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Post by ah ha on Jun 2, 2004 5:40:22 GMT -5
I am so fed up with Europeans bashing our way of life. We have no apologies to them! Someone said below that many nations helped liberate Europe from Nazism. MOST of the men and ammunition came from the US. We also saved their butts from Communists by sending troops to German Democratic Republic after WWII. I think the Europeans feel guilty about this and thus they become angry toward us. To hear the Germans whine about air strikes when they roasted people 60 years ago is absurd.
AMERICANS don't have to apologize to these wimpy European socialists. NO. WE ARE THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH. THE ONLY SUPERPOWER. LIKE IT OR NOT. We don't need you but you need US! WHine about it all day. Yeah go ahead.
Foreigners can bash America all they want while they recieve our aid. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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Post by inatent on Jun 2, 2004 8:13:49 GMT -5
I am so fed up with Europeans bashing our way of life. We have no apologies to them! Someone said below that many nations helped liberate Europe from Nazism. MOST of the men and ammunition came from the US. We also saved their butts from Communists by sending troops to German Democratic Republic after WWII. I think the Europeans feel guilty about this and thus they become angry toward us. To hear the Germans whine about air strikes when they roasted people 60 years ago is absurd. AMERICANS don't have to apologize to these wimpy European socialists. NO. WE ARE THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH. THE ONLY SUPERPOWER. LIKE IT OR NOT. We don't need you but you need US! WHine about it all day. Yeah go ahead. Foreigners can bash America all they want while they recieve our aid. GOD BLESS AMERICA! And statements such as this do exactly what to improve the situation? How would you feel if someone from Mexico expected you to praise their country for all the suffering their people do in the fields picking your food - yes, and many of them die for their efforts? inatent
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Post by Just Here on Jun 2, 2004 9:08:45 GMT -5
I am so fed up with Europeans bashing our way of life. We have no apologies to them! Someone said below that many nations helped liberate Europe from Nazism. MOST of the men and ammunition came from the US. The origin of the term "Ugly American". Most men came from America? The Russian army was at least twice the size and supplied a lot of the arms. Many nations contributed to the fight but try to at least stick with the facts. To be fair, bombing runs on cities like Dresden were a little over the top. After the raid even Churchill said it was perhaps not such a good idea. In WW I 95% of the deaths were military and 5% were civilian. In WW II the ratio was 35% military and 65% civilian. No, but I do feel the need to say that all Americans do not share your view.
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Post by ha on Jun 3, 2004 2:41:09 GMT -5
Sorry buddy but we don't need you either ...
Ever heard the expression Yankees go home ??
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Post by to sorry Euros on Jun 3, 2004 5:23:55 GMT -5
Some of you people don't deserve the US blood shed to save your sorry asses! Europeans have been misled by their socialist leaders. I think it makes you Euros so mad that the US is a superpower and your days of greatness are over. Face it. Germany and France are only remants of their former days when they had colonies around the world. All is fair in war as they say! Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini STARTED WWII. Too bad some lunatic leftist college professor has warped some minds.
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Post by to Ina on Jun 3, 2004 5:27:45 GMT -5
And statements such as this do exactly what to improve the situation? How would you feel if someone from Mexico expected you to praise their country for all the suffering their people do in the fields picking your food - yes, and many of them die for their efforts? --------------------------- Baloney. Suffering? If it is so bad here they don't have to cross the Rio Grande. Nobody is making them leave. Our country must be better than theirs or they wouldn't be crossing the border in masses! Don't that tell you anything? I wished people would stop letting the media rip our great nation apart! US is the best country on earth.
Merle Haggard"when you're running down my country hoss you're walkin on the fighting side of me.."
