Firstly you’ve already told me you travelled overseas with the military, so I don’t see how you were “bursting my bubble” by explaining something for the second time.
The rest of your post I will categorically dismiss and ignore, because it was both inflammotry at points and very vacuous logically. I’ll just say that it seems like you’ve decided on cherry picking the good out of foreign societies whereas I try to look at society as a whole.
I didn’t offer any solutions nor was that the point of my post or this thread. I was simply pointing out with my original OP that in my travelling experiences I had seen nothing that made me feel “like one” with these foreigners. It was no more or less a simple observation/opinion than Sven’s post. And as I said originally views will be very subjective, and I said subjectively I found Sven’s ideas and opinions to be emotional bullshit.
As for Indonesia and India, yes I’ve been to both. If you’ve ever had any formal study in macroeconomics or political science you probably would have understood what was meant when I said “industrializing.” Since Indonesia and India are both moving towards more industrial economies, and both of them have had pretty significant foreign investment to that ends these are countries that would be identified as “industrializing.” Compare this to some African countries which have very little industry, and little chance in the near future of developing any.
Nice debate tactic. If you disagree, simply ignore that which you disagree with. That work very well for you around here?
You’re the one cherry-picking, but you’re simply finding the worst to talk about with any given society and ignoring anything good about it. I don’t want you to be ‘like them.’ I am certainly not like them. I just understand that it’s not either my way or the way of savagery. A distinction you clearly do not understand. And as for your insulting comments about my lack of understanding, I did understand what you meant by industrializing. I just disagreed with you that it applied to Indonesia and India. They’re trying, but before I would call them industrializing I think they have a way to go.
Y’know, that’s why we’re here - you say something, I disagree and attempt to prove my point, you disagree and attempt to prove yours. Instead you’re at about a schoolyard level of insulting and insinuating posts that distract from any meaningful discussion.
Anytime you wanna talk for real, I’ll be waiting, but I won’t sit around here for people like you to try to insult. I have better things to do with my time than waste it on people like you.
These are some of the poorest countries in the world, how exactly would they be able to afford donations to America? But I am sure that it would be hard to relate to an event that is so unlikely in your own country.
As for Americans being unconcerned, I feel that Britain (or at least one particular group of Britons) is even less concerned with the outside world, unless it is in their interest to get involved. It strikes me as odd that we can spend £6billion on a questionable war in Iraq, yet we have only stumped up £50million for the disaster fund.
This may cause controversy, but I find myself sympathising more with the victims of the tsunami than with victims of 9/11 as it was a natural disaster and therefore we cannot place blame. I do realise that drawing a comparison between the two isn’t really the best thing, however it is only natural as they are both one-hit disasters that have happened within recent years.
On a personal note, Martin, i do hope you stay in insert cushy western country here. The last thing i want when traveling is to meet people like you.
I thank you for informing me that the miltary of your country puts its cannon fodder in dangerous and violent areas. I also did not know that these areas are the “REAL” real world. The rest is just a money making theme park.
If i could be arsed, i’d pit ya, but as i feel no empathy with and dont know you - i think ill go do something else.
Around here, it’s hard to put a whole lot of sympathy into the tsunami victims because we’re still cleaning up from the flood that Ivan caused. And now it’s raining again, has been since Monday, and there’s flooding in our area again.
When you have your own issues to deal with, and those issues are pretty big, you may feel for people elsewhere who have a big problem, but not be able to invest yourself much in it.
Sometimes, I swear the locals try to make it tough to care about their plight. Exhibit A: Bin Laden t-shirt in Sri Lanka. Gosh, I sure hope we get him plenty of food, medical care, and shelter. :rolleyes:
I certainly would not consider myself a sociopath.
I do find it hard to have string emotions about events like this that I am unconnected to - - obviously it’s horrible and I have donated to some Aid charities, and even directly to a comunity through colleagues at work.
However, I can’t physically do anything about it - if I was there and had survived I would be trying to help out, but that’s how I am anyway.
