they're so... individual

He looks like he's doing his surrender exercises.

Fuck, my gimmick is world-weary old man.

That may be the dumbest post yet on poetv. You're honestly saying sanctions and pollution from the gulf war stunted their gross motor skills? Goronchev should punch you in your stupid mouth.

This is simply a cultural difference. Americans grow up learning to follow-the-leader and do jumping jacks. Arabs just do whatever to get the blood flowing. You're interpretation just screams "dumb American."

That would be social learning, not gross motor skills. Social learning is something that is still developing when your kids goes to kindergarden. And why in the world would I be debating with Enjoy....

Also, "follow-the-leader" may be more emphasized in Islamic countries than elsewhere. They have to learn "a whole series of set movements that go with the words of the prayer" for each of their five daily prayers, or Salat:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/salat. shtml
That's more intricate movement than I ever learned in school.

Though given the unemployment in Baghdad being what, 50%? I'm sure a lot of these "recruits" are former shopkeepers or others who have no military training or even desire whatsoever, but they do need to feed their families.

fake. you needn't turn a silly video into a damn socio-economics class you turds.

and allow me to qualify fake: we don't know the whole story. we don't know if this is set up, if they were given instruction if any on jumping jacks, if these are actually iraqi army, etc.

also, if you think they are doing bad jumping jacks from the effects of sanctions, pollution, malnutrition, et al. you are a butt for brains :(

What the fuck is this, the youtube comments page? Why else would a humerous video of people poorly executing jumping jacks be follwed by such retarded comments?

yeah! you morons!

how do we know that these are even people? What if they're poorly programmed robots? WE DONT KNOW!!!!

you all are stupid.

This is indeed a stupid Youtube debate now. I'd like to close the thread, but I'll just step out, leaving you with an assertion for a few of you unpretty Americans:

It's not a question of *if* some Iraqi children had their development stunted by wars and sanctions, it's a question of scale.

Three facts:

1) The Yaqui Valley study demonstrated that children become uncoordinated and muy est�pido growing up with toxic exposure.

2) Ever heard of Gulf War Syndrome? These people weren't just exposed to chemical weapons for a military stint -- they grew up in it.

3) Widespread malnutrition in Iraq due to economic sanctions was the reason behind the Food for Oil program, and malnutrition is well-linked to stunted child development.

Fatuous it's hilarious (and unsurprising) how you manage to pile blame on everybody but Saddam and the other oil spigot dictators that created the whole mess.

if their so hungry why dont they make a sandwhich then they coulddo jumping jacks all day

I agree with Rafiki. Brilliantly stated, sir.

Maybe jumping jacks aren't a native exercise

Any coordinated motor skill would take a little bit of practice to get the into the flow.

Imagine when you first learned ...
#1: A golf swing.
#2: A baseball pitch.
#3: A reach-around.

All visually simple movements, but ones that nobody gets right on the first try.

Saddam did not sanction himself, Enjoy.

Ever watch a group of children the first time they learn jumping jacks? It looks just like this. Hilarious for it being adults having their first jumping jacks experience.

Blaze (free improvement) is exactly right. For some anecdotal evidence, I know an Arab who moved here in his 20's who totally can't do jumping jacks. It's even funnier in person, but try not to let your amusement come across as mocking or insulting.

Because England attempted the same thing a century before we did.