God Damn America
Replies
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I think if you read A People's History of the United States, the notion that this was once a great country a long time ago turns out to be rather absurd. Perhaps the people were just a little less distracted by benign Hollywood bull****, the government a little less bought and paid for, the news media a little less sensationalistic, and the country as a whole a little less spineless and cowardly.
I'd gladly leave and never look back if it were as simple as the morons who trumpet this idea thought.
If you really hate where you are, but won't leave, who's the moron?
Maybe it's not easy, but staying in this country and enjoying all the perks of citizenship, while b!tching about how awful it is at the same time is just lame on your part.
If you want to change things, work to change them. If you can't stand it and want to leave, leave. People do it all the time. My father fought hard just to get to this country. He knew he'd have a better life here.
Or continue blaming Hollywood and the news, and calling others spineless cowards from the comfort of wherever you're at. :yawn:
You're confusing won't with can't.
You're also making several baseless assumptions about me and the supposed perks I get from living here. But okay, let's say that I'm not an activist, that I'm not engaged in politics and having constant discussions with people, that I don't vote, that I'm not educating myself on a daily basis, etc. What if I'm just an average bloke trying to mind my own business? So just because I'm a dissenter who would rather live somewhere else that I should start packing my bags? What if you think for a few milliseconds about how moving to another country is the complete opposite of simple? Believe it or not, I think this country has a lot of potential, and I want to see it live up to that potential. There are many reasons I cannot leave, which are none of your business, but if I ever have the opportunity to leave, I will. In the meantime, I'll continue trying to improve this country.
The only thing that needs to GTFO is the patriotic retardation of this country.0 -
On a side note, could it be that us americans have turned into professinal malcontents and whiners? I keep hearing how bad things are, and to be sure, we have issues. But I have even heard people go as far as to say we are in a new Depression. Really? With your internet access, air conditioning, plentiful food, and every other major benefit that people take for granted, we are in a depression. I think it's great that Americans demand more of their government, but we have to get away from this "the world is ending" attitude everytime something doesn't go our way.
Just because you and I have those things does not mean that everyone does. Look beyond your own personal situation. This isn't just about luxuries like air conditioning and internet access but the number of people in this country who are without basic food, clean water, and health care.0 -
On a side note, could it be that us americans have turned into professinal malcontents and whiners? I keep hearing how bad things are, and to be sure, we have issues. But I have even heard people go as far as to say we are in a new Depression. Really? With your internet access, air conditioning, plentiful food, and every other major benefit that people take for granted, we are in a depression. I think it's great that Americans demand more of their government, but we have to get away from this "the world is ending" attitude everytime something doesn't go our way.
Seriously.
We live lifes of comfort that past generations could hardly dream about. You think other countries have fat poor people? Those poor *kitten* starve to death!
SO much of the world is poor! Really poor. Not U.S. poor. Those countries don't put out books about how bad things are, because the dictator won't allow it and much of the population can't even read and nobody has the kind of money where they can afford a book. Right now there's a kid in the Phillipines digging through garbage to try to find a meal.
Tell me again how bad you have it here. Mommy not letting you play X-Box until you clean your room?0 -
You're confusing won't with can't.
You're also making several baseless assumptions about me and the supposed perks I get from living here. But okay, let's say that I'm not an activist, that I'm not engaged in politics and having constant discussions with people, that I don't vote, that I'm not educating myself on a daily basis, etc. What if I'm just an average bloke trying to mind my own business? So just because I'm a dissenter who would rather live somewhere else that I should start packing my bags? What if you think for a few milliseconds about how moving to another country is the complete opposite of simple? Believe it or not, I think this country has a lot of potential, and I want to see it live up to that potential. There are many reasons I cannot leave, which are none of your business, but if I ever have the opportunity to leave, I will. In the meantime, I'll continue trying to improve this country.
The only thing that needs to GTFO is the patriotic retardation of this country.
No, you're telling yourself you can't so you don't have to. Because you don't actually want to.
I said it wasn't simple. "Not simple" is not the same as impossible. Or even difficult. Sorry, if you really want to leave it's going to take a bit of effort on your part. Heaven forbid.
