SpongeBobSquarePants
Cadet
sycofancy said:
All true
~~Spongy!
All true
~~Spongy!
I'm not jumping to conclusions...Rome had the kind of attitude that they could waltz right into any country they wanted and rule it. I didn't say you personally had that attitude.SydneyFan said:
I feel I have a pretty good grasp as to what is going on in the US and the rest of the world, and as anyone who has ever spent any amount of time studying history will tell you, this has happened to countless other nations a 100 times over. The world will always be fighting the same wars of greed and religion. Empires will always fall, and new ones will always rise up. Just because we are living it now does not mean that we are unknowingly in the midst of the downfall of the US.
Just remember that like Rome, nothing lasts forever.
SpongeBobSquarePants
Cadet
I'm sorry, but I don't consider myself to be an American; I don't have the thoughts, arrogance, attitude, lifestyle and brainwashing to qualify me as being oneSydneyFan said:
And no, I wasn't using 1812 as an example of who is stronger.....I was using it as an example as to how much the us "cares" about us......what a typical American mind, always on "whos butt can they woop"
It will never be beaten? As if you have any clue ^_^
~~Spongy!
Yes nothing in the millions of years of human history has lasted forever, surely the US will change all that.
Of course that is exactly what I am saying, Romans thought Rome would last forever, they were arrogant and untouchable...and ultimatly dead at the hands of people they thought to be far too inferior to treat with respect and dignity.
There is too much unrest in the world and the US has to much unrest within it's own boards to maintain this idea of the perfect everlasting democracy.
Of course that is exactly what I am saying, Romans thought Rome would last forever, they were arrogant and untouchable...and ultimatly dead at the hands of people they thought to be far too inferior to treat with respect and dignity.
There is too much unrest in the world and the US has to much unrest within it's own boards to maintain this idea of the perfect everlasting democracy.
AliasSpyChick
Cadet
Well I stayed quiet as long as I could but...As a republican I have to say I am very offended by this statement. I neither rape, pillage nor am I overindulgent. I am a very upstanding citizen, who works hard for the money I earn, and think I should be able to keep most of my hard earned money instead of it being taxed away to programs I will never benefit from. I have a cousin who had her first child at 14, with in 5 years she was an unwed mother to 4 kids by 4 different fathers, and on welfare. The government paid for her education. Meanwhile I had to work two jobs to put myself through college and six years later I am still paying for my education. How is this fair?SydneyFan said:
I have read all the posts on here about Americans being overindulgent and people say how can they not be with the lack of choices. There are choices out there, you just have to make the right ones. You can get a regular sized value meal instead of supersizing it. You can get a geo metro instead of an Explorer. People who say it is a lack of choices just don't have the willpower to make the right choices, its easier for them to blame it on the "overindulgent culture of the US".
Oh and PS if oil is such a big motivator for the "US greed" and "country bombing" how come we haven't invaded Venezuela?
Princess Jeanie
Cadet
Reading this topic makes me sad, and a little sick, to be honest. I mean seriously, overgeneralize much!?!?! Yeah, some Americans overendulge as do some Canadians, some Germans, some...well, I could go on. Some Americans are humanitarians, some give to many international charities, some participate in important medical advancements, but then so do people of many other nationalities. SUV and environmental concerns are not just a problem of the US, but in many countries. Sure, I will go along with the fact that we tend to live outside our means and buy things because we can...this is part of our culture, but in general, we are good people trying to live a comfortable life and, contrary to many peoples' beliefs, we do care about other countries and their problems.
What makes me even sicker, is the fact that many here who live in America can't seem to find one thing good about our country. I'm sorry for you all that you think you live in an evil, materialistic country...that truly is sad. I wish that people could look around and see that we, in general, are a good society.
What makes me even sicker, is the fact that many here who live in America can't seem to find one thing good about our country. I'm sorry for you all that you think you live in an evil, materialistic country...that truly is sad. I wish that people could look around and see that we, in general, are a good society.
