2013-03-01, 12:52 | Link #501 | |
formerly ogon bat
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Mexico
Age: 53
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2013-03-01, 13:52 | Link #502 | |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 35
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2013-03-01, 14:03 | Link #503 | ||
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 41
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Right America: Feeling Wronged http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/right...eling-wronged/ It tries incredibly hard to be unbiased but fails because of the content it features, the message it is trying to convey and the fact that the director is Nancy Pelosi's daughter. She followed the McCain campaign trail and went to rallies and conventions all over the "South" That said, what it does manage to bring out, is this: A very large part of the population, rightly or wrongly, feels disenfranchised and is living in a country they feel do not reflect their views and desires. They also don't get why. They see themselves as "normal" "god-fearing" "good-natured" "hardworking" folk .. so why is everyone else crazy? They just don't and can't get it. They can't make the logical leap and they've been "left behind" .. it's quite sad really. Some people start tearing up or outright crying without being able to properly explain why they feel so lost and alone, adrift in a country they live in, but they don't feel is really still their own.
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2013-03-01, 14:04 | Link #504 | |
formerly ogon bat
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Mexico
Age: 53
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As a side note, nope, I would not want to be part of a revolution (the last one was a waste of time, money and human lives) but I keep hearing a lot of US citizens in this forum saying they are buying firearms for that very purpose. |
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2013-03-01, 14:16 | Link #505 | |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 35
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Substitute in 'dislike,' then, I don't really use the word hate in that strong sense when speaking casually. In a romantic way, I'd like there to be a better system put in place, but getting there is a miserable process, and one has to take into consideration the possibility of the "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" phenomenon that is so common throughout human history (or the possibility of the new boss being even worse, which is also known to happen...) |
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2013-03-01, 14:36 | Link #506 | |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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The diversity isn't just in people and cultures, but in lifestyles. Big cities, suburbs, and rural life: it's no coincidence that many major urban centers hold views opposite those of people living out among few other people. The issue of gun control is the most obvious example of showing where differences arise. People living in rural areas have legitimate concerns about threats from other people (or animals), and they're isolated enough that police and other assistance can't reach them in time. By comparison, people in major cities are in very close proximity to others who could lend a hand, and firearms seem like an unnecessary hazard that is bound to hit someone even unintentionally due to the higher population density. Conflicts between these views have probably always existed, but our increased connectivity increases the friction. People used to be blissfully ignorant of the views expressed by people farther away, but now there's constant exposure to views held all around the country. People can easily travel around the country, further mixing these ideas and values around. For better or for worse, the federal government has been playing the power role over our states, meaning that we're getting one-size-fits-all laws that apply to all regions, instead of worrying more about laws tailored to the locality. Our increased connectivity is fairly new, and some areas of the country are still coming online. While differences owing to location will always exist, my guess is that the increased connectivity will help to further unify and synchronize the nation's views.
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2013-03-01, 15:12 | Link #507 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Age: 38
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I've always been a bit confused by this term. It makes sense if you're only going by the Old Testament, but pretty much everyone who uses the term to describe themselves is Christian, and as such should go by the New Testament. God in there was all about love and forgiveness, so why should you "fear" him? Respect, follow, love, whatever, sure. But fear? Why are you pretending to be a good person due to fear of wrath of one you believe is all about love?
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2013-03-01, 15:24 | Link #508 | |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
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2013-03-01, 15:30 | Link #509 |
formerly ogon bat
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Mexico
Age: 53
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I strongly dislike soap-operas and sports as couch potato entertainment but you will not see me waste my time and energy going into forums where fans of said type of gather. If I truly disliked the USA or its citizens I would not be here in the first place, albeit I suppose you would do the equivalent since it seems like you feel it is a sensible disposition.
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2013-03-01, 15:45 | Link #510 | |
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
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There's an exponential increase in the advancement of technology, and we've hit a tipping point where those advancements come in years instead of decades. This is why the notion of the Singularity holds credibility. There's a huge clash of ideas going on right now, essentially a battle between old and new. Economics, politics, religion, you name it, established aspects of society are increasingly unable to keep pace with the speed of change and those who are changing with it. That's the root of anxiety facing people right now. The world is changing, and they feel left behind. People naturally fear change, the unknown, and cling to tradition. Sadly, it inevitably leads to bringing out the worst in people, often in violent and otherwise destructive ways.
