Randyrandy
Experienced
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- Jun 14, 2000
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I've seen a great deal of change in the last few years. Where do the rest of you see the USA headed down the road. It's just a big mess in my eyes today. How did we get here?
America's not what she used to be.
- Thread starter Randyrandy
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Wizard
Literotica Guru
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It is a mess and we did it to ourself but travel and you will find it is still the number one place to live!
Shit is fucked up, but folks take for granted how good we have it here.
Not to say there are not cool places to live and I'm not ripping on other country's but no place like home!!!!
Shit is fucked up, but folks take for granted how good we have it here.
Not to say there are not cool places to live and I'm not ripping on other country's but no place like home!!!!
Gingersnap
Stoopid
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I agree I think traveling or even learning about other countries will give you a different perspective. I am not saying the US is without it's problems. I merely want to stress that I sure prefer a tour of The Meier Gardens to a tour of Bosnia.
Great time to be an American
Never before in History has there been a country with the character of the United States of America. In the modern era, we have turned our enemies into allies, and working with them and our brothers: the Canadians, Brits, as well as the Aussies, and New Zeland,and others, have put in place policies that have brought freedon to areas of the world that have never experienced it before.
As far as the life of the average American is concerned, it has never been better, or more exciting. Much of the strife people see on their nightly news has always been there. The change is that now an incident in LA is shown in every town in the country.
Randyrandy. Is life so bad in Idaho? There may be less game to hunt then fifty years ago, but there are better jobs, I'll bet.
Stevie. we think the folks that Jerry Springer puts on are nut case material, just like you do. Trust me, they are in no way an example of "Joe" America. "Joe" goes to work, just like you do, to support his family. He likes baseball, football, a good party, but when all is said and done is a law abiding guy, just as you are.
Do not mistake the political fighting you read about as bad.
It is the genius of the checks and balances, as well as the
various interests puting forward their ideas and agendas before the American people our founders envisioned.
"We hold these truths to be self evident; that ALL men are created equal." Wow, what a start!
Never before in History has there been a country with the character of the United States of America. In the modern era, we have turned our enemies into allies, and working with them and our brothers: the Canadians, Brits, as well as the Aussies, and New Zeland,and others, have put in place policies that have brought freedon to areas of the world that have never experienced it before.
As far as the life of the average American is concerned, it has never been better, or more exciting. Much of the strife people see on their nightly news has always been there. The change is that now an incident in LA is shown in every town in the country.
Randyrandy. Is life so bad in Idaho? There may be less game to hunt then fifty years ago, but there are better jobs, I'll bet.
Stevie. we think the folks that Jerry Springer puts on are nut case material, just like you do. Trust me, they are in no way an example of "Joe" America. "Joe" goes to work, just like you do, to support his family. He likes baseball, football, a good party, but when all is said and done is a law abiding guy, just as you are.
Do not mistake the political fighting you read about as bad.
It is the genius of the checks and balances, as well as the
various interests puting forward their ideas and agendas before the American people our founders envisioned.
"We hold these truths to be self evident; that ALL men are created equal." Wow, what a start!
Softly ... you once more seem to hit it on the head. However, I do think that ethics have cylced to a new low. Once, a man's handshake was his word and binding contract ... in business today, that is not the case... In the past I am sure that there were many dishonest people on the planet. However, I have sure seen a decline in honest and ethical people in the last thirty years. I have traveled all over the world, as you and yours have, America is still a great place to live and enjoy... but ... "caveat emptor" is more prevalent now than ever before. ... one person's opinion only, but I do agree with your statement as a whole.
[Edited by Gary1 on 07-01-2000 at 04:40 PM]
[Edited by Gary1 on 07-01-2000 at 04:40 PM]
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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I'm stoked to live in the U.S., but most of all I'm stoked to live in this period in history. There's so much progress being made, so many ways in which the world is opening up, so many discoveries. The Human Genome project. Artificial hearts. VCR's. Microwave ovens. Space shuttles. The Internet, for pete's sake...