Good news. You have the opportunity to leave. People do it everyday. They show up on foreign shores with nothing to their name. They actually do the things they say they're going to. Try it. Talk is rather cheap.0 -
On a side note, could it be that us americans have turned into professinal malcontents and whiners? I keep hearing how bad things are, and to be sure, we have issues. But I have even heard people go as far as to say we are in a new Depression. Really? With your internet access, air conditioning, plentiful food, and every other major benefit that people take for granted, we are in a depression. I think it's great that Americans demand more of their government, but we have to get away from this "the world is ending" attitude everytime something doesn't go our way.
Seriously.
We live lifes of comfort that past generations could hardly dream about. You think other countries have fat poor people? Those poor *kitten* starve to death!
SO much of the world is poor! Really poor. Not U.S. poor. Those countries don't put out books about how bad things are, because the dictator won't allow it and much of the population can't even read and nobody has the kind of money where they can afford a book. Right now there's a kid in the Phillipines digging through garbage to try to find a meal.
Tell me again how bad you have it here. Mommy not letting you play X-Box until you clean your room?
Ah, okay, you're not just ignorant, you're inconsiderate. No wonder you can't reason why someone can't just pack their bags and leave for another country. Perhaps the reason why people like me are so miserable here is because we do see that there are genuine poor and neglected people in this country and are tired of people with mindsets such as yours which allow these problems to fester and grow beyond control.
But nope, I'm just mad because Mommy won't let me play video games. Right. That's why I'm angry about this country.0 -
Those of you who don't like it here, feel free to spread the word world wide. Maybe I can stop taking foreign language lessons.0
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You're confusing won't with can't.
You're also making several baseless assumptions about me and the supposed perks I get from living here. But okay, let's say that I'm not an activist, that I'm not engaged in politics and having constant discussions with people, that I don't vote, that I'm not educating myself on a daily basis, etc. What if I'm just an average bloke trying to mind my own business? So just because I'm a dissenter who would rather live somewhere else that I should start packing my bags? What if you think for a few milliseconds about how moving to another country is the complete opposite of simple? Believe it or not, I think this country has a lot of potential, and I want to see it live up to that potential. There are many reasons I cannot leave, which are none of your business, but if I ever have the opportunity to leave, I will. In the meantime, I'll continue trying to improve this country.
The only thing that needs to GTFO is the patriotic retardation of this country.
No, you're telling yourself you can't so you don't have to. Because you don't actually want to.
I said it wasn't simple. "Not simple" is not the same as impossible. Or even difficult. Sorry, if you really want to leave it's going to take a bit of effort on your part. Heaven forbid.
Good news. You have the opportunity to leave. People do it everyday. They show up on foreign shores with nothing to their name. They actually do the things they say they're going to. Try it. Talk is rather cheap.
Perhaps there are personal and family-related reasons that people like myself cannot just up and leave? Please, think for a measly millisecond. It might do you some good someday. It truly is sad how a country that prizes the first amendment has so many people that will tell a dissenter to leave if their justified complaints are a bit inconvenient.0 -
Perhaps there are personal and family-related reasons that people like myself cannot just up and leave? Please, think for a measly millisecond. It might do you some good someday. It truly is sad how a country that prizes the first amendment has so many people that will tell a dissenter to leave if their justified complaints are a bit inconvenient.
I don't tell dissenters to leave. This country was founded on dissent. I support and often engage in dissent. I tell people who say "I wish I could leave this country!" to LEAVE! Otherwise you just sound like a whining child.
I'm sure you desperately want to leave but have many reasons you can't right now. And when those reasons change you'll find new ones. Because you're not leaving. You just want to act cooler than the room by saying how lame the party you're at is. Be glad we let you stay and pick over the cocktail weinies while you drone on and on about how much the music sucks.0 -
Perhaps there are personal and family-related reasons that people like myself cannot just up and leave? Please, think for a measly millisecond. It might do you some good someday. It truly is sad how a country that prizes the first amendment has so many people that will tell a dissenter to leave if their justified complaints are a bit inconvenient.
