American Exceptionalism? Bah.....

[CarolKing]

File:USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) Mission Accomplished.jpg

• 
  
• 
  When George Bush announced to the American people we had won the war. Mission accomplished. What a bunch of horse shit. He listened to, too many advisors that didn't know what the hell they were doing, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.

I appreciate that we have brave folks that risk their lives every day.
Bless everyone of those service men and women on that ship. I just can't stand George Bush. I like his dad though.

 

[syrupy]

So every time I turn on Fox News...

I think I see what the problem is.

 

[mestizo]

money is the root of all evil.

The love of money. Even Pink Floyd got it wrong, not trying to offend anyone, but money in and of itself is neutral and sometimes it can solve a lot of problems that the love of it causes to begin with.

 

[bigmarv999]

The love of money. Even Pink Floyd got it wrong, not trying to offend anyone, but money in and of itself is neutral and sometimes it can solve a lot of problems that the love of it causes to begin with.

The love for what again?

 

[mestizo]

Exactly, the love of it.

 

[bigmarv999]

Exactly, the love of it.

 

[tuk]

What do you think America "stands for"? Some ideas the politicians promote?

I don't " think what America "stands for" " ...I simply observe the foreign policy and the stack of bodies it's been leaving behind for the last 70 years or so, these are fact based, verifiable observations not my opinion or a politicians regurgitation as you suggest.

I just hate being lumped in a mythological group

Btw, if you really do "just hate being lumped in a mythological group" the rest of your post seems to be defending the very same "mythological group" & you're including yourself in that "mythological group" by using pronouns like "us" & adjectives like "our".

 

[pigfoot]

I don't " think what America "stands for" " ...I simply observe the foreign policy and the stack of bodies it's been leaving behind for the last 70 years or so, these are fact based, verifiable observations not my opinion or a politicians regurgitation as you suggest.

Btw, if you really do "just hate being lumped in a mythological group" the rest of your post seems to be defending the very same "mythological group" & you're including yourself in that "mythological group" by using pronouns like "us" & adjectives like "our".

ALL governments kill, some more than others. The peoples of those countries don't make those decisions. My point is: the American people aren't responsible for crimes the politicians & corporations commit. I didn't chain any slaves, kill any Native Americans or drop any bombs on anybody.

 

[Havelock Vetenari]

I don't know,in my mind you have always been exceptionally good at embarrassing yourselves at home and abroad :
http://www.bustle.com/articles/2908...&utm_medium=fijifrost&utm_campaign=CMfacebook

 

[aesthyrian]

ALL governments kill, some more than others. The peoples of those countries don't make those decisions. My point is: the American people aren't responsible for crimes the politicians & corporations commit. I didn't chain any slaves, kill any Native Americans or drop any bombs on anybody.

No offense, but this lack-of-responsibility attitude is so god damn American. We are all responsible for the atrocities that our military causes, so long as they still wear and wave our nation's flag while doing so.

That sort of attitude is what make other countries despise us, and what makes people like myself quite ashamed to be an American.

And until the American populace starts to fucking vote, then we will always be stuck with war mongers. Our apathy does not free us of responsibility. Our ability to disregard and ignore our own democratic rights makes us looks like such asses. We all bitch, I know I hear it everyday. But who actually votes? I'm not just talking about every 4 years, midterm elections are extremely important and even more important are the primary elections where you get to vote for what candidate will be on the poll.

 

[grokit]

I disagree...
Imo our country has been hijacked by a criminal cabal/conspiracy that has everything to do with the goals of its true leadership, and nothing at all to do with the disenfranchised sheeple that have been duped into "legitimizing" (ie voting in) their despicable agenda at the behest of our bought and sold mainstream media, and political/religious leaders. Unlimited corporate (we're people too!) dollars has given us nothing but an illusion of democracy that is far more damaging than the actual thing, which is why we're in this position.
And by position I mean:
Drunk on misinformation, drugged by the mass media, bent over and ready to get really fucked!

 

[pigfoot]

I don't know,in my mind you have always been exceptionally good at embarrassing yourselves at home and abroad :
http://www.bustle.com/articles/2908...&utm_medium=fijifrost&utm_campaign=CMfacebook

Yeah, cuz people in other countries never do dumb things.

No offense, but this lack-of-responsibility attitude is so god damn American. We are all responsible for the atrocities that our military causes, so long as they still wear and wave our nation's flag while doing so.

That sort of attitude is what make other countries despise us, and what makes people like myself quite ashamed to be an American.

And until the American populace starts to fucking vote, then we will always be stuck with war mongers. Our apathy does not free us of responsibility. Our ability to disregard and ignore our own democratic rights makes us looks like such asses. We all bitch, I know I hear it everyday. But who actually votes? I'm not just talking about every 4 years, midterm elections are extremely important and even more important are the primary elections where you get to vote for what candidate will be on the poll.

Gotta disagree with you there. Voting, seriously? Obama is fundamentally the same as Bush the younger. More debt, more wars, more surveillance. So I'm responsible for that? And if I voted for the other guy things would all be ok?
Politics and voting is theater, designed to keep the populace arguing, and feeling involved while our country is being destroyed.

 

[lwien]

Politics and voting is theater, designed to keep the populace arguing, and feeling involved while our country is being destroyed.

And I have no doubt that people were saying the exact same thing not too long after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

While I totally agree that this country, as most countries, are run on money, our system needs a bit of revamping. It was already a bad situation when the life of a politician went something like this:

Run for office. Make as many friends with individuals and businesses who can fund your election campaign with promises of reciprocity. Win. Stay in office as long as you can by "rinsing and repeating" the above with the full intention of becoming a lobbyist for one of your supporters, after your public political life is over, with also the full intention of nourishing the cycle in the process.

