Bacchus

Give me some slack with your "because of america" crap...yea,yea you own the world and you're our saviors..ok, now let's take another call shall we? Awright, you're world police, keepers of good faith and god's chosen...please just hold your hands in an all-star prayer to gawd almighty and go fall off a cliff right in the middle of the american dream. tks. Your one-sided understanding of the world is pissing peoples off and you can't even begin to ackowledge the fact that you could be wrong...pfft, f'king control freaks.

because it's interesting nonetheless? Also because a lot of people disagree with how Bush admin. is doing things and are eager to see someone else rule USA because they feel it would make the world a safer place. but as someone pointed out, i'll just chill this one out because i ould be disrupting this topic. peace.

oh, btw...there's a whole f'king difference between lying about your sex life and lying about the possible reason to going to a war which has lead to 10k civilian death and more losses than vietnam. plz think before answering. Hempz, please get out of this anal phase...or grow up, whichever is the easiest. thks.

God bless america You might have to register but it's free and the article is very good. You might not agree off course, it's just opinion..and not necessarily negative, just reported views from different american point of views. try it.

I vote for a soldier...i agree with him almost 100% btw, bush is losing your poll.

ok, this topic is for americans. I'd vote Kerry. but hey...i'm not american...and i'm proud of it.

kids? where? arguing with kids...hehehe that's funny, that's precisely why i stopped posting. kids...just like you probably, from my side of the fence anyway...are making it worthless to spend energy on a reply. In fact, american kids are the worst of all...along with english skinheads i think...

I can't wait to see this movie! Moore rocks! I like how he presents his criticism, even if he uses editing skills, take quotes out of contexts, etc...he at least offers fuel for discussion and critics where they are badly needed. Yeah, way to go! oh, since it's fun...-*BAD WORD*- You too!

WTF are you all talking about??? pffft...geeks...

point taken. I meant that although we have an "animal" instinct that have influence on how we react toward each others, it's not an affect of capitalism..i mean it precedes capitalism, it precedes anything "occidental", hence it will find its ways in any political system...be it capitalism or communism. So, i think it would be somewhat of an error to condemn communism on the principle that it doesn't allow someone to climb the social ladder. The social ladder you refer to is the one proposed by capitalism and it's far from being the only one. When you refer to "society" as in "social ladder" you mean "western, occidental, capitalist society". communism would have its own "social ladder" and communists would most certainly have their own ways to climb it. The fact that capitalism is an efficient economical tool doesn't mean it's the best or the best exemple for social comparisons. in fact, in regard of the actual state of the world, i would say it failed miserably.

Communism is a political system based on other premisses then capitalism. What Marx was calling a "communist" is a worker with a different frame of mind because he won't be an affect of a capital based economy. In short, you can't analyse communism with a capitalistic evaluation. they are incompatible. The inate desire to better oneself in the social ladder stems not from nature but from capitalism itself. If you stop believing in capitalism, social ladder as we know it becomes rather irrelevant and society (western) as we know it either change to something else (like communism) or is destroyed.

Why would you want to run naked in the streets? We have a party here that promesses (spl) to have tax free beer/alcohol rounds, paid for 5-7 and party time, etc. and we have a marijuana party...which consequently, might want to have us all run naked in the streets though... mhhh <_<

Celibacy works very well for me! Chas!@#$%^&*y can go to -*BAD WORD*- for all i care and i don't believe in marriage under religious auspices though i can understand why some would want to marry legally.

mmh, no. We're all losing time and energy. I prefer CTF.

off course not. i don't understand why you're still thinking that i'm unaware of that fact. I thougth i made myself clear. The form democracy take is rather irrelevant..that you practice it in an agora or Chamber of Commons (spl), the fact remains that democracy works by consensus and dialogues. I agree that economical, political, cultural and spiritual factors have molded governments into what they are today and also that USA is having an influence on democracy and history alike, of that there's no doubts. But this is different from sustaining that USA "changes the face of democracy as it is known today". Even if it were true, that's precisely why USA is the object of such criticism...too much political oppression, too much unilateral thinking and actions not enough discussions and dialogues. Recent actions by USA disrupted world balance and when its being mentionned USA usually replies with either threats ("you're either with or againnst us" line of thought) or a lecturing stance. here's a small exemple: Recently, Canada PM Chrétien wanted to "decriminalized" marijuana simple possession...it meant that a teen with some weed wouldn't be prosecuted, tried, and that he would keep a clean record instead of being caught in the legal, criminal system. This kind of social measures already exists in some countries. USA jumped in the discussion right on (even though nothing was asked of them) and began threatening Canada that it wouldn't let it "compromise" it's neighborg (spl) way of life by allowing "marginal" kids to influenced american ones. This is a rather insignificant situation, but still, this "intrusion" in canadian domestic politic were felt by most as frustrating and uncalled for. In an occidental world used to "talk" things over whenever its possible, USA looks like a loose canon ruled by an integristic cow boy in a dollar-green suit. btw, i don't hate americans but i do openly critic USA gov (mine also irl, but i doubt you'd find canadian politics interesting) and, everyone will agree with this, USA is big, strong and agressive. Feeling uneasy with its actions is rather understandable i think.

If you could stop seeing this as an intellectual battle, you'd most certainly stop being afraid to lose something. That's hubris. Who do you think you are? What do you know of democracy? The simple fact that your gov. admittingly wants to "create" democracy points to the fact that their (yours?) understanding of what is democracy is lacking. And yea, i'm happy but you have nothing to do with it. wow, aren't you full of -*BAD WORD*-? I never pretended to be alive back then. But the greeks were living in a republic...belive it or not. And even if our societies adopted a "legal" course of action and other ways of managing governing bodies, democracy was first practiced by the greeks. aah, i see. Some (americans) were "intelligent" enough to go "peacefully" elsewhere so they could proceed at being enlightened. Nice cultural quirk here Dr. Discuss Things? how can we do that? The very moment someone post a critic of the american gov. a long line of accusation follows, even in the face of FACTS dammit. Discuss...bah. You can't really discuss about democracy when your interlocutor (spl) think it's country invented democracy, can't we?

well, i'll answer to that with my special WTFLMAO special sarcasm attack. Go back to some history book mate. "as we know it"...yea right. The Greeks were repubicans and democracy "as we know it" isn't QUITE an american invention. I'll recommend reading John Stuart Mill on representative democracy...or anything else political. Btw, weren't' your founders a brady bunch of europeans? aah, ok. Then what was Korea, Vietnam, Chiapas, Iraqi Freedom, etc. all about? baah, why do i even bother.

probably not this one peace.

rofl!

hehe, je te crois

i come from Québec Tas. be my guest.

typical american at!@#$%^&*ude. so, the fact that so many people disapprove of yuor country policies doesn't even ring a small bell? are you so dense as to refuse any arguments, even factual ones, instantly throwing the, away because of what you call "hate"? Do you question your gov. actions or do you take for them for granted? I'm not even talking about domestic decisions, but international ones. I see you react, brandishing the "hater" flag and the "ooooh, look! finger pointers!"...so in your opinion, everything is good in a perfect world? I don't understand... You're really the only culture i know of (and I have my fair share of travels) that is refusing so much to be touched by criticism. I simply can't fathom why you can't even admit some simplest things, disclosed datas from your own gov and agencies. They always did it because your leaders are always motivated by some higher moral ground that foreigners just can't understand. What's up with your leaders? are they like Kings, put in office by some divine twist of fate? some Pharaos? Mythic Warrior from the White House? what's wrong with you guys?

I just finished browsing over the topics here and I was thinking:"why anyone criticizing (spl) USA is instantly branded as a "hater"?" It seems that critics, even constructive one, even supported by history, daily news, alleged witnesses, professionals, experts, american sources or elsewhere, thoughts about the moral ground of USA gov actions, blabla...anything just the least in "dis-harmony" with the mainstream line of thoughts here can't survive basic patriotism, and even in the face of admission and facts. Why is that? finger pointing? not quite, a call to self exam and the close observation of USA gov real or fake motives. As it is now, USA (and americans) are one of the most criticized nation in the world. But still, most of the americans i know are defening the fact that nothing is wrong and that I and those like myself (read a great -*BAD WORD*-ing lot of people) that are questionning USA actions, are just, plain, simply wrong. period, end of discussion. Some even go as far as to compare weapons of m!@#$%^&* destruction with tomatoes and diapers...that's downright demagogic you know. Each time i hear/read/speak w/ an american it'S always about ennemies (spl), antagonists, threats to the american way of life, threats to the american traditional values...in other words: it seems that USA is always the victim of some misunderstanding, attack, hate, envy, etc. Why are you feeling victimized? the towers? 4000 dead is very sad and depressing..but USA is far from being sinless at tha chapter, no? Why is dialogue impossible with USA? Maybe USA is just above the law and that's the end of it.

hum...-*BAD WORD*-O?! 10 403 000 000 000$$ weapon market...and you don't find it the least appaling that USA is either waging war or being criticized as militaristic? 40.3% of total world arms market and you compare that to SELLING TOMATOES!!?? i'm not pointing fingers just wondering WTF are doing with all those weapons. And USA is STILL looking for imaginary WMD!! sell them to firendly nations? Whose nations might that be he? you gave some to Iraq, some to Iran, some to "certain" rebels who, btw, blew 2 towers. Still, you proceed w/ same old bs that you'Re helping the world....wow, gg propagnada.