A message to the world from the USA

[logic]

Yes your right.

I could say the same thing about any other country. (probably more so)

[Laughing Cow]

RANT ON

One of the things that upsets a lot of People about America is their chest thumping (we give soo much aid, we are improving the world soo much, yadda, yadda).

Also their ingrained belief that theirs is the best country in the world and that no other country could EVEN come close to their freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.

RANT OFF

Just my 0.2 cents worth.

[WinterPalm]

Every country makes blunders. America just happens to involve the world when they make one. The track record is long.
Blowing up pharmacutical factories in Sudan that provide the only means to cheap TB and malaria pills.
Deforestization of Vietnam.
Forced sanctions on Cuba which produces more aid relief in the form of highly trained doctors to the UN than any northern country.
Cutting out UN food to starving, refugee afghanis. Dropping defractmenting mine bombs that are identical in color and shape as the food relief dropped nearby.
Forced taxes on Canadian lumber in the name of FREE TRADE.

Sure, every country makes mistakes but america is making too many for every country on the globe.

[The Willow Sword]

HEY TIPPY TURTLE WALKIN DOWN THA STREET,,TELL US WHAT YER GONNA DOOOOOO. "WELL FIRST IM GONNA BOTHER EVERYBODY I MEET, THEN ILL PROBABLY GO HOME AND GET DRUNK". HEY HEEEEYYYY TIPPY TURTLE,,,HEY HEYYYYYY TIPPY TURTLE....

[dezhen2001]

wtf?

dawood

[Radhnoti]

We're the world's only superpower, it's easy to take shots at us. The question is do YOU think YOU'RE government would do things better than ours? If you do I think you're fooling yourself. Anything that gets as big as our government has gotten will end up hurting individuals or small groups with policy decisions. Our government starts punishing tobacco companies with high taxes and tarriffs, Chinese farmers a world away can see a drop in profit. Some senator convinces a company to locate into his state and the third world country that WOULD have gotten the factory complains of U.S. greed. This is a WORLD economy, and every policy the U.S. endorses that aids one group, harms another. If you were a policy maker, who would you care more about? People a world away, or your constituents who voted you into office and to whom you'll soon be answering?

Ask yourself this. Where would MY country be if the U.S. dropped all humanitarian aid, left the U.N., closed the borders and became completely isolationist? Or if the U.S. population was devastated by some biological calamity? The world would fall into economic chaos, the "global policeman and country that brings to bear diplomatic pressures" would be gone and I GUARANTEE multiple conflicts would erupt. And, in the end, one or two superpowers would emerge that would step into the gap left by the U.S. If the world were LUCKY it would be a country with the kind of freedoms we have guaranteed by the Constitution, and the basic "feel" our citizens have that everyone should be free to enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

This is not to say there isn't room for improvement, and I'm a strong believer in anyone's right to say what they want. But, I think the U.S. bashing rings pretty hollow...it almost seems like some kind of weird inferiority complex to me. My country isn't perfect, but we've done great things. And the ideals my country were built upon are SUPERB.

Just another attempt at an honest opinion...I say attempt because it's AMAZING how often I type one these up only to erase it before posting.

[Laughing Cow]

Radhnoti.

Thanks, you just prooved my previous point.

Ask yourself, where would the USA be if it shut itself off from the rest of the World?
Next time you head to a Super ask yourself where the goods that you buy come from or who owns the Company/shop/etc that you like to frequent.
Sip on your Nescafe Coffee that is owned by the Swiss, etc.

Many things that are considered US-based are not so in fact.

Ask Bill Gates who wrote the Character recognition Software for his latest Tablet PC. Answer: the Chinese.

Look at X-mas alone, 90% of the Decorations come from China, most of the toys, clothing, appliances come from asia.

The USA can't cut itself off from the rest of the world either, it would be it's own ruin and maybe many other countries would suffer.

But life would go on without the USA, maybe not as smooth and nice, but it will go on. AS it did before the USA started it's world influence.

Just my 0.2 cents worth.

[Kristoffer]

WHO CARES? To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Stop whyyyyning" Threads 'about/if the USA are evil' makes me head hurt. Cry babies, all of you

*yawn*

[Liokault]

Sharky

Do you REALLY think the press isn't state run in the USA or UK?

Have u read any news in the UK this week?

If so how can u belive that its controled by the powers that be? All week the press has been slaughtering our prime PM's wife and making every one in power look kind of stoopid.




Also on the theam of this thread......as much as i hate to say it I think bush is doing great right now.

