Accept The American Way, Or Face The Consequences! ( Archived) (780)

calm down dude, it aint necessarily so.

Yes the US spearheads a great deal of the movements globally but they don't do so without other leaders in accord.

And opinions, they're like a**hole, everybody has one, all they need is something to opinine on..

I'm really sticking my neck out here............

Americans are lazy and irrespondsible in their domestic duties....they have been for a long time, selling out its values for the sake of personal prosperity. The culminating result is a country now run by syndicates, and huge corporations, with corruption only marginally uncovered by brave souls who themselves become victims for their discretions. The pilfering of American industry and resources has wounded the country in its ability to be self sufficent, thus making it conduct its policies in almost survival mode.... a wounded animal in survival mode.... well you see the picture. The whole concept of what it is to be American has sadly deteriorated through the treasonist conduct of some of its leaders, the destruction of core values by our "entertainment " media, and the irrespondsibility of many parents for breeding a generation of undisciplined self centered goldbricks.......

My hopes are that the values that made America what is was, will one day be resurrected as a torch is passed to a future generation, properly schooled in their respondsibility to family, friends, neighbors, society, and country.... pesimistically however, I see a future generation too tuned in to themselves to reverse the trend. For a country so prosperous that we can throw away billions on destruction, we the plow horses in the government farmers field will be left to rot and die should we fall victim to any type of disease or disibility, while noone notices or cares, because the real importance in future of America lies not in its ability to raise its future caretakers in educated and honorable fashion, but rather in the importance of the scandelous conduct of its so called role models, while reserving its all important right to vote for who becomes the next American Idol.......

Ok Détente. Here goes. Lets gives these guys an good example of what this thread is all about ok?

You know, I love the fact that this country is loaded with so many hidden treasures. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that a lot of these treasures are there for the taking.

Yea, you’re right. It takes a lot of hard work for those that don’t know how or where to look. But, I’m grateful that I have the choice and the resources for doing so whenever I desire.

Some one once told me, “it’s not about finding it, it’s about getting up and getting it”. It’s somewhat of a funny thing when you look at it that way. All of a sudden you see the world in a whole new perspective.

Nice Thread

It would be interesting to ask just how much genuine "accord" there is in some of these relationships. Often these leaders are worried about making a powerful enemy. That said not all US interventions are bad....even under the present discredited regime.

the noble prize winning al gore is the same al gore that the republicans all thought was crazy before.

America is criticized a lot, but that is because it is so strong, so powerful, & so influential. It has come to be seen as the overbearing. Riyal said something about it being like a family, the world, and one member of a family always being the most powerful. I think it is like a group of siblings, and America is like the older brother, the biggest, strongest, and most powerful. He can and does do just about anything he wants. Many of his intentions may be to be kind and helpful, some of them may just be self centered. Either way, he believes he is the smartest and knows he is the strongest, and he forges ahead having his own way whenever he can get away with it. As is mentioned in the material from Fulbright’s book, “the arrogance of power.”

"The arrogance of power is defined as the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission." Like a ‘benevolent’ but powerful and somewhat dictatorial older brother, America (as a political entity), in its arrogance, believes it knows best. America has, indeed, done much for the world, and those successes have let it to believe it really can’t go too far wrong. After all, America didn’t become the greatest economic and political power by being dumb and wimpy.

from Fulbright: "Having done so much and succeeded so well, America is now at that historical point at which a great nation is in danger of losing its perspective on what exactly is within the realm of its power and what is beyond it. Other great nations, reaching this critical juncture, have aspired to too much, and by overextension of effort have declined and then fallen. “I don’t see the fall of America happening anytime soon; even decline does not appear to be on the immediate horizon. But it does seem we tend to overstep the bounds of what we realistically should be attempting, both the current war in Iraq and the Vietnam war illustrate this point. Whatever motives the Bush administration had when in embarked upon the war, the seemingly endless bloodbath suggests that America had, at this on this issue, lost “its perspective on what exactly is within the realm of its power ...”


"Lacking an appreciation of the dimensions of our own power, we fail to understand our enormous and disruptive impact on the world; we fail to understand that no matter how good our intentions - and they are, in most cases, decent enough - other nations are alarmed by the very existence of such great power, which, whatever its benevolence, cannot help but remind them of their own helplessness before it." It certainly does seem that other nations see American behavior as imperialistic, in the sense of its wanting to have political and economic control over so much of the world arena. We do have an extremely large impact on the world, and to others this impact is disruptive and alarming. Is it a ‘pseudo imperialistic agenda’? I think the agenda is to maintain power and influence. I don’t think America wants every country to be democratic; I’ve lived in a theocracy that is a very strong ally of the US; the American government is perfectly fine with this country’s government, as long as they behave, meaning pretty much doing what America wants them to do. We don’t go into some countries where the people are being victimized and oppressed, but we do go into others where this is happening. Why? For political and economic reasons, otherwise, America does not seem to extend itself very far. From this perspective, America seems very self serving. In contrast, American people seem to want to save the world from pain and misery. Their government often plays on these feelings to win support for ventures that aren’t altruistic but, rather, very self serving—like the current situation in Iraq.

ya know
for some reason you seem to refer to reefer madness often



it been proven repeatedly-in the real world-(not CS)
that europe in general is more aware and knowledgeable regarding US policies and events on the political world stage
than the majority of americans... where's the pride in that?

calling others empty headed? yes that certainly sets you apart
as an authority to heed on the subject.
the only 'real knowledge' you share here is
the knowledge of your opinions
come out come out wherever you are-mitch?

and as you say; why should you read the thread?
you and your nonjudgemental self already have all the answers,
so no need for discussion right?

this is your consistent attitude here in forums and i find it boring
but that isnt relevant i spose...just another elbow (opinion)
and we've all got em

btw-plenty of people work in the oil biz and are blue collar-uhDuh

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dave
A fact in A circumstance does not an entire society make.
just a thot