RESOLVED: Barack Hussein Obama is an American citizen.

[bengangmo]

@Martini_Enfield

Considering that in many places, “Resolved” means “This has been discussed and decided/agreed upon”, my first reaction to this thread was “And in other news, the Pope is still Catholic and General Franco is still dead”.

Yeah…doesn’t it just bug you?

Everytime I see this as a thread title it takes me two or three seconds to parse it into the correct “MOOTED…”

My first reaction is always - “aha, so the OP has not new evidence that proves his proposition”.

[bengangmo]

@Martini_Enfield

The implication is that there’s nothing important at all between New York/Washington/Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco/Las Vegas, hence it’s just effectively a bunch of empty space you have to fly over to get to anywhere interesting. Sort of like the Outback between Sydney/Melbourne and Perth, despite the fact you’ve got Adelaide and Alice Springs there…

I took it kinda like the question…

“Why do seagulls fly upside down over Australia?”

Because the country’s not worth shitting on :dubious:

hey…it’s funny when you’re six:D

[Try2B_Comprehensive]

@bengangmo

My first reaction is always - “aha, so the OP has not new evidence that proves his proposition”.

Do you seriously want NEW evidence that** Barack Hussein Obama is an American citizen?**

[bengangmo]

@Try2B_Comprehensive

Do you seriously want NEW evidence that** Barack Hussein Obama is an American citizen?**

Er…NO…that was kinda the point…

[Walmarticus]

@don_t_ask

Except that rather than despite, your American means because. Thus the insult.

Is this ninja grammar touch-of-death or nonsense? Is my brain in danger of exploding?

[BigT]

@Walmarticus

Is this ninja grammar touch-of-death or nonsense? Is my brain in danger of exploding?

@EvilTOJ

uhm… what? Those words were English but they don’t make sense in that order.

Oh, stewardess, I speak jive:

@don_t_ask

Except that rather than despite, your American means because. Thus the insult.

The insult of using “flyover country” is not that someone is ignoring the existence of other large population centers, but that they know they exist and are claiming they don’t count.

In other words, the insult boils down to “My city’s better than yours! Nah, nah!”

[Martini_Enfield]

@bengangmo

Yeah…doesn’t it just bug you?

Everytime I see this as a thread title it takes me two or three seconds to parse it into the correct “MOOTED…”

My first reaction is always - “aha, so the OP has not new evidence that proves his proposition”.

It irritates me no end, which is why I still feel the need to observe that “Resolved” doesn’t mean “A Topic For Debate” anywhere except the US and possibly Canada.

[kambuckta]

@don_t_ask

Except that rather than despite, your American means because. Thus the insult.

May I try to reword this for don’t ask, 'cos I think I might actually get it!

He was quoting Martini at the time:

The implication is that there’s nothing important at all between New York/Washington/Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco/Las Vegas, hence it’s just effectively a bunch of empty space you have to fly over to get to anywhere interesting. Sort of like the Outback between Sydney/Melbourne and Perth, despite the fact you’ve got Adelaide and Alice Springs there…

(My bolding in the latter quote)

I’m guessing that don’t ask was saying that BECAUSE Adelaide and the Alice were betwixt the East and West Coast Cosmopolitae, the analogy holds true, those two ‘towns’ being the cultural backwaters of anything cultural etc etc.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but even though it was a bit convoluted, I think I got the gist of it all the same.

[anya_marie]

I live in flyover country and i resolve that these birther motherfuckers are making all of us look retarded.

[Boyo_Jim]

People in Sun Prairie wonder why the fuck anyone would live in or go to Delafield. People in Madison wonder why the fuck anyone would live in or go to Delafield. People in Madison wonder why the fuck anyone would live in or go to Sun Prairie. People in Milwaukee wonder why the fuck anyone would live in or go to Madison. People in Chicago wonder why the fuck anyone would live in or go to Milwaukee.

I thought I was going to have a point to make, but it turns out I don’t.

[Martini_Enfield]

@kambuckta

I’m guessing that don’t ask was saying that BECAUSE Adelaide and the Alice were betwixt the East and West Coast Cosmopolitae, the analogy holds true, those two ‘towns’ being the cultural backwaters of anything cultural etc etc.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but even though it was a bit convoluted, I think I got the gist of it all the same.

I wasn’t actually trying to imply that Adelaide and Alice are cultural backwaters as much as people generally assume there’s nothing of interest between Perth and Melbourne- just empty desert that needs to be flown over, in much the same way some people in the US view the middle of their own country (geographically speaking, anyway), and “forgetting” (or overlooking, either deliberately or accidentally) that there are fairly significant places there.

[twickster]

@Boyo_Jim

I thought I was going to have a point to make, but it turns out I don’t.

Lot of that going around.

[Try2B_Comprehensive]

@twickster

Lot of that going around.

I never expected to be criticized for not having a point in MPSIMS.
“Vaat a county!”
[/heavy accent]

[Aji_de_Gallina]

@Mahaloth

To be honest, I’d move for a Constitutional Amendment that we can vote for any Kenyan with a time machine.

I’m not even a US citizen by I support the Ammendmet.

[Guinastasia]

@BigT

In other words, the insult boils down to “My city’s better than yours! Nah, nah!”

But my city IS better than yours.

[Try2B_Comprehensive]

@Guinastasia

But my city IS better than yours.

What if it came down to this:

Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, “Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” In the one, the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one another in love, the latter obeying, while the former take thought for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” And therefore the wise men of the one city, living according to man, have sought for profit to their own bodies or souls, or both, and those who have known God “glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise,”–that is, glorying in their own wisdom, and being possessed by pride,–“they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” For they were either leaders or followers of the people in adoring images, “and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” But in the other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, “that God may be all in all.”

[kushiel]

My flyover province is better than your coast!

We have universal health care, a strong economy and social liberalism (compared to a lot of the US!).

Yeah, I’m beating a dead horse. Everyone here already knows I’m protective of the place. But I’m not going to turn down a chance to look down at the haters.

[Uncle_Jocko]

@anya_marie

I live in flyover country and i resolve that these birther motherfuckers are making all of us look retarded.

Me too. Seconded. Do we take a vote now?

[Try2B_Comprehensive]

Too clarify my comment to Guin- no I am not trying to make a religious point. This whole flyover business has got me thinking about the things that divide people. In the example of Augustine there is some pretty tough language that will set up some irreconcilable differences between the two ‘camps’, but at the least there is a worldview propping up the thing. 5th century Catholicism may boil down to a bunch of woo, but at least some people could be smart and sincere about it.

This birther stuff doesn’t even have any content. It’s pure ignorance without the narrative, and it invites derision. What narrative is there takes the form of ‘foreigners are bad’, another big theme going around the, uh, ______ these days. It is raw fear and suspicion tinged with hate. And what narrative there is consists of weird lies which must be concocted by somebody, probably for the purpose of division.

Maybe I still don’t have a point, but there seems to be some insight to be had about this. If anyone is up for another round, got any comments on what the meaning of this phenomenon is? Besides, ‘people are dumb’- people have always been dumb (maybe not this dumb), but these dummies are being callously jerked around. Seems like there is something to understand by comparing it to other times and places.

[E-Sabbath]

Eh. Flyover Country as a concept is nicely mirrored by the counterpart of ‘Real America’.

Real America

You hear a lot more references to Real America than you do ‘flyover country’ these days.