What has America become?

in another thread i read Gil's new sig - "America: it was good while it lasted." & it made me think a lot of things. America was founded by people not interested in freedom, but interested in creating their own exclusive, strictly religious & moral Utopia. and the country's freedom was won by rabble-rousers & hotheads who wanted freedom for themselves, but not necessarily others. let's not forget that the country where "all men are created equal" was greatly supported by slavery, and that racism & sexism still worms its way through & is still partially supported by the government. for 200 years or so this imperfect system has been working out the flaws & making itself into a world power, but still has a lot of problems left to fix.

my point is that america is not perfect, & it'd be naive to think that it is. and like any system has to be to avoid stagnancy, the american government is changing (however slowly.) this country was based on imperfect revolutionary ideas, and still is. of course i haven't been around for all this country's history, but america seems to be doing exactly what it has been for the past 250 years - tryign to fix itself while the repairs just bring out more small flaws.

please don't read this as anti-american. just because i think the system has a few problems doesn't mean i don't appreciate the things it offers (like the ability to vote, & freedom of speech/religion). but even the most pro-american reader cannot deny that this country is not perfect. it has never been so, and in a country with so many individuals with varying viewpoints, the american system will never be able to please all the people all the time. that obvious point is possibly the country's biggest flaw right now - whoever wins this "election" will have the support of half the country, and will have to convince the rest of teh citizens that yes, he is the man for the job. let us not forget: leaders lead only with the consent of those below them.

this also raises a question - will this system ever work out its flaws & become the perfect system that it attempts & pretends to be? to create a strict conformost society where everyone is exactly equal removes a lot of freedom from the citizens' lives, and freedom (or the outward appearance thereof) is arguably the most important "binder" that the american people have. oppositely, screaming-liberal anarchist societies are impossible to run & will unravel the country in mere days. so the same arguments will continue, more than likely until this country's demise: "liberal or conservative? which side will prevail?" egalitarian societies don't have a very good track record, the way america will survive is for it to remain imperfect in the eyes of most of its citizens, and to NOT try to please all the people all of the time.

aryne *

... back when "Hog Wild's Freedom
Forums" were still in operation.
( IronParrot bmilder<!--EZCODE
BOLD END--> and Gilthalion<!-
-EZCODE BOLD END--> into a frothing rage at me, and I might have
actually gotten some agreement from <
b> Shanamir[/b]... it was good.

anti-americans
*gives evil eye to Gil*

check out
the link in my sig!

All great empires collapse.




What do you think the next superpower will be after America?

the u.s. isn't an empire. Maybe you were also comparing that to Rusia.......

You've got military presences in a whole pile of countries, have "territories" all over the place...

Not to mention the aggressive "expansion" of Western democratic ideals.

Let's put the negative connotations of the word "empire" away for a second when we say this, shall we not?

Ah...

How surprised most Americans are to find out that there is anything good in Russia at all.

Most of them still brainwashed into believing whatever the government and cheap newpaper stereotypes tell them about the country.

Keep in mind that newpapers always highlight the worst, so if anything good does happen in Russia, you don't hear about it.

Sure, how logical to say that Russia is an empire and America isn't.

Note: This was only directed at one person.


I think that if the Euro becomes well established in Europe, the continent will grow very powerfull because of the good economy, and power might return to Europe once again.

On the other hand, it might be Japan; which already dominates a lot of our markets and tv programs.

america is an empire, but more through thought than anythign else (although we DO have military presence all over the place & more weapons than probably any country right now) - american aka "western" ideals & culture are everywhere. when you go through the slums of Cairo & still see McDonaldses, you'll realise how far this goes.

and i think sometime soon america is going to crash - hard. as in, No More USA. this probably won't happen soon, but might within our lifetimes. there's this famous quote (can't remember exact words) that talks about how empires & world powers go through stages, & the last stages are bloating & downfall. the US is in the bloated stage right now. i think its downfall is inevitable.

we live in interesting times - of course, by the time the interesting bits are through, we may all wish to live in the boring times...

been talking to conspiracy theorists & people with CIA/mob ties lately... always an interesting pastime.

