I'm pretty sure that it's some kind of Roman5 alt.

Why is it that easy to close down other people's discussions? Just post some insults and everyone else can't talk anymore? Why not just suspend the offender? What if we start new threads to continue the locked discussion, will we be penalized as well?

Would you mind shutting up or at least changing your tone? In case you haven't noticed, this is a pretty civilized community. People comparably rarely insult each other here, threads normally don't have to get closed etc.. You already managed to get a thread closed once today, you're still continuing to insult others for no reason. Maybe it's time to call it a day? Or maybe to go to a place with more people of your kind?

Good

I believe you are troll account. Most likely Roman's.
Reported.

Being a Dickhead's Cool

I would totally shop there.

I would just like to take this moment to remind everyone that the word "paradigm" exists.
Additionally - a person who lives in a culture he rejects is known as a "deviant".
Thank you.

On a side note, signup begins tomorrow for the annual "Vestin Scrabble Challenge".

You make it sound like I'll wake up one morning, look in the mirror and see an analytical philosopher staring back at me...

I meant it as a compliment.

You NECRO a thread just to make a shitty comeback? LOL

I think he meant it as being flattered.

First I must say that I am watching AngryJoe not very often, so I am not familiar with what happend between AJ and Nelson years ago or about the latest trench warfare going on between several bloggers. Not that I would give a damn. What AJ does is not exactly my cup of tea, but he can be very entertaining and amusing and sometimes one of his vids catches my attention.

So I first read through this topic and then watched the video, curious about what I will find. And I can´t really say terms like "ownage" came to mind when I have to judge what I just saw. But it was rather interesting, almost a character study. AJ might not be the next Pulitzer candidate, but in my book he did a decent job. Sure, he never really was in control of the interview, but he was polite, asked his questions despite Nelsons stonewalling (which is a nice word btw) and he was respectful towards Nelson. It is not his fault that Nelson never really answered a question, something that can happen even to the most savvy reporter. Sure, one might be able to corner someone like Nelson, but you need way more experience and, yes, reputation to do so AND in the end the only achievement you can reach here is to show what a prick your interviewee is. There is nothing you can do if someone is not willing to share information or to give proper answers, except maybe beat the info out of him.

Nelson on the other hand was quite the opposite. He was arrogant, patronizing and generally a jerk who thought that he actually accomplished something or "won" the interview. From the moment he entered the stage, face clenched to a fist, with an incredibly annoyed look in the eyes, an on/off smile that never reached the eyes and actually was more like a bared teeth display, I was pretty sure how this would end. And the whole interview pretty much went the way I thought it would.

But did he "win" the interview or dealt some ownage? I say no, he did not. Why? Because all he did was being a jerk. avoiding questions and ridicule the interviewer does not mean "winning the interview", it just means you act like a jerk, avoid questions and ridicule the interviewer. A rhetorically skilled person surely can completely revert a situation that makes him/her uncomfortable and score points. Nelson did not. He just showed that the question he did not answer made him uncomfortable and that he knew that we, the gamers and customers, would not like the answers. He also showed that he gives a crap about our opinion and since he is a high level representative for Microsoft he did not damage only his, but Microsofts reputation as well.

I remember people that handled "interviews" with exactly the same attitude, hostility and arrogance Nelson showed. That was back in the days when my now defunct homeland (you remember the GDR? that tiny country with the huge wall?) was still existend and the persons I am talking about were the policymakers of my country. Usually no one would have even dared to ask unconvenient questions, but having no interest in an interview at a particular moment or just being annoyed was usually enough. With the one tiny difference that you would have faced not only an interviewee abandoning the interview, but loosing your job, ending in jail or being expelled from your country.

I can not pick a winner in this interview, but Nelson lost. Sure, he dominated the interview, but in the end he just gave himself enough rope to hang himself.

I must say that the western culture clearly is not as uniform and homogenous as we usually belief. There are huge differences in the ways US americans and, lets say german see the world and handle things. I know a lot of americans and call some of them friends, we have a lot of things in common, but in other things we differ fundamentally. This is not something explained by personal differences, mostly it is a cultural thing.

BUT the important thing is that we HAVE things in common, some common ground to meet. Sure, with some of said friends I had and have fierce discussion, but in the end we usually forget about our differences. But here´s the thing - managing our differences needs an active act of will. You need to be willing to forget about fundamental differences until you are able to talk about them. OR you leave that specific topic out in the next conversation. (which in my experience will not really work and inevitably lead to later arguments.) One thing, that was mentioned somewhere in this topic, almost always makes things difficult when dealing with US americans. The actual belief that their culture really is not only different, but better than other cultures. I reached the point of "we agree to disagree" with people I never would have though I could come to the agreement that out cultures are not better or worse, but just different. But with americans... no way. It almost always comes to the point of "I agree that we disagree, but this is only because your european standards are wrong!" I do not want to insult americans here, I have met great characters in the US, but this is something I actually perceive as a flaw.