Excellently put, Casper. I am a Jew who grew up in Germany just after the last war, went to school there and university. During that time I have not heard EVER a racist remark by my peers or anyone else for that matter. Come to think of it, I was naive enough to think that racism is something that happened in the past. Until I went on a holiday to the USA. It was in a small town in Louisiana where a woman I talked to in a diner spat in my face when she heard I was Jewish and had the audacity to live in Germany! I was scum as far as she was concerned.
What I would like to see are UN weapons inspectors to go into the US and make sure THEY don't have any "weapons of mass destruction" lying around anywhere. Then, if they find any, maybe the rest of the world should just attack America for having them. Iraq at the present time is NO threat to America in any way. Even if they have the necessary warheads, they have no means of getting them all the way to America. For that reason alone it would be ludicrous to attack Iraq. Bush's statement that it has to be done to "restore peace in the region" is just as ludicrous, as there is no war in the region, and no peace needs to be restored. What is encouraging is that, apparently the majority of Americans are against this war. Anyway, I don't want to go on and bore everyone with my opinions... Have a good day, Dr. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "Casper Gielen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 7:03 AM Subject: Re: In Response to - (Re: Iraq vs. N Korea) > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Op zaterdag 18 januari 2003 07:04, schreef [EMAIL PROTECTED]: > > On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 19:54:16 +0100 (CET) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard > > > > Menedetter) writes: > > > MY problem is if America wants to force american law to worldwide > > > affairs. THIS is not possible. > > > > I agree, Ricsi. One should not force their own ways upon others. > > > > It is equally true that Americans don't want others to force foreign ways > > upon America. And, if a foreign force were to come and attempt to make > > this happen, they would fail. This is because, as a last resort, the > > American people still possess their guns. (Gee, I'm starting to sound > > like Mr. Heston?) > > The Iraqis have guns, just like the Taliban. > I'll save the anti-gun argument for later. > > > Or, dare I ask, what do you think the French and Dutch kids hear in their > > schools about the German people. > > Being Dutch, 22 years old, I think I have quite a clear view about what they > tell us about Germans at school. > > - - They are NOT the enemy anymore, they are friends, and have been for a long > time. > - - Allthough Germans started WWII, that does not make them warmongers. Hitler > wasn't even german. > - - During the pre-war years, movements similar to the Nazi's > (fascist/nationalist) existed in most country's, including The Netherlands, > France and Italy (Mussolini was an example to Hitler). > - -Whenever the economy goes bad, people will look for a strong leader and a > scapegoat. Germany's economy was completly destroyed by heavy (close to > impossible) punishments for WW1. > > All of this boils down to: they are humans, just like the rest of us. And just > like colour of skin or religion, have nothing to do with being "good" or > "bad". > > > > > Care to guess what the Serbian people say about Austrians? > > > > The Europe I know isn't quite so perfect. I haven't yet been to Portugal. > > Perhaps they have reached the position where all prejudices have been > > abolished. For the rest of the world, it's still THEM vs US (whoever them > > and us happens to be). It's actually the core concept in Cultural > > Anthropology. > > The mistake you make is thinking that "THEM vs US" is something like a > football match in which you are supposed to "beat" "THEM" so "US" will be the > winners. > Sure, prejudices exist everywhere, but being taught how to recognize and avoid > them helps. > > > I'm also guessing that the school system did a poor job of teaching the > > American perspective. Or were you absent that day? > > > > I might have missed a day, but most of those 3 month I was there. That is > three months of History dedicated to the US. Many other classes also spend at > least some time to US views, eg English. For the record, they also try to > teach us about other country's/believes. Think Islam/North-Korea/Communism. > > > What I have failed to grasp is any reasoning that would suggest why it is > > logical to argue that America should change to a European perspective, > > yet illogical to argue that it is Europe who, in fact, needs to change > > its perspective. > > > > As long as you are only dealing with the US, don't change a thing. However, as > soon as you start interacting with people from other parts of the world, > you'll have to adapt to find a common way of interaction. > - From some other discussion: "Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose > begins." > > - -- > Casper Gielen > [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - -- > Linux sucks twice as fast and 10 times more reliably, > and since you have the source, it's your fault. -Ca1v1n > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQE+LwcWIhQIPPgOSvcRAtxQAJ9KER9QfWCLyXxVdnIkiIGOUwwsqgCcCFXE > L+knVdW+jIfdA4mybj/hp7U= > =V7mS > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > >