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Post by inatent on Jun 3, 2004 7:26:04 GMT -5
And statements such as this do exactly what to improve the situation? How would you feel if someone from Mexico expected you to praise their country for all the suffering their people do in the fields picking your food - yes, and many of them die for their efforts? --------------------------- Baloney. Suffering? If it is so bad here they don't have to cross the Rio Grande. Nobody is making them leave. Our country must be better than theirs or they wouldn't be crossing the border in masses! Don't that tell you anything? I wished people would stop letting the media rip our great nation apart! US is the best country on earth. Merle Haggard"when you're running down my country hoss you're walkin on the fighting side of me.." Yep. You just proved my point. . . . without even recognizing it! inatent
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Let there be peace on earth
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Post by Let there be peace on earth on Jun 3, 2004 7:43:14 GMT -5
I think we need to live in anothers shoes so we can understand better the other. This goes for both sides. I love aspects of life on both sides of the pond. I also see down sides for each different lifestyle. I think it's pompous and a bit ridiculous to do all this greatest nation on earth bit...but europeans need to understand that comes from a certain type of people. Europeans need to understand that the constant complaining is very annoying to Americans...but Americans need to understand that complaining is part of European culture. BOTH sides could open their minds a little bit.
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hinds
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Post by hinds on Jun 3, 2004 9:43:15 GMT -5
I just think we should all worry about ourselves and try to do what we can to be better citizens in Whatever country we live in. If you don't like the way another country is run, just be glad you don't live there. If you do live there and don't like it...move.
Don't knock another mans land until you have lived there.
The United States is a wonderful place, full of all the same problems and and downfalls as any other country. The difference is we do have a right to free speech, which many countrys don't give their citizens, or at best they have limited free speech.
Just try to find the good in everyone. It makes life so much better. The bad is always there. The good may show that you are not yourself a negitive and that there is hope.
Peace to you all,
An American.
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Guarp
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Post by Guarp on Jun 3, 2004 14:02:40 GMT -5
Just try to find the good in everyone. It makes life so much better. The bad is always there. The good may show that you are not yourself a negitive and that there is hope. Peace to you all, An American. Thanks for your post, Cindi. At first I was too upset for a reply to the statements made here. I like to discuss political issues, but that's hard when there's such a negative atmosphere. I realize that on this board we all need to focus more on the positive sides of different cultures and learn from them instead of criticizing eachothers lifestyles and opinions in such a way. An (Dutch) European.
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Post by Observation on Jun 3, 2004 17:01:17 GMT -5
Sorry buddy but we don't need you either ... Ever heard the expression Yankees go home ?? Your ongoing sour grapes attitude doesn't help the points you attempt to make in your posts.
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Post by ha on Jun 4, 2004 3:47:23 GMT -5
Lets become serious. Europeans do not want Bush and his policies. There are many Americans that are very welcome even popular in Europe like Woody Allen, Chomsky, Moore and others.
As for the argument that America liberated Europe during WWII let's point out that America got very well paid over the years for their help, not to mention that the US became a superpower because of European scientists working on the atom bomb (Einstein, Fermi etc.) and missiles (von Brown, etc.). If Europeans are to be grateful to Americans for their help, Americans should also be grateful to European for many things also.
However, Europeans have the feeling that the US through NATO and the WTO tries to reduce its friends to a status of vassal and servitude and this provokes a negative reaction. Additionally Americans themselves start questionning their policies towards the rest of the world - try reading the book «World on Fire: How Exporting Free-Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred & Global Instability» by Yale professor Amy Chua, who maintains that as the US behave as a dominant minority on the world scene, it creates «badmouhing» not only be Europeans but by many others as well. Americans call some of the reactions «terrorism», «clash of civilizations» and «biased views against the US because of hatred» but they should look at the mirror more often and hear some of their intelectuals too understand that the world is more complex than cowboys (good) and indians (the bad)....