I don't tell dissenters to leave. This country was founded on dissent. I support and often engage in dissent. I tell people who say "I wish I could leave this country!" to LEAVE! Otherwise you just sound like a whining child.
I'm sure you desperately want to leave but have many reasons you can't right now. And when those reasons change you'll find new ones. Because you're not leaving. You just want to act cooler than the room by saying how lame the party you're at is. Be glad we let you stay and pick over the cocktail weinies while you drone on and on about how much the music sucks.
You don't know anything about me, so how is it fair to say I'll find new ones? Even if I do, what is the crime in that? Life can change on a dime for a person with friends and family, a career, bills, etc. What is the crime in complaining in the first place when the music at this party we're talking about is truly horrible? I'd rather complain than cover my ears and dance, let alone be the party's unofficial bouncer when someone isn't conforming. At least then someone might hear my complaint and we can do something together to try and get this party to play to a different tune.0 -
So which is it? You hate America and want to leave, or you want to work together to change stuff you don't like? Because they are two very different things.0
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On a side note, could it be that us americans have turned into professinal malcontents and whiners? I keep hearing how bad things are, and to be sure, we have issues. But I have even heard people go as far as to say we are in a new Depression. Really? With your internet access, air conditioning, plentiful food, and every other major benefit that people take for granted, we are in a depression. I think it's great that Americans demand more of their government, but we have to get away from this "the world is ending" attitude everytime something doesn't go our way.
Seriously.
We live lifes of comfort that past generations could hardly dream about. You think other countries have fat poor people? Those poor *kitten* starve to death!
SO much of the world is poor! Really poor. Not U.S. poor. Those countries don't put out books about how bad things are, because the dictator won't allow it and much of the population can't even read and nobody has the kind of money where they can afford a book. Right now there's a kid in the Phillipines digging through garbage to try to find a meal.
Tell me again how bad you have it here. Mommy not letting you play X-Box until you clean your room?
Ah, okay, you're not just ignorant, you're inconsiderate. No wonder you can't reason why someone can't just pack their bags and leave for another country. Perhaps the reason why people like me are so miserable here is because we do see that there are genuine poor and neglected people in this country and are tired of people with mindsets such as yours which allow these problems to fester and grow beyond control.
But nope, I'm just mad because Mommy won't let me play video games. Right. That's why I'm angry about this country.
First off, how can you claim to call people ignorant or inconsiderate when not knowing any aspect of our personal lives? That is ignorance at it's worst. I never, nor did Brett, say their aren't problems in this nation that need fixing. But I stand by what the AVERAGE american complains about is hilarious. If you are so concerned with the injustices of this society and don't think guys like Brett or myself are doing enought to contribute to society, I won't tell you to leave, but I bet you could find a soup kitchen to go work at instead of calling others inconsiderate fo off-handed remarks we made about our bloated countrymen.0 -
You don't know anything about me, so how is it fair to say I'll find new ones? Even if I do, what is the crime in that? Life can change on a dime for a person with friend and family, a career, bills, etc. What is the crime in complaining in the first place when the music at this party we're talking about is truly horrible? I'd rather complain than cover my ears and dance.
You don't know me either, hasn't stopped you from saying I'm ignorant or inconsiderate or that I don't use my brain. You're a very poor debater. If it's personal attacks you like believe me I can get quite nasty. You really have no idea.
To explain the analogy to you, you can leave the party. Just like you can leave the country. But you don't. Oh you'll say you want to, how awful it is and all the injustices you're forced to put up with just by living here, whaah whaah whaah.
I know you'd rather complain. It's just that the rest of us don't care to hear it. Do something about it or quit complaining.0 -
First off, how can you claim to call people ignorant or inconsiderate when not knowing any aspect of our personal lives? That is ignorance at it's worst. I never, nor did Brett, say their aren't problems in this nation that need fixing. But I stand by what the AVERAGE american complains about is hilarious. If you are so concerned with the injustices of this society and don't think guys like Brett or myself are doing enought to contribute to society, I won't tell you to leave, but I bet you could find a soup kitchen to go work at instead of calling others inconsiderate fo off-handed remarks we made about our bloated countrymen.