What I find strange is that after 9/11 I felt very affected - despite the fact that
a) I did not know anyone involved
b) had never been to the USA let alone New York
When I think about it, and I feel bad about this, but sometimes I wonder if it was the actual buildings being destroyed that affected me more than the loss of life… Also the very fact that people could have so much hate in them to commit such an attrocity.
This seems to be a overgenerralization, perhaps you and some others personnally need to visit a people before you and some others can really understand your place in this world, but please don’t speak for me.
Sweet ------ and a good picture of Gentle Bin to boot – no gray in the beard. One point though – while the Darth Vader black looks great – do they also come in blood red?
He uses Just for Bin? Ouch. On CNN a few days back, they had another dude in a Bin Laden tshirt, this one bright orange. This guy was holding food that was just delivered via US helicopter. The video clip of that segment is floating about.
If they are so damned poor that those are their only t-shirts, they could at least have the courtesy to turn them inside-out when US Navy personnel are mere feet away. The mind boggles.
Sure. There, you have your big present. When foreign aid is rushing to America from Iran or North Korea, you can feel all vindicated. Until then, you too should be peeved that people show support for the man who wants to destroy the country that is feeding them.
Yes, because we all know that the only thing standing between those survivors and total starvation is the selfless sterling super-generous United States of America. :rolleyes:
(Reason #43 why people hate America: because we keep boasting that we’re the last, best hope for the entire world…)
What do you mean - that in the midst of all that horror, death and destruction they should worry also about what they’re wearing when American troops are nearby? Or that their t-shirt might be caught on film and cause offence to people like you thousands of miles away? Do you think people who don’t meet the Brutus dress code standards in the middle of a disaster shouldn’t be entitled to assistance? Many of these people have lost their homes and all of their possessions … perhaps the USA [or you personally] could send them some sackcloth to wear to prove they are worthy to receive food, water and medicine.
There’s at least 230.000 Chinese dollar millionaires and who knows how many Indian. You don’t think those guys should be able to give a sizeable donation – if they wished?
I guess so. I also guess you didn’t read the thread before posting.
Incidentally, there is no tsunami warning system in the North Atlantic. A such is now under serious consideration. An massive earthquake along the mid-Atlantic fault line could surely be very destructive on the Faeroes, as well as in Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland.
Can I throw in a “what if” on this forum for discussion? In my reading about 911, I have found that quite a few people believe that Bush/Cheney had previous knowledge of the attack on the twin towers. The problem was trying to explain why anyone in our government would sit back and see 3000 go literally up in flames.
What if the tsunami was caused by an underground nuke bomb? Who would do such and thing and why? immediately pops into our minds. Are we concentrating on our own personal safety when these atrocities are surrounding us?
I don’t know if this particular site has an ounce of validity but it opens up a whole new “what if” here on the forum.
We’re not? Then for heaven’s sake why all the fuss about how much money & aid we’re giving, and how long it took us to pony up?
I was under the impression the world does indeed depend on us. Or do they in fact, not need our help and are just scamming us out of our money again? Damn, we never learn.
Oh! That one is easy. Bush naturally. He is the anti-Christ after all. Him and the Neo-Cons and the military industrial complex are out to grab oil and test weapons on the poor oppressed people of the third world.
Sorry, should have been a little bit gentler to a new poster…
I would think this is the absolute lunatic fringe, for a couple of reasons:
Major media would not mis-report the epicentre of the quake; it’s too easy for them to be caught out and look like idiots on something like that
Any nuke we have isn’t enough to do this sort of damage
All the timeframes talked about for the carrier group to get into the area are accurate; we haven’t deployed hospital ships (yet) because if I recall correctly, one is in San Diego being refitted to deploy to the area and the other is floating in the Persian Gulf somewhere for our own war wounded.
The Aussies were first on scene because they are 3 hours sailing time away.
There were armed troops dropped ashore because that’s what we had; the carrier group was outside Hong Kong in full war footing (as they always are when they sail). Any additional ships rushing to the area are now re-configured for humanitarian missions.
If I was you, I would also seriously consider finding a bit more confirmation than one dubious web site if you want anyone to take it seriously. Especially for something as out-there as this is…