Question:
Is everyone mentally imagining Celine Dion’s oddball French-esque accent (like Ana Gasteyer does it on SNL) when they read Prose, or is it just me?
“It is this site from which I got the most amazing backgrounds for my pages.” hehehe…
::running around the house::
Geez, I thought I had them tied up around here somewhere.
how come you take it personally when someone is speaking against america when you are not one who suffers from the american foreign policy. it would be the sickest foreign policy from an “advanced” country. kind of makes you wonder if “advanced” is the correct word. it is true that america tries to force their political and governmental ways onto nations that have one america doesnt like. you could call it “civilized but brutal warfare”.
point being that even if you live in america and like the “american way”, nobody is connecting the insults towards the stupidity of america to you personally.
bj0rn - youve got an ego the size of a country eh?
Ahh, Bjorn, the good old standby America Basher!
First of all, The US generally gets involved in countries that are a) hostile and belligerent, b) oppressive to their own people c) enemies of the US or d) communist, which I would argue is the same as “b”.
That said, I am an isolationist, so the comments about the US, don’t necesarily pertain to me.
I do Love the US and it does make me angry to hear bigots such as yourself slam us. When you say that America is a ridiculous culture with no value, well, you are talking about the group with which I identify, and which I am a member of.
By your logic, I could say “Niggers are ignorant smelly bastards” and not expect any single black person to take offense because I was insulting the group and not a specific individual.
Your argument is used by many bigots when they say “I have lots of gay friends, and I’m not saying they’re all bad, but Gays are malodorous perverts who should be jailed.”
Sorry, your logic is flawed.
“The robbed that smile,
Steal something from the thief.” —WS, Othello I.III.204
Yea, only idiots use generalizations!
Um, wait a second…
::running for cover::
Checked out Prose’s stats. It’s nice to see how hard-headed and opinionated she has managed to become by 21. Gives us something to look forward to when she get to be 40.
By the way, I think she’s just scared that Canada will become the next state in the United States. (That should set her off.)
Bitch by Birth
No, Mr.Blue, all idiots use generalizations.
hold it…
Stop it. Argh. Cut it OUT.
I’m an American, and I like the US. I’ve lived and travelled abroad, and I can say that while the US has problems, they’re nothing compared to some of the places I’ve been (and I really dig some of those places anyway!).
I’ve never been to Canada, but I’m sure it’s a very nice place. In fact, I’m sure EVERYWHERE is a nice place. I lived in a war zone for a year, and it was a very nice place, too! Everyone calm down and stop being so defensive - likewise, stop attacking other peoples’ countries. It just makes you come off looking like an ignorant jerk.
~Harborina
“This is my sandbox. I’m not allowed to go in the deep end. That’s where I saw the leprechauns.”
Whenever someone picks on my country, I remind them that they are damned lucky we are fat,lazy, stupid bastards. The last time a nation’s citizens were on the same wavelength, they started WWII, which we had to end. Sure, we had a little help.
I’m not a fallen angel, I’m a risen demon.
[[Question, why does America ship so much of it’s hazardas waste here to Canada?( I don’t know why we let them, I’m not government)]]
And that’s the important point. Why does the Canadian government allow such “hazardas” dumping in your country?
For all its faults, I woulnd’t want to live anywhere else but America (I have traveled and seen much of the world). This IS the greatest country as far as I’m concerned, and I’m proud to be a citizen. Anyone who thinks we suck doesn’t have to come here and that’s just fine with me!
Nonplussed
Who, me? WHAT?! Where am I?
Please be advised
Perfect Illustration to Follow:
…as compared to:
The comments of the horrendously misnomered “prose” notwithstanding, the remarks in the second quote are really closer to the issue.
I have been to the U.S. on numerous occasions, lived there for the better part of 6 years, and hold dual citizenship. I quite like the U.S., and many of the people I have met. I think that, like any other country, the U.S. has its share of problems; we just get to hear about them more due to our proximity and morbid fascination with American culture.
I have had numerous discussions with Mr.Z. regarding our perceptions of the relative freedom and generaly benefits to being an American over a Canadian, and vice-versa. The best thing to remember is that its important to love the place you’re from. Go right ahead, believe firmly that it’s the best damned place anyone could ever want to be.
And while the ‘points’ raised by the ignorant are as irrelevant and puerile as the intellect that brings them up, so too are the responses that they provoke.
AzRaek, unless your real name is Gen. D.Eisenhower, I don’t see that a ‘we’ that includes you has sweet piss-all to do with WWII. Many other countries were doing very much more with what little they had for a much longer period of time before the U.S. added its pivotal-but-nonetheless-belated assistance.
And, Mr.Z, maybe you oughta add item e) to your list of reasons for US intervention; that being endowed with large quantities of oil. While the US-led intervention in Kuwait was admirable and wholly correct, they didn’t seem to eager to get in on the bloodshed in places like Somalia or the Balkans, which fall squarely under categories a) and b) of your list.
That being said, I’d just like to apologize to the rest of the world for Celine Dion.
Z
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.
