THE MEDIA AND PRIME TIME TELEVISION
The under lying "hummm" on a global scale is that Americans are dumb, Lazy, Fat and Obnoxious with a lust for sex, drugs, rock n' roll and guns that only John MacAfee could rival.
Having lived and worked with Americans all over North America I have learned that
NO OTHER LIE COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
Pop culture TV does nothing for the image. It's funny but it's old. It almost reminds me of the "tweet like it's the 1600's" twitter account. I struggle with that concept for a twitter account. It hurts everyone.
THE OIL PATCH
Working in the oil patch, on many different levels and fields, I had the opportunity to work and live with many Americans over 30 years. I can tell you this much. They are smart, strong and holds true to their anthem where it sings of bravery. There is something rooted deep in their being that makes them brave. I can personally say that about Asian Americans, African Americans, German Americans and American Americans. They were, they are; all Americans.
The drilling rigs themselves back then would test any man. There was no women in the patch that time and certainly no one from the LBGTQIDEWBBRTTICYLLDEA community. Did I get that right?
You had to be sharp physically, mentally and you needed most of all HEART. When it's 50 degrees below zero even solid steel starts to break like wooden 2 by 4's. I have seen full grown young men start crying out there after a few days wanting to go home. It was always be "my grandma died and I have to go home". Seems the greatest risk was death to family members when their son's went off to the rigs!
I didn't see any of that from our Southern counterparts. There are many tasks that required a certain nerve like going to the top of the derrick (30 - 80 feet) with the steel covered in frozen drilling fluid, blizzard conditions, wearing 100 lbs of clothing with 20 lbs of ice on it just to replace the lightbulb at the top. If you think firemen are tough...that's like office work compared to this stuff.
Then there was the "endurance challenge" of being on your feet sling'in and slamm'in tongs for 16 hours tripp'in pipe. (tongs are hundreds of pounds used to screw/unscrew the hundreds and hundreds pieces of pipe when going in or out of the hole). The boys from the south were always up for the challenge and rarely outdone.
Then there is the "camplife". (for the wives at home I am not talking about your husband, he was always well behaved and eyes for only you). These camps are not like tents. They are massive complexes made up of mobile units that has a gym, hot tub, lounge, prvt rooms etc. Camplife is where everyone really gets to know each other.
The only risk at camp is STI's, failed liver or getting kicked out for brawling. There are women working at the camps and shit happens late at night sometimes when your just going down to the cafeteria for a piece of "strawberry cheesecake and a few leftover jumbo prawns" and next thing you know you got a mouthful of... :)
Sorry, back to the Americans. (Adult ADHD which works great for the crypto! ) When the time came, they were always down to back you up when shit started to get rough at camp or the local "one horse" pub when you literally have to fight the whole damn town! Oh those were the days...
As the years went by and I found myself around middle managers, supervisors, owners and big "oilmen". I found the same consistent bravery if it were public speaking, reprimanding or standing up for something proper they were in there like a dirty shirt. Funny too...This one guy from Texas would always have somethin funny to say to break up the mood on bad days.
I can remember complaining that I thought my girl was cheating on me when I was away and he said, "their all slut's Ricky except for mom. But ever her you gotta watch when she's drinkin!" Without the humour we wouldn't have made it.
At the highest level they were the guys willing to roll the die on a new venture, expansion or investment when others were shying back.
Even YAMAMOTO, their enemy, said similar things. He was educated and spent much time in the USA.
Last but certainly not least. This is a sensitive one that is hot as "%u&k and more polarized than the flat earth debate. Please read all of it before you have me dragged out and beaten because it has a lot of validity and no where near as generalized as my above assessment of Americans.
THEY HAVE ALL THE GUNS IN THE WORLD! (that was my last generalization).
Seriously though, when the topic comes up and you start pulling out pictures of your guns or talking about them it all becomes very clear.
Here in Canada we have a lot of guns. Most guys will have something for Moose, a smaller one for deer, a shotgun for the birds and a 22 for fun at the range. Most of us only have a few guns for the practicality of each. Then the Americans start talkin. These guys all have hundreds of guns! Of course there are many that don't have guns but it don't matter. The ones that do, they have enough to go around and around and around again!
There are states that have more guns than most countries entire militaries. Now I know that the "crowd shootings" are a problem and it has to be stopped somehow. How? That's not an easy one and it has gone this far there is no going back. Now there has to be a solution that everyone can just live with and thankfully so.
There is a piece of that aspect standing for one of the last real forces that can stand up if the time ever came they had to. Those entirely opposed to guns would find themselves seeking shelter and protection from those armed well enough to protect themselves and others. You don't think it could happen? Talk to those from Croatia, Serbia or Cambodia that found themselves fighting brother on brother in modern times. They never imagined such a thing could ever happen but it did and in "modern times".
I would like to talk about that subject more but it is so difficult when most opponents won't entertain the facts on the issue. In short Ann Coulter knows what to do at this point and I think most of the world does as well. If you think the answer to get rid of them altogether, well first of all that would only come at the cost of perhaps millions of lives.
You would need a lot of school shooting to add up to that amount but I agree that just "one" school shooting is enough to say "hey..something has to change". We want our kids safe at school.
I'll say this much and I support Ann Coulter, "The countries where everyone has guns has the least amount of school shootings". By least I mean NONE! It's the "Adult Cobra" approach. They may bite each other in combat but they don't inject venom. They know they both have it so they keep their shit at a dull roar.
If these cowards knew others around them were locked and loaded they would still find away to do their "cowardess attacks" but less lives would be lost.
The Americans needs to keep their guns, for ALL our sakes. They just need to fix the program and have made great strides just recently. They will soon be forced to undergo more thorough screening as it should have been. They gotta crack down on the GUN SHOW sales that are sneaking in all the time and make "certain firearms" legal only for the range. That's actually more powerful of a rule than you think.
Here in Canada there are many guns that are strictly only legal for the gun ranges and if you were ever stopped with one "off range" you are in so much trouble you may never be allowed a gun again.
The other really awesome rule is; Our ex girlfriends get to help decide if we should have a gun. I'm not kidding. They call your ex'es and ask how they feel about it. That's after all the other criteria have been met like "stable", no depression, no recent job loss, no break-up/break down in relationship.
There's plently of safe, sane friends of mine that have to come hunting with me because they are not allowed guns because of something minor, even unrelated. You have to be on your best behavior and understand it is a privilege to own a gun here in Canada. The powers that be take it very very seriously as they should!
Anyways I just wanted to say thanks to all my American Bro's I have met, partied, fought, worked, and lived with over my lifetime! It was a pleasure and honour to have worked with you all! "All Ya'll mmercans"!
...in the words of the one, god rest his soul, who got me going in the oil patch "Any man can drill a hole kid - it takes a real man to make em squirt", gawd we miss you..the things that came outta your mouth Rick Hill.
Anyone really interested in rig life check out the book
"Don't tell my mom I work on the drilling rigs, she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse".
Great read and pretty close to the real thing. I got some hilarious stories of my own and I think I'm going to post a few of them but please - that was a long time ago so NO JUDGEMENTS! Peace and love yall from the salty crypto cowboy in Northern Alberta!