obviously this thread is a joke, but why do people expect america to be perfect? we have no more and no fewer skeletons in our closet than any other nation. no nation lives up to its rhetoric, and frankly we are usually pretty transparent about the mistakes we make.
well maybe we project another image abroad, but last time i checked it was no secret that we have poor schools, crime, a retarded president, murdered all the indians etc. i'm not arguing there isn't room for improvement here
we are usually pretty transparent about the mistakes we make
Well, the USSR sure wasn't very transparent about their mistake when Chernobyl blew up. They didn't fess up until geiger counters started pinging in Sweden.
umm... Katrina anyone? Letting a major American city drown probably ranks up there in the pantheon of great mistkes. Unless, you're sayin' that it was intentional... :P
how about depleted uranium? agent orange? GMO's? Monsanto? Vietnam? Nuke's and yellow cake? and the subordination of just about every south american country?
things like uranium, agent orange, vietnam, etc. are all household words all over the world due to the transparency of our media and our government, and because we admit to them.
i don't agree with many of the things the US did during the cold war. most americans don't, and in fact are ashamed of them. but there aren't any significant cover ups. it is true that we sold our soul to the devil to fight communism (and then that the republicans did it again to fight "terrorism.") but, the incredible fear of communism was not unjustified. in vietnam, the war that was exposed for its support of a corrupt dictatorship by the american media, the war that was ended by the mass protests of the american people, the war that was won by communist vietnam, spelled the deaths of 200,000 vietnamese by the hands of their own government (the organization which was supposed to protect them) and it's misplaced policies when the north won.
people love to point out the negative influence of the US during the cold war, and of course the short historical memory of americans. does anyone remember the berlin wall, the great purges, or tianamin square massacre, or just iraq? right now, nobody likes to talk about how generous many americans can be, or how many organizations founded by americans are currently working as we speak to improve the quality of life for people all over the world. right now, it's cool to hate the US. how much capital was used to found the bill & melinda gates foundation?
in america, a leader who is selfish, ignorant, and inept will inevitably be exposed for who he obviously is and will lose his support and political capital, and this is due to the transparency of our systems. the shortcomings of our system are so quickly and easily pointed out by the people of the world because they are so readily available.
do i live under a rock? well maybe. i don't deny the things that the US government has done, both at home and abroad. but the idea that the "America" that some of you portray is somehow a monolithic, unified imperial ideal in a place where everyone is an ignorant fucking moran laughing all the way to the bank with his excessive lifestyle in his humungous SUV fueled by oil stolen from the iraqis is every bit as much of a joke, is every bit as insulting, and every bit as naive as anything i've said for certain. nothing as complex as "america" can ever be summed up by one single point of view, any more than anything else.
the idea that the "America" that some of you portray is somehow a monolithic, unified imperial ideal
funny, i've said similar when dispelling myths about China. The reason I nag this country so much is because it promises big and fails to deliver. The ideas in the Declaration and the Constitution were issued over 200 years ago. In some ways, we are only beginning to live up to those lofty ideals, in others we're regressing. I keep bitching and I keep pushing, because what I want, and what anybody who call themselves an American wants, is the freedom to live as one wants as long as one does not harm others and I won't stop till we get there.
America's a fine country, but it could be WAY better.
well of course i agree with that statement. i am critical of our country as well, but one of the intents fostered by the manner in which the constitution was written was to sew (or at least allow) this type of criticism as another check and balance to governmental power. i think one of the most negative aspects of american culture is simply that when americans travel abroad, they go to europe. americans by and large don't travel to south america, south asia, and africa. i just can't take the belligerent anti americanism anymore. millions of americans are trying to improve these things.
"things like uranium, agent orange, vietnam, etc. are all household words all over the world due to the transparency of our media and our government, and because we admit to them" I can stop reading there.
I'd say it's a high specified and very latent transparency.
I think it was more like the scientific community constantly insisting and proving that things were wrong. Until the evidence was shown and proven time and time again was any admission made. Real admissions are hard to come by though, because it leads to massive law suits.
Watch the depleted uranium scenario happening now. Tune in, according to the government nothing is wrong with it. But you have soliders who are coming back and producing kids without arms, or eyes, etc. It will be in Iraq soil, water and plant life for 4.5 billion years. It's a very silent fallout.
It's being denied, while scientists all over the world are proving that its a highly radioactive/toxic substance. It's pretty easy to sit in your arm chair and type-up a buch of retoric, and then feel like your the target of critisims; it's these "house hold" issues are the reason US has a bad reputation, it's easy to see, but not for govenments to exsit. You have the right to defend your contry all you want, all the way until you become a belliegernt american yourself, but it really burns when the science denied or ignored time and time again.
Yeah. You guys win. Everything about America is shit. We're just a bunch of fat, stupid slobs who all just sit and watch TV while eating our fast food. And all the faults of the world can be traced back to America. Our bad. We were just so busy trying to steal oil so we could drive our big SUV's and Diesel trucks.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any other country. Just America. Totalitarianism and Despotism are purely rhetoric that America has invented as an opiate for the masses. Nothing more than blather for us to kick around at the water coolers in our overpaid computing jobs which we're all loosing to India.
Unfortunately for me, I was born in America, which means I'll always just be a mind-numbed dolt with no understanding of global politics. What's even worse, I'm from Texas and I love it down here. I even love country music. That means that I have to drive my gas guzzling pickup truck, listen to country music, vote republican, and go to church on Sunday morning and sometimes Wednesday nights. I don't do anything of those things because I've thought about them or because I prefer them. Its purely because I'm some robot or sheep, following the masses aimlessly into some transfat, cancerous oblivion.
I, myself, Randall Fuller, a 25 year old Architecture and Business student from Lubbock, Texas, am solely responsible for all the problems that you, too are watching from the comforts of your armchairs. Well, me and all "my kind". But since our armchairs fall within the bounds of some imaginary lines then that means we're more disconnected than other people sitting in their own armchairs within other imaginary lines.
Feel free to piss on me and my country. Burn our flag and our constitution and high-five all your friends while you do it. That'll show us. We'll just sit here both being stupid and simultaneously evil geniuses who are trying to destroy the rest of the world and keep it a secret. You guys nailed it. Spot on.
Now that you've got that well-earned rant off your chest, RF, can we agree that a) it's a grand old land, AND b) there's a hell of a lot to do to make it what it should be, what it claims to be -- considering the immense advantages of geography (and geology) and of native enthusiasm (well, the immigrant kind) that we started out with ?
Gotcha. It's hard to hold one's head up, these days -- but I can get with any positivity and optimism that anyone might have to offer, even if the cynical side of me wants to say "yeah. . .right. . ."
boycott america
there.....you guys happy now?
but isn't america where jesus would live?
boycott middle america
does that mean i have to move out of the midwest?
you can stay
boycott humans?
..yay
i mean nooooooo...
DICK CHENEY WAS HERE TODAY!
Bad time for a boycott. With the slumping dollar America is now a great place to shop and vacation.
I find myself in an unintended boycott of europe since I simply cannot afford to visit my friends there anymore.
obviously this thread is a joke, but why do people expect america to be perfect? we have no more and no fewer skeletons in our closet than any other nation. no nation lives up to its rhetoric, and frankly we are usually pretty transparent about the mistakes we make.
