Fun Stuff > CHATTER
patriotism/nationalism
Caspian:
--- Quote from: elcapitan on 01 Aug 2008, 05:56 ---You bet. It's gone from being an egalitarian, inclusive, welcoming society to a place where we are encouraged to be suspicious of our neighbours (especially if they're wearing turbans or eat strange food),
--- End quote ---
Ahahaha, are you serious? First, that's a massive (massive!) exaggeration- tampa was a massive mess, obviously, but I'm curious as to what other proof you have that Howard introduced a 'culture of fear' or what have you. Second, do you honestly think that post 9/11, labour would've approached security any different? People got more suspicious after 9/11 - and would have regardless of who was in charge.
--- Quote ---As for reasons he got elected four times in a row: they were called the "Aussie battlers", remember them? The little people who were foolish and/or naive enough to fall for his appeals to crass xenophobia and historical revisionism.
--- End quote ---
You lefties (generalisations, woo!!) are terrible at this! The whole "hah, they were just too foolish to see the truth, poor working class people" line, again. I don't really know what to say to this, and I'm sure a lot of swearing won't go down too well. I think I'll just leave that line up there so it can embarrass you.
--- Quote ---Finally, there's a fairly decent chance that I'm more travelled than you, and the more I see of the world, the more I realise how precious Australia is and how much we need to hang on to it. We are seriously in danger of going down the same tubes as the US - a great place originally with a fantastic ethos, until the power-mongers took over and shat all over the dreams of the populace.
--- End quote ---
Agreed with your final point, but don't assume that I haven't been too quite a few places. It's odd how I end up arguing for howard when in some ways I'm quite the communist when it comes to economics (but probably not so with worker's right). It seems that this forum board in particular brings out the contrarian (if that's even a word) in me.
Finally, by "sweet guy" I certainly didn't mean cute and cuddly. I assumed it was obvious I meant something along the lines of "cool dude".
Vendetagainst:
I don't know why, but I am fascinated by this list:
Wikipedia's Democracy Index
I think there should be a global competition to see who can improve their scores the most. Yes? Yes.
RedLion:
Oh, yeah, I forgot. I can never forgive my country for being the only nation that has ever used the atomic bomb--TWICE--both times on areas of high and dense civilian population with little to no military value, then having the audacity to spent the next 60 years telling anyone it doesn't like that they can't be allowed to develop nuclear technology.
Most of the "bad" things America has done can be justified through some prism, but to me, this simply cannot be. History has shown that Japan had been looking for a way out, but wouldn't accept unconditional surrender because they feared the Emperor, whom they regarded as a living god, would be dethroned and/or killed. The U.S. refused to negotiate on the point, demanding full and complete surrender with no caveats. All they had to do was guarantee the emperor's safety, and it's likely that Japan would have surrendered. This is documented history. Instead, we killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. If anything begs an official apology, it's that.
Also: I'm not an Australian, and have never even been to Australia, but Howard always struck me as a supreme douche. He even looked like one. Just a kind of guy that, when you see him, you get that "douche" vibe.
Vendetagainst:
I thought you were French :-P
RedLion:
Nope. American.
Although my ancestry is about 45% French, and I'm descended from Charlemagne.
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