The US toots it's horn about being the best at everything, so you think by the same right they would set a good example for other industrialized nations, yet they refuse to be a part of the Kyoto Protocol that would vastly reduce the legal amount of harmdul emissions...emissions that come from SUVs which are more prevalent in the US then any other country. And that is but one example of the US being uneilling to help fix the environmental problem it has had a very large part in causing.
That is a fact, not a generalization. America has played a large part in the ongoing destruction of the environment ALL HUMANS have to live in, and the kind of makes me sick.
That is a fact, not a generalization. America has played a large part in the ongoing destruction of the environment ALL HUMANS have to live in, and the kind of makes me sick.
Princess Jeanie
Cadet
It is a generalization. I've read other post by you, and while I don't agree with you on much, I do recognize the fact you are an intelligent individual...I don't see how you even can argue that point. I do my best to do what I can as a single person to help reduce damage to the environment so have many others...and we are America, so to say that America doesn't care about the environment IS a generalization.sycofancy said:
Honestly, with George W. in office? the reason we don't invade Venezuela is because we can't justify it the way we are half assedly justifying Iraq. If we had a way in he would be in Venezuela and I don't think anything would stop him.
You can't take from everyone everywhere you have to maximize your thievery and I feel that's what bush and his cohorts have done and do. He's surrounded by Bush people that have been with his father for 30 years, cheney rumsefeld,and others who's names I don't know from the Nixon and ford era, and they know what they can and can't get away with. As it is with the chase on Osama we can strike war on any country in the world and get away with it which is unheard of and a pefect way to cover up thievery of one sort or another but as far as oil I think he may have enough with Iraq's supply. I think it's 7% of the worlds supply of oil. That will line a lot of oil pockets. and you have to understand oil pockets are the only reason this man, who has done nothing his entire life but run on his fathers name and allow hisself to be boosted by his fathers friends is in office. Those people don't work for free and they don't work for government wages.
edit:
Well to add to my factual example of how America has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, we also will soon be drilling in the Arctic Wildlife preserve. To me that is gross disregard for teh enviroment. Add to that the countless bills that are killed in congress each year that would make the air cleaner, the food we eat safer, and the hold responsible large corporations that polute and destroy our enviroment each year. These are not generalizations, these are facts about the country we live in.Princess Jeanie said:
You may do what you can to help the enviroment and others, as do I, but we are exception, not the majority. You said it yourself, you are a single person doing what you can. Drive around any major highway in the US and you will see the polution on the horizon and the litter on the side of the road, all put there by out fellow Americans. Having been to many other parts of the world, and then comparing what I have seen there to what I see in the US, it is not a generalization, but a conclusion: Americans, the majority of Americans, could care less about the world they live in.
No offence to you or your cousin, but don't you think she was a little over indulgent with sex if she had 4 kids she couldn't afford?AliasSpyChick said:
I am all for helping the people, but I am not all for taking advantage of the systems we have in place to people who have made one, maybe two poor choices in life...not 4.
You can dislike being taxed for programs for which you do not benefit, but tell me exactly what kind of benefits we a reaping from taxes now? It is proven fact that society benefits from universal health care, which is why so many nations in the industrialized world have it. Having healthy people is whole lot more useful then having 4000 nuclear warheads used to kill.
I worked my way through college too, and no it was not far that between 1998-2003 I got probably 7 hours of sleep because there was so much I had to do, but that is that nature of being a hardworking individual, and not the average American who feels everything should be handed to them on a silver platter.
