On the wings of a snow-white dove

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

[Ha. You really think so?

I do indeed ! Wink

Besides, I know lots of people who think I am a nice guy !

@georgeob1,

I don't know whether you're a "nice guy" or not, George.
You may or may not be. I don't really care.
That isn't what I'm talking about & you know it.
It is how you denigrate people (in a personal way) whose political posts you disagree with.
I have no problem at all about having a debate about views which are different to mine, it's the personal insults that I find offensive.

0 Replies

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

[Show me where exactly I've done it George.
Just a few examples will do. Where I have insulted posters personally in the way you've insulted me.
I'd really like to see what you come up with.

I haven't insulted you personally at all - except in these recent rejoinders to your accusations against me. Moreover, neither have I offered any sweeping criticisms about the character of your country such as those you so enthusiastically endorsed about mine.

I suspect you may feel that I insulted you on the Whaling thread, but from my perspective, I was trying, gently I thought, to point out to you the futility of the moral judgements you were making in the real world. Indeed it is my impression that such overreaching moral judgements have been a fairly constant source of the misery and destruction that has so governed human history.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

Quote:

I haven't insulted you personally at all

Yes, you have.
You've implied that I have no right to comment on American politics because I haven't been to the USA. That because I've never been there, my comments must be uniformed & irrelevant .
You've implied that I hold some uncritical "blind spot" when it comes to Australian politics. (When you are (obviously) completely ignorant of my views on Oz politics. Which I have posted about at length on this board, if you bothered to look. )
You've also implied that I'm ignorant of Japanese culture.
You were downright rude, say nothing of uniformed in your comments.
I am not referring to the "whales" thread, at all. And I am not commenting on it now. It is your response to one very short post from me on this thread, congratulating Ceili on an excellent post (which it was) which set you off.

1 Reply

@msolga,

The implications you draw from my posts are your affair - not mine. In response to your enthusiastic endorsement of Ceili's rather long and sweeping indictment of my country, I merely asked if you had ever been here and had a direct basis on which to endorse such a statement. My purpose was to call attention to my suspicion that you had none - and not to question your "right" to voice an opinion. If you fell insulted by that, then you have done it to yourself.

I assume Ceili has a lot of direct exposure to the United States - as I do with Canada. At the same time I am aware that many (not all) Canadians have what seem to me as exaggerated fellings about their neighbor to the south. I suspect most of it has to do with the large difference in our populations, and all the associated impact that brings. Secondarily, there is the economic dependence Canada has on exports to the USA. Canada enjoys a huge export surplus to the U.S. but is a major importer with the rest of the world. They get very testy about anything we do that might alter that situation and react vociferously to things relating to it in our political debates here. They naturally pay more attention to the contradictions implicit in American life than we d0 to theirs. Overall, I find Canadians to be fairly agreeable and pleasant people ,despite all this stuff.

2 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

There's no need to point out such silly notions, Intrepid. This isn't a "My dad is better than your dad" contest.

The Canadians certainly need to answer for following the Americans into an illegal invasion of Afghanistan. You don't follow in the steps of war criminals and remain pure and innocent. Harper is as big a war criminal as any of the Americans or Brits or Aussies or ... .

Such silliness. You equate correcting information with "my dad your dad." Grow up JTT.

Afghanistan was justified. Iraq was not. It was the US who went into Iraq.

You can call Harper whatever you want. I think he is a total idiot myself and am ashamed that he associated himself with GW Bush.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

George, I think I've spent enough time on this already. I think I've said pretty much all I've wanted to say.
Why not go back & reread your own posts?
Frankly I'm wondering if you have the grace to ever admit you might have made a bit of a mistake, might have gotten things wrong, or might have been unfair in your comments.
I'm also aware that this exchange must be boring other posters to this thread rigid.
Anyway ....

0 Replies

@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

The implications you draw from my posts are your affair - not mine. In response to your enthusiastic endorsement of Ceili's rather long and sweeping indictment of my country, I merely asked if you had ever been here and had a direct basis on which to endorse such a statement. My purpose was to call attention to my suspicion that you had none - and not to question your "right" to voice an opinion. If you fell insulted by that, then you have done it to yourself.

You question msolga about her knowledge of the U.S. and then you pompously took a swipe at Canada and Australia in order to make you feel better about a country that Ceili accurately described. You were not entirely accuracte in your description and I assume that you have visited very little of Canada. Did that make you feel better?

1 Reply

@Intrepid,

Intrepid wrote:

I might also point out that Canada had already been in the war for 2 years prior to Pearl Harbour. I will also mention that the same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, they attacked Hong Kong and killed or captured every Canadian serving in the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada. Like the U.S., Canada later apologized to the Japanese interments and their families and gave them a monetary settlement. Perhaps a bit late, but it was still done.

If striking out at Canada and Australia are your way of defending your own country, then you are certainly on shaking ground.

It seems to me that you are exhibiting a degree of sensitivity on these matters that you don't allow to others.

