Gotta Love Those Yanks ;-)

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Hello,
As an 18 yearold American High school student I have seen many things. I do not thave all the knowlegeof my elders and as far as I am concerned America is the best thing I know. I have been to Canada once and I was ten years old. I don't remember a thing execpt like Bugs Bunny, my mom made a wrong turn. I do believe that people ahve there opinions.
I found that the South Park movie was funny and affensive in some ways. Towards race, religion, and culture. But everyone is intitled to that opinion. As I said I did find the movie funny.
As an American I feel that my country has doen some pretty stupi things and yet have done some other remarkable things as well. Our country is in turmoil in may ways. The new and some what unriliable president and all the volence. I beleive that because of this violence out country should bow their heads in shame. Children killing children. Students taking guns to school. The drugs wars and the basic state of poverty in many areas. This is only my opinion. And that of an 18 year old. What do I know??

~Essence~

 

Lord M, in your original post you didn't mention that the assasination team would: "Blame Canada". I therefore have to agree that if they can get away with it and have another country take the fall by all means go for it!

Essence, you make a strong argument for re-evaluating your country's educational process.

[This message has been edited by Elessar (edited May 31, 2001).]

 

Thank you. I only say what I think and see. I will stand by my opinion. I do think that America should bow it's head in shame for what has happened to us. The the youth of our country. As one of it's youth's I hate being afraid of walking down the halls of my school because some one may bring a gun or a knife.

~Essence~

 

Eh, an American high school student is 5 times more likely to be shot OFF of school grounds, and 15 times more likely to die in a drunk driving accident. If the media stopped the hype, the shootings would probably decrease too.

All I have to say is that at my high school, I was one of three white males. 7 people where shot in four years, 5 more stabbed, and 4 total died. It was never more than small blurb on the local news.

But let a couple kids get shot in suburban schools with a white majority, and it's a national crisis.

 

Jester - you must live in Gary, IN!

That's where I live and in a local high school one student walked up to another with a shot gun, blew him away on the playground, and walked off. It was Page 5 news!

While we can't "blame" the media, they do have a responsibility to report in a balanced manner. Unfortunately, their hype has made school shootings almost "trendy!"

 

Media does take things to far. I don't believe that white majority has anything to do with it. Location does. I go to a small rural school. Not many people but a lot of violence. I don't care what the media says. It's not about that. It's about the fear.
Getting killed because of drunk driving and other things outside of school is exactly that. Outside of school. Bringing the violence into the schools whereit is supposed to be safe is what makes it bad. It's a shame that everyone blames everybody else about it. But I guess thats the way we are. Only human and can't blame ourselves.

~Essence~

 

Well, my point really is that over the last 30 years affluent whites have run off to rural and suburban areas to escape un-safe schools. Now that they have to face the fact that their kids are part of the problem, it's news.

 

Everything is news in a way. I mean if it gets passed around and twisted then it's news. Gossip, rumors, media...It's all the same thing and it's everyones problem. I don't think you can put the blame on just the kids or the parents. Even tv and radio. It's all or faults and until more people relize that then the violence will continue and so will the blame game.

~Essence~

 

Am i noticing a racist issue being raised?'

I can tell you now that racism only exists because of overcompensation. If i was living when racism 'existed' then i would be against it. I know this is a sensitive issue so i would like to say now that i am expressing my opinion and i am in no way racist at all!

Let me explain why i said overcompensation:
You see when the black people were given their rights it was a good thing but now it has gone to far. How come in Britain when someone is mugged or beaten up people just say it was thugs having a laugh or being stupid or that person was asking for it cos they were in with drugs or something.
But when a black or asian person gets attacked it instantly becomes a racial crime and the sentence grows tenfold. What if that person was asking for it.
Maybe that person was beaten up because they had money which the muggers wanted. Why dos race always have to be addressed whenever a black person is involved in anything.

Another example is that people are complaining that there are not as many blacks as there are whites in the british army. When the fact is that there just aren't as many black people in the country!
The whole point of ML King's speech was to gain equality. Not to swap sides.
If the crime is proven to be a racial atack then that is fine. But The government is so afraid of being called racist that they are forgettting common sense!

Sorry i hope you do not translate this in the wrong way!

 

not sure what it is like in the states but up here in canada i find that the black and asian communities are alot more racist then the white community. It seems like the tables have turned somewhat. I find the white people have basically accepted them.

Although i find hate literature on the internet from the scattered few white people that just havent grown up.

 

Thankyou Kitiara you have said exactly what i wanted to. Just without the waffle!

 

You're right. I oppose hate crime legislation completely. What does it matter if a person is beaten or killed because of his race, or sexual orientation? I mean, isn't the crime the attack? should some one get a lesser sentence if he attacks you because he doesn't like your "attitude" than if he does it because he doesnt like your race?

The 14th ammendment to the american constitution guarantess "equal protection under the law". Every hate crime law on the books here violates that protection.

Doesn't change the media bias. They serve advertisers, and care about the concerns of the wealthy. A murder at a prep school is a 2 hour miniseries and a murder at a school in the ghetto is page five news in the local paper.

