The Shame of Being an American
- Thread starter JBeee
- Start date
Sounds pretty cool.
I've read Gibbon's Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. In it he quotes ancient historians and transports the reader back to the splendors of the valley. That sticks in my memory.
To say "I accept" in an age like our own is to say that you accept concentration--camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes, tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas--masks, submarines, spies, provocateurs, press--censorship, secret prisons, aspirins, Hollywood films and political murder. -- George Orwell (1903--1950), British author. "Inside the Whale," Inside the Whale and Other Essays (1940).
There will be plenty of time to vegetate in the grave.
Clubs for pistoleros pal.
Accept nothing. Fight. Resist. Regardless of the certainty of defeat. Die like Tecumseh or Crazy Horse. Never give in.
You are absolutely correct- that's half the equation - the other half includes making sure THAT free speech is responsible and accurate, otherwise you put your rights in jeopardy. :smile:
It goes back long before the Phoenicians. If I remember right our guide saids something like 6000BC or more.
Tecumseh...he's that rototiller injun that fought to keep Canada, Canada.
That guy needs to be on our money or something to give more him more recognition.
BaalsTears; said:
There was something in that book about how the Empire died after it officially became Christian.
Tecumseh died on Canadian soil fighting for his people, the Shawnee. He didn't trust or like the British Empire or its instrumentalities. He just hated Americans. There's an excellent book on Tecumseh called Panther In The Sky. I recommend it.
Christianity can be servile or it can be militant. Compare the corrosive effect of the Byzantine Monks with the militancy of the knights of the First Crusade.
Same thing sort of with Islam. Compare Sufis with Salafists.
Elizabeth II should be on your money. Oh wait!
Thanks for your comment earlier eh1eh
I have no objection to opinionated criticism but when these free-floating poorly based threads are posted for discussion, there is no real discussion only a back and forth of personal opinion rather than an opportunity to read and digest how much the opposition is accurate or personally biased.
I watched these forums for years on the situation between both great nations and the positives simply outweigh the negatives no matter how deeply the chattering dissenters wish to make their thoughts valid.
All nations have their criticisms and praise for each other - it is what keeps our world distinct and separate.
When we have to be concerned is when the "talk" and "freedom of speech" is silenced.
My only complaint is I wish some people would open the topics with some heavy weight thinking which I believe most of the members
here (from years of reading them) have accumulated in their hearts and minds - negative or positive or both.
When I read this forum during the Olympics last year after a long absence I was delighted to see people engaged in exchange and
on a higher level with more meaty discussion. It is why I hung around after the Olympics and why I hope this (and a few others which
have floated in) are just pot-stirrers passing their time and choosing to waste this memberships' time as well.
Everyone has an opinion - I enjoy reading them when they stir my heart and mind and open up new thoughts for me to think on too.
I have no objection to opinionated criticism but when these free-floating poorly based threads are posted for discussion, there is no real discussion only a back and forth of personal opinion rather than an opportunity to read and digest how much the opposition is accurate or personally biased.
I watched these forums for years on the situation between both great nations and the positives simply outweigh the negatives no matter how deeply the chattering dissenters wish to make their thoughts valid.
All nations have their criticisms and praise for each other - it is what keeps our world distinct and separate.
When we have to be concerned is when the "talk" and "freedom of speech" is silenced.
My only complaint is I wish some people would open the topics with some heavy weight thinking which I believe most of the members
here (from years of reading them) have accumulated in their hearts and minds - negative or positive or both.
When I read this forum during the Olympics last year after a long absence I was delighted to see people engaged in exchange and
on a higher level with more meaty discussion. It is why I hung around after the Olympics and why I hope this (and a few others which
have floated in) are just pot-stirrers passing their time and choosing to waste this memberships' time as well.
Everyone has an opinion - I enjoy reading them when they stir my heart and mind and open up new thoughts for me to think on too.
