Netflix: Americans Are Somewhat Self-Absorbed

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As if that whole "hiring actors" thing earlier today wasn't enough, Netflix is in the news again with the idiotic quote of the day:

How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It's something we'll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.
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What??? I'm sorry, were you speaking to me? I was gazing at my navel. :D
 
Well...

Isn't it true that in the US companies now have the same rights as individuals?
Therefore I guess Netflix has a right to free speech :/
 
Maybe we are self-absorbed, but you moron - you're giving an interview to an American media source! Did you think you were doing a Canadian interview?

On top of that there was a perfectly good excuse you could have used instead - "It's $7.99 because they can't get any movies via the mail. We don't have to buy any physical copies to mail out for them." That would have gone over a lot better than saying what you did.
 
I, and many others I see posting on international news sites (with an American flag next to their name) prove this comment wrong. He is acting as if americans are stupid and don't use the internet. Besides, isn't the canadian dollar different from the USD? Don't they pay more for stuff, but make more money in their system?
 
Stupid thing to say as a CEO, but I don't think he's off the mark in the general sense.
 
I have to agree with that comment though.

How many of you keep track of the price of gas in every country around the world? How many of you keep track of elections in other countries?

Here is a test for everyone, without looking it up.
Americans tell me the name of the President in Mexico and the President of Canada.

Everyone else in the world, tell me the name of the American President.

Want another test? How many people in the US can find Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan on a map? How many people in those countries do you think can find the US on a map?

I can almost promise you that most people in other countries know the name of our president, but most american's aren't going to know or care about the president of other countries. Same as any other info about anything outside the USA. So i have to fully agree with his comment. Most americans aren't going to be paying attention to what is going on in other countries for them to see and even notice, hey wait a minute I'm being charged $8.99 a month for this service and Canada is paying $7.99.
 
Stupid netflix! I'm going to end my subscription for that comment!


... nice, some new stuff on instant view right now.... wait, what was I talking about?




It is funny how no one disputes what the CEO says.
 
Exavior said:
Americans tell me the name of the President in Mexico and the President of Canada.
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Stopped reading here. Canada doesn't have a President. Prime Minister.

Regardless...some will always find truth in sweeping generalizations, some with see them for what they are.

I care little about netflix coming to Canada as our caps on internet use(thanks to greedy ISPs) will hamper it's launch in a big way. For example with Rogers, how is 80GB(Post netflix launch announcement, used to be 95 GB) enough bandwidth(per month) to watch as many movies as most Canadians do in a year? Actually, sorry that's considered the "Extreme" package. *facepalm*
 
Exavior said:
I have to agree with that comment though.

How many of you keep track of the price of gas in every country around the world? How many of you keep track of elections in other countries?

Here is a test for everyone, without looking it up.
Americans tell me the name of the President in Mexico and the President of Canada.

Everyone else in the world, tell me the name of the American President.

Want another test? How many people in the US can find Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan on a map? How many people in those countries do you think can find the US on a map?

I can almost promise you that most people in other countries know the name of our president, but most american's aren't going to know or care about the president of other countries. Same as any other info about anything outside the USA. So i have to fully agree with his comment. Most americans aren't going to be paying attention to what is going on in other countries for them to see and even notice, hey wait a minute I'm being charged $8.99 a month for this service and Canada is paying $7.99.
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This is kind of dumb. First off as far as the president thing well yeah they are going to know our president because its big news when it happens here AND we are just one country to keep track of that has a whole lot of influence on the world scale.

Now I do know know the president of Canada and the scummy third world country to the south? No I do not, do I know the presidents of countries that matter more then them? Yes I do.


And I do agree that most Americans dont give a shit about whats going on in the world just use a better example of Canada and Mexico next time. :)
 
So just got off the phone, no discount, but I did get my wonderful service rep to agree with me that the CEO was a moron, ha, was a very lighthearted and fun conversation
 
It was probably not that greatest thing to say, but the guy is absolutely right. Americans are self-absorbed, not simply "somewhat" as he said :p
 
Canada don't have a government run version of Netflix?

