As long as they don’t want to build a mosque or put a mobile home in a nice neighborhood…and as long as women don’t really expect the men to share household responsibilities equally after work…and as long as women don’t expect to earn the same salary for doing the same job or get an equal chance at promotions…and as long as Blacks and Hispanics and Asians and women don’t expect to actually become the President of the United States…and as long as gays don’t want to get married…and as long as you aren’t called up by the Reserves after 30 years or the military doesn’t extend you tour of duty…as long as it isn’t illegal to be homeless…
Ah, Zoe…would that I were more dashing and that you were more single. I suspect we could drive each other mad in a most delightful way. 
Not to worry, I’ve got my shitkickers and full lenght oilskin coat on. Nothing a good, hot shower can’t get rid of afterwards. For myself and well as the bystanders.
As for the sentiment, thanks, and right back at ya. What little I’ve had a chance to read by you so far, I’ve enjoyed as well.
So keep at it. I will too. We’ll get them in stereo – or DTS-II 7.1. Whatever it takes.
Now, my nattering nabob of negativity ( 
), if you’ll permit me to defend this country that I feel so lucky and blessed to be living in, at the last count I recall there were some 183 countries in the world. Can you name me even one country in which at least the majority of these same conditions don’t exist? And just as importantly, can you name even one that has made greater strides in correcting these kinds of injustices and in lesser time than in the United States?
Or, to look at it another way, let’s say you are able to name a half-dozen countries that have managed to acheive a better record than the U.S. on these issues taken as a whole. We would still be in the top 4% of the countries in the world at acheiving success at reducing these problems.
So why are you so condemning of the U.S.? I don’t want to sound like a Paul Anna here ( ), but why not focus on the fact that this is one of the greatest countries in the world when it comes to addressing and effecting social change, virtually without violence and made possible by the overwhelmingly large segment of our population who is willing to change and grow simply because they have come to believe it is the right thing to do. I would venture to say that every one of the inequities you complain of (the military one excluded, but such is to be expected in times of war) have improved by a factor of eighty to ninety percent from where they were just forty years ago.
So cheer up. Things are better and they are continuing to get better still, and by virtually any comprehensive measure this is still the best country in the world to live in.
Regards,
SA
I agree entirely with that, Starving Artist. People tend to forget the United States are working hard on equality for all people.
Hang on. I don’t entirely agree. The best country in the world to live in, is mine.
Thank you. It’s heartening to know I’m not alone.
Actually, your country is the one I had in mind when I composed the scenario in which the U.S. was perhaps exceeded by just a few other countries.
Don’t worry Aldebaran. I don’t think you’ll ever be banned.
You ask…
He delivers. And with a speed and consistency that is unmatched by any of the mail handlers in his country.
Say, Starving, you weren’t by chance starving so much back in school that you munched on your history books, now did you? Because this little gem…
… is positively Rumsfeldian. Which social change came “virtually without violence?” The Civil Rights movement? That whole “Final Solution” to the “Indian problem?” If I recall, the issue of slavery had a little ruckus involved. Prohibition? What?
Well, as if there were not enough examples already, I received an other example of Selective Moderator Hat Reading. (post 139)
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5666332#post5666332
I don’t think you shall read any more new posts of me since this is obviously an other step in gathering “evidence” for reasoning and selling my banning.
For all who ever agreed with me, disagreed with me or are not even interested at all in what I post or don’t post:
Salaam.
Aldebaran.
:: Violins playing softly::
Well, isn’t that precisely the problem! The SDMB is getting to be just like TV, too much sex and violins!
hahahahahaha
[here we go again. I can’t believe it. In order to get the silly giggles I should go to the pit? ]
Sorry, Alde, we already have drama queens, so you’ll have to settle for being a drama princess.
Aldebaran, I feel at least mild regret that you appear to be circling the drain, but I must ask:
Is there a Coriolis effect where you are?
And by the way, your offer in the eyeball-theft thread to have us all come and visit you (even Mehitabel) is most kind. Allow me to say in return that if your myriad travels ever take you through my part of the U.S., you are welcome to stay (briefly) in my home. A small admonition in that event - if you are tempted to go downstairs and raid the fridge in the middle of the night, be aware that Bessie the Labrador patrols the first floor, and she is no plush dog.
Aldebaran is no longer circling the drain. It has sucked him in; which is too bad, but it had to happen.
You know, since this is a medium that can easily be used for deception, there is a strong part of me that suspects Alde may just have been some random individual and not who he claimed to be.
However, if he was indeed from the ME and he had these contacts and belief systems, we may have received a glimpse of the viewpoint that many in this world have towards Americans and Western culture. I believe the mods gave him more leeway because of this.
Despite his rantings, he did bring forth some stark hypocrisies that exist on this board and in the minds/actions of Americans and other Western cultures. When we on this board profess support for the War in Iraq, we are condoning and supporting the killing of others for what we believe to be right. When we mention that our brother, son, wife, niece or grandmother joined up to go fight in Iraq, we are celebrating the fact that they are “grabbing a gun and going to kill insurgents in Iraq”. When we elevate men such as Tillman to the level of hero because he actually did pick up a gun and went to kill the enemy, we send this mixed message to an individual who may have seen things from a different perspective.
When called on it, we quickly retreat and say, “Well no, we never said grab a gun and go kill someone, like you did”, but in his eyes, and the eyes of others around the world, this is the reality and, henceforth, it is what we are saying. In his unreasonable and raging way, this is what Alde was saying and he was right.
It is sad, but if Alde did indeed represent some individuals from the ME, then we cannot hope for this message board to every be truly “International” because there are a vast number of people out there who see the world like many Americans do:
US and THEM.
Debbie didn’t represent anyone but himself–he was a troll who knew exactly which buttons to push to get reactions. What’s sad is that so many otherwise sensible posters kept feeding him and paying attention to his nonsense for so long. Good riddance.
Too harsh. And why should we suspect his sincerity, simply because we are uncomfortable with his viewpoint? Why is it we have such demonstrable and effusive compassion for victims of natural disaster, but so little concern for persons victimized by our own actions? We will hound CNN for an accurate count of the tsunami victims, but have no clue, none, as to how many civilians in Iraq have become collaterally damaged.
We don’t take war seriously enough in America. We don’t look at it with the appropriate degree of dread and horror. As a result, we don’t adhere to the simplest moral imperative about war: it must be undertaken as a stark necessity, and nothing less than clear and present danger is acceptable. It is bad enough that we sacrifice the lives of our own, when we determine to sacrifice the lives of people who have no voice in our decision, we should do so only with grave reluctance.
It is not a pleasant thing to be reminded of one’s moral shortcomings, and our patience for them is thin. The Boss had it right, blessed, indeed, are the peacemakers. Blessed as well are the shit-disturbers.
I’d welcome an intelligent, authentic MENA voice, even a harsh one, but Debbie didn’t qualify. He was a fake, pretending to be an arab living in the MENA region, but he was really Belgian. He posted outrageous charges then refused to back his claims with cites.
Give me a real person who can argue his point clearly, not this poser whose English would go in and out when he forgot to adjust his mask.
Sad, but sound points.
Well, it is to be hoped that we can find people with different viewpoints and from different countries who still are able to discuss in a well-mannered, polite way; who don’t invent information out of whole cloth, who don’t refuse to co-operate when asked by the Mods to be polite.
We did indeed extend far more consideration to Aldebaran than we have to other disruptive members, because it would be very nice to have varied points of view. “Varied” however does not mean being inconsiderate of others, making up evidence, or other troll-like behaviours.