The Anti-American Issue

[Hugh_Hoy]

Fidel...the title of a book or quoting a brief passage is rather short of substance as far as establishing a "phenomenon".

 

Anyway, glad to see you back. I missed you over the weekend.

 

 

HH

[Hugh_Hoy]

CTO...believe me, I'm not in favor of interfering in other countries internal politics. And I detest intrusions of our Federal government into what should be up to individual state and local governments. But I think it is inacurrate to consider Americans believing that an attack on their president is an attack on the country. God knows, all countries' citizens attack their own leaders...even if they can't do it out in the open (mostly Communist countries and quasi-democratic countries).

 

HH

[Faustian]

However anyone attack Bush....and well Rogueyam gets all huffy and puffy, but attack Clinton and that's just fine.

 

HH, you've been offered 16k a month to do what??

 

Rogueyam, in your world, is there right and left wing politics only? Is everything 'black and white'? Can there be, dare i use such a term, a liberal or middle-ground approach? Or do you adhere to the relatively recent phenomena of hijacking the 'label' liberal and reframing it to mean a 'lefty'?

[bust]

by Nicola Nasser

 

For more than half a century the U.S., which led the west after WW2, has voted against and vetoed dozens of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which otherwise could have solved the Arab â?? Israeli conflict in Palestine a long time ago and spared the instable and poor region five major wars, and billions of dollars squandered on wars.

 

Instead the U.S. vetoes have pre-empted peace, motivated the Israeli expansionist military adventures, prolonged the Israeli occupation of Arab land, undermined Arab peace initiatives, embarrassed Arab friends of the U.S. and the west, placed Arab states that had peace treaties with Israel in a difficult position vis-à-vis their peoples, exacerbated the regional insecurity and instability, and created an incubator-environment for terrorism.

 

Moreover, this failing diplomacy has had tragic and devastating effects on the peoples of the region, derailed regional development, and tarnished the image of the United States and its western allies.

 

It is anti-Americanism made in the United States.

 

This is something the US just don't seem to get.

I also believe the media has played a huge role is the worlds perception of the US. Americas attitude to the rest of the world hasn't changed for 50 ......just the reporting of it has.

[chuckwoww]

I don't have anything much to say about America's attempts to control the world. Their intentions are either good or bad depending who you ask.

 

This talk about 'lefties' is really childish though IMO. You can find the whole spectrum of opinion in America. American conservatism isnâ??t even an ideology written in stone. You can see that by reading William Buckley. Itâ??s fragmented into Libertarians, Neocons, Theoconservatives etc. Some people equate being a 'real American' with being conservative. As if all conservatives see life as inherently unfair. What those people really are is Darwinists. Only the fittest survive and social justice is a myth. To them anti-Americans are by definition communists.

 

Likewise 'The Left' isn't iconic. I donâ??t think you can find a communist dictatorship anywhere anymore. North Korea maybe. The Chinese and the Russians arenâ??t communist states. Even Cuba has made adjustments. European socialism incorporates capitalist principles.

 

Nor is the US a purely capitalist society. If it was then corporations wouldnâ??t pay taxes and there would be a much smaller government. The US has lots of social welfare programs and the state is heavily involved in things like industry and transportation, education, media. Agriculture is subsidized. Look at the part defense contracts play in the economy. Who keeps bailing out the airlines? Who controls interest rates? Who just passed a 'stimulus package' ostensibly to help people pay their mortgages?

 

America is still young. As it matures I expect it to get more like Europe especially in the way it treats its less fortunate citizens. Some kind of socialism will emerge but it will be an American version.

[Guest lazyphil]

thailand is more 'capitalist' than america i would suggest. no welfare crutch in the los.

[Fidel]

Yeah, but it also seems to be more "free market" than elsewhere.

 

I love the fact that people can seemingly just throw together a motorcycle sidecar/shop, and ride off to the market to sell their wares. It's great. One of the coolest things about Thailand is how easy it is for a local to set up a "business".

 

 

[Guest lazyphil]

exactly fidel. any given 'high street' in los is full of seemingly independent traders, unlike the blandness of here, dixons, tescos, next, m&s etc etc

[Old Hippie]

by Nicola Nasser

 

For more than half a century the U.S., which led the west after WW2, has voted against and vetoed dozens of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which otherwise could have solved the Arab â?? Israeli conflict in Palestine a long time ago and spared the instable and poor region five major wars, and billions of dollars squandered on wars.

 

Instead the U.S. vetoes have pre-empted peace, motivated the Israeli expansionist military adventures, prolonged the Israeli occupation of Arab land, undermined Arab peace initiatives, embarrassed Arab friends of the U.S. and the west, placed Arab states that had peace treaties with Israel in a difficult position vis-à-vis their peoples, exacerbated the regional insecurity and instability, and created an incubator-environment for terrorism.

 

Moreover, this failing diplomacy has had tragic and devastating effects on the peoples of the region, derailed regional development, and tarnished the image of the United States and its western allies.

 

It is anti-Americanism made in the United States.

 

This is something the US just don't seem to get.

I also believe the media has played a huge role is the worlds perception of the US. Americas attitude to the rest of the world hasn't changed for 50 ......just the reporting of it has.

 

 

Bust,

 

I seriously doubt the average American knows any or all of this. All the average guy here knows was/is how to earn a pay check, and learn politics and policy from t.v./John Wayne movies, "we won the war, we always do, that always makes us right." The country as a whole has been brain washed...wonder how it goes with domestic issues in other countries?

[chuckwoww]

Everything is regulated in the Free World by the right or the left. It's getting so you need a permit to fart.