Views on America from an outsider

[Bill_Brasky]

People in The Netherlands have always looked up to the USA. It won't be long before that stops, I guess. These are stories I read, watched and heard in the mainstream media over here:
-your political system is one of the most corrupt systems in the world
-your politicians represent companies instead of people
-your government will probably censor the internet
-your government detains without trial
-your government tortures people
-your government hires mercenaries
-your government does nothing to improve education
-your president doesn't have any real influence over what happens
-your presidential candidates are stupid beyond belief
-your presidential candidates promote stupidity
-your presidential candidates are not taken seriously over here
-your elections are a joke
-your media outlets cannot be trusted
-your media outlets focus on distractions instead of main issues
-your people are ed when they're uninsured
-your infrastructure is collapsing
-your economy will soon be top 3 instead of #1
-your economy will probably collapse a second time

So it's not only Reddit or The Daily Show that is covering these issues. Other countries are watching and passing the popcorn while your country is collapsing. And I think it will get worse, not better. I am 29 years old and looking back at the world's history I don't think the problems above will be solved during my lifetime. It will probably have to get a lot worse before a movement arises that's big enough to demand real change. Now you'll probably read this, take one small point out of my story and comment on that. That's okay, but please notice the trend of what's going on in your country. Do something about it. We need our big brother to act like role model. Right now he's high as a kite.

[scott]

So, like I said... I think you've got good points here. Hard to argue with any of them.

[Nbadan]

You forgot we indiscriminately destroy the environment

[boutons_deux]

USA news is nearly daily on European new shows and channels. They know HTF USA corporatocracy/plutocracy is screwing up the USA and the planet. The USA is an object of derision and ridicule.

[Nbadan]

People feel a state of helplessness here....they feel powerless to fix anything.

They are that beaten down abused wife

[Yonivore]

So, like I said... I think you've got good points here. Hard to argue with any of them.

That's what a liberal bias in the press with get you, scott. Ignorant foreigners.

And, Dan, we're the most environmentally conscious -- and cleanest -- major industrial power in the world. We've come a long way from the burning rivers and unfishable lakes.

[scott]

That's what a liberal bias in the press with get you, scott. Ignorant foreigners.

And, Dan, we're the most environmentally conscious -- and cleanest -- major industrial power in the world. We've come a long way from the burning rivers and unfishable lakes.

Which of these points do you take issue with:

-your political system is one of the most corrupt systems in the world
-your politicians represent companies instead of people
-your government will probably censor the internet
-your government detains without trial
-your government tortures people
-your government hires mercenaries
-your government does nothing to improve education
-your president doesn't have any real influence over what happens
-your presidential candidates are stupid beyond belief
-your presidential candidates promote stupidity
-your presidential candidates are not taken seriously over here
-your elections are a joke
-your media outlets cannot be trusted
-your media outlets focus on distractions instead of main issues

The only one I disagree with is the first, but only in the sense that our corrupt political system is no where near being one of the most corrupt in the world. It is far more corrupt than it should be though.

[Bill_Brasky]

That's what a liberal bias in the press with get you, scott. Ignorant foreigners.

And, Dan, we're the most environmentally conscious -- and cleanest -- major industrial power in the world. We've come a long way from the burning rivers and unfishable lakes.

.....and in walks a prime example of our ty educational system.

[baseline bum]

The only one I disagree with is the first, but only in the sense that our corrupt political system is no where near being one of the most corrupt in the world. It is far more corrupt than it should be though.

It will get there though.

[Yonivore]

.....and in walks a prime example of our ty educational system.

Okay, Bill, give me an example of our "indiscriminate environmental destruction."

[Yonivore]

It will get there though.

Attorney General Holder is actively working on this.

[scott]

Okay, Bill, give me an example of our "indiscriminate environmental destruction."

Didn't see that one in Bill's original list.

[Bill_Brasky]

Okay, Bill, give me an example of our "indiscriminate environmental destruction."

Where the did I ever say anything about that?

[Yonivore]

Didn't see that one in Bill's original list.

You're right, I should have ask Dan. My bad.

So, Bill, on the matter of internet censorship, can a Dutch blogger be arrested for hate speech if they say something unsavory about the Muslim religion?

[Yonivore]

Where the did I ever say anything about that?

My apologies, I should have directed that at Nbadan but, for the record, how do you feel about our record on the environment.

[Bill_Brasky]

You're right, I should have ask Dan. My bad.

So, Bill, on the matter of internet censorship, can a Dutch blogger be arrested for hate speech if they say something unsavory about the Muslim religion?

SOPA & PIPA will give the goverment the right to shut down youtube if one single user posts copyrighted material.

[ChuckD]

That's what a liberal bias in the press with get you, scott. Ignorant foreigners.

And, Dan, we're the most environmentally conscious -- and cleanest -- major industrial power in the world. We've come a long way from the burning rivers and unfishable lakes.

You can thank successive Democratic congresses decades ago enacting strict regulations for that. They are now being systematically undone, and if we're not back to the burning rivers and unfishable lakes, well, give it time and a few more GOP adminstrations and congresses.

[Yonivore]

SOPA & PIPA will give the goverment the right to shut down youtube if one single user posts copyrighted material.

If they pass and there's no guarantee that will happen. In fact, I doubt they will. Freedom from prior restraint of our free speech rights, while taking a beating from time to time, have survived thus far.

But, currently, you can be prosecuted in The Netherlands for saying something the Dutch have determined to be "hate speech."

[Yonivore]

You can thank successive Democratic congresses decades ago enacting strict regulations for that.

Nixon's EPA stopped the burning rivers and unpolluted the lakes a long time ago. And, CAFE standards, supported by both sides of the aisle have made cars so clean they're almost improving air quality -- if, as the next sentence demonstrates, the EPA hadn't gone silly.

Everything since we actually cleaned up the pollution has been some socialist redistributionist scheme that has culminated in the EPA declaring my exhalation a pollutant.

[Winehole23]

Prior restraint of our free speech rights, while taking a beating from time to time, have survived thus far.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...-details.shtml

[ElNono]

There are no problems.... it's all media bias!

[Bill_Brasky]

If they pass and there's no guarantee that will happen. In fact, I doubt they will. Freedom from prior restraint of our free speech rights, while taking a beating from time to time, have survived thus far.

But, currently, you can be prosecuted in The Netherlands for saying something the Dutch have determined to be "hate speech."

No, you can't. Quit posting bull dude.

http://momentmagazine.wordpress.com/...e-netherlands/

[Yonivore]

No, you can't. Quit posting bull dude.

http://momentmagazine.wordpress.com/...e-netherlands/

He was prosecuted and, being acquitted, doesn't mean The Netherlands don't have criminal laws against "hate speech."

From the article you posted.

It is deeply disheartening that in the Netherlands, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust and where there are strict laws on hate speech,...

Is or is not that statement true?

and does, or does not, an acquittal directly support my assertion you can be prosecuted for "hate crimes" for saying something bad about Muslims?

[Bill_Brasky]

He was prosecuted and, being acquitted, doesn't mean The Netherlands don't have criminal laws against "hate speech."

From the article you posted.


Is or is not that statement true?

and does, or does not, an acquittal directly support my assertion you can be prosecuted for "hate crimes" for saying something bad about Muslims?

The judge threw the case out because apparently judges over there have some common sense.

Either way this isnt a thread about the Dutch.

[Yonivore]

The judge threw the case out because apparently judges over there have some common sense.

Either way this isnt a thread about the Dutch.

Maybe it should be since you're the Dutch pot criticizing the American kettle.