Foxfyre wrote:But you see, if the USA is seen as a valid target for criticism, then one should not be surprised when people from the USA (or anywhere else) also feel moved to give you constructive advice.
You utterly missed the point Fox.
Indeed, why should anyone from one country not comment upon the policies and practices of another?
Sadly, some of you carry on about "un-americannness" when even your own people criticise. In fact, MOST of the anti-US-government stuff is posted by Americans.
Their comments will be subject to criticism - but, so what? What is the big deal?
Seems to me many of you from the US want to feel free to criticise others - but become agitated and huffy if you are criticised. So do some dumb Australians etc. It is natural enough but, in my view, utterly pathetic. Everyone needs to get over it.
Er - do you not support free speech? Why should the US be immune to criticism? You attract more notice cos you are big and pushy. What do you expect? we get it here, in our region for the same reason. Am I whining?
If the criticism is stupid and pathetic - like the ridiculous anti-French bigot threads and such - people will get panned. (Has anyone else noticed that generally, news about most foreign countries - except those the right is delighting in attacking - gets almost no attention? I used to post a lot in International News - I have stopped - only threads attacking the right's targets, or gloating about countries where the right sees victories, get any attention from any more than a tiny minority. Look at the tsunami threads, When did one of them REALLY take off? When somebody - quite misleadingly - posted that Indonesia had told the US to get their troops assisting tsunami victims out. (Indonesia had told ALL the NUMEROUS countries with troops involved in assisting with aid to get out - a fiat they later retracted) That bit of, effective, misinformation (many assumed, and hence reacted very punitively, that ONLTY the US had been told to get its troops out - I wonder how many actually knew how huge the effort was from many countries?) When the UN was attacked, that drew a lot of tsunami interest, too.
If the criticisms are valid - the chauvinists will whine and shriek regardless - but sensible folk will listen and consider.
Did I shriek and whinge when Lash attacked Australia's detention centres? Of course not. Those centres are a disgrace - good on you folk for squawking - go for it. If you attack Oz for its gun laws, or make other attacks I consider very ill-informed, I will defend it. But I won't carry on ridiculously cos my "sacred soil" - or whatever crap nonsense chauvinists carry on about has been attacked. You may notice that Msolga and I often post here in a manner very critical of Australian policies. - well, most of you never see it, cos lots of you don't give a damn about anywhere except America, unless the right in America is attacking a countery. C'est la vie. No point whining about that, either.
When people attack the US stupidly, and I see it, I often comment - just as I do in real life when people do the same. Here, I am seen as ridiculously pro-American.
We are here to comment on stuff - sensible and informed commenters go for it. Dumb and ill-informed ones, you deserve what you get - whether you are moaning about the US or France or Germany or the UN or Australia - or whatever.
It is a discussion and information exchange board for chrissake.
