To those who live in USA. You watching the RNC??

im sorry but the way you put it...

:smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043

 

Please dont let this turn into a multipage flaming topic... *prays to Elbereth*

 

that's what we will try to do sir...

uh, i mean, that's what we are all doing, sir.

:smt082

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uh? who is elbereth again?

 

It may amaze some of our American members as to why people in other countries care so much about our elections.

Like Anagrama said, "We're all collectively shitting ourselves..." seems to me sometimes people in other countries pay attention to our politics more than we do.

Becasue to people in most of the rest of the world, say South America, Asia, the Middle East, etc- what happens in America has far flung reprocussions in thier countries, sometimes more than here at home. Four years can pass here in America and you can hardly notice the difference- not so in say... oh I don't know.... IRAQ.

The fact is that to some extent, we the American public have greater say in what happens in those parts of the world than the people who live there do- and they know it. Then you see where America gets the majority of it's information concerning current events in these countries: right wing radio talking heads, FOX news, and the Tonight Show. No wonder they're all shitting themselves.

So it makes it ten times scarier to them that the average American citizen couldn't give a shit about politics, and that less than half of our people even bother to vote anymore, and that the only viable canidates for the most powerful office in the world are virtually indistinguishable from each other when it comes to issues that effect them, ... then you wonder why people feel the need to crash airplanes into skyscrapers. The whole goddammed situation makes my head spin.

I think I'm going to write my own name in for president. You can too. Just make sure you spell it right or they won't count it.

 

They are effectively both puppets to the massive corporations which fund every step of their campaigns, and once either of them get into office, big business runs the show. Commercial interest is the number one priority. It's a fucking twisted way of running a country, it isn't going to change, it's hard to imagine how it could fail to get worse, and that's why people feel such despair when they look objectively at the situation of the USA. It makes my head spin too mate.

Last time I was in America, it was the news that hit me the most. It's an absolute disgrace to the intelligence, and if anyone's still blind to this they need to wake the fuck up. The American public is being warped half-truths and misleading information at a dizying rate every time they turn on the TV, and at the same time no real or controversial news gets through. Nobody ever questions the government in any meaningful way. Hardly surprising when you look at the people who own it all.

 

Hey, come on, it's gotta be "Fair & Balanced" if they say it is, right? [/sarcasm]

 

Yeh Alcky, got to agree with you 100% there. The major media here in the USA is nearly 100% corporate and is quickly degenerating into shills for the powers that be. From what I hear this is happening to Europe too to some extent.

There are still some good media sources here in America, like the Pacifica network, FSRN, and most of the print media still manages to print the truth once in a while (you just have to look past the front page.) But on the whole most Americans get thier news from the TV (becasue when was the last time you read a newspaper?) or from pseduo-news tabliod radio shows like (ugh!) Rush Fucking Limbaugh and his millions of imitators.

What's really sad is to see any kind of real dessent you have to disguise it in comdey form- that's why you can say whatever you want on Jay Leno, South Park, or the Daily Show with John Stewart, which sometimes does better investigative reporting than the goddamn "real" news. It's a fucking crime.

The only thing I can see that will change any of this is as more people get internet access (as still 40% of households here don't) people will be exposed to media sources outside of the mainstream, like Slate.com, associated press, hell- even Matt Drudge, although he's a right wing wacko in his own right, at least he's not a shill who covers shit up like FOX.

I don't say these things becasue I'm anti-American, I say them becasue they're true.

 

See that's the thing that gets me. You shouldn't feel forced to add that kind of disclaimer at the end of your post. When you can't criticise your own government without fear that you'll be branded a traitor, there's something fundamentally wrong. It's part of your right as a citizen to question the events that go on in your country. It's also part of your civil and moral duty to make sure they don't fuck with you. Any culture that instills fear or expects apologies for doing so has no right to consider itself a champion of freedom.

I'm going to get pretty unpopular around here soon.

 

I dunno, you're talking sense 100% as far as I can tell.

 

Overall, i don't care who you vote for, what's going to happen will happen ;-) . anyway, to add flame to the fire i post this: a hip new trend for 'hip' youngsters lol.

Anti-Republican protestors - I cringe whenever hearing that the Republicans are planning some upcoming meeting, convention, or fundraiser to earn more money for the "Buy Jesus Christ a New Diamond Beard Foundation," not because I hate Republicans, but because I hate anti-Republican protestors even more. These loudmouthed, braindead raving cliches make me want to start voting Republican just to spite them, but naturally I avoid doing so because that would only ensure four more years of unwashed horse-like creatures parading down busy intersections while waving "BU$H IS EVIL" signs they drew with their parents' Magic Markers. The general idea here seems to be that if you are too fucking stupid to intelligently explain your position on a few political issues because you often break down into tears when losing arguments to eight-year olds regarding the quality of Willie Wonkie candy in the Hy-Vee parking lot, you can compensate for your lack of debate skills by being as loud and belligerent as possible. I mean, hell, that tactic works all the time, doesn't it? Do you know how many women have been converted to the ranks of Christianity thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the anti-abortion lobby and their rock-solid tactic of "standing outside abortion clinics in the middle of the rain and shrieking like the Pod People from 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' whenever they spot a pregnant woman walking within a 20-mile radius of the clinic"? I'm guessing somewhere between nine and ten hundred million billion thousand. Maybe even more if you count fat women as two people each.


Wow! Suddenly I hate George Bush and think America is just like Nazi Germany, all thanks to a fucking posterboard sign held by some fat unemployed shithead! The power of advertising in action!
The insane liberals, despite how much they claim to loathe insane conservatives, seem to have absolutely no qualms with adopting their awesome policy of forming large groups waving crudely misspelled signs, stomping around public places to disrupt the daily routines of normal non-insane folks, and screaming at everybody they see with the ultimate goal of annoying them into submitting to their wills. If people have to choose between George Bush and a crowd of furious bicyclists whose biggest claim to fame is that one of their blogs was mentioned in passing by Al Franken on that one AM radio station nobody turns on because it's about as exciting as listening to NPR at 50% speed, they'll either choose George Bush or they'll choose to look away when the riot police start caving in skulls with their nightclubs.

Here's a newsflash you guys and gals who believe George Bush is going to physically break into your bathroom and steal the awesome weed you have hidden in that prescription gout medication bottle next to the Drano: most people might actually listen to you if you present your facts clearly and act confident enough in what you believe in to know that these facts will speak for themselves. Most people will NOT listen to you if you're stomping around and blocking traffic while shouting tremendously catchy slogans like "two, four, six, eight, George Bush is a fucking liar and is Hitler and Satan and fuck you George Bush you cocksucking father of whores." Whenever chucklefucks like you begin blocking up traffic and causing me to be delayed, my first two priorities instantly switch to running you down with my car and voting Republican across the boards, not necessarily in that order.

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