Hey there! My first thread! Drinks for everyone... There is this debate going on on another forum and I said Americans are paranoid, especially recent history proves it. I also accidently mentioned this controvers documentary by Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine. And I was also accused numerous times for being one-celled organism because I generalize and make weird presumptions about Americans, like this one that they are paraniod, or that they are narrow-minded, or that they are brainwashed and stuff like that. Yeah, I know, that's a bit stupid to say on an american board where mostly americans post... anyway, some of you people here seem to be intelligent and smart. Do you think Americans are paraniod and why do you think so? Take care, Hamlet
If your refering to the Red-Baiting Anti-Communist spy purging paranoid cold war period now being re-created in the Anti-American baiting Anti-Terror terrorist purging paranoia being whiped up by the US Administration i'd say yes the US Administration and Ruling elite use paranoia and fear as a tool, they have done before cumulating in the Cold war and Mc Carthrite witch hunts for Communists and the horrors spawned from that, and they are using it again in the "War against Terror" with horrible consequences for many in countries around the world and anyone in the US of ME decent and probably soon as with the cold war average American citizens will soon follow on the list of Victims in order to add to the fear and paranoia that "your neighbour could be a terrorist/comunist/liberal" insert label as appropriate with current propoganda. I wouldn't say the Americans as a people or indeed any group are instinctivly paranoid but yes America has a history and current agenda of using Fear and Paranoia to whip its citizens up into sacraficing rights and putting up with the most obscene and illogical suppresion and support of wars for the elite.
amerikans aren´t only paranoid ,they are also very stupid sometimes ! we laughed here so loud about those folks ,trying to protect their houses with sticky tape against chemical attacks....... lol man ,they are paranoid Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If you think Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine is a "documentary" you really have no right to say Americans are brainwashed. http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20021208 As far as us being paranoid, we have guns what is there to be paranoid about? Who are you comparing us to? Germany where you can be arrested for posting an opionion on a website? How about nations were they control medicine and regulate buisness because they simply don't trust the people to make personal choices. I think that is paranoid in my book.
hey buddy ,wake up Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! posting an opinion is forbidden here in germany ??? lol man , i´ve been arrested so many times....... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! the only thing that isn´t allowed is child porn and facism/racism ! so what now ,mr i-know-all-about-foreign-countries ? do you agree that these things should be forbidden ? i hope so ... ah ,almost forget to speak about the guns..... well ,what´s wrong with gun laws ? you saw bowling for columbine ? perhaps you remember the number of gun kills in usa ? well ,let those numbers speak is my advice to you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Read this FAQ for the "fine print" http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/about/faq.php Mainly in relations to the bank, lockheed martin, and the taliban connection, and the "bowling" title. Moore is from Michigan, so he knows more about it than you, first of all. Not to mention that LM is the biggest contractor of the Pentagon. So the claim is not fully inflated.
Wasi, Paint a Swastica on the hood of your car and see how far you get. Nazi propaganda is outlawed in Germany. Not really free speech. kajolishot, so what if he is from Michigan?? I did not say that was false I said that it was a staged scene. The United States has been the single largest donor of humanitarian aid for Afghans for the past several years. In 2000, the United States contributed a total of $113 million in humanitarian aid to Afghans, both inside Afghanistan and in refugee camps in neighboring countries. In 2001, the aid level has already exceeded $184, accounting for some 300,000 tons of American food sent to Afghanistan this year. --bowling for columbine site it actually consisted of food and food security programs administered by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to relieve an impending famine. --Spinsanity That is said no where on the website of course. They are not producing weapons of mass destruction there.
well , it should be outlawed everywhere i think ,but perhaps you would like a swastica on your car Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! uhmmm...........,go play with mommy if you don´t understand the reason for banning nazi propaganda Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Swastica and other nati related stuff is outlawed everywhere in Europe. It's outlawed even in the USA, Canada and Japan (I guess). Thaug, Ku-Klux-Klan is outlawed in the United States. D'oh, so much about free speech you praise. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Nazi propaganda is not outlawed here. The KKK is not outlawed either. They have the same rights to thier opinions as others.
Paranoid??? We Americans aren't paranoid. Absurd! Pshaw! * That sudden development of mucus and the accompanying cough could very well be a nasty case of SARS! * What is the terror-alert level for today? How should I plan my non-coastal life for the day if the level is anywhere near Defcon 1? Whatever happened to SARS anyway? Is it still going on? What's the new flavor of the week? Mad cow? Lead in the water? And does anyone, <i>anyone</i>, not living on the coasts, take the terror-alert level seriously one whit? What are the chances of any of you being hit by a stray cruise missile where you live now? Pretty slim, I'd say. First, you need to consider the political significance of a given target in your vicinity. If where you live is similar to mine, chances are overwhelmingly in your favor that nothing <i>terrorist</i>-related will <b>ever</b> happen. Still, it helps to carry that flag around on the car, right? And that God Bless America sticker which clearly signifies your stance against homegrown terrorism. And who, a couple months ago, didn't vaguely wonder if that cold you caught was actually SARS? Could it be? Am I one of the (un)lucky ones with this newfangled microbial nightmare joyriding through my bloodstream? It probably was SARS. But you overcame it just like 98%º of everyone else with SARS does. The entire mentality of America is founded on Us vs Them. We fought against those dastardly British, succeeding in emancipating ourselves from their rule. We took over an entire continent of indigenous peoples, subjugating them through ruthless measures because it was either them or us in our grand scheme of things. We couldn't be happy with coexistence. In the Civil War, we denounced those Yanks or those Southerners in an effort to justify wholesale slaughter of our very own peopleº. After capitalism comes full sway into our lives, we find that the majority of people are now fighting for the rights and luxuries and privileges of the few. A sense of nationalism takes holdwe're fighting for our country, for our livelihoods, for our children. We're bloodying our hands so that the people that committed us won't have to endure the hardships of a continual life of toil. And we find out that <i>we like it</i>. We can't get enough of it. None of us see the similarities between leaving the religious oppression of Britain to the ruling oligarchy of yesteryear. We are as conscripted as before. We willingly lay down our lives and those of our sons and daughters for a chance to make sure that the ruling class is not sullied with any of the concerns we must fill our cup with daily. We go through the airports, eyeing the passersby, searching unconsciously for anything remotely Arab. The country has given us <i>carte-blanche</i> for expressing our racial profiling of anyone or thing that's not like us. If you're not with us, then, logically, you must be against us. There are no shades of grey, no standing still. Either we're continually vigilant or we're consciously trying to sabotage the efforts of the good. Who knows what kind of devious thoughts that neighbor next to you is concoctingº. Our own thoughts are infinitely more scary and convoluted than reality. Are terrorists really coming out of the woodwork, as it were? It seems a day doesn't go by that some terrorist or other has been rooted out yet again. So, were these sleeper cells, ubiquitous as sin, just functioning for the sole purpose of doing ... nothing? All right, Aq-Salaba, your purpose is to lay low for a while, do absolutely nothing, then get caught, carted off to jail, and be forgot about for the rest of your life. And, proper to our Us vs Them mentality (which, coincendently, seems to be the only thought able to be processed by the majority of us Americans), we find ourselves in complete agreement on the pre-emptive strike style of war. Hey, who knows what they got up their sleeves. They're baddies, so let's waste them before the thought even occurs to them to waste usº. No WMDs? Who cares! The point of the war was not to <i>find</i> WMDs; the point was to ensure that they didn't get a chance to use them against us. Whether or not they had any in the first place is purely secondary. When we used WMDs against them, it was purely for demo purposes only. Think E3: wait til you get to the Level 5 Boss! Liberals! God, they're everywhere you look nowadays! Liberals are all pansies. They stand for peace and sh!t. They want to sit by and watch the bullies take control and ruin all our lives. 'Cause the bullies are out there and they make us afraid. Afraid of them over there across the sea. Afraid of them over there on the East, or in the South. Afraid of that couple that lives across the street. Afraid of that stranger we see in the mirror. Americans paranoid? Bah! The only person I know that's afraid of Americans is David Bowie. º The statistical success rate of surviving SARS was lifted without permission from <i>Southpark</i> º As <b>tiassa</b> states elsewhere, not only can you not have slaughter without 'laughter', but instead of looking at death as the killing of fellow humans, we tend to reduce it and categorize and <i>rationalize</i> it by saying inane things like, "Well, at least it's not us who's doing the dying." º From a scene in <i>Groundhog Day</i>, Chris Elliot's character is wondering what kinds of plans Bill Murray has in store with the groundhog, "I can think of a few things. Pervert." º I read a political cartoon that said this: "Pre-emptive strikes anywhere else is considered felonious assault."
I am afraid that I also generalize too much, but I have the distinct impression that americans are particularly susceptible to paranoia. The entire 'conspiracy' thing almost seem to have been invented by americans. And if they didn't invent it, they certainly love their conspiracy. While other countries may have their conspiracy, they don't seem to love them as much. And americans also seem to favour conspiracies to simple rational explanations. I am not sure why. Is it because their television is their main form of education? Is it because paranoia sells? I don't know...but I am sure aliens are behind it all.... (518 characters - for Goofy)
Is it paranoia when people really are out to get you? America isn't any more paranoid than most. Brainwashed or narrowminded? American opinion is split so obviously that isnt the case. Maybe the individual is a bit narrowminded but the diversity of the country makes up for that on a national scale.
thaug it is illegal in the US to burn a cross the way the KKK do. you might want to check out that supreme court case. the rationale is pretty much similar as that in germany for out lawing nazi stuff.
Burning a cross infront of somebodies house is a direct threat I was talking about propaganda. Stuff like http://www.ihr.org/other/990424toben.html
I'm with Clockwood. Americans aren't paranoid the world really does hate them. Don't bother asking why 'cos you wouldn't understand. Hope this helps. Dee Cee
They certainly have many reasons to be considering the situation though thankfully it hasn't gone that far.
