tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post5065354163914560545..comments2023-04-11T09:46:53.479+00:00Comments on anticant's arena: Open letter to Yankee Doodleanticanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-84732687457777237002007-11-17T18:18:00.000+00:002007-11-17T18:18:00.000+00:00Chicago Daily News - 1941 - Edward Dowling - Edito...Chicago Daily News - 1941 - Edward Dowling - Editor :<BR/><BR/>"The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich lest we get it."<BR/><BR/>(Source : "Escaping The Matrix" by Richard Moore - 2005/06 - Page 81)Richard W. Symondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783091361323437959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-29116674623461551922007-11-17T13:43:00.000+00:002007-11-17T13:43:00.000+00:00I anticipated this type of response, Aurora, and i...I anticipated this type of response, Aurora, and it's not really helpful. America needs candid friends. If the USA had the world's near-universal sympathy immediately after 9/11, and is now increasingly disliked and feared around the globe by many who, like myself, have hitherto always considered themselves pro-American, you really do need to ask yourselves why? <BR/><BR/>Could it be because it is YOU who come across to the rest of the world as arrogant, patronizing, greedy, and self-deceiving? You say I have a superficial understanding of "what America is all about". Do please tell us what America IS all about, and then let's look at whether the self-image matches the deeds. I think you will find there is considerable slippage.<BR/><BR/>It's fine for you to be "not impressed" with Europeans. You're perfectly at liberty to stay away - but of course, you consider the whole world's your oyster.anticanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-14416454886503035202007-11-16T21:26:00.000+00:002007-11-16T21:26:00.000+00:00TO Be sure, Jose, this is so -- to-day. And, /tha...TO Be sure, Jose, this is so -- to-day. And, /that/ perhaps is my point:<BR/><BR/>TIMES Change and all things pass away.<BR/><BR/>AMERICA, Like so many things in history, was a particular operation conducted to realise certain potentials; over time, internal contradictions accumulated to a critical level; and, this high signal-to-noise ratio which is a salient feature of all (/NB/) ageing organisms (/NB/) is finally lethal.<BR/><BR/>ON The scientific side, the art of history is much more akin to the calculation of valences than to the annunciation of 'progress'.<BR/><BR/>WHAT Bruises my anglo-american ego, I daresay as harshly as it must impinge upn Mr Yankee Doodle's, is that -- by definition -- the future finally is /not/ about...US.Bodwyn Wookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04152813177593209096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-26216156391671212162007-11-16T13:45:00.000+00:002007-11-16T13:45:00.000+00:00Excellently put, anticant.As someone who is unabas...Excellently put, anticant.<BR/><BR/>As someone who is unabashedly Pro-American, I utterly agree with your sentiments. America has the power to <I>astonish</I> and impress, but so often, recently, <I>astonishes and depresses</I>.Aaron Murin-Heathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11519231609156056620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-70864367063823063442007-11-16T11:28:00.000+00:002007-11-16T11:28:00.000+00:00English is by far, Emmett, the language most spoke...English is by far, Emmett, the language most spoken in the world either as first or second language.Josehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02081096450259201426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-4652608066879577812007-11-16T08:55:00.000+00:002007-11-16T08:55:00.000+00:00I Expect, personally, that by the end of the centu...I Expect, personally, that by the end of the century-after-next, Spanish will be the universal trade lingo, under Han chinee sponsorship -- Spanish is altogether the easiest language to learn of them all, in my experience at least.<BR/><BR/>Wook 'abd al-Mostaqabal ['servant of the future', /eg/ -- tr]Bodwyn Wookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04152813177593209096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-39714692088450393692007-11-16T07:51:00.000+00:002007-11-16T07:51:00.000+00:00Actually it was Rumsfeld - the epitome of American...Actually it was Rumsfeld - the epitome of American macho boorishness - who made the remark about "Old Europe".anticanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18135207107619114891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4580535460030164028.post-69027133842243968592007-11-16T07:31:00.000+00:002007-11-16T07:31:00.000+00:00You could have said it louder, Anticant, but never...You could have said it louder, Anticant, but never clearer. Sometimes this Anti-Americanism many US citizens dub us with seems to me like a kinf of complex towards everything European. I still remember Bush's words about "the old Europe" addressed of course to his American fellows, in the same way a boy would refer to his old grandfather: Someone who has forgotten what progress is; and perhaps they should realise, or I'd rather say it's about time for them to realise that everything - or almost - the US has attained has come by the hand of old Europeans. I do not ignore those times when the "hunt for brains" was carried out by American Universities, and what has come out of that hunt in terms of progress for the United States of America.<BR/><BR/>And, indeed, I am with you that generalising is not the way to deal with these matters of friendship - or enmity for that matter - that some Europeans or Americans hold inflexible sentiments towards one another does not mean all of them must be categorised similarly.Josehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02081096450259201426noreply@blogger.com