Yes, because there’s no senseless conflict outside of the United States. All the world’s pointless self-righteousness is limited to the 300 million people in the USA. Everyone outside it sees all the nuances. That’s why when Yugoslavia broke up, everything was peachy, and why the Israelis and Arabs have been so successful at sorting out their differences with reasoned debate. Let’s also not forget how Europe, Asia and Africa never have any wars.
I recently served on a jury in a murder trial in California. I was stunned by how much the proceedings resembled an episode of Law & Order, right down to specific jury instructions given by the judge. The only difference was that there was a lot more boring stuff (qualification of experts, introducing of exhibits into evidence, etc.) that would have been cut out of the Law & Order episode. But the proceedings themselves, the conduct of the attorneys and the witnesses (including the one witness who was initially jailed for refusing to answer questions), the objections and other elements of courtroom procedure frequently had me thinking that I was in a Law & Order episode.
As far as our judicial system in general, before it was firmly established, the problem was not so much the guilty getting away with things as it was the innocent being railroaded. That’s why the Bill of Rights is full of protections for the accused, in order to restore the balance, and ensure that they can’t just come in the middle of the night and throw you in jail (something which still happens with alarming frequency in many countries).
Excellent. My day is made. Thank you, Alessan!
Also, as for the OP–I’ve lived outside of the US. The people I met were pretty much just like Americans–nice folks getting through their lives as best they could. Some were as self-righteous and hard to debate with as you could ever imagine. I was surprised that while the educational system was more sensible in a couple of ways, on the whole it was no better than my schools at home. And that many of the people I knew were so uninterested in the rest of the world (history was being made practically next door, but few cared). Just like home!
Why is it that inevitably it’s the close-minded people who disagree with me, while the open-minded people always agree? I guess close-minded people just suck that way.
The quote in the OP was written by an American, of retirement age, who bills himself as a freelance writer and blogger, and whose views (upon brief review) seem in line with tea partyers. The quote is all over the board in its indictment of…what, exactly? I would call this person a crank.
In support of this twisted viewpoint, Marmite cites personal interactions with a handful of Americans in RL and frustration at dealing with U.S. (but not other?) people online.
Although I’m frustrated by the ignorance and apathy I see in the U.S., it’s far from universal, and I’m not convinced that teh rest of the world is that much more enlightened.
I’m not sure what his claim is, but your quote makes it pretty clear the Ahmadinejad was metaphorically expressing a wish that the Israeli government wasn’t there, not threatening to use nuclear weapons to kill millions of Jews.
No, that was Cole’s claim that the Iranian translators said wasn’t true.
Again, it was not about the government of Israel and it was not a passive wish that it would just toddle off and we’d see a new government in power.
Nobody ever said it was a threat to use nuclear weapons.
Just a wish for Israel to be destroyed.
As an American lawyer I can tell you: All law schools in America offer a required ethics course, and one thing the students are taught is that in criminal practice, a defense counsel’s fiduciary duty and a prosecutor’s fiduciary duty are not the same: Defense counsel’s duty is to the defendant only, and it is to get the defendant the best deal possible out of the system, period. But a prosecutor does not simply have a corresponding duty to put the harshest punishment possible on the defendant; a prosecutor’s duty is to do justice, even if that means dismissing the case if the prosecutor learns of exculpatory evidence (which a prosecutor, BTW, is obligated to share with the defense).
Maybe we don’t all learn that, but we’re all taught it.
It must be, it won Oscars!
Well, they both suck. So, on an abstract meta level its a home run…
Read a book recently called True Enough that discusses this topic, albeit an a much less incendiary way. It highlights how people today now have so much information at their disposal, they tend to gravitate towards information that supports their already held beliefs and ignore information that goes against their beliefs (selective perception). It is an interesting read, and pretty non-partisan, if you want to know more about it.
I don’t think people (aka Americans) have a problem with truth at all. I think people have strong beliefs and don’t always like (or have time) to consider all the arguments on other sides.
Sounds like a similar dynamic to group polarization.
By the way, Euros who find something to gloat over in the comments quoted in the OP, should realize that while the author thinks Americans are screwed up, it’s all of Western Civilization that’s swirling down the toilet:
“The Spanish, Dutch, French, and English empires have expired and these nations are now mere vassals states, although France and England still pretend to be world powers. Lasting greatness is not attained by the imposition of power. As with all the great civilizations of the past, Western Civilization is doomed as long as it continues to pursue this method of dominance.”
Prof. Kozy is rather a gloomy guy. He does seem to be popular on a number of antivaccination websites.
[QUOTE=lekatt]
Americans rely on the media to tell them what to think, or they rely on science, religion, or some other organization. There are not a lot of free thinkers, although everyone would claim the label. Skeptics are not really skeptics except in one narrow way.
[/QUOTE]
Yep, that annoyingly narrow path of science and evidence-based thinking. What a drag that is!
