Dear World.. a different word from American voters

Reading Korg's messages makes me feel all dirty

I think it's sadly ignorant of someone to think that the actions of the US doesn't effect the rest of the world. Every foreign channel I tune into has speculated and discussed this election.

It's easy to say, if you don't like it then don't deal with us.

But when the US is the predominant user of the world's resources and also the biggest consumer, telling a third world country to not deal with them anymore is very laughable. I also find it offensive.

Close you mouth, dude. And open your eyes.

.......

Yes, let's give people a better life, and kill them while on it!!

The "Brothers" that are over sea fighting the "enemy" have chosen theirself to join the army, Hell, I'd wish all army boys killed each other, maybe we would have peace then!



I hear you, I do think it's pretty stupid of the brits to decide to help the USA though.. (I'm not even going to start about where the netherlands are in all this)

Conclusion: (not completely of my post, but just of life)
The world is fucked, what are you going to do about it? Multiply while you still can, and try to have fun doing it...
I'm just waiting for the nukes.. I'll be the first one in the new evolution that starts in a few billion years!!

Yes, it's really how I feel. But then again, I'm not an american, so I do not have the (dis)advantage of my teachers at kindergarten telling me over and over to love my country and that soldiers are hero's..
I do not sing songs about my beatifull red, white and blue flag, and in our land the gouverment does NOT cheat on elections..

I am not american either, but I have to agree, your opnion on soldiers is highly disrespectful.

In fact, if your opinion was followed through, countries like Sweden would be barren wastelands. Did you know they have manditory military service? Yet you never hear of them being active. Do these people, soldiers, deserve to die?

It might, but it's my opinion.. I think that shooting another army and a few innocent people with it, is even more disrespectfull.

Yes, I know of the manditory milatary service, in fact, we have had that in the netherlands too until they cancelled it a few years ago. And my answer would be no, they have not chosen to join the army, the do feel big with a gun, but are most of the time scared little boys.
Manditory military service makes me even more sick then the 'normal' army..

People tend to forget that armies are not made to exert values. Armies are made to kill. What the armies kill for has everything to do with the powers that put the armies out, but little to do with the army itself. So, you might want to question: are armies innately immoral because they are created to kill, OR, is killing okay, as long as its done with an army that is fighting for a value you hold?

The Netherlands huh....Well maybe our troops are killing people and they themselves are being killed. The fact that The Netherlands has to enact a law to make the selling of animal related sex toys to curb beastiality really kinda says it all doesn't it.

Oddly, up until recently it was illegal in the great state of Texas to have sex with someone of the same sex as you, it was, and still is, legal to practice beastiality.

The fact you are saying this proves that you do not understand a word of what I'm saying. I am NOT someone that puts his country above everything, there are a lot of things about the netherlands that I frown uppon.
What I miss, is the link between sex toys and the army, or are you trying to bring the subject to the girls in the USA that call them self "Take one for the country"? The girls that think that they actually mean anything to their country because they have sex for free with the US soldiers?

If so, please just tell me your point, cause this is going nowhere...

One thing you should realize about the US military is that most people don't join because they want to feel powerful or want to kill something. A lot of the time and for a lot of kids, the military is the best option available to them.

It provides education and skills that would be otherwise unavailable. I am sure they are proud to serve their country, but there is also a very simple human need factor.

I was listening to a woman the other day who was in the Air Force and she was talking about the other women who joined with her. She commented that they were all leaving something pretty bad. The military was their way out. It was their chance to get away.

So you are entitled to your opinions of the men and women who join the US military, but I did feel you should have some information to give you a clearer picture of their motives. It's not all about nationalism and power.

It is our destiny to RULE THE WORLD!

I guess its safe to say you didn't spend enough time researching your candidates before you placed your vote and likely voted like a blind sheep no offense but as you stated placing your vote is little more than a conversation topic for water cooler discussion.




Uhm.. Hello... Mcfly... what planet do you live on? Its obviously not the same floating dustball the rest of us are on. Our politics affect THE WORLD. We are one of the only superpowers left in the world and who we turn the steering wheel over to affects EVERYONE!! Were you sleeping the last 4 years or did you not notice us INVADE a SOVEREIGN country, totally unrelated and with no solid proof, of them being tied to the 9/11 attacks so we fabricate a good WMD excuse.