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2013-03-01, 16:26 | Link #511 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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Many of them are in my age group ... I rather like the moniker for them: "Left Behind" ... Ironic but on target. I was more sympathetic to my peers in the '90s but I am not now. They've had twenty five years to get on the train and there has been no end to attempts to help them adjust. (not that they aren't infecting or undereducating younger age ranges)
My wife and I were talking about a recent trend of people who got anxiety attacks if their cellphone is taken from them (lost or confiscated, whatever). At first it sounded stupid, but the more I thought about it, it wasn't. In the current day, it is roughly akin to being put in black box isolation. You can no longer hear the "whisper of the Borg", you are cut off from social contacts, you don't have your maps, you don't have your information sourcing, etc etc. So no, it isn't necessarily silly. I have people my age who don't understand why a house might need more than one computer and turn their cellphones off unless they're making a call. o.O. As for social framework issues, again I have no sympathy. The sorts resisting change now are largely the very same people who resisted it in the 60s and 70s. They never signed up for it and over the last twenty years or so, the US is experiencing a backlash as this faction gets more and more panicked. I got called a long-haired hippy the other day by someone in a grocery store parking lot when I smiled at a barking dog in the car next to me. The man was 15 years my senior - so he would be the exact same age as the adults who called me that in 1975. To me, racial equality, feminism, choice of fashion, anti-corporatism, choice of who you sleep with, IS conservatism because it implies leaving other people alone and having control over your own destiny. The authoritarian patriarchal bunch (be they white, black, whatever) are the ones lashing out in anger/fear because the trends in demographics aren't on their side.
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Last edited by Vexx; 2013-03-01 at 16:50. |
2013-03-01, 16:26 | Link #512 | |
Did nothing wrong
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"Hey, let's read the Bible" "What that book is so old and not cool? Meh, who cares about love and I don't wan to turn the other cheek!" "But, a lot of cool shit happens in the Bible. There's like wars and massacres, and God doesn't take shit from anyone. Curse him, and he'll send a swarm of locusts after you. And the ending is mindblowing, even if there's a few plot holes and contrivances... and at the very least you won't be quoting it out of context like every asshole in power does. And uhh, there's nudity too." And sadly, it does seem that violence and explosions are the best way to attract a crowd. That Family Guy parody of Passion of the Christ feels all too real.
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2013-03-01, 20:07 | Link #516 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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2013-03-01, 20:12 | Link #517 |
formerly ogon bat
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Mexico
Age: 53
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IMO people do have become better at communication with the internet, I have exchanged mails with people I would never had any communication otherwise, but that does not increases by itself RL social skills, I bet many people that use the internet nowadays are just as awkward as the characters in Boku ha tomodocha ga sukunai.
Last edited by mangamuscle; 2013-03-02 at 10:47. Reason: duh |
2013-03-02, 00:39 | Link #518 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Virginia
Age: 47
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Hate is certainly a strong word, and shouldn't be used recklessly.
Yet there is a lot of anti-American sentiment being bandied about here, be it foreign policy, military, current government actions, and how us dumb old Americans think and act. In reality it's just an opinion brought on by years of personal beliefs or what your elders said while sitting around the supper table. If we're ever going to get anywhere, we better start thinking for ourselves.
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Last edited by Lost Cause; 2013-03-02 at 09:27. |
2013-03-02, 09:27 | Link #519 | |||
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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This gets back to an issue that was discussed a few pages ago. A lot of us Americans think that we're #1 in the world in just about everything. That pride makes external criticism seem warped. If we are #1 then we are undeserving of any criticism, especially from those who don't live here; any negative sentiments must be blind hatred, jealousy, or trolling. But just as nobody is perfect, there is no perfect nation. Whether we're the closest to perfection or not is a matter of opinion, but we should certainly be able to listen to criticism and consider it honestly, without our pride getting in the way.
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2013-03-02, 11:11 | Link #520 | ||
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*That* is the source of racism. I can sometimes feel a discomfort around people who aren't like me, but I recognize where it comes from now, and now it doesn't make me a racist. It means I am suffering from an evolutionary trait that, while it made sense when we were a simple hunter-gatherer species, it doesn't make sense now. Even then, I barely feel it most of the time, but sadly, many are still locked into the "tribal sense" and thus feel compelled to attack people not like themselves; not just race or culture, but class, too. Quote:
It makes it really damn hard for those Americans like me, who want to correct actual problems that are getting people killed. But we can't, because the problem can't be that our constitution needs changing, or that our way of life is wrong. The problem is just other people. This has the side of effect of allowing us NOT to change, because we don't like change. We generally prefer the status quo... until something happens to us, ie, we love our guns... until we or our kids are gunned down, and then we realize the folly of our earlier position. You simply cannot get someone to understand your point of view, until they've lived it. Just like a rich person will never understand what it is like to be poor and how to address the problem, until they are poor themselves. |
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