As far as ethics go, I don't think we're less ethical than ever before. I do think that it's much harder to hide your unethical behavior because of video cameras (without which the Rodney King beating would never have been an issue, and neither would the Central Park wildness), "bugs", and all the other ways of catching people at their worst. I do think it's very easy for us to look back through our soft-focus rose-colored glasses at the past, but the fact is that 50 years ago black people couldn't just walk into any restaurant, bathroom, or job interview they pleased. Opportunities for women were a sliver of the pie that's available to them today. Gays couldn't dare to poke their heads out of the closet. If you consider tolerance a part of moral character (which I personally do), then I think we're much more ethical as a society than ever before.
As far as ethics go, I don't think we're less ethical than ever before. I do think that it's much harder to hide your unethical behavior because of video cameras (without which the Rodney King beating would never have been an issue, and neither would the Central Park wildness), "bugs", and all the other ways of catching people at their worst. I do think it's very easy for us to look back through our soft-focus rose-colored glasses at the past, but the fact is that 50 years ago black people couldn't just walk into any restaurant, bathroom, or job interview they pleased. Opportunities for women were a sliver of the pie that's available to them today. Gays couldn't dare to poke their heads out of the closet. If you consider tolerance a part of moral character (which I personally do), then I think we're much more ethical as a society than ever before.
Well, I must say that I am shocked, saddened, and yes, disgusted at the state of this country! I have spent the last 8 years in Germany, (if you don't count the last year I've spent in Clinton hell) so have not experienced the decline first hand. I have, however, made several trips back, and each time I felt unsafe and uncomfortable here, a feeling I rarely had overseas.
In my opinion, there is more violence, crime, and hatred than ever before. Intolerance and ignorance are rampant. And don't even get me started on the driving! I can attest first hand that people in Arkansas are not even educated in the basics of good driving. They would never come close to passing a California driving test! Having taken both tests, I feel I am qualified to judge.
<sigh> A perfectly good rant interrupted in mid-stream by the husband!
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate this country, but it is definitely not the place I left it 9 years ago. I would still rather live here than any place else, but it's not the shiny happy place many would have us believe!
Being as how my train of thought was brutally derailed earlier, I'm wrapping up this post now.
In my opinion, there is more violence, crime, and hatred than ever before. Intolerance and ignorance are rampant. And don't even get me started on the driving! I can attest first hand that people in Arkansas are not even educated in the basics of good driving. They would never come close to passing a California driving test! Having taken both tests, I feel I am qualified to judge.
<sigh> A perfectly good rant interrupted in mid-stream by the husband!
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate this country, but it is definitely not the place I left it 9 years ago. I would still rather live here than any place else, but it's not the shiny happy place many would have us believe!
Being as how my train of thought was brutally derailed earlier, I'm wrapping up this post now.
SimplySouthern
Smooth Up In Ya!
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- May 29, 2000
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Here's my rant for the day.....
What I Think is Wrong With America....by SimplySouthern
*ahem...clears throat*
With morals at an all time low in this country...how can we expect it to be the great nation it once was? Seems each day more things that were once strictly looked down upon have been "justified".
Hate to be the one to bring up this overused topic, but the President and his recent fiasco are a prime example. I'll be the first to admit that as a single woman, I have no experience in the field of marriage and infidelity, but I think it is just plain wrong to say that what he did was none of our business. I am a strong believer in the idea that children learn what they live, and this is not the type of thing I want my children to learn.
I want my children to grow to respect the sanctitiy of marriage, not to think that if things aren't going right at home that they can get a little from the chick at the office...cause the President did it so it must be OK.
Along the same lines, (children learning what they live)I think the point that some of us (Americans) aren't getting is that in a few years the very children we are raising today will be the ones making our decisions for us and running this country. What we teach them now, by example or otherwise, is what they will look to to make the decision regrding the future of this great nation.
Perhaps when thinking of our actions, we should consider the type of lsting effect it will have on our children.
Could be I'm wrong....but I doubt it.
What I Think is Wrong With America....by SimplySouthern
*ahem...clears throat*
With morals at an all time low in this country...how can we expect it to be the great nation it once was? Seems each day more things that were once strictly looked down upon have been "justified".
Hate to be the one to bring up this overused topic, but the President and his recent fiasco are a prime example. I'll be the first to admit that as a single woman, I have no experience in the field of marriage and infidelity, but I think it is just plain wrong to say that what he did was none of our business. I am a strong believer in the idea that children learn what they live, and this is not the type of thing I want my children to learn.
