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Jon Miller
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this should be boring
Jon Miller
just evening it up
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Main_Brain
Well what diverts them from me is that my Country has no Nationalism and its quite an taboo to be 'patriotic'.
//Aussies arent different they are just way cooler  |
What country are you from, main brain?
But you are largely right. Americans are extremely proud of their country, proud of its achievements, proud of its Constitution, proud of its role in WWII, proud of its role in defeating communisim and proud of its role in championing democracy and human rights in today's world.
Most of the anti-American world seem intent, in our view, of demonstrating that America is evil in one form or another - that our achievements are built on slavery, for example, or that we fought WWII for empire and not democracy. But we in the US know differently because we are idealists who elect leaders who are idealists as well. We simply will not support a foreign policy that aims at empire. We will support a foreign policy that aims at stability, democracy and human rights.
Perhaps there has never been a country that operates almost exclusively on idealism, and for that reason most seek to understand the "ulterior motive" in all our actions.
But we are idealists who will fight for democracy, freedom and human rights. This is our Manifest Destiny.
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ravagon
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Australia
Sep 1999
time: 13:25
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I don't think its anywhere near as clear cut or as recent as you seem to imply.
I'd date it largely back to the early-mid 20th C - From their point of view - After coming in late to WW1 and finishing it off they were largely ignored when Europe pushed severe reparations on remnants of the Central Powers, returned to isolationism, and 20 years later had to intervene again in WW2.
Having learned the hard way that Europe couldn't be trusted enough to deal with their own problems and with the waxing power of the USSR on the horizon they were hardly about to make the same mistakes again and began to impose their own will on the outside world.
At a guess they see themselves as having learned from history whereas most others haven't.
And I'd think the US has influenced the rest of the world far more than the other way around...
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Inverse Icarus
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flying too low to the ground
May 2001
time: 00:25
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Greg Proops, a comedian said something alone these lines:
quote:
That's how they are...and I realised why America comes off as an ignorant place. Perhaps it's the prevaling attitude of Neo-nazi, psycho-christian, gun toting, truck driving, guinea cap wearer, and malitia armband, Tim Mc Veigh rally, antichoice, redneck, huge belt buckles with their name on which they wear upside down so they can go, "Sh*t! That's my name!" attitude that prevails. And, by large psycho christians set the agenda for everything in my country, cause my country was born of ignorance. The English sent over a group of well armed psycho christians...called the Pilgrims, who had no knowledge of the native language...and bought no farming implements with them. Two hundred and seventy five years later, I hear this all the time in England, "...well, all Americans are fat and stupid."...Really? Well, thanks for sending over the best and brightest to start the party huh! Maybe we it's about time we send back some inbred hicks back to your country! |
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Guynemer
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I'm going to make two radical statements (by 'Poly standards) that is sure to make both Americans and other Westerners hate me.
Americans could stand to learn a lot from Euros, Canucks, Aussies, and Kiwis. And Euros, Canucks, Aussies, and Kiwis could stand to learn a lot from Americans.
Of course, I acknowledge that this would require an end to the all the posturing and blaming and arrogance and generalized *****-waving that occurs on both sides, which is as likely an occurance as George W. Bush winning the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Main_Brain
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Economic World Center
Jul 2002
time: 06:25
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- Oh US has Gun Control its just uhm not so strict ;=)
I guess that comes from Old Pioneer Times.
- China,India some Arabian States execute Criminals too
- On what is the Western Average based?
- I partly agree partly disagree. US intervenes but you cant say the 100% support Israel. They also hear the Palastinian side alhough.. well...
- Well i remember the French actions after the Metro terror act...
- no, Turkey does that too
- No, its just closer to the original Idea of Free Market which has upsides and downsides
- Well heathcare is expensive and is directly related to taxes in a country ..some have more some less.
- Mhh African Countries, Arabian Countries, the debate in Italy? was also quite harsh If i remember correctly?
- http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_op.../ebs_172_en.pdf near the end.
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Agathon
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Leafs 4TW!! - CPA
Dec 2002
time: 00:25
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quote:
Originally posted by GP
I've answered it before. It's the Revolutionary War and the Founding fathers and the Pilgrims and that stuff. That stuff is what we're all about. |
Oddly enough, I was making this point in another thread.
True, but the French state is born of revolution, although France did exist before that (which makes the difference). I think that is some of it, but there is also:
(1) The British Empire: the English speaking countries other than the United States were part of the BE in recent memory and share judicial and political similarities as well as a large contingent of people who moved between them. For example, as a New Zealander I have English, Scots, Irish and Canadian ancestors and my wife has Welsh, Australian and Canadian family.
(2) The Welfare State: the other "Western" countries had successful experiments with the welfare state. In short, apart from occasionally needed fine tuning, the welfare state works. This tends to make people more egalitarian in outlook (for instance: NZ's conservatives are to the left of Clinton).
(3) World War 2: all the other Western states were affected much more deeply by World War 2. For Australians and New Zealanders it was a war in defence of the Empire and we sent our soldiers away to Europe to fight it. For the rest of the European nations it was what I believe is the final antidote to war. None of them are now interested in fighting each other and the inhabitants are generally more anti war than their American counterparts. One reason is that the civilian populations of these countries were devastated by the war or at least threatened territorially. Neither is the case in the US. For Americans wars are fought somewhere else, and someone else's civilian population dies.
(4) We play soccer. American football is boring.
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Alexander's Horse
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Panmunjon, hands up!
Jan 1970
time: 15:25
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quote:
Originally posted by GP
You can also look at it in reverse, AH. It is easy to be the little brother who *****es all the time, but has the US to call on when they need them. |
Lol, we don't believe you are going to come to our assistance.
And who is *****ing? I like America and Americans. I'm just pointing out some pretty obvious differences we see here all the time.
Maybe the problem is Americans are kind of shocked that when the rest of the Western world finds out about the American way, which we hear about here all the time, they say "no thanks" pretty emphatically.
That must seem odd since you are "number 1". I mean, when the Romans and the Brits were on top people wanted to copy them. Why don't people want to copy American laws, values, government policies?
Take a simple thing like accents, noone wants to speak English like an American. When the Brits were on top, everyone who spoke English in the British world wanted to speak it like a Brit. The American way is explicitly rejected by most Western countries. Why?
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15-01-2003 07:08
ACK!
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