I get a LOT of spam, most of it I just silently delete… but this one… this one is special. It’s from Russia, and any email or offer or web site from Russia is a scam. The place is the world capital of scams. I’d hate to actually try using the Internet from within Russia, as the citizens of that fine country probably find they can’t trust anything at all.
This spam discusses a super technology which has some magical properties…
This unique Green technology is biodegradable, secure and its molecules are so microscopic that it can penetrate virtually any natural or manmade material, and break the bond between those materials and hydrocarbons. … is being utilized to increase production 100 to 500% in marginal oil wells, and is also a silver bullet for property owners, as well as state and federal environmental agencies in the remediation of contaminated soil and water, making it possible for the first time to recover hydrocarbons and precious metals from soil that would otherwise be hauled away and burned to ash.
I was writing up all the ways that this spam was wrong, but it ties back into my screed last weekend about how Star Trek Countdown didn’t even TRY to use plausible science. This one is an obvious fail for anyone who ever took chemistry in high school, and a clear example of how Russians consider Americans to be fecking idiots.
Regarding the “stupid” link: While I cannot say that I hear many jokes about Americans here, these jokes would actually work here. The stereotypes about Americans are very similar.
We tend to joke about Norwegians being stupid and Norwegians joke about us Swedes being stupid. I think it is a common pattern to have others to joke about, without it necessarily being government endorsed.
But I am glad that WordPress has a spam filter, I have probably 11-12 times as many spam comments as real comments and most of them get caught. I could imagine that popular blogs will have even more spam.
Really, the first lesson of the Internet should be that everyone around the world is … pretty much the same regardless where they come from or what language they speak. We’re all jerks or heroes in pretty much the same way. We’re ALL THE SAME. It isn’t that hard to understand.
A large portion of Americans *are* fecking stupid. Just look at how many of us believe the Earth to be only 6000 years old. Sad. 🙁
Fundamentalism isn’t confined to the US. Look at the Taliban, or the religious extremists who are tearing apart Iraq. Just to name a couple.
I doubt anyone who admits to believing the Earth is only 6000 years old really cares whether or not that’s true. It doesn’t affect their lives one way or the other. Believing arbitrary things like that sets them apart from people who they feel are putting intellectualism ahead of faith.
Believing impossible things doesn’t make someone stupid. It just means they don’t care. And apathy is universal.