Don't The Americans Seem To You Sometimes Like

being a good citizen works in the perfect world where all the countries are small communities run entirely BY the citizens and not by someone ON BEHALF of the citizens.

are you personally responsible for every penny of the taxes you pay spent by your government?

do you take part in all the verdicts pronounced in your contry in the name of 'the people'?

do you take part in all the decisions your government makes?

do you legislate?

really?

serving in the military and the police means obeying orders. that is, WHATEVER orders come from those above you. it might include using force against your fellow citizens when they disagree with the goverment.

and what if the goverment isn't right, and your fellow citizens are? then oppressing them wouldn't necessarily mean making your country better.

one prejudice doesn't justify another prejudice and can't serve as an excuse.

how shall we define 'achievement'? is Ralf Waldo Emerson comparable in any way to Gandhi and R. Tagore, or JFK to Nelson Mandela?

and, in fact, why measure anything by its 'achievements'? is just enjoying life in a pure and simple way something less valuable than always struggling to achieve something? some of the worthiest people I know live in remote villages in the mountains and are preferable to some of the most ambitious scholars in my University.

 

Well blame the government. As kids from the second you enter schools and depending on your parents even before that this is what you are taught. That America is the only decent place to live with any rights for its people or democracy, or freedom. That if you go anywhere else you will be treated like scum and have no rights. We are told constantly that 'America is the best country in the world' and even to those who are opposed to the government if someone says that phrase they will say 'oh i know that but it still needs to change'.

Lots of Americans are ignorant to other countries and that is because that's how our government wants us to be, they trick us into being Nationalists and into believing everything we do as a country is right and any country that opposes us is evil, this is deep seeded and has been happening for a very long time. But our government has mislead, decieved, and mistreated us and others and finally a larger quantity of Americans are hip to this. But many others have been brainwashed so that they don't leave, and so that on the rare occasion when the government asks for citizen support (or when they pretend to need) millions will be blindedly behind them.

 

then I don't like american government, not exactly Americans..

 

we wave them flags because everyone hates us and we want to feel loved. if we have to do it ourselves.....so be it.

 

haha.. what a critical opinion!

 

this place realy sucks and most people here are assholes without a concept of whats going on or the value of life [their ownor others] ....its full of prisons and id do anything to be able to leave ......

 

why can't you leave?

 

same reason u cant come here for more than a tourist .....legaly the longest u can stay in most places is 60 days .....if u r political or criminal past no place would take u and without $ any legal immigration is expensive - impossible .....i could sneek into brazill and marry a pregnant lady they may not kick me out then ...but realy us papers are the worst to have ...no one likes u and if your judged by the company u keep ,,,,can u blame them ?

 

why can't I come to USA for more than a tourist?! I'll just get a green card and that's it.. I know a lot of czech people living in USA...

 

they had to apply for student family residency and be approved ect ....have sponsors with $ or some of their own .....oh yea lots of fools commin here legal and illegal to slavr away and get greedy ....in short u need $ and cant have a past ...or have ever been an anarchist troublemaker or your destination of choice wont have u ....i loose on all three counts

 

eh, actually, I defenitely don't plan goin to USA, you know.. but .. well, your laws are really stiff..

 

i personally hate america. youre all a bunch of fucking slaves
just because youre spoiled doesnt mean youre free

 

where are you from? I mean, if from Europe, Latin America, Australia, China...?

 

thats an understatement ....all they are building is prisons everywhere here .and millions already locked up for nothing or bled dry by threat of imprisonment ....no fun here ....belize or panama or brazill sound cool .......oh yea janax , your a realy rootsy and beautifull girl ....i remember ur pics ....

 

the thing bout the u s is that nobody is from here ...and nobody in history came here willingly or was ever not used and robed

 

heh.. thanks

actually, I don't know why it's so.. aehm.. not bad, but you know what I mean, in USA.. don't the presidents always call America as a FREEDOM COUTNRY?

 

yes people run here to be free of the wars and devastation that america exports everywhere .....they are then free to work and do as they are told .

 

im from america actually

 

i think you missed the point. Being a good citizen entails a whole lot. You dont have to actively partake in the the crude mechanics of the system. Voting, not being a criminal, paying taxes...helping others, and a billion other things make up being a good citizen.

You help protect the country to help keep it free. I'm not saying the military or the police dont make mistakes, they are human and will. However, they are meant to protect our rights.

Justifying a prejudice? By no means. I'm proud of my country. If you take that as a slight to yours, it is your problem, not mine.

Er, an achievement would be something you've accomplished. Be it a great work of literature or sending someone to the moon..these would be examples of things i find as accomplishments.

I dont get what you're trying to get at by asking me about the comparison. Are you saying that it is impossible to make comparisons because you cant determine whether 'jfk is better than mandela?' Thats silly. Not all countries have done as much to make the world a better place. Not every country is equal in what they've achieved.

Maybe your value of worth is different than mine, but i think people who make the world better are worth more than someone who selfishly sits idly by.

I really hate the idea of relativism. It is BS like "who is to say that curious george isnt as great a piece of literature as paradise lost?" ugh, die please

 

are you really that ignorant of history?


god..the only thing more pathetic than Americans' knowledge of the world is everyone elses knowledge of America.