Please don't use the "he was a bad man and was mean to his people" garble either. There are countries doing ALOT worse with even more horrendous leaders, but they are poor so we don't bother.

The world is forced to deal with us and soon it may be your backyard being bombed by the U.N. and world coalition trying to stop our flagrant violation of world and international law. If you think we're not then you need to step away from the water cooler and educate yourself.



Touche.. 1 point for you!





Its boneheaded statements like that (attacking the thought not the person...) that make the rest of the world despise the arrogance so many of our citizens have. We have no right to impose ourselves on ANYONE else.

We need to clean up our own backyard before we go knocking on our neighbor/the worlds door. Our own country is a mess. Our education system is laughable even when compared to third world countries, laugh that off if you care to but its a FACT. I know theres several hispanic peoples here from Venezuela, Cuba and several other coutries as well. Cuba has a near 0 illiteracy rate, there are college graduates here in the states that are illiterate. We could look at our job stucture and 100 other points as well where we are far behind the norm. The problem lies with those who ignore the facts and go about life blind to the world around them.

I suggest you start looking at the truth about whats going on in the world and look for news sources outside the U.S. borders. You are near hopelessly brainwashed if you believe half of the garbage you just spewed.

I wish i felt warm and fuzzy inside! *shudders at the cold Canada breeze*

That you don't like what I have said is more than fine with me. That you would think I wouldn't "research my candidates", as you put it, shows your own bias - it implies that had I done so, I woould have voted "differently".. uh, like you perhaps?

"Hopelessly brainwashed"? I think my posts pretty much illustrate the absurdity of that charge.

I stated that American politics is a conversation topic for the water cooler... not my vote, you dunce. My vote is only the business of Americans to whom I wish to disclose it... non-Americans overhearing such a disclosure shouldn't bother to care about it. If they begin to discuss American politics with me, on the Internet at least, I attempt shut the conversation down as swiftly and with as much "prejudice" (using a legal reference, not a social one, here), as possible - that is, I actively discourage any attempt by non-Americans to discuss my vote in particular. Most foreigner's perspective on American politics are nowhere near that of Americans I know...they have no sense of the history of American poliitcs, much less the specifics due to having had to rely on international press coverage which filters even more than domestic press coverage does/or insanely biases it. I don't meddle in the politics of other nations...I expect the same treatment.

I have held this position since my first discussions with former SS members living in Nuremberg, Germany back in the 70s. After getting to know them over a period of a year, it became clear to me that I would never understand how they came to believe and act as they did - I was not raised in their system and could, at best, only hope to catch a glimmer of the thought processes of a German raised in the 20s and 30s. That realization followed and reinforced by similar discussions with survivors of the Imperial Japanes Navy of WWII while I was stationed on Okinawa have pretty much crystallized this opinion and stance.

I take voting seriously... I do not take campaigning seriously as some people do because the campaign system is inherently opposed to actually electing either the "Best man for the job" or "one dedicated to making the country better." And I eschew the rhetoric of ideologues... of true believers.... and of those who are so thin-skinned as to view differences of opinion as personal attacks, who cannot see that another's plan MAY BE better than one's own, or that two people can believe diametrically opposed things and still respect each other. Respecting another persons does NOT mean agreeing the other person has a valid point or argument.

No don't take it wrong I don't discredit your opinion, THAT would be un-american, sometimes its not what you say, but how you say it.

Did you see the corporate tax break shoved down our throats when the polls started showing it wouldn't be a cakewalk for G.W.? Have you seriously scrutinized the transactions of this administration with Halliburton? Do you aknowlege that we invaded a sovereign country quite honestly with little or no reason? Or that we flagrantly disregard the U.N. and world by acting out, over and over again? How many times until its too much?

We will likely move on Iran and possibly N.Korea in the next four years. We have taken a bold stance against terrorism a much needed one, but its time we aknowledge the fact we have created this particular problem, fess up and take the actions necessary to prevent them from using the exact same strategies WE taught them to use when they helped topple the Russians.

The brainwashed comment is a blanket statement that covers all who rely solely on U.S. news agencies to give them a clear vision of the world. With nothing more to go on than your post it seemed quite evident to me that this was/is the case.

You have a seemingly very narrow view of the world. Especially when you state the U.S. has ANY kind of right over ANYONE or their country simply because of military might and to think that our politics do not affect others in the world or they have no stakes in who takes the seat in the whitehouse or that it does not impact them is preposterous.

