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There was another thread about this, and I was about to just add this in there, but I went to dinner, and literally when I came back I couldn't find it, so here's a new thread to stand alone by itself.
This is an interview with Chalmers Johnson who wrote a book on it. Saw him on c-span, and was very impressed. Lemme hear your opinions. I might buy the book once I get some time in the summer, certainly would seem interesting.
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/03/int04013.html
The imposing of the American culture, political climate, etc, etc onto a mimesis of the Roman Empire's rise and fall is, to be honest, the academic equivalent of calling an athlete a "man among boys"....it's become that cliched. Things do, however, become cliches for a reason and this is not to suggest that Johnson's assertions have no merit as a result. That being said, while he appears to raise several interesting points, I would argue they are ultimately undone by his somewhat misguided vision, and somewhat erroneous subsequent application, of the manner in which militarism exerted/exerts influence upon both the political and cultural bodies of a nation state (though I'd love to read his more in-depth vision of this to verify or deny my assertion). Ultimately, however, there is little doubt in my mind that what I will find when I read this (and i do intend to do so) is a logical and cogent analysis that falls victim to its own desire to be "shocking" and "controversial" (there's an excellent book somewhere in this mess of my room written by an academic in 1963 or so in which he predicts a turn of the century in which academics will be forced to do this very thing out of necessity)....something that experience has shown me many America-to-Rome comparisons of the "declining empire" variety tend to be.
I find it disgusting that people think the solution to terrorism is to do nothing. Only cowards do nothing. It was mentioned that the more we retaliate against terrorism, the more terrorism we face. So basically, the cowards solution is hoping that if you just give in to the bullies, they will leave you alone eventually. That is very disgusting and weak. Unfortunately for them, they will always cower in fear with that reasoning because the ONLY WAY to rid yourself of attacks from the enemy is to rid yourself of the enemy.
Yes, our nation is changing and much has to do with terrorism. It is like Christmas for George Bush cause he is able to pass laws which takes away from our freedom and puts more power into survellance of our own land. It also is disgusting knowing that the patriot act violates the constitution (what america was based on) and it still exists. These things might actually break down the american society as we know it. Almost to the point of socialism where we depend on the government more than it depends on us. Everyone is deemed equal: The new tax system where everyone pays the same based on income level regardless of write offs. Health care for everyone regardless of how many hours they work.
I feel this country will be in very sad shape in 50 years. We may still be in power equal to China but our government will have all the power and the voice of the people will be speechless.
1) Totally agree with you!Quote:
Originally Posted by bermich
2) When you think about it, it looks like it's turning that way, and it scares me, too.
Sym
The way to win a war is to be more ruthless than your enemy. Fighting a politically correct war is useles. The enemy must be so demoralized that they have no fight left in them. If that means you destroy cities and the populations in them so be it. Can you imagine the outcome of WWII if we had not bombed Tokyo, Dresden, Berlin, etc. I say we take about 10,000 MOAB 10k lb bombs and send our B52s out around the clock and bomb every place known to harbor and support our enemies. In the USA we should go after every noncitizen from the countries hostile to us and find out exactly where they stand. Finally we need to control our borders. Alllowing people to simply walk into the USA with no consequences is ruining our country's quality of life and costing billions to educate and treat these criminal entrants medically. Pressident Fox makes no secret of the fact that even though these Mexicans live and work in the USA they should remain loyal citizens of Mexico and owe no allegience to the USA.
I think the real war that we have to worry about is against pollution. If the average global temperature rises 3 degrees, There will be catastrophic changes in world climate. The USA's/canada's farming supplies food for most of the world, however, it is concentrated in what is essentially a small area that is climatically very similar. The midwest of north america has been compared to the area now known as the sahara desert in climatoregiospecificity, before the shift in global climate which caused it to develop.
Markas bro....you and I have disagreed many a time before...but dammn, I couldn't agree with you more on your thoughts regarding this topic. Well said. Unfortanutely, there is too much of our population that won't let things like this happen again...even though they are a minority amongst us, we let them speak louder than the majority. Shame on us all.Quote:
Originally Posted by markas214
peace,
ttgb