Re: How Views Cause the Situation to Change (was Re: Cheney's...)

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On Sunday 11 May 2003 12:27, Timothy R. Butler wrote:
>   I would definitely agree. When I hear about the "Canadian Dream" or the
> "French Dream" rather than the "American Dream," perhaps then I will start
> to worry. 

you likely never will hear about the "Canadian Dream" because that's not the 
sort of thing that Canadian culture encourages. our culture has different 
values and different ways of expressing them. this doesn't mean that the USA 
is somehow superior because of that difference in culture, and i resent that 
you would imply that.

if you ever wonder why so many people around the world think Americans are 
ignorant pigs that are generally clueless read your sentence above a few 
times, first from the perspective of a Canadian, then from the perspective of 
a French person. take into consideration the differences between the cultures 
and try and understand how what you said comes across as crass belligerence.

> The U.S. is still the place people want to go.

which people? and where else are people from this same demographic going if 
they choose elsewise than the US? and why do those who go there do so? do 
they achieve their goals? 

empty generalizations are useless ;-)

>  Even the harshest critics that live here don't leave to go some place
> "better."

i don't know about the harshest of critics, but many *have* left. i'm no 
longer in the USA, for instance (not that i really matter any ;). but i think 
there is something more fundamental going on: the critics love their land and 
what they perceive as to be their way of life, they believe it is both worth 
salvaging and can be salvaged. it is highly disrespectful of their point of 
view and efforts to say that since they stay where they are to try and 
correct things that their statements about the US having problems are trivial 
and marginal. their staying says more about them than it does about their 
Nation at large. after all, even the harshest of regimes have had their 
internal voices of dissent who have opted to stay and create change.

>   With vigilance against liberalization and socialization of the
> government, especially through the constant fight against big government,

big government is liberal? ergo if we don't want a big brother government we 
should err on the side of conservatism? is this what you're saying?

> the U.S. will remain the place where those seeking a better life will
> continue to come.

s/those seeking a better life/some seeking a different life/

one of the reasons people feel the need to seek a different life is because 
their current life sucks. for many of those people, their life sucks in large 
part because of Western irresponsibility, imposition, usery and negligence. 
by keeping other parts of the world below ourselves, it's very easy to remain 
on top. hell, Europe did it for centuries. the USA is only recently been able 
to forget what it was like to be on the side of the oppressed and is now 
feeling its oats enough to step into the boots of World Colonialist.


btw, i really tried to ignore this thread. i was hoping the cheerleaders would 
know when to get off the field; you know, before they start patting each 
other on the back so hard that they forget to keep a grip on basic logic, 
fact and reality. i respect most everyone on this list, even those i don't 
agree with, but i find it very difficult to remain silent in the face of 
absurdity.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

KDE: The 'K' is for 'kick ass'
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