I want my children to grow to respect the sanctitiy of marriage, not to think that if things aren't going right at home that they can get a little from the chick at the office...cause the President did it so it must be OK.
Along the same lines, (children learning what they live)I think the point that some of us (Americans) aren't getting is that in a few years the very children we are raising today will be the ones making our decisions for us and running this country. What we teach them now, by example or otherwise, is what they will look to to make the decision regrding the future of this great nation.
Perhaps when thinking of our actions, we should consider the type of lsting effect it will have on our children.
Could be I'm wrong....but I doubt it.
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,692
LOL@Rosebud... I don't think there's a country on this planet without its share of problems. Germany's a lovely place, but it has state-sanctioned censorship laws - this site could never exist there. So does France, another gorgeous country.
The US has its problems, but the problems vary from place to place. The car jackings and gang murders of Los Angeles don't happen in places like Coos Bay, Oregon. The South (I've been told) is a still much less tolerant of racial diversity than the rest of the country.
Where I live, in San Diego county, everything's so damn expensive! According to our local paper, the average cost of a house in the area where I live (and I tell you know, I live within a mile of a major gang hotspot) is $450,000! And all the fields I played in when I was 10 are now tract home developments and strip malls. There's a military base (Camp Pendleton) between San Diego and Orange County/Los Angeles area, and I always believed that that base would stop this area from becoming the concrete wasteland that O.C. is. I can see that I'm wrong, and in my lifetime San Diego will go from being the quaint, charming seaside community it is today to a massive concrete grid of catbox condominiums, 7-11's and Starbucks.
But I digress... Anyhow, everywhere has its pros and cons. All things considered, I think there's worse places to be than the U.S. If anyone lives in a Utopia - a place with freedom of speech, great weather, high standard of living, racial and gender equality, cheap Internet access - let me know and I'll take the first flight out...
The US has its problems, but the problems vary from place to place. The car jackings and gang murders of Los Angeles don't happen in places like Coos Bay, Oregon. The South (I've been told) is a still much less tolerant of racial diversity than the rest of the country.
Where I live, in San Diego county, everything's so damn expensive! According to our local paper, the average cost of a house in the area where I live (and I tell you know, I live within a mile of a major gang hotspot) is $450,000! And all the fields I played in when I was 10 are now tract home developments and strip malls. There's a military base (Camp Pendleton) between San Diego and Orange County/Los Angeles area, and I always believed that that base would stop this area from becoming the concrete wasteland that O.C. is. I can see that I'm wrong, and in my lifetime San Diego will go from being the quaint, charming seaside community it is today to a massive concrete grid of catbox condominiums, 7-11's and Starbucks.
But I digress... Anyhow, everywhere has its pros and cons. All things considered, I think there's worse places to be than the U.S. If anyone lives in a Utopia - a place with freedom of speech, great weather, high standard of living, racial and gender equality, cheap Internet access - let me know and I'll take the first flight out...
CreamyLady
Uncompromising Visionary
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- Apr 20, 2000
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- 2,685
My own $.02:
Everyone here came from someplace else, or is descended from those who came from someplace else. Migration (apart from the despicable trade in human souls) tends to be caused by discontent. If this goes hand in hand with a desire for anonymity and a chance to start over, or a strong need to keep at least one step ahead of the authorities, does it make the emigrants any more reprehensible?
If our ancestors were a stable, contented lot, chances are we would have been born in the old countries. Instead, thanks to those restless, discontented, criminal or adventurous souls, we are here. At some point, the founding fathers -- traitors, every one -- did their best to create a representative government and a place where people could at least express their discontent, and make choices as to their own destinies.
We can still make those choices. We can choose to work hard to solve our problems and make things better; we can choose to sit back and let them go. We can also choose to be part of the problem, and take our lumps. Stupid, yes -- but the freedom is there to do it.
So, messy as this place can be, it is not as messy as other places on this earth. I, personally, am rather happy to be living here.
Everyone here came from someplace else, or is descended from those who came from someplace else. Migration (apart from the despicable trade in human souls) tends to be caused by discontent. If this goes hand in hand with a desire for anonymity and a chance to start over, or a strong need to keep at least one step ahead of the authorities, does it make the emigrants any more reprehensible?
