Whilst grazing on the internet I come across some weird and wonderful things. From discovering Bill Maher’s New Rules on YouTube to learning about the different strains of marijuana available in the coffeeshops of Amsterdam (for research purposes, ahem). But the following article is one of the funniest and I found it on the Ford’s own website. Ford got into this Web 2.0 social networking thing with a vengeance at thefordstory.com
The article starts off OK. Ford crowing about their quality beating everyone else. O.k., we’ll discuss that another time. It’s the comments that raise my interest. The second comment starts off a “Toyota vs Ford” debate by saying “Toyota is so much better.” I call flame-bait, that comment was written March 13, at the height of the Toyota-troubles. Then the conversation turns into an “All MBA’s aren’t bad” string (conveniently forgetting that Alan Mulally is an engineer, first and foremost). The comment is finished with a flourish: “WE MUST PROMOTE AN ‘INNOVATIVE AMERICA-‘ENVISIONEERING’ ITS FUTURE”.
The patriotic theme carries on with “C Burens” commenting that “The American public has forgotten that the Japanese once bombed us, and many other foreign countries hate US too. If we don’t support “USA Made” and all manufacturing goes abroad, do you think for a minute that the average Joe will be able to afford any car or truck? Think again, demand (for vehicles) increases pricing, “scarcity” drives up prices and once again, only the very wealthy will be driving vehicles. How far do you plan to walk?”
He wasn’t the only one in this line of thinking. “Gary” says “I agree, if you buy Japanese or German, you are sending your cash to the very countries that not so long ago were murdering millions of us westerners. My 2006 F150 is now 4 yrs old and I can honestly say it has had absolutely nothing go wrong with it yet, not even a bulb.”
This carries on and on through the whole comments section. So after reading all of these comments, I only have one question: Historical inaccuracies, and the U.S. educational system aside, have some of TTAC’s Best and Brightest been moonlighting on the Ford website? Nah, can’t be. It would have degenerated into a heated discussion about health insurance.
Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Wonder what these guys would say about vehicles made by foreign corporations in American factories?
Global internet access has made all the ignorant people of this world able of stating their irrelevant opinions. There’s enough static out there to make you cry. I ain’t got the time, baby. I ain’t got the time…
Is that self incrimination?
Cammy, I don’t know why you bother reading half the replies on sites like that. It’s almost as bad as reading the comments people leave on Youtube, 99% of them go from zero to racist in about 4 posts.
At least us commentators here on TTAC are mostly unbiased, mostly well read and vaguely literate… *Falls over laughing*
Historical inaccuracies, and the U.S. educational system aside, …
Those things aside, there’s nothing left.
This was on TTAC a few days ago. It seems the only appropriate response.
Though some of the points above are valid like the future of the US industrial base, flame baiting really does muddle the debate.
so in the spirit of adding to endless/nothing resolved flame wars, here are some random points that should be added…
how many Fords/Lincolns/Mercs are hecho en Mexico?
I’m assuming that no one above ever buys foreign goods at Wal-Mart (or Target or any other big box store).
People complain about pissing away US dollars for oil to the A-Rabs. So I hope those same people don’t mock those bleeding hearts who drive Priuses or want incentives for EV cars.
If people really want to support the American industrial base, stop shopping at the big box retailers (or be willing to pay more for US made goods), buy a UAW car and demand better point of origin labeling laws for food and goods.
Interesting tidbit, there’s a good chance that the pasta sauce you last ate was canned in America from Chinese tomato paste. Go google it, lol. Oh and many military historians will say that it was the Russians and their 22 million war dead that really did the heavy lifting during WWII.
There you go, ruining a good discussion with facts.
…have some of TTAC’s Best and Brightest been moonlighting on the Ford website?
Nope. I only post here and on the Cher Fan Club forums.
That’s quite a cheering section they have over there. It’s probably safe to assume only Ford lovers would hang out there, but even taking that into account the praise and love there almost makes you think the entire comment section was written in house.
Perhaps my uneducated mind is missing the point here. What exatly are you trying to say Cammy? Fords in house site may actually have plant workers posting? Gee, and for the most part thier homers? That Ford lets uneducated people post? Who knew?
Or maybe the internet is only for the intelectuality elite?
I’m actually kind of confused as to what Cammy is asking, myself.
And should the internet be kept as the domain of the intellectual elite? I’m not sure about that: I’ve seen (and been part of) some terrific debates on USENET in the past and quite frankly I do sometimes wish the Eternal September would end because the intellectual content has gone down the tubes—but we’d end up with an awful echo chamber if we did. Those academic debates get really old, really fast.
Nothing excuses Youtube comments or most of /b/, though.
I’m surprised you can’t see what I’m getting at.
I found it surprising that a site which is owned by Ford would let a comments section degenerate into chaos.
The quip about the B&B was more of a joke as the comments section follow an eerliy similar path to ones which happen on here.
Cammy –
Any internet forum will eventually devolve into chaos given sufficient popularity and insufficient moderation. Just browsing your link the the Ford story it doesn’t seem so bad, I’ve certainly seen a lot worse.