It's a broken system and the recent decisions of the Supreme Court has just empowered that broken system.

 

[macbill]

It surely appears politicians left and right are "bought" by, various interests, for example, the pharmaceutical industry. Why else do we pay more for drugs than anywhere? Why is it illegal to buy from Canadian pharmacies?

 

[CarolKing]

50% Of 'Retiring' Senators Now Become Lobbyists, Up From 3% A Few Decades Ago

Change: Obama hires lobbyist as senior political adviser

 

[pigfoot]

And I have no doubt that people were saying the exact same thing not too long after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

While I totally agree that this country, as most countries, are run on money, our system needs a bit of revamping. It was already a bad situation when the life of a politician went something like this:

Run for office. Make as many friends with individuals and businesses who can fund your election campaign with promises of reciprocity. Win. Stay in office as long as you can by "rinsing and repeating" the above with the full intention of becoming a lobbyist for one of your supporters, after your public political life is over, with also the full intention of nourishing the cycle in the process.

It's a broken system and the recent decisions of the Supreme Court has just empowered that broken system.

I think we all agree revamping is necessary. Broken, yes. Supreme court corrupt, check. But I don't think the folks who are enjoying all this power are just gonna give up and go home.

50% Of 'Retiring' Senators Now Become Lobbyists, Up From 3% A Few Decades Ago

Yup, and the folks in the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and Federal Reserve just change seats every few years too, they become cabinet members really often as well.

 

[lwien]

I think we all agree revamping is necessary. Broken, yes. Supreme court corrupt, check. But I don't think the folks who are enjoying all this power are just gonna give up and go home.

No doubt.

But I do have faith that the good parts of our system will allow this situation to improve over time.

Of course, faith has nothing to do with practical logic but it's all I got at the moment.

 

[grokit]

The system is not broken for those running and benefiting from it, in fact it seems to be running perfectly. The biggest difference between the two dominant political parties atm is the republicans would seem to prefer to be in the fast lane while on the highway to hell, while the democrats would like to delay the inevitable entropy of everything. Of course many will feel that the republicans and democrats should be reversed in this particular equation, which is by design. I read once that the conservative/liberal paradigm comes from the reinforcement of two diametrically opposed and distinctively different family constructs: the stern disciplinarian vs. the nurturing encouragement models of parenting. Food for thought anyways.

 

[lwien]

The system is not broken for those running and participating in it, in fact it seems to be running perfectly. The biggest difference between the two political parties imo, is the republicans would prefer to be in the fast lane on the highway to hell while the democrats prefer to delay our inevitable entropy.

Two things I gotta say about this.

One, is that, in my opinion, the only thing that's inevitable is death and two..........you made me fucking stop and look up the word "entropy".

 

[CarolKing]

See how happy they all look.

I think they forgot the words to "We Shall Over Come". Uh oh.

Lawmakers lock arms as they sing 'We Shall Overcome' during a ceremony to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, on Capitol Hill, June 24, 2014.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty
Lawmakers hold hands and sing during medal ceremony
06/24/14 06:17 PM
0 save share group 4
By Clare Kim
Here’s a sight you don’t see on Capitol Hill every day: House and Senate leaders held hands while singing “We Shall Overcome” at today’s Congressional Gold Medal ceremony Tuesday.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King were posthumously awarded at a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In what should have been a celebratory occasion, House Speaker John Boehner awkwardly held hands with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell clasped hands with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The video shows Senator Carl Levin, Rep. John Lewis, and Marcia Fudge, all Democrats, also holding each others’ hands .

They all swayed to the music, singing along with the Army Chorus.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor from Congress that shows national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions.

 

[grokit]

Two things I gotta say about this.

One, is that, in my opinion, the only thing that's inevitable is death and two..........you made me fucking stop and look up the word "entropy".

The way I learned entropy has nothing to do with thermodynamics, it's more about general systems theory. In a nutshell the more complex a system gets, the greater a likelihood that it will completely fail.

Hence the get smart cold war archetypes of control (defend the system at any cost) and kaos

 

[basement farmer]

I don't know,in my mind you have always been exceptionally good at embarrassing yourselves at home and abroad :
http://www.bustle.com/articles/2908...&utm_medium=fijifrost&utm_campaign=CMfacebook

I dunno, having a giant vagina sculpture is probably just a little more embarrassing than getting stuck in it. Now that I think of it, how could any college age male not be tempted to climb into it? However, considering it's location (that lay outside the department of microbiology and virology at Tubingen University) protection might be a good idea.

 

[EveryDayAmnesiac]

Living in the DEEP South, I think I know a little something about American Exceptionalism.

In fact.... you might say, nowhere else in America does it better...

 

[grokit]

The civil war was anything but, and reconstruction was a failure.
Of course I'm glad slavery is outlawed, but at the same time I feel bad for the south.

 

[Jahannum]

American exceptionalism can be found, take glass makers like Mobius, or people that make works of art like Ed's TnT. There are people in this country that do quality work and take pride in what they do.

I do perfer to buy my products from Japan though(vehicles,pillows/beds,etc) for high quality. That and I love supersport bikes and futons.

My favorite vapes were designed and made in the USA with Amercian Exceptionalism I would like to think.

That said, mediocrity is that vast norm in the US business world, think it is driven by mediocrity=low price and an easelly pleased consumer base. I am speaking of things like chains, fastfood, malls, anything government ran, all reek of mediocrity.