I never called you inconsiderate or ignorant. I've read your posts and think you're a pretty smart guy. You have a point that we are very fortunate in this country to have the many luxuries that we have. I'm grateful for that. I merely want the people who can't even have the most basic of human needs to get them. Seeking to do this politically will be more effective for the disenfranchised on a national basis in the long run than one soup kitchen in my very middle class town. Regardless, I do help out the poor in my community.So which is it? You hate America and want to leave, or you want to work together to change stuff you don't like? Because they are two very different things.
Neither. I recognize that there are many countries that are better than us but that we still have a lot of potential. I'd rather live in some of those countries, but while my personal situation proves to be a large obstacle at the moment, I'll do what I can in the meantime to improve things in this country to the best of my ability.0 -
I never called you inconsiderate or ignorant
actually, you did.Ah, okay, you're not just ignorant, you're inconsiderate.
I know Brett is capable of handling himself here. However, for the record, you are violating our group's rules of conduct.
No Ad hominem attacks.0 -
First off, how can you claim to call people ignorant or inconsiderate when not knowing any aspect of our personal lives? That is ignorance at it's worst. I never, nor did Brett, say their aren't problems in this nation that need fixing. But I stand by what the AVERAGE american complains about is hilarious. If you are so concerned with the injustices of this society and don't think guys like Brett or myself are doing enought to contribute to society, I won't tell you to leave, but I bet you could find a soup kitchen to go work at instead of calling others inconsiderate fo off-handed remarks we made about our bloated countrymen.
I never called you inconsiderate or ignorant.
Yes, you did.
Right click on the image for the full size, so you can read it again.
The internet... it's a *****...0 -
You don't know anything about me, so how is it fair to say I'll find new ones? Even if I do, what is the crime in that? Life can change on a dime for a person with friend and family, a career, bills, etc. What is the crime in complaining in the first place when the music at this party we're talking about is truly horrible? I'd rather complain than cover my ears and dance.
You don't know me either, hasn't stopped you from saying I'm ignorant or inconsiderate or that I don't use my brain. You're a very poor debater. If it's personal attacks you like believe me I can get quite nasty. You really have no idea.
To explain the analogy to you, you can leave the party. Just like you can leave the country. But you don't. Oh you'll say you want to, how awful it is and all the injustices you're forced to put up with just by living here, whaah whaah whaah.
I know you'd rather complain. It's just that the rest of us don't care to hear it. Do something about it or quit complaining.
I understood it. Again, there may be reasons why I cannot leave the party (i.e., there are reasons why I cannot leave this country). This repeated lack of consideration and reasoning does warrant me calling you out on it in my book. If anything has been personal it's been your many assumptions about my life and character. I'm merely criticizing your behavior in this argument.actually, you did.
I know I called Brett that. I didn't call the other poster that though, which is who I was responding to in that post. I actually have a sliver of respect of him. I'm sorry though, I'll stop now.0 -
Nah he's just saying he never said it to Adrian, he said it to me. Which is fine by me. Because if you think Adrian can be bad you've really never seen me go after someone. He doesn't need to be reported or punished. I can handle this just fine. He's only making himself look bad after all.0
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I live a very good life. We make a good income, live in a much larger than average house, own a rental property, have good insurance, and have much more in savings than most people. I cannot complain about my quality of life. BUT I don't live in a bubble. I know of people who have no insurance and are sick and can't see a doctor. I know elderly retired couples who, after 40 years of marriage, got divorced simply because one of them fell ill and they couldn't afford the medical bills and didn't want to bankrupt the other. I know of children who eat a slice of bread for lunch if they are lucky enough to have anything. I know of parents who have their 10yo home watching their 8yo because they have to work but can't afford daycare. I know women who had abortions of much wanted babies because they lost their job the same time they got pregnant and couldn't afford the cost of the pregnancy. I know kids who have to take turns sitting in school because there aren't enough desks for all the students. I know war veterans who when they went for help with PTSD were turned away because once they got out they had no insurance.