 

Why doesn't anyone think fairly.

If i was black and i went into a police station and said i was attacked because of my race i would have been believed.

however if i was a white person and went into a police station and claimed that i had been racially attacked. Would i have been taken seriously?

 

You can all shove it; U.S.A., Canada (better though ), Denmark, wherever your'e from, it doesnt compare to Australia! We formed by vote and not war. In ratio to our population, we are also one of (if not the) the most multicultural places in the world. We are "Western", yet we are also "Eastern" as we live on the doorstep of Asia. We live in a society where the best of each culture is represented. We are an island, we are a continent, we are individual, (and despite what you might think, we do not have Kangaroos hopping by our doorstep) we are civilized, we are Australia!

 

and without british and american help, you'd be speaking japanese!!

Your treatment of the "abo's" almost out does how badly we treated the indians. thats saying something.

The only reason you got to vote on becoming your own nation is because plenty of other former colonies where willing to spill blood over the issue, and the British empire wised up to the fact that an amicable split was perferable.

I have nothing against aussies, roomed with one for years who was pretty damned cool. But get over yourself.

 

hmmmm wasnt australia a prison colony...

Nuff said

 

...however if i was a white person and went into a police station and claimed that i had been racially attacked. Would i have been taken seriously?

I'd guess, if you walked into a police station and said, "I was walking through Compton and I was assaulted due to the colour of my skin," you'd be believed.

There are places in Saskatchewan (a province in central Canada) that racially motivated beatings are not rare. As a white male I wouldn't walk around alone with any confidence. The indians don't like the white population. I've also seen an indian flinch when I walked by him. He cowered and said, "Don't hit me cowboy". It made me sick to my stomach. Racism is just plain ugly whether reversed or not.

 

jester1137: "and without british and american help, you'd be speaking japanese!!"

Well, without American (than British colonies) 'invasion' American Indians would be speaking... well Indian (at least not English). My point being political differences have pitted nations against each other but that doesnt mean that their citizens believe the same. We have many Asian Australians here, many Japanese, and we get on just fine. The Aboriginal issue has been blown out of proportion. I think it is somthin like 98% of the population regret what happened and agree with the measures which are being taken to iniciate reconcilliation (excuse my spelling).

"English & American help"
If you do call that help, well Ill just say that it was very... meager to say the least. It was the Australian forces which did most of the fighting. Yes, we might lacking in military might but we fight hard.
If you look it up in documents, books etc. you will see that in the Vietnam war (another Yankie beauty the Vietcong/min (Communists) considered the Australian forces as the most fearful as we were the most "tactical in guerilla warfare". A war which we pulled out of because of ideological beliefs. We are not your lackies!

Kitiara "hmmmm wasnt australia a prison colony..."
Yes, because the majority of the convicts sent to Australia were imprisoned because of their resistance/difference to the 'ideals' of the British society i.e. out of poverty would steal a loaf of bread, treat 'nobility' with disrespect. As I said, Australia is a multicultural society and many (including myself) are not direct descendants of convicts, (I am of Australian/Greek background).

Anyway, not to stray from the topic, I have no problem with the Yanks, I even like some of your sub-cultures e.g. Afro-American: Hip Hop, Breakdancing, Graffiti. Its just your government/Politics I dispise....(must...kill...Bush...)
Anyway, you arent all bad

 

eh, I'm well aware of the general international feelings about bush, and what can say except that we didn't elect him? The man lost by over 350,000 votes.

If anyone is interested I'll be more than happy to explain the ridiculous electoral college system that was developed to perserve the power of slave holders.

The australians, and for that matter all of the commonwealth nations made HUGE contributions in WWI and WWII. Your navy couldn't have stopped the japanese southern drive tho.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but we got out of vietnam for ideological reasons too. Pulling out the ground troops was the only way nixon could get re-elected, and Ford stopped the bombing campaign in hope of being elected in 76.

Alot of early american settlers where convicts too. Convicted of exactly the same kinds of petty crimes. I do have to say this for australia tho'. The whole "logic" behind the "transportation" of criminals to australia was to reduce the "criminal element" in GB, kind of a perverse form of darwinism. Today, australia has lower crime rates than GB in almost every catagory. Guess that didn't work out like they thought

Some of you might enjoy these george bush clips, pretty damn funny.
http://www.gwbush.com/gwtv/nosepick/bushpick.asf

or quicktime format
http://www.gwbush.com/gwtv/nosepick/bushpick.mov




[This message has been edited by jester1137 (edited June 03, 2001).]

 

I find Astralia an interesting but somewhat boring country. Granted I've never been there but since the Olympics you have been pretty cocky with your attitudes towards other people. I have nothing against anybody, but Jester is right. With out our help you wouldn't be such a "culturally diverse" nation. As for kangaroos hopping by your door step. Why not? Since you are a civilized country, then animals in the front yard would be a disgrace. Wouldn't it?
I may be out of line, but tit's kinda of funny when you think about it.

~Essence~