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Subject: 
Re: What's actually the task of the moderators on BrickShelf?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:29:45 GMT
Viewed: 
1586 times
  
"Johannes 'Jojo' Koehler" <chutspe@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:I2t532.230G@lugnet.com...

And that's why people like SS uniforms and find them cool?

I think people do things for different reasons, and rather than judge people
based on our own worst fears and worries, we should try to find the truth
and form our opinions from that point on.


I think Jim Dolan's take on things makes more sense.  Just some European
who
is trying to draw paralells between the US and the fascist reich.

OK. That's not offending at all obviously.

I'm not offended.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I've seen fascist defined as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime
that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a
centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe
economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."
It's not a tremedous stretch to see how some people could interperet current
events along these lines.  Based on my understanding, fascism is often
considered a "right-wing" phenomenon, but I've been seeing many of it's
elements embodied in the US left (most notably, anti-alien sentiment in the
labor community).


On the other hand many of us do not like how arrogantly the American
administration acts sometimes, not caring for the interests of the rest of
the
world. For example the Kyoto Protocol and other international conventions
don't
seem to interest the American administration much. It's as if God's Own
Country
was not affected by environmental pollution at all...

The problem with Kyoto is that it imposes crippling economic setbacks to the
US while offering minimal benefit.  I wouldn't support it either, not
because I'm arrogant and think that the US should be allowed to pollute as
much as it wants - but instead because it's a raw deal with no measurable
benefit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_protocol#Controversy


Oh, and sometimes Americans act quite uhm.. immaturely. For example
renaming
"french fries" to "freedom fries" only because the French don't follow the
Americans into an arguable war is none but ridiculous. I guess, though,
things
like this happen in every country.

The only place I saw that was on the news.  And most thought it was a silly
waste of time.

Personally, I saw it as an affront to a country that helped the US
immeasurably in the past in ways that our involvement in two world wars can
only begin to repay.  Without France, the US would probably not exist.


I think in the long run, US aid and the spread of US culture is a more
powerful weapon than anything the military has to offer.  Blue jeans and
rock & roll seemed to do more to advance the fall of communism than any
weapon.

This method has worked exactly one time: It worked after WW2 to keep the
Germans
on the leash. I get the impression some people thought this method of
defeating
a people and giving them McDonalds and Coca Cola simply had to work with
every
culture that is to be Americanized. I don't expect that it works in Iraq,
though. Sticking to this method (will) probably cost many lives of both
American
soldiers and Iraqi civilists.

Capitalism seems ultimately to have been one of the best weapons against
communism.  Even if it worked only once, it brought an end to the cold war.

People seem to prefer plenty to scarcity.  Go figure.



Message has 2 Replies:
  Kyoto
 
(...) The "world against the USA" paranoia aside, your argument does have some merit. That said, your post brings two points to mind: Bush should have renegotiated the treaty instead of ripping it up. How do you think we should protect the (...) (20 years ago, 25-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
  Re: What's actually the task of the moderators on BrickShelf?
 
Hello! (...) That's an optimistic view on people's behaviour. I wished I was that optimistic (no sarcasm intended). However, everybody including me should always be aware of what impression one's particular behaviour, fashion or whatever makes on (...) (20 years ago, 27-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: What's actually the task of the moderators on BrickShelf?
 
Hello! (...) It does not. (...) And that's why people like SS uniforms and find them cool? (...) That's true. And I regularly get pleasantly surprised by a better reality than I had assumed beforehand. Better, not best. (...) That's a possible (...) (20 years ago, 21-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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