Just because I am personally not suffering doesn't mean I can't get upset that so many others are. Things would be much better for them if they were citizens of other countries. For me it would be pretty similar to the way things are here. So to tell me to leave doesn't change anything for me. I'd still have a similar life and I'd still know all those people who are suffering here. For them, emigrating isn't merely "difficult".
Some here want to trash anyone who says other countries have a better standard of living for their citizens. Why? How about telling us what makes America so much better than England or Germany? I'm not talking about comparing America to some place like Nigeria where very few of the people who say "Other countries are doing it better" would even put on their top 50 list of good countries to live in.
The Statue of Liberty has a plaque that says "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
But we don't live by that motto anymore. Now it's "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore and we'll tell them to hurry up and die faster and shut up and get a job you filthy loser." The door isn't golden anymore.0 -
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Nah he's just saying he never said it to Adrian, he said it to me. Which is fine by me. Because if you think Adrian can be bad you've really never seen me go after someone. He doesn't need to be reported or punished. I can handle this just fine. He's only making himself look bad after all.
I really am, aren't I? I do want to say that I'm sorry. Looking back on my posts, I am being a massive hypocrite. I stand by my position that it's okay to want to leave and be justified in your complaints, but there's no excuse for the way I behaved in this thread. I don't know remotely anything about you to warrant the sort of attacks I've made against you. Again, I'm sorry.0 -
I really am, aren't I? I do want to say that I'm sorry. Looking back on my posts, I am being a massive hypocrite. I stand by my position that it's okay to want to leave and be justified in your complaints, but there's no excuse for the way I behaved in this thread. I don't know remotely anything about you to warrant the sort of attacks I've made against you. Again, I'm sorry.
Apology accepted. Sorry to make assumptions about you. Now this can all be forgotten.0 -
Damn, first I got complimented, then we had an apology. I had lined up some really good insults, but now they have to go back on the shelf.
And I am offended that Brett thinks he can be more offensive than I am.0 -
Damn, first I got complimented, then we had an apology. I had lined up some really good insults, but now they have to go back on the shelf.
And I am offended that Brett thinks he can be more offensive than I am.
You've never seen me deal with a heckler. MAN I miss hecklers! They're the only group of people you can really lay into with no remorse.0 -
Damn, first I got complimented, then we had an apology. I had lined up some really good insults, but now they have to go back on the shelf.
And I am offended that Brett thinks he can be more offensive than I am.
You've never seen me deal with a heckler. MAN I miss hecklers! They're the only group of people you can really lay into with no remorse.
Dude, Ihave to send you a link to the firestorm I started over Ted Nugent on Yahoo news. By the end of it I had the thread locked (not because of me_ more than 1,800 likes, and 350 dislikes....and a whole lot of hate mail.0 -
Dude, Ihave to send you a link to the firestorm I started over Ted Nugent on Yahoo news. By the end of it I had the thread locked (not because of me_ more than 1,800 likes, and 350 dislikes....and a whole lot of hate mail.
I had to quit Yahoo News. I'd spend my whole work day there arguing about nonsense with strangers... such a stupid waste of my time...
oh0 -
Dude, Ihave to send you a link to the firestorm I started over Ted Nugent on Yahoo news. By the end of it I had the thread locked (not because of me_ more than 1,800 likes, and 350 dislikes....and a whole lot of hate mail.
I had to quit Yahoo News. I'd spend my whole work day there arguing about nonsense with strangers... such a stupid waste of my time...
oh
I am hardly ever on there, and when I do, I only use my yahoo mail account which just has my first name displayed. So I saw this article about Ted asshat Nugent and I wrote something before I went to bed. Next morning I see I actually commented under my FB profile and had 100s of lovely updates waiting for me.0 -
I think if you read A People's History of the United States, the notion that this was once a great country a long time ago turns out to be rather absurd. Perhaps the people were just a little less distracted by benign Hollywood bull****, the government a little less bought and paid for, the news media a little less sensationalistic, and the country as a whole a little less spineless and cowardly.
I'd gladly leave and never look back if it were as simple as the morons who trumpet this idea thought.
A brief trip to the presidential campaigns of the 1800s would quiet the people who complain our current races are too nasty.
