On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 11:28, learn&Evolve wrote:
thrash -the rest of the world hates America because they are envious of us -our freedom, our democracy, our innovation, our technology, our women -you don't have to have attended school with some interbred upperclass dick to get a good job
Not to re-stir this pot, but it's too good to not quote: Arundhati Roy, from The Guardian, September 29, 2001 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4266289,00.html In his September 20 address to the US Congress, President Bush called the enemies of America "enemies of freedom". "Americans are asking, 'Why do they hate us?' " he said. "They hate our freedoms - our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." <snip> For strategic, military and economic reasons, it is vital for the US government to persuade its public that their commitment to freedom and democracy and the American Way of Life is under attack. In the current atmosphere of grief, outrage and anger, it's an easy notion to peddle. However, if that were true, it's reasonable to wonder why the symbols of America's economic and military dominance - the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon - were chosen as the targets of the attacks. Why not the Statue of Liberty? Could it be that the stygian anger that led to the attacks has its taproot not in American freedom and democracy, but in the US government's record of commitment and support to exactly the opposite things - to military and economic terrorism, insurgency, military dictatorship, religious bigotry and unimaginable genocide (outside America)? It must be hard for ordinary Americans, so recently bereaved, to look up at the world with their eyes full of tears and encounter what might appear to them to be indifference. It isn't indifference. It's just augury. An absence of surprise. The tired wisdom of knowing that what goes around eventually comes around. American people ought to know that it is not them but their government's policies that are so hated. They can't possibly doubt that they themselves, their extraordinary musicians, their writers, their actors, their spectacular sportsmen and their cinema, are universally welcomed. All of us have been moved by the courage and grace shown by firefighters, rescue workers and ordinary office staff in the days since the attacks. ... it goes on .. good article for those interested, somewhat dated.
-anyone that works hard enough in America can make it (if that's what they want)
And if you're wealthy and well-connected, you can even run the place! It doesn't even matter if you're not very bright, questionably literate, have a criminal record and more people voted for your opponent! :) Mick