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FREEAGLELAND26780 Posts
I came into this blog to post "AMERICA!" and then leave, but you made me think for a bit :|
This country is silly and feels like it's held together with tape right now, but then again the world in general doesn't seem much better.
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I am constantly perplexed, yet entertained, by American politics.
Republican candidates just make my head explode lol.
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Many things in America make my head explode.
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On October 27 2011 19:36 MetalMarine wrote: Many things in America make my head explode.
Might be the newest development of the US in terms of WMD technologies
Anyways, I agree with the OP in part. In theory, the US is a nice country. In practice, it's not. It's similar to the communism in that it's ideas were solid but it got abused to an extent that it's original ideas turned into something bad.
Well, as a poster above said, it feels like the whole world is only held together by tape.
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Honestly, looking back maybe 10 years, I thought US was an amazing country and envied Americans for just being Americans. Obviously I was much younger, more naive, and it was more of a romantic sentiment than anything - mostly based on the whole ideas of democracy and freedom, scientific progress, space exploration etc. But still, it seemed so very progressive and inspiring at the time.
Now I only see out of control greed, religious fanatics in control, and so many things that just make me sad. I think the easiest way to describe it is that the whole country seems to be driven by extreme ideologies which are completely devoid of humanity.
Listening to news about America nowadays is like listening to news from a parallel universe - where on the surface everything seems kind of ordinary, but when you go a little bit deeper you start seeing weird and unnatural things. Such as a guy who would be president getting applauded for executing hundreds of people, many of which could have been innocent as well. Or learning that there are "alternatives" to evolution being taught in schools. Or the perverse way in which money is idolized as the ultimate value and the meaning of life.
It's kinda like that dream where you and your girlfriend hang out together and everything's great and you can't really tell you're dreaming, but then your girlfriend suddenly transforms into Cthulhu and devours you alive. Good thing about it being a dream slash nightmare is that you get to wake up in the end.
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When I was growing up America was painted like a dream world of sorts. My young mind like 15-10 years ago always thought America is the greatest country in the world. But now I can't help but see all these flaws american people let upon themselves. To be honest more and more my "perfect world" shifts towards Scandinavian countries instead of America.
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On October 27 2011 19:56 Morfildur wrote:Show nested quote +On October 27 2011 19:36 MetalMarine wrote: Many things in America make my head explode. Might be the newest development of the US in terms of WMD technologies Anyways, I agree with the OP in part. In theory, the US is a nice country. In practice, it's not. It's similar to the communism in that it's ideas were solid but it got abused to an extent that it's original ideas turned into something bad. Well, as a poster above said, it feels like the whole world is only held together by tape. American politics is the most volatile WMD known to mankind. Even worse, it's wielded by crazy fanatics.
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The text books we have in Norway unfortunately do not talk about america (or any other country for that matter) much, preferring to put an unnatural amount of weight into the small achievements of Norwegians in the given field.
I'm always somewhat disgusted when I read about a tsunami disaster, and the news station/textbook chooses to add "...several norwegian tourists have also lost their life" as if it's supposed to make us care that much more about the disaster that has taken place.
Those are all relatively minor complaints though, compared to how bad off I could be ^^;
Uh... Why do I always go off topic with these kinds of threads. Anyway. America is awesome, and I wish to go there once. Wohoo.
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On October 27 2011 20:48 marttorn wrote: I'm always somewhat disgusted when I read about a tsunami disaster, and the news station/textbook chooses to add "...several norwegian tourists have also lost their life" as if it's supposed to make us care that much more about the disaster that has taken place.
I thought this is a common thing anywhere in the world. It's normal to report this kind of thing, considering that those tourists have family and relatives in Norway. Purpose of the news isn't to make people care, it's to inform them about something that may be relevant to them.
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On October 27 2011 20:54 Talin wrote:Show nested quote +On October 27 2011 20:48 marttorn wrote: I'm always somewhat disgusted when I read about a tsunami disaster, and the news station/textbook chooses to add "...several norwegian tourists have also lost their life" as if it's supposed to make us care that much more about the disaster that has taken place.
I thought this is a common thing anywhere in the world. It's normal to report this kind of thing, considering that those tourists have family and relatives in Norway. Purpose of the news isn't to make people care, it's to inform them about something that may be relevant to them.
I agree. Reporting that people from your country are also hurt/dead is a normal thing. Of course every loss of life is a tragedy, but the best way to make humans care is to tell them "It could have been you/your wife/your kids/your neighbour".
Sadly we don't live in a perfect world, people don't care about people that life a thousand kilometers away (which reminds me, when is the US planning on switching to the superior metric system?)
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America is the name of a continent
edit: 1/5
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On October 27 2011 21:32 fabiano wrote: America is the name of a continent
Yes and when Islamic extremists were chanting "Death to America" did you think they were talking about Brazilian booties and Columbian cocaine, or were you equally outraged at the exclusion?
America is still a pretty good place to live overall. There are a lot of nice people. There's still hope left even if it's dwindling.
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usa taught the whole world politicians how to control the masses through the illusions of democracy, nationalism, equality and freedom. pretty awesome if you are on the top of the food chain.
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On October 27 2011 21:40 Newbistic wrote:Yes and when Islamic extremists were chanting "Death to America" did you think they were talking about Brazilian booties and Columbian cocaine, or were you equally outraged at the exclusion? America is still a pretty good place to live overall. There are a lot of nice people. There's still hope left even if it's dwindling.
i should have put a smiley to make things more clear....
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On October 27 2011 21:32 fabiano wrote: America is the name of a continent
edit: 1/5
Actually, North America and South America are the names of two continents (commonly referred to as "The Americas"), while the United States of America is a country (commonly referred to as "The United States" or "America").
You know what he meant. Stop trying to split hairs by attempting to be literal- you didn't even do it right, since he was speaking in layman's terms.
OP: You raise an interesting point. The idea of America's values and country certainly sounds amazing. What we see in practice usually isn't bad, but there are a lot of problems in our country that show it isn't exactly all it's cracked up to be. Education isn't ideal. Politics are ridiculous. We're not exactly secular. Economy is shit. Things like that.
5/5 for thought-provoking ^^
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I know ok I apologize.
The Americas = North, Central and South though
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Well, if it weren't for America this forum wouldn't exist.
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On October 27 2011 22:30 Mobius_1 wrote: Well, if it weren't for America this forum wouldn't exist.
... or another country would have invented the internet and Starcraft.
Saying "Without country xyz thing abc wouldn't exist" is... well, not very logical. Without europe, no settlers would have travelled west and indians would still roam the lands and hunt buffalos... or maybe they would have invented gunpowder and invaded china, who knows...
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I think what some people who never been to America or have only been to a couple places, is that this country is so big/diverse you sometimes feel like your going to a different country (in a small sense) when you visit a different state.
For instance Im from California, a few years ago some friends and I went to Idaho. I was actually getting harassed by the "locals" for being from California. This actually happens more than I ever expected, apparently a lot of people dont like Californians.
Ive been to New York once and the way people talk and interact I felt very out of place and had a hard time keeping up in the conversation (with born and raised New Yorkers).
edit: I have no idea why I wrote this because it has little to do with what you guys are talking about lol
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