We have no right to try and play world police especially with the mess we have here at home both socially and politically. ANY action should be through the U.N. and if the U.N. takes no action then we should stay out of it and spend our money here at home for our own people.

To summarize the snipped quote....uh... bullcrap.

Yep, that is what you said I said. Fine. I can live with your misconstruals, complete misunderstanding of my posts, and even with your emotion-laden, ideologic statements.

You assume an awful lot about where I get my information from... and imply that you are better informed than I. You state specifically that my perspective is narrow minded - directly implying that I have not considered things or refuse to see what might be seen.

You've obviously not read any other threads I have posted in.. and I am not going to bore others with repeating myself here.

Mickey... you discredit yourself in your indictment of my post and position. That you claim my manner of speech makes it difficult for you to see me as a "true american acting as one" speaks more of your own limitations than of mine IMNSHO.

The rest of you post isn't worth addressing as it is a diatribe.

Good on you Mickey, I think that if more Americans thought like you the world would feel safer, I know I would.

Just my opinion, and remember I do think very highly of many other countries, just not their views towards my own.

Hmm...well this thread has shown me that I do agree with some of the views of citizens of other countries. America does indeed need to abandon this idea of being a World Policeman. We should bring ALL of our troops home, and we should never send any out into the world without our actually being at war for the protection of our own citizens and country. Seriously. If a conflict does not involve American lives, than no American soldier should ever be involved. No more will we ever be the majority of the fighting force for the U.N. (which should be moved to europe anyway). War in the Balkins? Pakistan attacks India? Ethnic cleansing in Africa? Here's our token 500 peacekeepers, strictly there only to facilitate food deployment or build a school.

I also feel that the bad should come with the good. Using the doctrine above, America should also never send out any of its resources for humanitarian reasons. Earthquake...tough, hurricane...tough, starvation...can't help ya. It's not like Canada sent in troops to help in Florida this year. Also, no stationing of troops for preventative measures. No camps in the mid-east, no bases in Korea.

To further this point of view, no more loans and no more borrowing. The U.S. should work to payback our debts to the world bank and any countries we owe, and collect from any that owe us. This would be a policy concerning both currency/financial as well as trade based agreements . No more import/export agreements, no more adjustments on tariffs based on trading partner status. (no more NAFTA...no more Most Favored Nation).

Finally, since the world no longer wants us, we should exclude the world. Close the borders, visas will be limited and scrutinized on an individual basis. Limit all immigration to only those with legitimate skills and ability to offer something to our society. Time to put a lid on the melting pot.

Of course, all of this would be a financial and political disaster for the U.S. and the world, but hey, I'm just pie-in-the-sky-ing here. Point is, for the last 100 years or so, the world has enjoyed a fickled relationship with the U.S. In times of world peace, we are called colonialists and interlopers. In times of war, we are the huge best friend everyone wants in the front. In times of disaster, we are first called and first on the scene. Once your wounds are mended, you spit on the ground when our name is mentioned. In between all this, you consume just about all we have to offer, while declaring that America is ruining your nation's national identity with all of its exports.

Well hang on to your hat. The next four years of a Bush administration is gonna give you a front row seat.

Good food for thought, Xtopherxaos. I remember this little anecdote from a series of courses on adult education. It takes something like six "praises" to counter one "criticism." However, there must be some sort of geo-political X factor regarding the benevolence of the US -- maybe along the lines of 100 "goods" to the one "bad." I am also reminded of this maxim of customer service. Each time you raise the bar in terms of the level and quality of service, it is only a matter of time until it becomes the defacto standard of service -- a standard that no longer generates "huzzahs."

As it relates to the US, our benevolence has become expected -- even demanded -- and it no longer elicits that feeling of "wow, that was really great!" You don't tend to compliment that which is expected -- it's the unexpected that elicits praise.

On another note, to a degree, I can understand the angst that other countries may be feeling about the American juggernaut. There is probably a fear that, justified or not, the US will at some level attempt to "take over the world." We in the US know that largely not to be the case, but given past decades and centuries of Cold Wars, despots and feifdoms, it is not at all irrational for other country's to ponder the impacts of US actions. And, at least during the cold war, the two super-powers tended to naturally regulate the other. Now, the rest of the world must take it on faith that US intentions are honorable. Given the recent past, I can empathize with their skepticism.

Isn't there a political party in the United States with a foreign policy view very close to that?