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Post by botany on Jun 4, 2004 17:08:35 GMT -5
What about the Americans' attitude toward the French when they wouldn't support our Iraq war? French fries became "freedom fries". There seems to be a common feeling that the Italians are a bit weird. The British are just "too proper". Hmmmm... What else can we say about the Europeans that trash them as much as the European's "trash" the U.S.? It goes both ways. It's all just crazy, silly banter back and forth, perhaps to try and show how the other countries aren't "as good" as your own. Every country does that. They gotta keep their citizens, and maybe attract some immigrants. But, thanks for bringing it to our attention that someone is badmouthing the U.S. But, what do I say about it? Big whoop. andy
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usaisagreatplacetolive
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Post by usaisagreatplacetolive on Jun 4, 2004 18:10:51 GMT -5
What about the Americans' attitude toward the French when they wouldn't support our Iraq war? French fries became "freedom fries". There seems to be a common feeling that the Italians are a bit weird. The British are just "too proper". Hmmmm... What else can we say about the Europeans that trash them as much as the European's "trash" the U.S.? It goes both ways. It's all just crazy, silly banter back and forth, perhaps to try and show how the other countries aren't "as good" as your own. Every country does that. They gotta keep their citizens, and maybe attract some immigrants. But, thanks for bringing it to our attention that someone is badmouthing the U.S. But, what do I say about it? Big whoop. andy there is/was good reason to boycott the french! people are badmouthing us because they are jealous. it pisses people off to see the best proclaim they are the best which is something the USA does often.
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Post by ha on Jun 4, 2004 19:02:23 GMT -5
usaisagreatplacetolive
Which USA you mean? violent Texas, Columbine we have senn in the movies, gay California, violent Bronx, desert Nevada, KKK-riden Alabama, Cuban-controlled Florida, terrorist-prone New York, immigrant-riden New Mexico, Mormon-ridden Utah, ....
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Post by usaisgreat on Jun 4, 2004 19:15:05 GMT -5
usaisagreatplacetolive Which USA you mean? violent Texas, Columbine we have senn in the movies, gay California, violent Bronx, desert Nevada, KKK-riden Alabama, Cuban-controlled Florida, terrorist-prone New York, immigrant-riden New Mexico, Mormon-ridden Utah, .... I didn't know texas was violent I didn't know columbine was in all the movies I didn't know california was gay I didn't know the bronx was violent I didn't know all of nevada was desert I didn't know alabama was full of KKKs I didnt know florida was controlled by the cubans I didn't know the state of new york was terorist proned I didn't know new mexico was over riden with immigrants I didn't know utah was riddled with mormons (you make them sound like rats) it sounds your usa is going to hell in a handbasket. I like my usa where the sky is blue and the trees are tall. the USA is a great place to live
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Post by no name on Jun 4, 2004 22:52:36 GMT -5
That’s nice. But Europeans don’t have voting power in our country -- much as they would love to . . .
They are “welcome” (almost worshipped) because they subscribe to the same socialist/big government/anti-American/hate America attitude that many Europeans have . . . “normal” American citizens have often been treated very badly in Europe. This is not the case everywhere, and with every European, of course, but there are numerous accounts of Europeans arguing, yelling at, being openly hostile, and trying to start fights with American tourists, simply because they are – American, and because of America's war on terror in Iraq.
Americans do get the very distinct feeling that our countrymen have been more willing to shed their blood helping others than others have been willing to help us.
But I do think we should all be grateful that the Allies were able to band together to defeat a common enemy at the time. A lot of American blood was spilled on European soil in WWII, and millions of people in Europe lost their lives because of the mad designs of an evil man.
The ones at the “top” are always going to be on the receiving end of “badmouthing”, justified or not. That’s just the way many things work – much of it is rooted in jealousy. The success of the U.S. as a nation doesn’t sit very well with some people, for whatever reason. In his book entitled, L'obsession anti-americaine, Frenchman Jean-Francois Revel “finds anti-Americanism to be a product of French political and moral failures”. Perhaps this is the case with other European countries as well. (http://www.foreignaffairs.org/popup/popup.asp?zonename=ROS+Popup).
And sometimes, as in the case of people like Hitler and groups such as those who subscribe to Militant Islam (aka killing the infidels, destroying successful Western nations, and establishing Islamic rule over unwilling people), the world is as simple as good versus evil.
As far as books – I have another recommendation as well: Hating America by John Gibson.
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Post by no name on Jun 4, 2004 22:54:46 GMT -5
Not only that, but many Americans also refuse to see the goodness in the U.S. and want to villify our country at every turn. (Depending, of course on who is currently the President, I guess.)
