From: Robbie Lindauer (robblin@thetip.org)
Date: Fri Aug 22 2003 - 18:19:52 MDT
On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at 08:34 PM, matus wrote:
> chomskyite
> everything-the-US-has-done-is-absolutely-evil kind of person.
His position is that the hawkish US foreign policy along with
oligarchical political and economic rules since the turn of the century
have been leading to continual degradation in the quality of living for
actual Americans as well as contributing to terror, despotism and
mayhem worldwide. I take it for the most part these observations are
undisputed. Now two family members must work to support a family of
four. Then only 1. Then, you could pay for a piece of land capable of
sustaining your own family within 7 years by working. NOW you're lucky
to be able to afford a house within 30 years and THEN can expect to
still have to work to pay for food and water.
As for despotic regimes sponsored by the US, the list of them is
readily available, but the big names that come to mind are the obvious
ones from your list - the Taliban, the Ayatolah, Saddam, Pol Pot, etc.
That's not "everything the US has done is absolutely evil" BUT it sure
has done a lot of bad stuff.
Simply recognizing this along with the good makes a "fair and balanced"
judgement of the moral stature of the US as a nation.
> When you
> hear nothing but criticisms, what evidence do we have to suggest that
> you have anything to say other than criticisms?
Well, I for one absolutely love In-N-Out (despite their obvious
anti-extropian offerings - like french fries). Family owned and
operated, good business, fair prices, pay people pretty well, allow
advancement from within, etc. They don't buy "near-slave" labor from
other countries and, I'm told, are nice people.
> If I could live
> anywhere I wanted, Id probably first pick Hong Kong (but would end up
> moving soon as the Chinese took control again) second would be a close
> runner up between the US and Australia.
But this is really a veiled "Love it or leave it" argument, isn't it?
The implication is "The US is better than every other country on earth
so stop complaining."
> As noted,
> Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, East Timor, North Korea etc. for a total of
> 17
> countries had NO data present to compare. Yet the CS Monitor did not
> find this noteworthy enough to even mention in their article. It
> should
> have read "US has highest incarceration rate of the countries who would
> tell us theirs, the notoriously worse countries incarceration rates are
> unknown"
You're right, the most despotic regimes are not listed there but is
that supposed to make us feel better that we Jail people at a higher
rate than all the rest of the "civilized" world?
R
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