This is not exactly a valid comparison. Remember that Iraq invaded Kuwait, a sovereign nation, and was therefore a pretty clear cut case. Somalia and the Balkan troubles are internal conflicts and, by their their very nature, are much more nebulous. How do you help people when both sides hate your guts?
ugh…
hostile towards whom and for what reasons, would that be someone like cuba? would that be corea and vietnam?(referes to situations). and whats wrong with communism? is communism wrong just because the us dosnt like it?
and then you say:
and you say:
dig into your own man…
your word “nigger” is a referance to a person or a group of persons, while “america” is not. so your logic fails because i would expect a person or persons to be insulted if i said something like you did.
i dont think we are attacking anybodys country. staying in that line of thought…who owns a country? i would say nobody, a country is simply that…a country. a place where people live, like a house. what i am saying is that i dont care how you live, i just dont want you to force me to live like you do. no matter if its good or bad. frankly speaking, i find it bad if someone is trying to force me to live like someone else. and america with its foreign policy forces alot of people around the world to live in circumstances created by america, the closest example would be cuba.
bj0rn - once america was inhabitaded by americans, some silly sod renamed them to indians…
blue,
I believe it’s a wholly valid comparison. If a country is anxious to trumpet it’s record as a champion of saving the rest of the world from itself, then it can’t confine itself to actions falling only under the category of the patently obvious.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not denigrating the role that US intervention is capable of playing. However, in this day and age, I don’t hold with that “internal conflict” bullshit when the issue at hand is ethnic cleansing or religious persecution. Concentration camps and Auschwitz were “internal affairs” of German society in the '30s and '40s.
Perhaps situations like these would seem a trifle less ‘nebulous’ if peacekeeping missions were assigned to them on a more aggressive basis.
Human rights transcend international boundaries - or at least they should.
Z
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.
bjorn said
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the american political system. America is its people. You can argue that it is a geographical location, but a large land make coca cola or Macdonalds. And a bunch of dirt doesn’t have a culture. As far as I can tell, you are not railing against a landmass; you are ticked at what the american people, government and culture are doing.
bjorn, if you have a digital camera, perhaps you could e-mail me a picture of the Americans who are pointing a gun to the head of icelanders and making them buy American products.
Do they actually stand in the grocery stores, or do they come to your home?
I’ll admit, we do meddle quite a bit in the affairs of other nations. Many times, we do so in our own interes. There is nothing wrong with a country acting in its own best interest.
At the risk of also feeding the troll, envy and jealousy are unbecoming of any person and any nation. “Wanna be Americans” should learn not to whine. The pitiful list of entertainers that you listed is small compared to the list that we could start here. So we won’t even go there. I find that most Canadians are very nice people…and they appreciate Americans spending money in Canadian territories.
Sounds to me like Prose wants to live in Canada but she wants to have the quality of life that Americans have…but knowing that won’t ever happen she attacks it instead. I think we should just send her to conventry and forget about it.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
Senior Intern to
El Presidente
Self-Righteous Clique *
So, do you think she’ll like England any better?
Here’s mud in yer eye,
UncleBeer
bjorn said
The people who live in your house are idiots.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the American political system. America is its people. You can argue that it is a geographical location, but a large land make coca cola or Macdonalds. And a bunch of dirt doesn’t have a culture. As far as I can tell, you are not railing against a landmass; you are ticked at what the american people, government and culture are doing.
bjorn, if you have a digital camera, perhaps you could e-mail me a picture of the Americans who are pointing a gun to the head of icelanders and making them buy American products.
Do they actually stand in the grocery stores, or do they come to your home?
I’ll admit, we do meddle quite a bit in the affairs of other nations. Many times, we do so in our own interest. There is nothing wrong with a country acting in its own best interest.
zoony: First off, another invalid comparison… IIRC the concentration camps were not running in Germany in the 30’s, and by the time they were in the 40’s, armed conflict was well underway anyway. Rather, Jews and other political opponents were mostly just stripped of their rights in 1930’s Germany; probably only somewhat worse off than Southern blacks at about the same time.
So, what strategy would you employ then? If we learned anything from Vietnam, it should at least be that you better have some pretty clear objectives. We did intervene in Somalia and the Balkans. In the case of Mogadishu (sp?) apparently without good objectives or intelligence, and therefore paid the price. It appears the Balkan initiatives have been slightly more successful (after the deaths), but considering the centuries of hatred there, the idea of a lasting peace seems dubious at best.
How do you keep people from killing each other? Sure, you can charge in, guns blazing, and if you have enough force in place, maybe you can smash the offending governments and hopefully prevent systematic slaughter, but it’s often only after the fact. Unless you propose huge US (or UN) military presence all over the globe, I doubt the reaction time would be sufficient.
Remember also that your politicians are the ones making the decisions, and they’re not about to offend potential voters with harsh pre-emptive action. First, they have to justify the deaths of American soldiers to the American public, and that’s not an easy thing to do. Maybe it’s worth sacrificing one American soldier to save 5, 10 or 100 Somali civilians. But if all they starve to death or are massacred next year because the new Administration withdrew, how do you justify that? Secondly, they have to justify it to the world, and that’s probably even harder.
Even if you do manage to gain control of the conflicted area, how much control do you really have? Can you realistically police an entire country and make it safe? Worse yet, how do you stop the hate, when revenge multiplies it?
I agree that human rights should transcend international boundaries, but what if China had accused the US of mass executions of Native Americans or slavery of African Americans and vowed to free them via military action? Or the US claimed Quebec was being oppressed with the English language and sent troops to liberate it? Or the French attacked the UK so they would free Northern Ireland? Yes these are (somewhat) ridiculous examples, and I considered not posting them, but how many dead do we need to count before we act and can we act only on the anticipation of slaughter? Should Canada invade New York or Detroit if the murder rate increases due to racial violence and all US action seems pathetic to Canadians? Were we justified in the Kosovo campaign when the bombings killed civilians who, more likely than not, were guilty of nothing?
My point is that these are difficult questions, and the idea that application of military force can always preserve human rights is naive. If you wish to continue this discussion, I suggest a new topic…