I am sure you can get all the black & white movies on VHS or Betamax with the Govs system.

But when your the top country why would one need to look to the other countries. (heck we are building a fence to keep people out! Or is it just people trying to escape from the rest of the world?)
 
There is nothing wrong with what he said. The fact that people feel offended about it makes it even more true. Now you can all go back to your facebook and twitter and write about how mad you are about this along with updating us about every meaningless detail of your mundane lives.

P.S: Scoff all you want, but you know you will do exactly as I said.
 
That we tend to not give much attention to things outside our borders is quite true. But why should we?
Just because Europeans tend to be nosy, does not mean we need to be.
 
I think a better way to put this is to most people in the US, the world is very small. Since we are fairly self sufficient, not many people know of or care about things outside of our own country. Some are jealous of education system sin Europe or Asia but fail to consider that those counties are as tightly nit as our States are. You must understand others and their countries if you want to live there. In the US, we're on our own block of the globe and don't really need to know about anyone else.
 
ROFLMAO!

But for an America CEO to say that? ROFLMFAO...

God bless the Queen.
 
Actually I am Canadian and proud to be self absorbed.

I never cared to find out who is the Queen of the United States.
 
"In the US, we're on our own block of the globe and don't really need to know about anyone else."
Feelsgoodman.jpg

In before Made in China.
 
In the US, we're on our own block of the globe and don't really need to know about anyone else.
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I can't help feeling this was far more true 30-40 years ago than it is today.
 
Doesn't bother me any, I'm not sure why people are so sensitive about this kind of thing. I'm American, and rather self absorbed. I'm OK with that, and I like the Netflix service.
 
At least in terms of the service being cheaper in Canada, from what I've been reading, they don't have as large of a catalog. Lots of American TV is not available.

Plus, isn't Internet access more expensive with smaller caps?
 
though I do agree that what he said wasnt a very good business move as the call centers have been flooded with calls and they already have a script to deal with it, its totally true, I really dislike most american news, its ridiculous
 
Exavior said:
I have to agree with that comment though.

How many of you keep track of the price of gas in every country around the world? How many of you keep track of elections in other countries?

Here is a test for everyone, without looking it up.
Americans tell me the name of the President in Mexico and the President of Canada.

Everyone else in the world, tell me the name of the American President.

Want another test? How many people in the US can find Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan on a map? How many people in those countries do you think can find the US on a map?

I can almost promise you that most people in other countries know the name of our president, but most American's aren't going to know or care about the president of other countries. Same as any other info about anything outside the USA. So i have to fully agree with his comment. Most Americans aren't going to be paying attention to what is going on in other countries for them to see and even notice, hey wait a minute I'm being charged $8.99 a month for this service and Canada is paying $7.99.
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Well I am sure the reason most of the world knows more about the US that American's know about other countries is because the News about the US usually outshines the news of other countries, and I am sure once other countries start being as big of a trend setter, in the political and business sense, as the US then we might start caring about the other countries.

Also I am pretty sure a lot of Americans can find Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan on a map, most might not be able to point out exactly but they can get close enough just because of the amount of news media coverage they have gotten over the recent years.
 
bigdogchris said:
I think a better way to put this is to most people in the US, the world is very small. Since we are fairly self sufficient, not many people know of or care about things outside of our own country. Some are jealous of education system sin Europe or Asia but fail to consider that those counties are as tightly nit as our States are. You must understand others and their countries if you want to live there. In the US, we're on our own block of the globe and don't really need to know about anyone else.
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Self sufficient, huh?
[For the geographically challenged, the US is the country with the darkest red trade deficit.]

400px-Cumulative_Current_Account_Balance.png


The Netflix CEO may be an ass but you've got to stop proving his point for him.
 
elektronisch said:
Not a netflix customer, never will be.
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He wasn't talking about you, he was talking about those other Americans... nevermind he was talking about you, but not me.:D

Seriously if that is the excuse why you won't have Netflix now, well you are just hurting yourself. Netflix was the best investment I have ever, it really is a great value compared to cable and ondemand.
 