Russia had some great history. and art, and especially music. i think it's silly to dwell only on the "nasty bits" of Russian history & culture, but i guess that's somewhat ingrained in us americans. as animals we fear what's different, as humans we fear what we don't understand, as americans we fear COMMUNISM.

(that above statement applies only to base instincts & ingraining, especially of americans. it's not meant to assume everyone on this board is american, or assume that people here are easily led)

aryne *

Not that I expect very many of you liberal city-folk have missed me, but I've been unable to spend much time in front of a keyboard lately. Been flat on my back on a heating pad for days on end, with a remote in my hand, and my eyes upon the attempted election theft in progress down in Florida.)

The events over the weekend, with Gore operatives working overtime to deny our service men and women their vote, should be a wake up call to all of you who defend and collaborate with these enemies of all that is good and decent.

I see an awful lot of revisionist history on this thread. There was a lot more to the Founders of this nation than has been implied here. The "hotheads" who gave their lives, and the families who lost the "hotheads" who died defending their freedom, might not think much of this sort of dismissive, arrogant, ignorant, misguided, misinformed, and indeed Anti-American, discrediting of the greatest system of government ever devised.

Communism is simply evil, and only to be feared by those who must endure it. Those who are free, should oppose it with all their might.

America has compromised with those whose agenda is to reduce America to first Socialism and then Communism.

We have permitted our educational and media institutions to be run almost entirely by those who have been indoctrinating our nation with the selective viewpoint arynetrek has posted. This has turned out an entire generation that has virtually no positive understanding of the American Way or of American culture.

In the prosperity that followed World War II, American Christianity lay down its work and allowed this to take place.

What has become of America?

The Church retired and all Hell is finally breaking lo

Little Vicky Valentine:Now, kids, what do we call it when someone is treated equal even though they're not truly equal?
kids in Vicky's dance class:COMMUNISM!!

-The Simpsons
-"Last Tap Dance in Springfield" (BABF15)
-Airdate: 05/07/00

You know, before I joined EzBoards, I was under the impression that Americans were (insert a whole pile of negative adjectives here... I don't want to get banned from Entmoot... today), and, well... American.

Then I joined up with Hog Wild's, and I learned that some American "Patriots" are a lot smarter than generally given credit for.

And then I came here, and I learned something about my own nationality.

It has made me realize that (insert same pile of negative adjectives here) are not restricted to any one nationality.

*goes back to his cave... the last refuge of sanity*

eh? where are you from Johnny? I've got friends in Canada, Australia, and all over Europe from various things online

oh, one other thing. a british person posted this on the Wheel of Time Game Forum:

*edited out* errrr if you wanna see it, go to Bullroarer's thread "Note to all US Citizens", i didn't see it before posting this

"Eh, I'm from Canada
I'm a loser, baby
So why don't you ban me"
(x10)
"Je parle français, bay-bay!"
(A rip-off of Beck - Loser)

Revisionist history? as i said already, that was my own point of view. and i'm not trying to dismiss, belittle, etc. the actions of said "hotheads," but like the country's leaders today, america's leaders then weren't perfect. but when someone supposedly forms a community where "all men are created equal" & then proceeds to deny rights to blacks, women, the poor, & many others, it's hard NOT to see the hypocricy & imperfections.

as for being liberal, yes i am. obviously more so than some people here. thank you for noticing.

as for election theft, the whole thing has gotten ridiculous. the presidency was enough of a joke before this - now whoever finally wins in whatever pseudo-election they declare binding will have to convince half (or more) of the country that yes, he IS capable of doing this & no, he DIDN'T rig the election or pay off people to win. whichever man wins will do so because of legal hassling & technicalities. and IMO that's just not enough to win in a system based on majority rule.

this goes for Gore as well as Bush - whoever wins will have the job but little respect from the people.

aryne *

i think in most people's eyes they had to choose which candidate was the lesser of 2 evils anyway

This is so adorable, I cannot resist posting a link:
slate.msn.com/Features/grinch/grinch.asp

BWAH HAH HAH HA! :lol:

now that's funny!

aryne *