Topic: Opinion on the US - page 13. (Read 18980 times)

The USSR provided a boogieman that leaders need to cultivate fear among the population, and, relatedly, served as the pressure to keep the military industrial complex fat and happy.  When in collapsed we simply needed a replacement or series of them in order to perpetuate the structures that had evolved under the cold war scenario.  I don't think that very many leaders in very many countries are driven by 'rage and aggression'...they would not have the skills to attain a high position.  Nor do normal people fall into that orbital state by nature.  The job of leadership is to provoke and direct 'rage and aggression' among the citizenry in order to achieve more useful objectives.

Hehehe. Maybe it's time for Russia to be a King Kong again then. In my view there always should be 2 "world leaders" / countries which act like they are, as they can put pressure on each other in cases of faults. Some of you might say 'Well, Europe is the opposite player' (like Russia was), but I don't really agree with that.

Europe isn't as solid as one country is (in my opinion), allthough they act like they are.

The silly thing is, while Russia was SSSR, it was King Kong to USA's Godzilla.  She kept Godzilla occupied & focused.  With the great nemesis gone, Godzilla has to find new outlets for all the pent-up rage & aggression.

So careful how you talk at Godzilla

I'm not saying that I want to smookeweed or my kids should. I'm just explaining that in my opinion the US sucks on a couple of things, such as those policies. It's just an example. Our more open policy regarding drugs is working out way better. Simply punishing for the use of drugs isn't really decreasing the amounts of victims, education does. Atleast, it does here. And I don't think people really differ due to the country they live in.

So you wanna smoke some weed?
Do you want your kids smoke weed too?
Is it your biggest problem that you can not smoke grass openly in US?
If so, I am glad you are in Netherlands.

In my opinion the US wants to be the world leader in all kinds of markets and often think / act like they are. They want to be 'the best', for example concerning the economy, but also world politics and military. 

There's nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't mean they can claim rights other countries aren't allowed to have. Such as the telephone wiring they do all over the world. If for example Russia would do this (and i'm not saying they don't), the US would definitely try everything to stop them, I think.

They also suck on a few matters, for example the healthcare and the drugspolicy. But who am I to say that. I'm just a guy from the Netherlands, with allmost the highest costs of healthcare and a drugpolicy which is vague but reasonable in my opinion. I'm glad some US states are now accepting medical cannabis for example. I my opinion you should regulate the drugs and the use of it in your country. Not by punishing, but by education and controlling like it's happening here in the Netherlands and our "coffeeshops".

The worst thing about the U.S. is obviously meddling into other people's business, other countries, opression, war...

Regardless if I consider some folks in the U.S. backward or weird, some views or ideologies are obtuse, ultimately it's none of my business how people choose to live in their own country.

Yes, I have Mayflower blood in me, (Capn Standish) and lots of mixing with all that have come since.  More in every generation until now.  If it continues...
Recent activities by TPTB against the citizenry may make it much less attractive going forward though.
The bloom may be off the rose.  I get asked by many, where to emigrate?  Where is the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Possibly Southern hemisphere somewhere.  Needs infrastructure though, so that is both a problem and an opportunity.

I think that the generations and the principle of 'regression to the mean' has pretty much nixed that for us old-timers.  We being recognized generally by having Caucasian features.

We have a strong contingent of more recent arrivals however, and this spark can be observed statistically in some of their behaviors.  Work ethic, propensity for education, etc.

One great thing about the USA: no soldiers are quartered in people's homes without consent.

Having been all over the world, people are more similar than not, though the political structures and regimes are as different as can be.
Stereotypically there are some big differences, which are fine to use categorically, but generally wrong when applied individually.

The thing that Americans generally have in common is that they are either immigrants or descended from immigrants.  This means that they tend to be somewhat more venturesome than average.  Either they or their ancestors were explorers, or more motivated and less risk averse than their cohorts.

This is a slight skew to the population from this, often this is a good thing, sometimes it is not.

Yes, the US has implemented most of Marx's communist manifesto's and hasn't come to terms with it.   Yes, we deserve your sympathy and perhaps your pity.  We have a massively burdensome government that is becoming ever more intrusive into our lives and yours, using fear and "terror" to accomplish that, and we struggle to bring any sanity to our polity.  We thank you for your help and understanding with all of that, no one is perfect.  The miss steps will always be more obvious than any good that may be done.

Americans also often blame the people of other countries for that other country's government, this is usually a mistake.  It makes little sense to generalize, but we do it.  Sorry for that, and will try not to hold it against you when you do it to us.

Murica!!!

Ok, now you're being super-anal.   

I'm even less US-centric.  When i use the word America, i'm thinking about America, Limburg, Netherlands.

*the "series of continents" is called Americas, according to the series of tubes.

When I use the word America I'm not thinking about geography and arbitrary fences.

I'm going to be anal and say that America is a series of continents, not a country.   

Now ask yourself which of those two things the false wars on some drugs and some terror, the patriot act, homeland security, surveillance state and the NSA is doing.

fwiw I tend to distinguish the USA from America. The government from the people.

America and everything it used to project is disappearing fast but it's always had a government in modern times that suffered a creeping paranoia and belligerence. Probably the worst problem facing America is the Zionist takeover of US foreign policy, creeping police state, fascism and seemingly endless illegal wars and rampant extra judicial killings on a whim, which all do nothing for its image abroad. They're nothing new of course but are becoming increasingly distasteful and blatant and perhaps a dress rehearsal for the coming collapse at home.

I live in the UK and have a similar attitude to the corporate stooges enriching themselves and running this corrupt shit hole of a country into the ground too.

Did you know Australia overtaken the US in terms of fatties? It's now the Fattest country on earth.

It's also full of alcoholics now. Even the Irish look at us and think "those Aussies have an alcohol problem"

To top it off, cashed up bogans fill the streets because of the mining boom.

And still, Australians don't treat the rest of the world like the US does.

While I mostly agree with you, I'd have to say revolutions are a mixed bag. Usually a lot of good comes out of them, and a lot of suffering, and a lot of bad. They are NOT a good gamble, and should therefore be a last resort.

For the record I do not hate America. I hate the United States of America, a foreign power sitting in it's own nation called the District of Columbia. It IS NOT America, it's a ruling institution. By any rational definition, it is an empire. A rather egregious one, currently with more presence in the world than any previous including Rome and the British Empire.

If they were actually about the ideals they preach, they would not have a military presence in 3/4ths of the world, nor be dictating to other nations how they may live and what they may believe.

This parasite on the people of earth MUST be undone. Revolution is not a particularly good option, but the others take a long time, and we may not have that kind of time. I'll not be the first to pull the trigger. Education is a long game, and governments don't usually play long games, unless there is a king.