Sometime in the last 10-15 years I was reading one of the occasional "anniversary" issues of the old LIFE magazine, including a long selection of letters to the editor from the 1930s and 1940s. They were a lot more scathing than anything published today (and ten times better written as well).0 -
I think if you read A People's History of the United States, the notion that this was once a great country a long time ago turns out to be rather absurd. Perhaps the people were just a little less distracted by benign Hollywood bull****, the government a little less bought and paid for, the news media a little less sensationalistic, and the country as a whole a little less spineless and cowardly.
I'd gladly leave and never look back if it were as simple as the morons who trumpet this idea thought.
A brief trip to the presidential campaigns of the 1800s would quiet the people who complain our current races are too nasty.
Sometime in the last 10-15 years I was reading one of the occasional "anniversary" issues of the old LIFE magazine, including a long selection of letters to the editor from the 1930s and 1940s. They were a lot more scathing than anything published today (and ten times better written as well).
Oh yes, the old campaigns were brutal. It seems like if you were a candidate's wife, you were bound to be accused of adultery or something else. It's just the sound-byte-nature of the current news media (not to mention prioritizing balance over truth) on a 24 hour loop that I think is a big detriment to our country's progress.0 -
To all the people saying "vote them out if you don't like them" well, it's not quite that simple. As pointed out by the above quotes there are too many people who will vote against this country and their own best interests simply because they are issue (gays/abortion typically) or party line voters. I wish I could vote them out but my vote gets cancelled by someone who is pro fetus/anti gay who votes for someone who will sell us all out to the best lobbyist simply because they claim to be pro life.
America used to be a great country. We aren't anymore. We sacrifice the poor and children to give the rich more then criticize those poor when they dare ask "Please sir, may I have some more?" No country where a person can be educated, hard working, law abiding, and upstanding their entire lives but lose everything including their life simply because they lost their job and got sick or were in an accident when they lost their insurance is a "great country". A great country takes care of all of it's citizens, not just the elite. A great country runs the government, not people's bedrooms and marriages.
We lived in Germany for 1 1/2 years. I had my blinders torn off while we were over there. I'd go back to Europe in a heart beat. I like a lot of America's perks (cheap housing, convenient shopping, being able to converse with my neighbors, etc) but there is an awful lot wrong. With the righties trying to repeal the entire 20th century (love that line!) I don't see how anyone can actually think it's going to get better to jump back into Puritanism instead of moving forward with the rest of the 1st world.
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I live a very good life. We make a good income, live in a much larger than average house, own a rental property, have good insurance, and have much more in savings than most people. I cannot complain about my quality of life. BUT I don't live in a bubble. I know of people who have no insurance and are sick and can't see a doctor. I know elderly retired couples who, after 40 years of marriage, got divorced simply because one of them fell ill and they couldn't afford the medical bills and didn't want to bankrupt the other. I know of children who eat a slice of bread for lunch if they are lucky enough to have anything. I know of parents who have their 10yo home watching their 8yo because they have to work but can't afford daycare. I know women who had abortions of much wanted babies because they lost their job the same time they got pregnant and couldn't afford the cost of the pregnancy. I know kids who have to take turns sitting in school because there aren't enough desks for all the students. I know war veterans who when they went for help with PTSD were turned away because once they got out they had no insurance.
Just because I am personally not suffering doesn't mean I can't get upset that so many others are. Things would be much better for them if they were citizens of other countries. For me it would be pretty similar to the way things are here. So to tell me to leave doesn't change anything for me. I'd still have a similar life and I'd still know all those people who are suffering here. For them, emigrating isn't merely "difficult".
Some here want to trash anyone who says other countries have a better standard of living for their citizens. Why? How about telling us what makes America so much better than England or Germany? I'm not talking about comparing America to some place like Nigeria where very few of the people who say "Other countries are doing it better" would even put on their top 50 list of good countries to live in.
The Statue of Liberty has a plaque that says "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
But we don't live by that motto anymore. Now it's "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore and we'll tell them to hurry up and die faster and shut up and get a job you filthy loser." The door isn't golden anymore.
:drinker:0
This discussion has been closed.