Anti-Americanism On The 4th

(By Richard Goodman, July 6, 2011)

In honor of the fourth of July, I changed my Facebook profile picture to an American flag.  I wanted to show a little bit of patriotism for the holiday since I wasn’t doing anything else that was particularly “all-American”.  No baseball game or apple pie or barbecuing on the grill (although I did go to Adam Weisman’s the day before to have some BBQ and play poker.)  I then promptly forgot about it and went about my business. Later in the day, I went on to the Zynga Poker site on Facebook to play little free poker to clear my head after a semi-busy day of doing something close to nothing of importance but necessary nonetheless. 

As soon as I “sat” down to start playing, I noticed the chat window had the message “richard FU#K YOU”.  I was kind of surprised and looked around the table because sometimes there are two people at the table with the same name, and I have played at tables with other Richard’s, despite how scarce that name has become these days.  ( http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi )  I figured it couldn’t be me causing that reaction because I hadn’t even played a hand yet- how could I have pissed someone off already?  Nope, I was the only Richard. 

I asked the guy what his problem was- why the abuse?  When he responded, I realized I still had the flag picture on my profile and names and pictures appear on your avatar on the poker screen.  The guy was taking offense at the flag.  That threw me a bit.  I’m not used to American’s being randomly abused for being American.  I know we can sometimes piss off foreigners but in this case I hadn’t done anything except “show my face.”  Is the guy just trying to be a dick to get under people’s skin or did he really decide it is appropriate to abuse people simply for being American while he is playing an American game on a website created by, and incorporated in, the United States. 

Doesn’t that seem a bit hypocritical?  It seems he should realize the inherent stupidity of using a resource while still condemning the creators of the resource. I’d think he should hate the game, not the player, so to speak.  Here’s a verbatim display of the chat screen from the start until the guy got knocked out by a player named Snir.  See what you think. 

Sahan: richard FU#K YOU
Sahan: there are two Omfunks
Sahan: RICHARD **#** YOU
Richard: What's your problem?
Sahan: stupid american
Sahan: **** off
Alberto: stop please
Richard: So stop using this website which is an American company.
Alberto: richard just report on his profile
Alberto: and he'll be banned out
Alberto: easy and fast
Sahan: yea american pussies can only do that
Sahan: haha
Richard: How do i do that?
Sahan: just like CIA
Sahan: *****
Sahan: CIA kill CHE GUEVARA but he still alive
Alberto: just click rigth on his image and select view profile...
Alberto: than in bottom rigth you find report abuse
Alberto: i'll done it
Sahan: Alberto dont lick american ass
Richard: Done.
Alberto: ghreat
Alberto: me too
Alberto: lucky anyway
Alberto: 66 fold snir
Sahan: Alberto u r disgrace to your motherland
Alberto: what do you know about my motherland?
Alberto: fold sahan
Alberto: full
Sahan: Alberto u r not american
Alberto: i'm israelian
Sahan: haha then i understand why you suck up to American

Alberto: j7? sahan?
Alberto: A4?
Sahan: j2
Alberto: fold richard
Alberto: 444
Alberto: yes
Sahan: hasta la victoria siempre!!
Alberto: ty snir
Alberto: ty