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Post by no name on Jun 4, 2004 22:55:23 GMT -5
Hi, there, USAisgreat – another proud American here.
The poster who calls himself “ha” does not live in the USA and is unabashedly anti-American (evident by his posts). This is someone who thinks of Michael Moore as a reputable (cough, cough) source of info. I guess what “ha” doesn’t consider, is that there are a slew of negatively stereotypical comments that could be made about various European countries.
You are right – the USA is a great place to live; some places have their problems (what country doesn’t? – the answer is none). But people still flock here by the droves to get a piece of the American pie. People still risk their lives to come here – it’s not because they think this will be an awful place to be, it’s because they recognize the opportunities they can have here, and the truth is, that the USA is awesome. Perhaps this is what irks some people . . . . it even irks some liberals in this country, who seem bent on the idea that the USA should engage in constant self-flagellation. Whatever. Such negativity doesn’t usually go very far with many Americans, who are generally an optimistic people.
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Post by Just Here on Jun 5, 2004 7:05:19 GMT -5
Not only that, but many Americans also refuse to see the goodness in the U.S. and want to villify our country at every turn. (Depending, of course on who is currently the President, I guess.) Criticize does not equal villify.
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Post by ha on Jun 5, 2004 15:12:09 GMT -5
This is someone who thinks ... He / she is someone who ...
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Post by Reality on Jun 5, 2004 17:06:13 GMT -5
. . . “normal” American citizens have often been treated very badly in Europe. This is not the case everywhere, and with every European, of course, but there are numerous accounts of Europeans arguing, yelling at, being openly hostile, and trying to start fights with American tourists, simply because they are – American, and because of America's war on terror in Iraq. I wonder how much this effects tourism in Europe. European countries' economies also benefit from the money generated by American tourists.
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Guarp
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Post by Guarp on Jun 5, 2004 17:45:11 GMT -5
I wonder how much this effects tourism in Europe. European countries' economies also benefit from the money generated by American tourists. Well.. looking at the Dutch coffeeshops: they were still crowded by American teenagers spending their spring break here ;D
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Post by no name on Jun 5, 2004 18:43:55 GMT -5
Well.. looking at the Dutch coffeeshops: they were still crowded by American teenagers spending their spring break here ;D Yummmmm!!!!!! coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee
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Post by ha on Jun 6, 2004 1:53:59 GMT -5
No name thinks that in coffee shops they serve ONLY coffee !!!
Hey Guarp tell her what it really is !!!
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Post by no name on Jun 6, 2004 2:07:00 GMT -5
No name thinks that in coffee shops they serve ONLY coffee !!! Hey Guarp tell her what it really is !!! Oh dear. Tell me what it really is . . . . . Must be some European double meaning I don't know about . . .
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Post by ha on Jun 6, 2004 2:11:16 GMT -5
The same applies to your comments about Europeans subscribing to same socialist/big government policies. We also vote over here and chose our own government and do not like Americans mendling with our politics. And Europeans, Mexicans, Indians, coloured people, Muslims, supposed terrorists and the like have also been treated very badly in the US. Of course this is not the case with every American but there are numerous accounts of Americans being openly hostile to Europeans. The thing called no name is especially openly hostile against online chatters who disagree with it and its President. It even degrades people by reducing them to objects (or rather animals ) - the first stage of violence and fascist behaviour. Yes, I consider someone who was awarded an Oscar, who got the first prize at Cannes and whose books have been bestsellers for months to be more respectable than little no name things. And I have been to the US several times, have family living there, and I know what I am speaking about. I agree on the comment concerning stereotypes for European countries. In fact my earlier post to usaisagreatplacetolive tried to prove that there are stereotypes for US states as well and for Americans - it wasn't ment to sound as if usa is going to hell in a handbasket. But «qui a la mouche se mousse».
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Post by ha on Jun 6, 2004 2:12:34 GMT -5
Dutch coffee shops serve pot legally, my dear all knowledgeable ...
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