Just one comment… the president of Iran spoke at a university here in the US a while back. There was buzz in the media and I was curious what the dude would say. Turns out I could never find a transcript of the speech. Only reports about the speech taking place, and Joe Blow R-OH says Iran is a threat to the global economy or some such. Two quotes if I was lucky.
To Finn who cannot let it go:D
The problem you face Finn is you can only rely on English sites for your information. You cannot argue about linguistics when you do not speak or understand Farsi or Arabic. You are relying on a few websites all quoting each other. All of them mention these two so called ‘translators’. These guys are not translators. Their only claim to fame is saying what they said. You do know that both are American educated and lived and studied in the US don’t you?. One’s mother is American.
Now if you instead could read Farsi or Arabic then you would have been able to go onto the Farsi speaking forums and actually get your information from Iranian sources whose language it is. Even you would find it hard to disagree on a Farsi speakers interpretation of his own language, and I can tell you if you had this facility you would see they all disagree with the ‘so called translators’
This is the critical problem with the West. They rely on sites which tell you a load of bullshit, so let me explain it to you so that you are a bit more educated when you come to discuss this again.
This is the quote from Ruhollah Khomeni.
باید از صفحه روزگار محو شود
It say’s “This regime occupying Jerusalem must from the pages of history be erased”
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was Quoting Ruhollah Khomeni in that infamous speech. It was NOT his own words.
This is the quote from Ahmedinejad.
امام خمینی : باید از صحنه روزگار محو شود
This one say’s “Imam Khomeni says This regime occupying Jerusalem must from the stage of history be erased”
Ahmedinejad actually misquoted Khomeni when he said 'stage’صحنه and not 'page’صفحه, but this is irrelevant as this was cleared up later by his transcriber and the error corrected. Clearly if you are quoting someone it has to be correct and it was corrected quickly after.
Now no where in either quote does it mention 'Israel’or ‘Map’.
When it was found that ‘Israel’ and ‘map’ had been circulated around the world, instead of correcting it the ‘West’ ran with it and have been running ever since with people like you talking rubbish.
There is NO dispute about what the Farsi says. Ask any Persian, and one of the words صفحه is actually taken from the Arabic which in Arabic means also ‘page’.
So ‘wiping Israel off the Map’ was NEVER said. (Well it was by the West) but we cannot believe them can we when the Iranian Farsi speakers and the Arabs agree it was never said?.
It’s a myth.
In fact even MEMRI agreed ‘Israel and Map’ were never mentioned.
To be honest with you and knowing Ahmedinejad’s weird sense of humour he is laughing about this and letting you all ‘run with it’. To him it shows how stupid you are really. He is proving your media are lying to you. He is amazed you all believe it I am sure, as I am, as we are here.
It’s a bit like Obama making a statement and saying. " I ate chicken for dinner last night " and an Iranian reporter quoting him as saying " I ate children for dinner last night ". Then the whole Arab world believing he said ‘children’, then running about for years accusing him of being a cannibal.
What would Obama do but laugh. It’s so ridiculous and that is why Ahmedinejad doesn’t even respond to it. He is I would suspect laughing his head off at Israeli’s, Americans and their allies. This is what happens when Israel has you by the balls and controls your media.
No transcript, but you can watch the introduction and his speech here. The most infamous statement he made here was that there weren’t any homosexuals in Iran (to general laughter from the audience).
I fail to see the significance of this.
Finn
as I said before ask any Egyptian. They are NOT Arabs.
-the country’s name is "The Arab Republic of Egypt."
Only because this shows a united front against Zionism in the region. It has nothing to do with Arab ancestry.
**
-the country’s official language is Arabic.**
America’s official language is English. Does that make American’s really English then?
In fact Egyptians speak Masri. Arabic is the language of the Quran and is used ONLY in that setting and media. Masri is the spoken language.
-the country was conquered by Arab forces roughly a millennium and a half ago and substantial genetic influence resulted from that time period.
Key word being ‘conquered’
before that they were obviously not Arabs.
-and of course Egypt has been part of the Arab League since it was formed (the league, not Egypt).
and why was it suspended?
Better than that the head office is in Cairo and Amr Mussa is the chairman:D
But Zahi Hawass would argue and Amr himself would also argue that they are not Arabs. The ones with Arab ancestry are only less than 10% (in fact around 6-7%) and mainly in the North.
Israel however has 20% Arab population, far more than Egypt. Why is Israel not part of the Arab League?
They are Egyptian, and in ’ league’ as it were with Arab states in a fight Zionism in this region.
In '79 Egypt was suspended from it after it signed up to the Israeli peace agreement. Hmmmmmmm wonder why that was? Suspended for 10 years.
If it were not for Zionism Nasser would not have united with Syria to form the United Arab Republic would he?.
It’s a nationalist movement not ethnic.
Give it up Finn.
Egyptians are NOT Arabs.
I guess when he reads in the Quran and the bible what God done in Soddom and Gommorah, and what sodomy is, he is just ‘wiping sodomy off the map’ in his country.
It’s interesting that a so called Christian country like the USA allows and actually encourages homosexuality considering it is abhorrent in the bible:confused: