Brandon9000 wrote:Frankly, I was unaware of the threads you cite criticizing other countries, but when I look into the International News Forum, they seem to most often receive about a post a month. [..] The activity isn't comparable to the frequency of criticism of the US here.
Well, as I wrote right in the post you replied to, "Yes, the overwhelming majority of topics on A2K deals with America. Thats a frustration for all of us non-Americans and for everyone with an international horizon, but it has to do with the membership being largely US-based."
That is something else, though, than saying the US is singled out for criticism because it is the US, and people would rather not criticise other countries for the same misdeeds.
But lets go back to what you've actually asserted in this thread..
Quote:"The most egregious human rights violations and atrocities by the non-US are met with a deafening silence by the America haters."
Since you have succeeded to define those America haters as liberals in general and someone like Walter specifically, this is provably untrue.
For most all of the "most egregious human rights violations and atrocities by the non-US", there is a thread out there.
And it is
exactly the liberals in general and people like Walter specifically whom you are most likely to see participating in them. Conservatives you will rarely see there.
Quote:No, I mean that any problem in the US, whether big, or tiny, or even imaginary, bring forth threads of indignation here, yet severe abuses or atrocities anywhere else are ignored.
What severe abuses or atrocities have been ignored? The example you brought here sure doesnt prove your point - Putin's totalitarian tendencies have been discussed here at length.
Quote:I said that America's faults are the source of loud indignation on A2K, whereas the most hideous faults of other countries are ignored.
Again wrong - "hideous faults of other countries" are not ignored. There's threads out there - and it's mostly the
very liberals you're attacking who keep them alive. Thats the irony of this.
Look, of course a thread about Uzbekistan doesnt get the amount of posts that one about Mitt Romney gets. Most of you are Americans - most of what you will be talking about will be American stuff.
Eg, Britney gets far more attention than her French or Chinese counterpart. Anything Bush says gets far more attention than what Chirac or Merkel says. Anything the US does
wrong, also gets far more attention than what other countries do wrong.
So far so duh.
In fact, I stooped as low as slipping the US into the title of my thread about Uzbekistan ("US ally", which it was at the time), because I knew that without a link to the US, most Americans would ignore it. The irony, again, is that this is actually
more true for conservatives, who wont come out at all but for the literal one or two exceptions if there's no link to the US, than for liberals, a bunch of whom can usually be relied on to look in with sincere interest.
None of that, however, proves a double standard, unless you mean the double standard in how people are not as interested in far-flung things as in frontpage headline, close-by things - which would be as true for you as for anyone else, for conservatives as for liberals.
That, however, is
not merely what you argue. You say, to quote some more examples,
Quote:Why is it that you make a virtual career out of insulting my country on this board but remain about 99% silent about the most horrible faults of other countries?
Quote:I'm seriously complaining that everything that could conceivably be a problem with the United States, [..] results in expressions of indignation here, but the most egregious abuses by other countries are almost always ignored.
Quote:my assertion is that you make numerous posts pointing out faults with my country, but virtually never make posts complaining about faults with other countries
Quote:most of the A2K liberals post incessantly about how bad the US is, but rarely mention the transgressions of other countries
None of this is true beyond the duh-degree that
all things American, good bad and silly, get more attention here than things non-Americans. But when the misdeeds of other countries come up, liberal posters condemn them as readily as America's faults. And a hardy internationally-oriented bunch of us try to do what we can to keep them coming up.
We may not succeed in making much of an imprint on the New Posts page, but for most every "egregious abuse", "horrible fault" and "transgression", you will find a thread. And who makes up this hardy bunch who tries to keep those topics in the picture? They're mostly exactly the liberals you attack for not caring if it's not about the US - check, false. And who will you find posting there? Again, mostly liberals - the liberals you are accusing of "almost always ignoring" them, "remaining about 99% silent" about them, "virtually never making posts" about them. Check, false.
The whole premise of the thread is baseless beyond saying that, jeez, most of the talk on this forum is about things American, period.