I haven't been "striking out at Canada and Australia". Neither have I argued against any of Ceili's many crtiticisms. Instead I have pointed out that we are the subject of greater public scrutiny that many others, and that, as a result, our warts show very clearly. I did point out the existence of issues in Canada that are roughly analogous to some of those in Ceili's unsolicited indictment of the United States, merely as a way of suggesting that such things are the usual human condition, existing in different forms elsewhere, (gasp) including Canada and perhaps even Australia. I attempted no analysis of Canada or its supposed defects, except as it may affect Canadians views of my country. Indeed I haven't in all this offered any direct criticism of Canadian or Australian culture or people - on the contrary, I affirmed my opinion that both countries and peoples are agreeable and pleasant. I believe that stands in stark contrast to others here.

Canada's involvement in war with Japan arose at the same time and from the same events as ours. Your two year earlier involvement in the war in Europe resulted from your political connection to the UK and not from any uniquely Canadian interests. Many people in the USA then felt - with good reason - that our involvement in WWI was a great error, and were reluctant to be drawn into yet another European war. It is, of course , ironic how things like this and the roles nations play change over time.

2 Replies

In my scant meanderings about the world I've noticed more often than not, that one's world view or philosophical gestalt is generated by ones activities of daily life. The minutia of life rather than the grand scheme of bodies politic or theology. This aforesaid minutia is rarely considered or even thought about exactly because it is minutia. Yet, the very nature of a social ethos is created and maintained by the mundane. Ones familial relationships, neighborhood activities, common attire, medical attention, even our daily bread becomes the very locus of our social essence. These and all the other daily activities vary village by village, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city, nation by nation as individuals adapt in their quest for individuality within their milieu of behavioral integration. I recently learned of a characteristic of another society/nation that, on initial awareness, seemed a rather meaningless difference from my own sense of social values and yet, upon reflection, led me to a totally different understanding of that society and gave me pause in judgment.

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

To which characteristic of which society/nation are you referring?

1 Reply

@InfraBlue,

doesn't matter, not relevant.

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Harper is as big a war criminal

then kindly please come and take him off our hands, i'll help hold him down if you want to get a few kicks in before they take him away (and please take peter mckay too, and the liberal leader ignatieff if you could)

0 Replies

but seriously, you guys need to chill on the ism's, you're not becoming communists or socialists, if you were you wouldn't have had to bail out your banks (like we didn't have to bail out ours here in Canuckistan)

1 Reply

@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

but seriously, you guys need to chill on the ism's, you're not becoming communists or socialists, if you were you wouldn't have had to bail out your banks (like we didn't have to bail out ours here in Canuckistan)

Ooohhh

And, Finn thinks that Canadians are upset because we aren't Americans. What a dolt.

0 Replies

Quote:

What truly dissapoints me is not what you have written, but the number of Americans who have responded with "Well said."

First of all, your diatribe can never be considered well thought or well written...its rhetorical flaws are legion, but to see folks who I suspect are relatively intelligent, refexively praise this shite because it speaks ill of their country is just astounding.

I said is was "Well said" because it was. It gave a very clear picture of what America looks like through the eyes of a Canadian. It resonates well with those from other lands too. Why shouldn't we care how the world sees us, Finn? I'm not an isolationist either, but I'd love to see us get out of the role of world cop -- a role, it appears, that has worn thin.

I didn't praise it because it speaks ill of our country. I think it fairly well reflects exactly what we portray. The day that GWB unequivocally stated that every nation in the world was either, "With us, or against us" put the world on notice that they'd better get in line with us lock step as we invaded first one country and then another or they would be next. Could we be any more arrogant? I don't see how.

Why are you surprised or disappointed that there are Americans who want to take a critical look at who we are and what we portray. That isn't "speaking ill". It's actually healthy to look at yourself in the mirror occasionally. Something we do much too little of in this country.

1 Reply

@Intrepid,

Quote:

Afghanistan was justified.

Afghanistan was as big a war crime as Iraq. There was no reason to attack a country that hadn't attacked anyone. Do you think the Taliban made their way over here on donkeys and camels and launched a huge attack?

0 Replies

@Intrepid,

What is it with this idiotic "I'm a tourist" so that makes me an expert on X country? What an asinine notion.

Yes, I know you didn't advance it, Intrepid.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

Quote:

Instead I have pointed out that we are the subject of greater public scrutiny that many others, and that, as a result, our warts show very clearly.

"warts", Farmer tried that bullshit too. War crimes are not warts, Gob. It's not that you are subject to any greater scrutiny, it's that your terrorist activities, your war crimes, your mass murder stand out so.

And actually, you have been able to hide them to a great degree with a pretty effective unremitting propaganda stream.

0 Replies

Quote:

What will happen to the rest of the world if America withdraws within its borders?

Another 5 to 6 million people will not be slaughtered to feed American greed. Millions of kids won't develop cancer or be born deformed from US use of chemical weapons.

Countries such as Cuba can develop safe from terrorist predations.

I could list hundreds of more good things that would come, but I know that you understand, Finn.

0 Replies

On the wings of a snow-white dove

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know