Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I speak from a stance that is often the exception to the norm. I'm a mil spouse who has spent extensive time overseas. And enjoyed it. Birds of a feather do flock together. Most military spouses I get into dialogue with loved their time overseas and saw it as a cultural experience.
I had, several years back, distinct and irrational prejudice against soldiers. Fortunately, I was open minded enough to allow my bias to be completely obliterated by real life experience and dialogue with solidiers. Indeed, many of them come back with more hatred in their heart, but a substantial portion, realize, I think, the shady defining lines. The fact is that many soldiers come from extremely homogeneous American subcultures and then are exposed to a world they could never imagine. A world we can never imagine. Not ever.
I've been in and around the military environment most of my life. I met people at bases who NEVER left them. I see people now who only go to other parts of Europe to shop at a different BX/PX. They're petrified of the culture. Many people will go to the small towns and villages near them or a big outing to a large city, en masse, or on an MWR trip. But that's not the bulk of what I see.
So our experiences differ.
Can you really say that you can't tell an American in a crowd? Aside from them stupidly wearing flag and other identifying clothing even thought they've been told specifically, and for OPSEC, to blend in?
It's rare that I'm surprised to hear English spoken from well behaved families.
Last edited by chielgirl; 08-10-2010 at 02:19 AM..
A better question is, why should we care what they think?
You can not control opinion of you. People will believe what they wish to believe. They will accept that which they wish to accept. If you spend all of your time worrying about what others might "think" or "believe" you will spend all of your time chasing unicorns.
And if you spend all of your time serving their opinions, you are nothing more than a foot stool and deserving so.
I wonder whether people in other countries around the world would even engage in a discussion like this. Are there any other countries whose citizens care what others think about them?
I'm on the same page as you are, Nomander. I honestly don't care what anyone else on the planet thinks of the United States...whether they keep their opinions to themselves or not.
Generally speaking, other nations are the only thing preventing one's own nation from doing whatever it pleases. There exists an established pecking order among the nations of the world in which the United States needs to bow to no one. Other nations are not in that position and have to be careful to not eff with us in the same way they would a peer nation because a peer nation will not replace their government, but we just might. Even our closest allies understand that we always have that ability. Furthermore, no other nation has the military capability to replace our government. This imbalance of power makes for predictable awkwardness and resentment on the part of other nations. So what?
That losers hate us is to be expected since losers always hate winners, and America, in spite of all her present challenges, is an unqualified winner.
Enter liberals...
The left insists we engage in activities that are diametrically opposed to what has made us great. They take money from those who produce wealth and give it to those who do not. They take the profits from successful businesses and use them to bail-out their failing competitors. They take money from families which could be used to provide education or health care and give it to the failed public school system and new government-run health care bureaucracy. The responsible and productive subsidize the irresponsible and unproductive, and all this is done in the name if fairness.
Capitalism is effective to the degree it is allowed to reward the productive and punish the irresponsible. This accountability in action is the fire built under our collective a$$es, the American way of doing business and what the founders had in mind when they created our Constitutional system of self-rule. So hurl your insults at the greatest nation the mind of man has been able to envision. The approval of nations we have surpassed is not required for us to continue our advance.
Actually nowadays, a lot of the more important countries are standing against our worldwide economic and foreign policies. Not only the European Union and China, even India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey etc are increasingly defiant against US policies that are seen being detrimental to their national interests. I believe Newsweek had an article about it, I will look and post the link.
Originally Posted by momonkey
Why would any nation love another nation?
Generally speaking, other nations are the only thing preventing one's own nation from doing whatever it pleases. There exists an established pecking order among the nations of the world in which the United States needs to bow to no one. Other nations are not in that position and have to be careful to not eff with us in the same way they would a peer nation because a peer nation will not replace their government, but we just might. Even our closest allies understand that we always have that ability. Furthermore, no other nation has the military capability to replace our government. This imbalance of power makes for predictable awkwardness and resentment on the part of other nations. So what?
That losers hate us is to be expected since losers always hate winners, and America, in spite of all her present challenges, is an unqualified winner.
Enter liberals... (as if YOU could possibly speak for the motivations of people you hardly understand!)
The left insists we engage in activities that are diametrically opposed to what has made us great. They take money from those who produce wealth and give it to those who do not. They take the profits from successful businesses and use them to bail-out their failing competitors. They take money from families which could be used to provide education or health care and give it to the failed public school system and new government-run health care bureaucracy. The responsible and productive subsidize the irresponsible and unproductive, and all this is done in the name if fairness.
Capitalism is effective to the degree it is allowed to reward the productive and punish the irresponsible. This accountability in action is the fire built under our collective a$$es, the American way of doing business and what the founders had in mind when they created our Constitutional system of self-rule. So hurl your insults at the greatest nation the mind of man has been able to envision. The approval of nations we have surpassed is not required for us to continue our advance.
Are you Kim Jong-il? Your post could be Hitler in the 30s and any number of other arrogant dictators throughout history. I am embarrassed a fellow American wrote this for all the world to see. You claim the rest of the world are losers! Wow. So drunk are you on the supremacy of your country that you forget all the responsibilities that go along with that self-appointed description. We all know what happens to the person who goes around insisting he's better. Do you?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