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The one new thought in particular that you have steadfastly refused to contemplate is the termination of the bloated western financial and military empire. Quite frankly your commentary is limp and void in the face of observable reality. You may toss about the endearing term "great nations" as much as you like but it will not alter the reality of earned and engineered systemic decay. Great nations are determined by facts not spin.Contemplate the great debt, the great human misery, the great violence, the great fraud, the great plunge to total war waged to maintain the great evil of the banker. Even the reality of your forked tongue escapes you as you plead for the virtues of freedom of speech while at the same instant that you talk of curtailing that same vibrant free exchange among adults. You do not even understand that chattering dissent is the backbone of democracy and human progress. Nothing in your post indicates that you are a judge or participant of much heavy weight thinking. Stirring the pot is a time honoured method to prevent scum form rising to the top of all hearty stews. You advise slavery to the sickest human paradigm ever witnessed on this planet all while insulting every poster in this thread. An insult veiled by pretense to some higher order of thinking.
DarkBeaver
Excellent argument against my earlier post - and your thoughts are well written and make sense. I am sorry we disagree but it is also my right as is it yours to believe as I do and write my thoughts here on the forum - which I hope will maintain its latest higher group of
arguments and contributions when we were all new at forums and sharing.
I meant no insult to "every poster on this thread" as all have a right to speak and believe as they do. There is no "higher thinking" coming from me although I am inclined to become 'wordy' - a fault I'll readily admit to.
As for opinions - I exercised mine. You can choose to take them personally or not and disregard/disagree.
Excellent argument against my earlier post - and your thoughts are well written and make sense. I am sorry we disagree but it is also my right as is it yours to believe as I do and write my thoughts here on the forum - which I hope will maintain its latest higher group of
arguments and contributions when we were all new at forums and sharing.
I meant no insult to "every poster on this thread" as all have a right to speak and believe as they do. There is no "higher thinking" coming from me although I am inclined to become 'wordy' - a fault I'll readily admit to.
As for opinions - I exercised mine. You can choose to take them personally or not and disregard/disagree.
And also in Canada. Our sitting politicians even make fun of themselves, appearing on comedy shows etc over the years. Being in a position of power and responsibility should not make a person lose their sense of humour.
I rarely take anything personally here and neither should you. I think this place is in some way a small reflection of the whole and it does afford one a chance to meld somewhat into the fabric of contemporary experience as it unfolds. I bark to much and wag my tail too little and I always drool on my feet. If I over indulged in cheap shots would you please consider that a recommendation for the excellent manner with which you express your opinion. You consistently pull my chain in directions I would not go. Yours with respect DB pretender maximus
Point of Order: CanCon is a really civil place compared to the polemics of most American boards. Nice site.
DarkBeaver
Again thank you for a kind response to my earlier writing.
If we all agreed, the forum would be silent and boring and filled in One-note Wonders instead of the great diversity we expect living in free nations such as we are both so fortunate to do.
Most of my "learning" has been done at the point of a sarcastic remark ripping my ideas to drooling
neurotic thinking - and I have learned they were well placed. I love learning and the freedom to change
my thinking and opinions regularly as we fast-moving nations strive forward on a journey none of us
can guess the "destination".
I cannot imagine having or being forced to believe either government of our countries always makes the best call for us - other than the fact the "best" of the two nations is being able to write/speak/broadcast same. We are very fortunate.
Again thank you for a kind response to my earlier writing.
If we all agreed, the forum would be silent and boring and filled in One-note Wonders instead of the great diversity we expect living in free nations such as we are both so fortunate to do.
Most of my "learning" has been done at the point of a sarcastic remark ripping my ideas to drooling
neurotic thinking - and I have learned they were well placed. I love learning and the freedom to change
my thinking and opinions regularly as we fast-moving nations strive forward on a journey none of us
can guess the "destination".
I cannot imagine having or being forced to believe either government of our countries always makes the best call for us - other than the fact the "best" of the two nations is being able to write/speak/broadcast same. We are very fortunate.
Basically speaking I'd say there is more good than bad in both. Most of us (me included) often base the broad picture on two or three examples- good & bad. :smile:
Unfortunately there isn't any means to form a friendship or share knowledge because apparently Americans are always right, they never do any wrong and anytime they do, they just brush it under the rug and forget it ever happened, while blaming all of those problems on their new leader who inherited the mess the last leader created..... or blame other countries who didn't jump aboard with their plans and claim the reason why things are so bad is because their allies weren't stupid enough to help them in their botch up.
What's left to do?
Mock and ridicule their errors long enough until they start to figure out what hey, maybe they did something wrong and hey, maybe they're not perfect like the rest of us.
Besides, how can you be friends with an arrogant idiot who thinks they're better then everyone else?
Are you not just encouraging that attitude?