If our ancestors were a stable, contented lot, chances are we would have been born in the old countries. Instead, thanks to those restless, discontented, criminal or adventurous souls, we are here. At some point, the founding fathers -- traitors, every one -- did their best to create a representative government and a place where people could at least express their discontent, and make choices as to their own destinies.
We can still make those choices. We can choose to work hard to solve our problems and make things better; we can choose to sit back and let them go. We can also choose to be part of the problem, and take our lumps. Stupid, yes -- but the freedom is there to do it.
So, messy as this place can be, it is not as messy as other places on this earth. I, personally, am rather happy to be living here.
ShyGuy68
The Dane with a cane
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2000
- Posts
- 24,397
Jeff726 said:
Say Jeff726 doesn't you believe in freedom of speach? And that every person is entitled to their own opinion? I don't mind you disagreeing with him, but there's no need to trash somebody for it!
And by the way, if it wasn't for Europeans the States wouldn't excist at all as you know it today!!
And I have to admit that I find the people on Springer way to crazy, but after all I don't judge a total population on it.
ShyGuy
SimplySouthern
Smooth Up In Ya!
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Jerry Springer...ACK.
I am so ashamed of that show. Just like everything else in the world a group of people are judged by its worst members.
I live in a small quaint(read: backwoods) little town. There are some odballs here, and I know it. However, there are some very intelligent, at-least-halfway-normal people here. It never fails that whenever our town has occassion to be on television they pull some bum out from undera bridge and ask him questions from his drunken stupor. Guess that what gets ratings
I am so ashamed of that show. Just like everything else in the world a group of people are judged by its worst members.
I live in a small quaint(read: backwoods) little town. There are some odballs here, and I know it. However, there are some very intelligent, at-least-halfway-normal people here. It never fails that whenever our town has occassion to be on television they pull some bum out from undera bridge and ask him questions from his drunken stupor. Guess that what gets ratings
Magic Merlin
Literotica Guru
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Wizard, be careful what you say! If Jerry reads this he just may want to do a show on that very topic.
<watches Wizard running from the room screaming>
[Edited by Magic Merlin on 07-02-2000 at 07:34 AM]
<watches Wizard running from the room screaming>
[Edited by Magic Merlin on 07-02-2000 at 07:34 AM]
SimplySouthern
Smooth Up In Ya!
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Ewwwww...no thanks.
*ugly mental picture*
*ugly mental picture*
Since I still live in small town America (pop. 450 or so), I don't see all the problems first hand. I know that inner cities are cess pools, but that is true anywhere you put 10 million people shoulder to shoulder and expectthem to live together. Tokyo, London, Moscow, Souel, Mexico City, Bejing, and Sydney have some of the same problems that plague L.A., Boston, Chicago, and New York. There are just too many people in too small an area.
I may sound like some kind of nut, but we need to provide the malcontents some new frontier to emmigrate to (see CreamyLady's post above). When any population stops expanding, stagnation sets in. We need an outlet for all the new people that we NEED to to keep the human race from stagnating. I think that it should be a priority of all governments to be seeking an outlet for their populations. If that means expanding off the Earth, so be it. There certainly is no unoccupied real estate left on the planet!
Population control is not an acceptable replacement for a vital, healthy expansion. The draconian measures that China has taken can only help in the short term. If we don't find a place to expand into, the human race is doomed to a cycle of conflict that may even destroy the planet.
I may sound like some kind of nut, but we need to provide the malcontents some new frontier to emmigrate to (see CreamyLady's post above). When any population stops expanding, stagnation sets in. We need an outlet for all the new people that we NEED to to keep the human race from stagnating. I think that it should be a priority of all governments to be seeking an outlet for their populations. If that means expanding off the Earth, so be it. There certainly is no unoccupied real estate left on the planet!
Population control is not an acceptable replacement for a vital, healthy expansion. The draconian measures that China has taken can only help in the short term. If we don't find a place to expand into, the human race is doomed to a cycle of conflict that may even destroy the planet.
Yikes! This seems to have really hit home with many people.
As the world has shrunk due to mass communication, all the little problems out there have gotten magnified. TV and movies have distorted much of it, not saying completely, but the focus is more on the bad because more people go to see those.