Congrats for those that knew that Canada doesn't have a president. As for those thinking that those were bad choices or that my questions where stupid. Mexico and Canada are two neighboring countries, there is no reason that people can't know anything about them.


Greg-O said:
Well I am sure the reason most of the world knows more about the US that American's know about other countries is because the News about the US usually outshines the news of other countries, and I am sure once other countries start being as big of a trend setter, in the political and business sense, as the US then we might start caring about the other countries.

Also I am pretty sure a lot of Americans can find Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan on a map, most might not be able to point out exactly but they can get close enough just because of the amount of news media coverage they have gotten over the recent years.
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That is a nice wishful thinking but last I have heard that i wrong. A few years ago when some studies where done, it was found that over 2/3s did not know where those places where. And as for our news outshining other countries why does that have to be? Other countries here some that is going on here and over there. Why can't the same happen here? It is purely because what what he said, American's are self-absorbed. If it isn't happening her and affecting them then more American's aren't going to care to hear about it. They aren't going to want to hear about elections in other countries. they aren't going to want to hear about some event occuring in other countries.
 
Having lived in Europe and the US, I find the statement to be true based on my experience. However, I don't think it is an intentional choice by Americans. In Europe, you can't help having to deal with people with different languages and customs than you on a regular basis (in Belgium, it was a daily basis). This experience leads to awareness and, for many people, empathy, of those cultures.

Of course, it is also useful when leaders of neighboring locales <cough> Amsterdam <cough> make laws fundamentally different than where you're living and you find yourself close enough to take advantage of them. So perhaps it is more self-interest than empathy :)


Very little in the US forces us to deal with the same social and cultural differences that exist in Europe (and probably many other places, but I cannot speak from experience), so we don't develop the same awareness. Then, as many have pointed out, decisions made by other nations have little direct impact on the average American, so why bother paying attention? I travel internationally for work and have numerous friends located abroad, so I pay attention to have some general awareness when I'm visiting other places, but if all of my work and life was centered in the US, I would be much less motivated to pay attention to the rest of the world.



Of course, then I might also have no idea how crappy US news media is... why think through the facts and develop your own opinion when your news outlet can tell you what your opinion is supposed to be?
 
dpeters11 said:
At least in terms of the service being cheaper in Canada, from what I've been reading, they don't have as large of a catalog. Lots of American TV is not available.

Plus, isn't Internet access more expensive with smaller caps?
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Internet here sucks. Harvard thinks we have "has some of the slowest and most expensive internet access in the developed world." http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/02/22/harvard-broadband-report.html
Here in Canada the problem is the CRTC. The CRTC is an entity which is supposed to regulate telecomunications carriers, but is actualy run by a bunch of ex carrier executives. This group has allowed carriers to charge the highest prices in the OECD.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Actually I am Canadian and proud to be self absorbed.

I never cared to find out who is the Queen of the United States.
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Porthos: This sash was a gift to me, from the Queen of America.

D'Artagnan: There's no queen of America!

Porthos: I beg to differ, infant. We're on quite intimate terms, unless you can prove otherwise.
 
Of course the US is self absorbed.

And gasoline is 5 cents per gallon in Iraq (circa 2005) which is a little overpriced considering that its right under their feet. That the US didn't invade earlier, just underlines how self absorbed your average person is.

Canada doesn't have a president, we have a Queen (Whuts a PM? They just run to royalty to stay in power every now and then)
 
@ZenOps: Don't try to explain the Westminster Parliament system to them. They are used to bicameral legislature below the 49th parallel. You'll cause a meltdown!
 
I am pretty self-absorbed. I definitely don't as much about the world as I should and don't really put too much effort into understanding it outside of class.
 
Yeah, you should probably be calling your customers self-absorbed. Probably good for business.

I think Netflix is a great service, but it seems like the CEO needs to do a little less talking about how "self-absorbed" his customer base is and a little more working with studios and distributors to beef up the instant streaming library (which is currently pretty unimpressive). Let's prioritize here, yeah?
 
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