On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 12:34 PM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > People made judgments about Americans based on the actions and words > of our former leader George Bush. Is that reasonable? > To me, it is not. > People are likely making judgements about Americans based on the > actions and words of our current leader, Barak Obama. Is that > reasonable? > To me, it is not.
Yes and no. The fact that we chose George Bush and Barack Obama as our Presidents does say something about our country. On the other hand, close to 50% of the people in each case voted for someone else. I think it is fair to make judgments about the United States as a result though those judgments don't really don't scale down to individual Americans. Iran is represented by Ahmadinejad. Are all Iranians like Ahmadinejad? No, not at all. Is it useful and worthwhile to characterize the country based on his actions and speech? Yeah, many times it is. The actions the country takes are taken on his initiative (and others of course) and so frequently reflect his personality. If Iran elected a less confrontational leader I think the actions by Iran that you would see would be toned down as well. Residency in a country also isn't really the same thing as membership in a group. I could signal my dislike of the actions of my country by leaving it and renouncing my citizenship but it isn't very easy. It would take a whole lot to see me (and most others) take that step. Membership in a group, however, is something you actively do and something which is much less "sticky" than citizenship. No one is born a Democrat, Republican or Tea Partier, that is something they actively seek out and join. I see it as a matter of prioritization more than anything else. Like most things, it is on a continuum. Lets say that you belong to a golf club that doesn't allow black members. Does that automatically make you a racist? No, I don't think it does. But it does mean that you have prioritized a place to golf over racial equality. No leader of any group is going to 100% represent the views of every member. It is impossible. I generally support Obama, by and large. On the other hand, I'm virulently opposed to his handling of domestic wiretapping, states secrets privileges, the suspension of Habeas Corpus and other things. In the end, I have to justify my support by saying that the good I perceive he is doing outweighs the bad I perceive he is doing. It is a judgement on me but it isn't a black and white judgement. Cheers, Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:325906 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
