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Most Infuriating Myth about your Country? | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 121 of 177 19 July 2009 at 3:14am | IP Logged | |||||
You have constant propaganda in your country, telling you that socialism is bad. This is because your country is really run by its' large corporations, not by the people. You do not really have much democratic choice, and it suits those in power very well. They want you to be SCARED of socialism (and now "terrorists") like you were scared of communism and went to war against it many times, all over the world. Your media is owned by those that want to see their agenda prevail in your country. Therefore you will be told over and over that your country is democratic and great, and other countries are sinister and evil to varying degrees. Not necessarily true! The onslaught of propaganda on Americans is pretty shocking. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched the channel "Fox News". Socialism is not bad. In Scandinavia we like it. Many other Europeans like it too. Even people from well-to-do families, for example me. We don't want our countrymen to live in poor houses.. Or get broke just because they get ill or have an accident. We want everybody - rich and poor - to be guaranteed a good education, for free all they way through university, if they like. We don't want somebody running our country just because he was born in a rich family and corporations bought him the best publicists to run his election campaign. We do NOT feel a strong desire to live in excessive luxury, have an enormous house, maids and gardeners and three expensive cars. Our motto is "the middle way is best" We do not want to poison the earth with the gases and junk from an excessive lifestyle. We want cities that you can walk in, and nice trams, trains, buses and metro that everybody can enjoy travelling in. I am a manager in a large corporation. I don't have a car. I don't need it or want it. Our countries are not perfect by far, but we prefer our style of goverment over yours. Nobody in Europe want US style "democracy" because it does not seem very democratic to most of us. We certainly do not want to have a war every 5-10 years, sacrificing young mens lives for business contracts and cheaper oil. During my lifetime America has started at least 6 separate wars or invasions of territories that have nothing to do with America and are not geographically close to the USA. Don't get angry at me for saying this, it's not against you personally in any way. I hope you'll get curious instead, about why most Europeans feel this way. Edited by cordelia0507 on 19 July 2009 at 4:33am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6122 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 122 of 177 19 July 2009 at 3:26am | IP Logged | |||||
Actually, it’s run by the Federal Reserve… 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5899 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 123 of 177 19 July 2009 at 5:08am | IP Logged | |||||
I believe much of what you wrote is the result of propaganda, or at least ignorance. You Europeans are the mirror image of the caricature you make out America to be. And as far as socialism not being "bad", all one has to do is look at the evil it has wrought on Latin America. Countless innocent civilian men, women and children have been senselessly and mercilessly destroyed in the name of Marx and "social justice". Europeans have been sheltered from its more explosive consequences for a couple of generations and their worldview hopelessly obscured and disfigured as a result, but socialism has also crippled your civilization in subtler yet even deadlier ways. To JW, you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| icing_death Senior Member United States Joined 5861 days ago 296 posts - 302 votes Speaks: English* | Message 124 of 177 19 July 2009 at 5:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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please take your politics elsewhere
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5909 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 125 of 177 19 July 2009 at 6:29am | IP Logged | |||||
Uhm, woah. This is probably going to be removed if we go way off topic and back and forth so last post on this from me: Europe and Latin America, not the same. Scandinavian socialism and Marxism as you see it, not the same. Please do come and see for yourself if you get the chance, until then don't lump our socialism together with other kinds, because what you describe has nothing to do with reality here. Cordelia's description was excellent. Moving on... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6148 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 126 of 177 19 July 2009 at 8:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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Anarchism
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| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 127 of 177 19 July 2009 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Juan, you are mistaken, I am no victim of propaganda, and am not an intraspective or insular Scandinavian or European (if there even was such a thing).
From the age of 12 I spent almost every school holiday in Asian countries (capitalist and communist) because of my family situation. My stepmother is Japanese, I have family in Israel that I've stayed with twice. Right now I live in the UK which is the closest ally of the US. These experiences enforced my views, if anything. I admit that I have no experience of South America though. But it seems to me that many South Americans probably don't see things the same way that you do, for whatever reason. Else, why are socialists elected, and why do all these marxist guerillas exist in the first place? Who starts them, and why? Why do so many people protect and shelter them? But unlike the US, I say, what happens in S.America is none of my business, and is down to those who live there. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6122 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 128 of 177 19 July 2009 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
That’s why there is such a huge Latin American Diaspora here in the U.S. Unfortunately, the U.S. is becoming just like them, or even worse, as comrade Chavez recently quipped to comrade Castro about comrade Obama: "El presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez, advirtió el martes a su aliado cubano Fidel Castro que el "camarada" Barack Obama podría resultar más izquierdista que ellos, luego de que el mandatario estadounidense nacionalizara General Motors..."Oye, Obama acaba de nacionalizar nada más y ni nada menos que la General Motors. ¡Camarada Obama! Fidel, cuidado y nos quedamos a la derecha", bromeَó el líder izquierdista " "On Tuesday, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, warned his ally Cuban president Fidel Castro that “comrade” Barack Obama could end up being more left-wing than they are, after the US leader nationalizes General Motors….”Listen, Obama just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Camrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we will be end up on the right”, joked the left-wing leader."
Yes, the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves. Edited by JW on 19 July 2009 at 3:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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