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Hi,
I usually post in more staid regions of this board but I do lurk here on occassion and enjoy the commentary. I am troubled a bit by the constant, "blame america 1st" mentality that eminates out of most every thread. This gave me an idea. A "blame America free" thread. Sure we've done things wrong, what nation hasn't? We're human, therefore fallible.
This thread is exclusively for people to bmc(_itch, moan, and complain) about any and every nation except America. And it can't be " I hate country X because they still do business with that terrrorist Bush".
I want to hear legitimate complaints about OTHER countries for once. Since I created this thread it's only fair that I begin:
I can't stand the ingrained culture of corruption and hypocrisy of Mexico. I've been there many, many times and love the people and culture. However it irks me to no end the gall that hundreds of thousands of people who have no right to be here in the first place can march openly in downtown Los Angeles complaining about their "constitutional rights". Um, excuse me, you are here illegally you have no constitutional rights. Why won't these same people march openly in downtown Mexico City and rail against the complete corruption of their government and police force. Most if not all presidents upon the end of their term either openly steal millions if not billions of dollars and/or a 747, and the people say nothing. A little known fact; Mexico has more natural resources that the United States, i.e more oil, more timber, more minerals and more fish. Never hear this from the media, huh? Why in 2007, can't we even drink their water? The police force is a joke, the drug cartels run most border towns and any brave reporter who tries to expose them summarily gets either their head cut off or gunned down or both, usually in front of their children. This happend in Tijuana.
How about the border? Often times we hear Mexican politicans complain about our border policy and how unfair it is but let's shift the light elsewhere for a second, shall we? Mexico has their military patrol their borders with Belize and Guatamala and immediately arrests any illegal that crosses into Mexico, putting them in jail, usually without a trial or deporting them immediately. Hypocrisy, anyone?
Oh yeah, racism is alive and well also. Black mexicans routinely get pulled over by the policia and are forced to sing the Mexican national anthem to prove they are really mexican. Where's al Sharpton and jesse jackson when you need them? Mexico also has a disgustingly racist stamp, Memin Pinguin which is apparently culturally acceptable in Mexico. Take a look for yourself:
In summary Mexico should be as prosperous as the US and Canada but until the people stand up and say enough is enough, remittance of monies from illegals to family back in Mexico will continue to be a billion dollar industry. I love Mexico and will continue to visit but it's about time the nation as a whole grows up and weens it self from America's teet. Power to the mexican people, in Mexico.
So that's how this thread will work. BMC about any nation you like, except USA. Apparently that's what every other thread here is for anyway. lol Thanks and please keep the only rule that I asked. Sonrise
Very good post sonrise. I have been to Mexico only once, but your points are valid and correct, especially regarding their natural resources and their rampant destruction of them with no government controls in place; in fact, the government is more than happy to pave the he__ out of every pristine seashore they can, if they can get more developers in there to plant a huge hotel for tourists.
I have been to Europe twice; I found many, many things to like, but there was definitely an atmosphere of constraint that comes from not having the very real freedoms America has. Sometimes this was actually a good thing, sometimes it was not.
A place I really didn't like, overall, that I've been to many times is Canada. The people, overall, were snotty, superior, with not too much to be superior about, IMO. Their natural resources are amazing, as well, but they want to charge anyone a pretty penny for using/buying them.
And good luck getting into Canada without a very invasive strip search interrogation process these days!! If you've ever had a parking ticket, they might decide you're an "undesirable" and throw you right back across the border, and you can't bring many kinds of perfectly legitimate firearms across...like they have NO criminals already there, or what?? LOL!!!
I was in Switzerland and we were taking a guided hike in the mountains. It was very beautiful and pituresque. In fact the setting could have been right out of the children's book Heidi!
The guide was very articulate, informed and happy to answer our questions about her country which she was obviously proud of.
I asked her a question about wildlife because to me hiking in the moutains and wildlife go hand in hand. She stated that the last bear had been killer in Switzerland in 1903, and said something about bears killed a lot of sheep. I was shocked by the matter of fact way in which she rattled off this fact and felt a pang of sadness.
It made me really appreciate the U.S. and the way we protect and set aside land, the National Parks and forests so our country will have land that is forever wild. I can't imagine not being able to go out and have a real wilderness experience.
This little interaction made me glad to be an American, and also impressed upon me what could happen if we don't take conservation seriously.
I think a thread about the great things about America would be better than bashing other countries. Building ourselves up by putting others down...hhmm..that's something I try to discourage in my children.
I think the original intent of the post was not so much to "bash" but, in offering examples of failings of other countries based on personal experience IN those countries, to appreciate that no country is perfect, and to appreciate one's own country.
Haven't seen anyone really "bashing" a country for no apparent reason or without personal experience yet.
I've done quite alot of traveling and I've been to twenty two countries so far. I basically think that people are pretty much the same everywhere I've been, it's more likely that we're really talking about the failings of governments. I completely agree with the comments about Mexico and the corruption and incompetent people who have led that nation to economic ruin. I hear stories all the time from my sister who took a job in Guadalajara and I've been there and seen it for myself. I'm also concerned about the events in Russia in the Putin era because the free press appears to have been put out of business and they seem to be drifting backwards into an authoritarian form of rule. However, we shouldn't overlook America's problems, afterall most of us on this forum live here. Our reputation is not very good in most of the world at the moment. One nation I'm very impressed with today is China. I was there a few years ago but today it's become a very modern society with a booming economy and a massive building boom of skyscrapers, freeways and a rapidly growing middle class who are buying cars, new condominiums and all the rest.
I have been to Europe twice; I found many, many things to like, but there was definitely an atmosphere of constraint that comes from not having the very real freedoms America has. Sometimes this was actually a good thing, sometimes it was not.
Just out of curiousity, what were some of these constraints you felt?
Well, I grew up partly in England with English parents, and also in the US. lived in Senegal for 2.5 years. I've also traveled fairly extensively through W. Africa and South Asia. And, since this isn't about bashing but about the first-hand constraints we've seen, I'd have to say that not being able to chew gum in Singapore on the train was really inconvenient.
I mean come on...we can all read the papers and understand no country is perfect and just b/c we see deficiencies in our own nation does not mean we don't love it and does not mean we don't understand other nations have their own set of problems.
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