[Merryprankster]

Oh Goody! Another let's-hate-the-U.S.-and-the-west thread!

I'm so, so sick of it. Think other cultures are better with better ideas? I'm tired of people idolizing--and idealizing-- non-U.S. cultures.


It's like a worldwide case of penis envy.
Or, if you're a whiny American, a case of grass is greener. Don't like it, VOTE, or organize, instead of *****ing and moaning.

[Laughing Cow]

MP.

If the USA is that great and superior than why don't they CLOSE all the Sea and AirPorts and do everything on their own.
Bush was very fast to get them re-opened during the recent strike..


Most of your tech & knowhow doesn't even come from within the states, but from aquired labour and skills.

The USA needs the rest of the world more than the rest of the world needs the USA.
That is a fact, accept it.

Most of the guys that say that the USA is soo great and superior never set a foot outside their country but simply quote something that they were spoon fed from the cradle onwards.
If they had they wouldn't be claiming those things.


You are sick and tired of hearing how bad the USA is, the rest of the world is sick and tired of hearing how much superior and better the USA is.

When you Guys stop telling us that you are superior we will stop aswell.

Just my 0.2 cents worth

[LEGEND]

A message from VIETNAM to the USA!

" Doods...send us some DENTIST!!! We got women with PHUCKED up teeth here! I'm talking about stuff that BRITESMILE laser whitner can't even CURE!!! How in god's name u want to declare the war on IRAQ when the war on plaque hasn't been won yet??? You are causing VIETNAM extinction!!! How can we BONE when our WOMEN teeth is all messed up!!?? I hate u all USA...POOWAH!!!

[Merryprankster]

I didn't say we weren't reliant on the rest of the world. It's all interconnected. I am absolutely tired of people insisting the U.S. is somehow responsible for starvation in Africa or insane people conducting suicide bombings.

It's an attribution error. Our "failure," to "fix," things is a great evil and our attempts to "fix," things are a great evil.

It's a lose-lose situation. We're not going to please everybody and it quite frankly comes out in the form of "hey, let's bash the U.S." Or the western culture it derived from. Whichever fits the bill at the time. We're a convenient target--and an easy misdirection for bad governments the world over--Get them to blame the U.S. and they'll forget they're starving because the U.N. aid is being hoarded by local government cronies,etc.

Like anything else, the U.S. is a mixed bag. I just get tired of the bashing.... There's just as much bad stuff going on elsewhere, and I would argue a hell of a lot more of it in a great deal of the places around the world that aren't 1st world countries.

As far as me being a flag-waiving redneck...(not that you saide that--you didn't) Hell, I'm in the armed services and I'm practically considered communist by some of the people I work with.

[ZIM]

How about this?

[red5angel]

You guys crack me up. Guys like winterpalm are as bad as any chest thumping american, easy to point out the bad things if you have a mind for it
The United States of America is a country, just like any other country. Governments change, policies change, people like and dislike almost everyone of those that comes through.
I love America, but mostly because I live here and it's what I know.
If I were born in England, I would probably love England! If I were born in Iraq I would probably love Iraq. the chances are good anyway that whatever it is I am used to I am going to prefer.
Is the US perfect, nope, Is the US good or bad, nope. Does the US give aid to other countries when its needed? Yep. Does the US take aid away from countries, sometimes at the worst time, yep.
this is what I like about American policy however....If you live in a neighborhood, and there a few bad neighbors, the kind who like to stir up trouble, can't stay out of other peoples yards or business, always meddling. Some are a nuisance, some like to do damage, destroying property, beating up other neighbors whatever. You can live in your house and peek outside the window everyonce in a while, because who cares what is going on outside because all that's important to you is whats going on inside your house, until one of your neighbors comes to burn it down or starts destroying your yard.
Or, you can take charge, get in and get your hands dirty, police the neighborhood, try to make sure people are behaving and leaving each other alone, playing nice. Sure some of your neighbors may not approve, most of those are the kind who are sitting in thier houses staring out the windows. Sure people may not like your decisions all the time, but you know what, someone is doing something.
We have policemen in our local neighborhoods. Most of them are good people just trying to do good things and keep the place safe, some are bad and sometimes they do some damage but that isn't what happens most of the time. We hate and we love the police because of what they do.

Someone has to take responsibility for all the little kids out there who want to start a fight in the neighborhood and do things generally unacceptable.......And in the big neighborhood we call the world, America is doing that. Some of our neighbors support us, some of our neighbors don't bother either way, and some are against us, but atleast we are doing something.....