From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Tue Jul 10 2001 - 07:16:26 MDT
soth@another.com wrote:
> About the US expanding and places such as the UK and Canada, Australia and New Zealand joining as member states.
>
> Most Americans (and I apologise in advance to the enlightened members of this list) seem to have a fixation on their country. This fixations leaves many Americans to accept the history that the USA puts out without considering facts and falsehoods. Th
e rest of the world seems to have a rather different opinion of America and to be rather blunt, there isn't a hope of any nation joining the USA in any but the most extreme of conditions.
Oh, I don't know. Several years ago, during the height of the Quebecois
secession referenda, there was a significant movement in British
Columbia to join the US in response.
> Most of Europe considers America with a sort of amused fear. The gung ho policies of the US government and selective democracy (NSA anyone), coupled with the fierce national pride that America tends to exhibit gives the impression of a six year old c
hild with a bazooka, unpredictable and dangerous. America is certainly the most powerful nation in the world and many countries are, or seek to be allied to the states by none would join.
Well, considering that no european nation recognizes the inherent rights
of its citizens to the degree that our government does our rights, I
don't see 'selective democracy' claims as having any weight, especially
considering we are not a democracy, we are a republic. The NSA spies on
YOU, not us.
Moreover, the claim of us acting like a 'child with a bazooka,
unpredictable and dangerous' is also laughable, unless you are a
congenital hoplophobe. The US has not initiated any conflicts at all,
does not wage open war on its own people, does not commit widespread
genocide with the flip of a hat, and does not confiscate the rights of
the accused in the heat of nationalistic hysteria. European countries
make a career of doing just these things.
>
> Many People world wide are fooled by the brain washing that occurs through the media and especially hollywood. To someone who has only done high school history, the American troops probably did win the D-day landing, and the Americans probably did do O
K at Pearl harbour. Movies such as Pearl harbour and Saving private Ryan seep into the public's unconscious mind and change opinions. For instance, how many people know that the American troops actually got stuck on the D-day beaches and had to be rescue
d by the British and French troops, very few indeed.
Any idiot knows we got our asses kicked at Pearl Harbor. Many also know
that it was the destruction of our battleships there which was what
enabled us to win the war: it required our hidebound admirals to change
their strategy for once, to depend upon aircraft carriers as the primary
capital ship.
The average idiot can also say they know that movies generally have
little connection with reality (the recutting of Pearl Harbor for a
Japanese audience's political sensibilities being a prime example of
this) in a broad sense, they are character focused dramas.
>
> While America continues it "we rule the world" attitude, no country will join the states, public opinion would be to much against it. Britain also shares just as much in common with our European neighbours as it does with the states, even across the la
nguage barrier.
Not by the news in Britain. Even the leftie labor man, Blair, is loathe
to go EU, only because he knows how unpopular it is. Note that Ireland
also rejected many EU policies and is instead going the American way,
cutting taxes and enjoying hugh high tech growth rates. A the center of
EU power drifts further east over time, I fully expect Britain and
Ireland to both seriously toy with joining NAFTA or FTAA, if not doing
so outright.
>
> And lets face it, nut boy Dubya Bush hardly helps matters for increasing America's popularity, after trashing the Kyoto treaty, pulling out of the chemical weapons talks and starting up the old star wars program. Most the world is carefully watching Am
erica at the moment, that well armed six year old seems to have been made president.
And he just tolk you gun grabbing socialists to go stuff yourselves. I
note todays headlines in my local leftie rag hyperventilate over the
Bush Administration rejecting the bald faced attempt by the UN to get us
to surrender our 2nd amendment....
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