For example, take my favorite game to relax after a bad day. It's called Postal and you are a maniac with weapons out to rid an area of the population and the police trying to stop you. Bloody, violent and definitely not for kids to see, but it is one way of getting rid of the frustration (not the best either, but sometimes I just don't have the time to work out). But would I do this in real life? No, because this isn't the way to handle things, I don't even own a gun.
I took off and lived in Japan for 5 years and watched as the US moved from the ME generation to the "It's not my fault, give drugs to cure it" generation. An interesting development, but I'm still happy I live here and feel this is the best place in the world to live that I have seen.
As the world has shrunk due to mass communication, all the little problems out there have gotten magnified. TV and movies have distorted much of it, not saying completely, but the focus is more on the bad because more people go to see those.
For example, take my favorite game to relax after a bad day. It's called Postal and you are a maniac with weapons out to rid an area of the population and the police trying to stop you. Bloody, violent and definitely not for kids to see, but it is one way of getting rid of the frustration (not the best either, but sometimes I just don't have the time to work out). But would I do this in real life? No, because this isn't the way to handle things, I don't even own a gun.
I took off and lived in Japan for 5 years and watched as the US moved from the ME generation to the "It's not my fault, give drugs to cure it" generation. An interesting development, but I'm still happy I live here and feel this is the best place in the world to live that I have seen.
CurlyGirly
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2000
- Posts
- 233
Just my two cents
Oh my favorite topic...but the phone rang so now I've completely lost my train of thought.
But I'd just like to share one thought with you. If George W. Bush becomes president, I'm becoming an expatriate. Plain and simple.
I really could care less what a president does in his spare time. And trust me if I had a wife like Hillary, wouldn't I be looking elsewhere too? But I digress....
The fact is, during the Clinton administration, the gay/lesbian rights movement has progressed so far. We have more rights now than ever before. GWB has worked hard in his state of Texas to take them all away (one of the reasons I moved out of tx). I could go on and on about this, but it makes me so angry that I could just scream.
*gets off political soapbox*
Oh my favorite topic...but the phone rang so now I've completely lost my train of thought.
But I'd just like to share one thought with you. If George W. Bush becomes president, I'm becoming an expatriate. Plain and simple.
I really could care less what a president does in his spare time. And trust me if I had a wife like Hillary, wouldn't I be looking elsewhere too? But I digress....
The fact is, during the Clinton administration, the gay/lesbian rights movement has progressed so far. We have more rights now than ever before. GWB has worked hard in his state of Texas to take them all away (one of the reasons I moved out of tx). I could go on and on about this, but it makes me so angry that I could just scream.
*gets off political soapbox*
Dixon Carter Lee
Headliner
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- Nov 22, 1999
- Posts
- 48,682
No one loves Ameria more than me. My past posts will bear me out. But I despise America-Right-or-Wrong-Morons. And the next person who tells our European fiends that they'd be Nazis if it weren't for us (and it's not just you my young, strident, overly-earnest friend Jeff) should remember how they fought against fascism and tyranny for nearly 10 years before America realized that it wasn't living on the planet alone. Try to think of war as a wee bit more complex than wrestling.
The problem with American is the problem of corporate globilization. Any problem you can think of, crime, drugs, violence, will have corporate globilization at its heart. Giant, merged companies spend more money on politics, lobbying efforts, demographics, selective marketing, homogenization of culutre, and the result is disenfranchisement, material angst, loss of voice and citizen confidence in the very notion of change. Anyone who has left an executive position in corporate America knows what I'm talking about. I am SERIOUSLY thinking of voting for Ralph Nader and the Green Party.
The problem with American is the problem of corporate globilization. Any problem you can think of, crime, drugs, violence, will have corporate globilization at its heart. Giant, merged companies spend more money on politics, lobbying efforts, demographics, selective marketing, homogenization of culutre, and the result is disenfranchisement, material angst, loss of voice and citizen confidence in the very notion of change. Anyone who has left an executive position in corporate America knows what I'm talking about. I am SERIOUSLY thinking of voting for Ralph Nader and the Green Party.
CreamyLady
Uncompromising Visionary
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2000
- Posts
- 2,685
DCL, I did vote for Nader and LaDuke in the last election. In light of the events of the last four years, I feel very good about it.