I read AB, but I don’t bother to comment there usually because the repartee generally isn’t up to the same level as it is here, plus their comment system and post verification process is awful. I also occasionally read Blue Oval Forums when I have a particular technical question that I can’t find the answer for anywhere else, but any of the brand specific sites too easily become love-fests (and occasionally troll bashings) and aren’t all that interesting overall. Some friendly intellectual debate is healthy for the mind, it can open you up to new opinions, new information, or at the very least give you some practice defending the views you already have.
psarhjinian –
I really wanted to make a point that there are plenty of quality usenet posts, but after browsing a bit, I can’t. I have picked up a bit of useful info here and there, although it does seem as if the quality of post is inversely proportional to the number of views a video has. I guess that idea can be applied to internet forums and blogs in general, TTAC can have meaningful discussions because it is popular enough to draw a diverse crowd, but not so popular that it draws ‘first’ type posts.
And yeah, if anyone ever wants to see how quickly things can go down the tubes, all you have to do is piss off or catch the attention of /b/…
Speaking of changing the conversation on a blog post, what is going on with the ad spaces here at TTAC?
I count five ad locations on this page. One has a Taurus ad, as I would expect with Ford in the article text. The other four ad spaces have instances of the TTAC home page. Strange. And it took forever to load the page.
The banner at the top shows the top of TTAC with another banner that show the top of TTAC. Maybe each of the instances of TTAC in the ad spaces have four more copies embedded in their ad space, and so on…
I like that and you should like it also. It indicates that TTAC is getting increasingly popular. If it wouldn’t be, it wouldn’t attract ads. Actually, our readership is continuously rising. Just yesterday, we had another 100,000 visits. Ads mean that the site is making some money, which can be spent on creating even better content.
Oh, I see now what you see. Buggy, buggy.
B
I have a USB TV tuner so I can listen to TV while surfing – but recently, the ads on TTAC have been eating up so many CPU cycles that the sound from my tuner was breaking up. I finally relented and installed ABP in Firefox – problem solved. You really have to work on that code.
Occasionally, I’ll disable ABP and click on an advert – hope that’s enough to “keep the lights on”.
So you are telling me that the people on this Ford site mentioned the Germans and Japanese, but completely left out our oldest and dearest enemy? I sure hope no one buys any British cars, they are the only ones who ever sacked DC. Not to mention that pesky colony thing. And no French cars either, those of the same ilk who told the “Indians” to raid our outposts. It seems like the only safe foreign car may be the South Koreans.
…which is why I drive a Hyundai. :-)
No one who is “an engineer, first and foremost” gets an MBA. MBA’s are for people who started out in engineering but decided they’d rather get rich instead. Engineers work for the problem and the solution, not the money.
Sounds like someone couldn’t get into business school . . .
Or someone couldn’t make the math for engineering school.
I’m kind of surprised Ford is allowing that kind of misinformation and narrow opinion to linger, as well, particularly considering that–at least until its recent selloff of several brands–it may be the most global auto company. I guess anything that gets people to choose their cars may be considered good, but I don’t see much long term good in letting ignorance flourish.
I wonder how much more intelligent and civil posts would be if site admins removed offensive comments AND comments insulting intelligence of those who make offensive posts? I’m sure it’d knock a lot of people off their high horses, but it’d definitely reduce smug emissions.
yes, I’m sure the two remaining posts would be very civil and intelligent :)
Two? You mean there would actually be posts left?
I’ve often wondered if the Internet should have an IQ filter. Can’t post unless you’ve at least got an IQ of 120.
Of course, according to this, the average IQ of the internets is already much higher:
http://xkcd.com/715/
And apparently everyone has nine-inch instruments. I never knew how below average I was until I read that comic.
Of course, the peak in statistics at 7th grade just confirms what everyone who’s trolled the boards, usenets, forums, comments pages and etcetera already know… everyone on the internet is actually thirteen years old.
I don’t think it’s about intellectual elitism.
You don’t [necessarily] have to be brilliant.
It’s about being fair-minded, undogmatic, apolitical, rational and non-defensive in your “arguments”.
Idiots just inadvertently disclose their prejudice and narrowness earlier and louder.
And college or grad-school is not the guarantee of rational, scientific-method-quality formation it may seem. I know plenty of knuckleheads who can and do put 2 and 3-letter abbreviations after their names.
The snobbish, faux-knickerbocker, port-sniffing self-appointed ideological aristocracy is not a priori any fairer-minded than the plumbers and their cracks. Decorum and open-mindedness comes from character.
Hell, a distant relation of mine had an IQ higher than Einstein, and that person was Notoriously difficult and curmudgeonly.
—
PPS:On the other hand, it’s more fun if you keep 95% of the sub-100 IQs out.
*If someone is going to insult, defame, inflame, scapegoat and marginalize, I really do prefer that it be done in a complex, byzantine fashion; preferably in French; while sipping Absinthe; and munching on honey-braised sparrows.
When I worked in Administration at a Ford plant, all of the copy machines were Toshiba’s. One of my regular assignments was to order Euros’ and Yen from the bank so that we could pay our suppliers.
I don’t think buying American ever crossed anyone’s mind, anymore than selling only to Americans would have crossed anyones mind.