"but why do people expect america to be perfect"
since thats how america portrays itself to the world?
and yes because of that protrayal it means that you have significantly more sketelons (its halloween) in your closet.
well maybe we project another image abroad, but last time i checked it was no secret that we have poor schools, crime, a retarded president, murdered all the indians etc. i'm not arguing there isn't room for improvement here
i have like at least 4 indian friends...
on myspace.....ohhh...
i have visited an indian casino at least 4 times in my life
really? i've been to one in canada
america has many guns...until someone else has more, america can do whatever it wants and pretend to be as perfect as it wants to be
i own 4 guns. you will all pretend i am perfect.
yes, guns are a good thing.
i would boycott america, but i'm currently hooked on californication.
once the season is over we are through
the season finished yesterday upside...you are free to join the frow
still 2 weeks behind mate
get with the times
do americans know what boycott means?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE&eurl=http://widget-86.slide.com/widgets/sf.swf
i think australia is more comfortable in the past anyway
We're doomed, you know that. . .right ?
as a Californian I absolutely support boycotts of products from the other 49 states..... Viva Cali! ;)
"we are usually pretty transparent about the mistakes we make"
that comment is a joke; insulting and naive. do you live under a rock?
Well, the USSR sure wasn't very transparent about their mistake when Chernobyl blew up. They didn't fess up until geiger counters started pinging in Sweden.
America's mistakes are largely foreign policy ones that most folks never see here at home. Plan Columbia anyone?
umm... Katrina anyone? Letting a major American city drown probably ranks up there in the pantheon of great mistkes. Unless, you're sayin' that it was intentional... :P
aquapura
Chernobyl was an accident, not intentional...
how about depleted uranium? agent orange? GMO's? Monsanto? Vietnam? Nuke's and yellow cake? and the subordination of just about every south american country?
boycott capitalism
THE REVOLUTION IS COMIN' YA HEAR!
Another message of discord brought to you by BTAG
things like uranium, agent orange, vietnam, etc. are all household words all over the world due to the transparency of our media and our government, and because we admit to them.
i don't agree with many of the things the US did during the cold war. most americans don't, and in fact are ashamed of them. but there aren't any significant cover ups. it is true that we sold our soul to the devil to fight communism (and then that the republicans did it again to fight "terrorism.") but, the incredible fear of communism was not unjustified. in vietnam, the war that was exposed for its support of a corrupt dictatorship by the american media, the war that was ended by the mass protests of the american people, the war that was won by communist vietnam, spelled the deaths of 200,000 vietnamese by the hands of their own government (the organization which was supposed to protect them) and it's misplaced policies when the north won.
people love to point out the negative influence of the US during the cold war, and of course the short historical memory of americans. does anyone remember the berlin wall, the great purges, or tianamin square massacre, or just iraq? right now, nobody likes to talk about how generous many americans can be, or how many organizations founded by americans are currently working as we speak to improve the quality of life for people all over the world. right now, it's cool to hate the US. how much capital was used to found the bill & melinda gates foundation?
in america, a leader who is selfish, ignorant, and inept will inevitably be exposed for who he obviously is and will lose his support and political capital, and this is due to the transparency of our systems. the shortcomings of our system are so quickly and easily pointed out by the people of the world because they are so readily available.
do i live under a rock? well maybe. i don't deny the things that the US government has done, both at home and abroad. but the idea that the "America" that some of you portray is somehow a monolithic, unified imperial ideal in a place where everyone is an ignorant fucking moran laughing all the way to the bank with his excessive lifestyle in his humungous SUV fueled by oil stolen from the iraqis is every bit as much of a joke, is every bit as insulting, and every bit as naive as anything i've said for certain. nothing as complex as "america" can ever be summed up by one single point of view, any more than anything else.
funny, i've said similar when dispelling myths about China. The reason I nag this country so much is because it promises big and fails to deliver. The ideas in the Declaration and the Constitution were issued over 200 years ago. In some ways, we are only beginning to live up to those lofty ideals, in others we're regressing. I keep bitching and I keep pushing, because what I want, and what anybody who call themselves an American wants, is the freedom to live as one wants as long as one does not harm others and I won't stop till we get there.
America's a fine country, but it could be WAY better.
well of course i agree with that statement. i am critical of our country as well, but one of the intents fostered by the manner in which the constitution was written was to sew (or at least allow) this type of criticism as another check and balance to governmental power. i think one of the most negative aspects of american culture is simply that when americans travel abroad, they go to europe. americans by and large don't travel to south america, south asia, and africa. i just can't take the belligerent anti americanism anymore. millions of americans are trying to improve these things.
the idea that one little defense of my country makes my opinion a joke, me an ignorant person, and naive is completely obnoxious.
talk about ignorance....
i know why you would want to boycott the USA, but of course the USA is not America
actually hasn't the USA been boycotting America for decades now?
