfrey)

*unintentionally misspelled but it fits
**formal reason: Americans may have trouble to understand Sir David's British English. Originally he was supposed to be dubbed by Robert Redford
***nothing against her personally. She would be great presenter by herself. But to have her dub Attenborough is ridiculous.

[Swatopluk]

Crossposted too  in the 'are leftist better informed?' thread

I think this study has some relevance for the discussion. If not even college students learn critical thinking (esp. when studying business)...
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/441115/huge_numbers_of_students_don%27t_learn_critical_thinking_in_college

[Opsa]

 

I busted out laughing over "tardition". It deserves a place in the Toadfish Lexicon. Will you do the honors, Swato?

...ahhhh.... I needed that laugh. Thanks.

[Griffin NoName]

Seriously? It doesn't look like that from here, but then again you are our resident Tory since beagle left...

Doesn't look like it from here either................ but David and I are political enemies

[Sibling DavidH]

True, but only politically. 

[Griffin NoName]

^^ of course. Being political enemies improves debate.

[Bluenose]

Seems to an outsider that Bob has a very good point.  Your media stir up all sorts of trouble.  What you Americans need is to get the BBC to run your broadcasting.  They're so biased towards the liberal-left that it's become a national joke.

US broadcasting corporations have a certain tardition* to not leave BBC programs untouched. Monty Python's Flying Circus got hacked to pieces and rearranged (without even telling them) and David Attenborough's nature programs get dubbed** (in the past the BBC was able to prevent it but now we have dubs by among others Sigourney Weaver*** and Oprah Winfrey)

*unintentionally misspelled but it fits
**formal reason: Americans may have trouble to understand Sir David's British English. Originally he was supposed to be dubbed by Robert Redford
***nothing against her personally. She would be great presenter by herself. But to have her dub Attenborough is ridiculous.

My initial reaction when reading this was to think, you're kidding me, right?  But then I realised that no one would make up such an absurd idea.  Dubbing over Sir David's wonderful voice just seems like some sort of major sacrilige to me. No criticism of Sigourney, she can come and hide from aliens in my cupboard any time she likes.

[Aggie]

I've seen American productions gratuitously subtitle slightly-accented English quite frequently* - it annoys me to no end because I have a very hard time not reading subtitles when they are present.   I'm sure they'd subtitle the Queen.

Then again, y'all haven't had a leader like Jean Chretien to decipher.   
[youtube=425,350]LUwrn_k34DA[/youtube]


_{*even indie films; I watched I Know I'm Not Alone last night and they indulged in it, to my chagrin.}


On a serious note though, it makes me wonder if a significant number of Americans assume they will not understand someone who is speaking (accented) English as a second language without making the effort to try.

[pieces o nine]

There is quite a range of accents across the USofA and most of us are able to understand each other without subtitles or translators.*  So I find it annoying and rude to see subtitles competing for attention whenever a 'foreigner' is speaking English -- even when the native language is English.

But I do know people whose mental filters tells them that they can't understand what 'those people' are saying.   


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* Unless two people from quite different areas push their in-group's slang to the limits while indulging the regional accent, but that's another story.

[Swatopluk]

The Brits are not fully free of the same vice. Lazytown got partially redubbed for the UK. American words like 'candy' were replaced by British like 'sweets'. Given that in that case it was the rhyming word in a song it became really obvious (it spoils the rhythm too by having a syllable less).

There are countries much smaller than the US where local dialects differ so much that it is actually necessary to use subtitles occasionally. Norway and Germany are examples of that.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Hey, I was watching True Grit last night and I would've welcomed subtitles...* 

*My dad would've really welcome them as he could hardly understand anything.

[Aggie]

There are countries much smaller than the US where local dialects differ so much that it is actually necessary to use subtitles occasionally. Norway and Germany are examples of that.

We tend to lean on translators here, for news and the like.  Top-level politicians are expected to be close to fluid in both French and English and it's not unusual to hear speeches switching back and forth, with the translators jumping in as needed.