As for you quip about Venezuela, I find it rather odd that the recent coup to over throw its leader bears all the hallmarks of other CIA staged coups in South America. As is always the way with US politics, we bomb the Middle East and we stage coups in South American, it's been happening for over 30 years, and it is not just Republicans. Perhaps it Venezuela is lucky they will have a Pinochet on their hands in addition to their economic strife. It's cold war realpolitik STILL in action.
i agree with Princess Jeanie about the overgeneralizing here. and i think a lot of people would do well to remember that Americans do not always agree with American leadership and a lot of us don't want to go to war with every nation that looks at us wrong. and by the way i know a great many Republicans who are good people, humanitarians at that. And i remember in Bush's SOTU 2003, he asked the Congress to give some large amount of money to AIDS research. This is in response to Jon's lovely generalization of Republicans. and a lot of Americans are environmentalists as well. so, i'm sorry if a lot of you hate Americans, but we're not all fat, redneck, ignorant, SUV driving, arrogant pricks. a lot of Americans are good people doing good in the world. and the comparison to Rome is a little unreasonable. Rome had grown so large and so unorganized that it couldn't control it's domain. it's a completely different situation.
No matter what anyone says about America, someone, somewhere, can always say it is a generalization, because everyone is different. My views on America are based on my observations on how people live both hear and abroad.xdancer said:
I could claim that you are over generalizing people who due humanitarian work, but then again I have seen so little of that in this country I would be intrigued to find out more.
The comparison to Rome is certainly reasonable. Our military is spread far to thin to achieve the administrations goals, and (now get ready for another generalization) the American public is so grossly misinformed by the mainstream media, they have no idea how or why we are fight for what we are fighting for. The same principles applied to Rome. The Romans were far too busy trying to attack the south they couldn't defend the north, while all the while the people were being entertain with the "bread and circus" with little or no knowledge what the state was up to.
Sorry , I was referring to the Republicans in office right now. I loathe them as if you couldn't tell. I think they are evil men. I liked Reagen a little. I thought his heart was in the right place. He was a Rep.
But I still think the Republican philosophy is selfish. But I didn't mean to offend "all " Reps".edit: But it was horrible what Reagan did to black people. Getting together with the CIA and the Mob and bringing all that crack into LA. Heartless.
syncofancy: perhaps i don't fully understand the term "overgeneralize," and if this is the case i sincerely apologize for using it, but i fail to see how i have overgeneralized seeing that i simply stated that there are some humanitarians who happen to be republicans.
and, if as you say we are so grossly misinformed by the media, what makes you think that you are so special that you know and the rest of America doesn't? and about the military being spread too thin, well, i have a strong aversion to military of any kind and have never cared to find out exactly what it does today, so i can't really comment on that. however, i can hope that with the hopeful change in the presidential administration next year, that will no longer be the case.
and, if as you say we are so grossly misinformed by the media, what makes you think that you are so special that you know and the rest of America doesn't? and about the military being spread too thin, well, i have a strong aversion to military of any kind and have never cared to find out exactly what it does today, so i can't really comment on that. however, i can hope that with the hopeful change in the presidential administration next year, that will no longer be the case.
ah, i see. well, while i can't say that i love Bush and his cronies, i don't think they are evil incarnate. they have done some good things. please don't ask me to give examples. it's late and i don't pay attention to the news as well as i should. but the world, including the people in it, are not black and white, completely good or completely evil, which is why i hate generalizations and stereotypes.SydneyFan said:Sorry , I was referring to the Republicans in office right now. I loathe them as if you couldn't tell. I think they are evil men. I liked Reagen a little. I thought his heart was in the right place. He was a Rep.
edit: But it was horrible what Reagan did to black people. Getting together with the CIA and the Mob and bringing all that crack into LA. Heartless.
and syncofancy, that is sad that a nation would give less than one man, but you have proved a bit of my point. after all, Bill Gates is an American.
I am not a big fan, or a fan at all, of the military or killing of any kind, but I enjoy being informed about world events through means other then cable news or the local paper which recent studies show 75% of Americans employ as a means of being informed.
Just because something makes me angry doesn't mean I have any intention of tuning it out.
Just because something makes me angry doesn't mean I have any intention of tuning it out.