Le boss, i don't believe you defending america is a joke.
America is so self-sufficient, it has already auto-boycotted itself into global obsolescence.
"things like uranium, agent orange, vietnam, etc. are all household words all over the world due to the transparency of our media and our government, and because we admit to them" I can stop reading there.
I'd say it's a high specified and very latent transparency.
I think it was more like the scientific community constantly insisting and proving that things were wrong. Until the evidence was shown and proven time and time again was any admission made. Real admissions are hard to come by though, because it leads to massive law suits.
Watch the depleted uranium scenario happening now. Tune in, according to the government nothing is wrong with it. But you have soliders who are coming back and producing kids without arms, or eyes, etc. It will be in Iraq soil, water and plant life for 4.5 billion years. It's a very silent fallout.
It's being denied, while scientists all over the world are proving that its a highly radioactive/toxic substance. It's pretty easy to sit in your arm chair and type-up a buch of retoric, and then feel like your the target of critisims; it's these "house hold" issues are the reason US has a bad reputation, it's easy to see, but not for govenments to exsit. You have the right to defend your contry all you want, all the way until you become a belliegernt american yourself, but it really burns when the science denied or ignored time and time again.
Yeah. You guys win. Everything about America is shit. We're just a bunch of fat, stupid slobs who all just sit and watch TV while eating our fast food. And all the faults of the world can be traced back to America. Our bad. We were just so busy trying to steal oil so we could drive our big SUV's and Diesel trucks.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any other country. Just America. Totalitarianism and Despotism are purely rhetoric that America has invented as an opiate for the masses. Nothing more than blather for us to kick around at the water coolers in our overpaid computing jobs which we're all loosing to India.
Unfortunately for me, I was born in America, which means I'll always just be a mind-numbed dolt with no understanding of global politics. What's even worse, I'm from Texas and I love it down here. I even love country music. That means that I have to drive my gas guzzling pickup truck, listen to country music, vote republican, and go to church on Sunday morning and sometimes Wednesday nights. I don't do anything of those things because I've thought about them or because I prefer them. Its purely because I'm some robot or sheep, following the masses aimlessly into some transfat, cancerous oblivion.
I, myself, Randall Fuller, a 25 year old Architecture and Business student from Lubbock, Texas, am solely responsible for all the problems that you, too are watching from the comforts of your armchairs. Well, me and all "my kind". But since our armchairs fall within the bounds of some imaginary lines then that means we're more disconnected than other people sitting in their own armchairs within other imaginary lines.
Feel free to piss on me and my country. Burn our flag and our constitution and high-five all your friends while you do it. That'll show us. We'll just sit here both being stupid and simultaneously evil geniuses who are trying to destroy the rest of the world and keep it a secret. You guys nailed it. Spot on.
[/sarcasm]
sorry apurimac i wasn't referring to you.
Now that you've got that well-earned rant off your chest, RF, can we agree that a) it's a grand old land, AND b) there's a hell of a lot to do to make it what it should be, what it claims to be -- considering the immense advantages of geography (and geology) and of native enthusiasm (well, the immigrant kind) that we started out with ?
Oh absolutely, SDR. I think there are tons of improvements that can be made. I just get sick of the whole "Its cool to hate America" thing.
sdr i think we are all in agreement on that. rf just had my back.
to boycott america or china would be irrelevant.
boycott things made by corporations.
but you can't......
[parallel rant on the bauhaus thread. i'm in a mood. sorry.]
Gotcha. It's hard to hold one's head up, these days -- but I can get with any positivity and optimism that anyone might have to offer, even if the cynical side of me wants to say "yeah. . .right. . ."
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