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Originally posted by Groove
OK, you're mentioning Outback Steakhouse ironically and that's witty and appropriate  But it's also another comment that I've read repeatedly on this board and it's generally used to illustrate how pathetic Australia is. When the reality is that Outback Steakhouse is an AMERICAN company! To the best of my knowledge there are no Outback Steakhouses in Australia. Most Australians who have not visited the USA would never have heard of Outback Steakhouse let alone been to one.
Every time Joes starts one of these anti-US threads there are numerous Americans who dive-in bashing Australia instead of bashing Joe and his arguments. Frankly I wouldn't object to a bit of Aussie-bashing if there were at least a hint of truth in the comments being made. There are plenty of criticisms that can be fairly leveled at my country. But in order to make them you'd need to know something more about Australia than what you've seen in a television commercial.
Look I'll even give the Aussie bashers some ammo...
Try criticising our treatment of refugees. Give us a ribbing about our convict heritage. Mention the phrase "tall poppies syndrome". Ask Joe why the Australian public watches more Hollywood films than they do Australian films. Have a go at our inability to reconcile with our indiginous population. Mention the fact that our Prime Minister sees us as the US's Deputy Sheriff in South East Asia.
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As I said, I would like to think that they were just taking the piss and knew what there was not a hint of truth in their criticism. But the fact the overwhelming majority of Americans think incredibly highly of Australia so rarely (if ever) do you hear any criticism about Australia. Consquently, people reacting to Joe don't have any fodder so they end up making stupid comments about Outback Steakhouse. I do remember reading that a few times thinking, god I hope they're kidding.
As far as the whole Foster's beer thing goes. Unless you've traveled with Aussies like I have you may not know that most Aussies think Foster's is piss. All most Americans see are these commercials that say Fosters: That's Australian for Beer, Mate. I'm sure you export more of that piss to the U.S. than you actually consume.
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Have a laugh about Australia' naivety in being the second country (after the UK) to commit troops to George W's Iraqi crusade, and have an even bigger laugh about the fact that most Americans don't even know about that support or appreciate it!
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For the record, I've brought this fact up at least 3 or 4 times on this board. It is mentioned frequently in the U.S. news outlets that Australia committed just after the U.K., but I doubt people that get 100% of their news from GFY know that.
Cheers....I'm out for now, mate.
