Job Discussion Forums

[ulock]

This was posted on AOL "news" this morning.

GOD bless the USA, huh?

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050822234809990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001

[Justin Trullinger]

You beat me to it- I was about to post that one myself. God "something" the USA, but I'm not sure bless was the first word out of my lips...

So, how to use this in class? I'm thinking maybe freedom of speech. How do people feel about foreign citizens advocating the death of their legitimately elected leader? Or maybe use slanted language to create emotional reality, not connected to fact? (Why "strong arm dictator?" I can tell Chavez's arms are stronger Robertsons...)

Or use of hyperbole, in describing how big a danger Chavez is to the US?

I don't know. But I wonder what all your students think about this. Or how residents in the USA would feel if mainstream, or relatively mainstream, political figures were advocating the death of GWB on mainstream media?

Interesting, no?

Justin

[ls650]

-whoops-

[ls650]

I guess he wasn't busy enough, milking all his TV viewers with his Bible-thumping nonsense.

[Henry_Cowell]

Robertson is a huge corporate scam artist, preying on people's religious fervor to further his own political and economic goals.

Several of his scams involve huge African diamond and gold minining frauds, in which he was doing business with the most brutal and despised of African dictators (Mobuto and Charles Taylor).

The real reason Robertson is so apoplectic about Chavez is oil money, which Chavez controls and Robertson desperately craves.

[Seth]

Thankfully most people in the US thought his comments were way out of line, but Robertson has been known to say some truly rediculous things. I'm mystified how people can even watch him anymore, but unfortunately he's still popular in, shall we say, less educated areas. I watched Lou Dobbs on CNN tonight and he was outraged, and he's by no means a liberal. Everyone's been coming out of the woodwork to distance themselves from his comments. Except the Bush administration, which hopefully will happen soon but I'm not holding my breath.

Most people in the US don't even know who Chavez is, so needless to say they don't agree with Roberston.

[evansmith]

Justin,

By saying GOD **** the USA, you would be offending far more people than just Robertson and the like. I don't know if that's your intent or not.

[Seth]

evansmith

Welcome to the internet! Ad hominum and sweeping generalizations are the norm, so don't take it personally.

I already know how this thread will go down: Our resident guerilla warrior princess and the trendy Australian hipster will make some inflammatory and over the top comments about the US, which will prompt rebuttals by over sensitive Americans. Our smug Gollum friend in Hong Kong will join in the fun, as well. It will all go downhill from there and eventually get locked.

Truth and fairness are always secondary.

[shuize]

You all have it exactly backwards.

Yes. Damn Robertson.

Why? Because his stupid comments probably just did more to ensure Chavez will die in his bed of old age than anything I can imagine.

[Chris_Crossley]

[Aramas]

The quotes on the BBC are:

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."

"We don't need another $200bn war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator."

"It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Perhaps someone should point out that "the covert operatives" have made more than four hundred assassination attempts on Castro - including Tom-and-Jerryesque exploding cigars - lol! One could infer that they're not terribly good at it.

I wonder if Itchy and Scratchy have replaced Wile E Coyote as the preeminent US covert operative role models ? Perhaps they can try to hit him in the face with an iron, or drop an anvil on his head

[Justin Trullinger]

[evansmith]

Justin,

I did not take any offense to your comments, I am used to broad statements about the US that encompass it as 1 evil rather than a mix of good and bad, like everywhere in the world. And I'm sure it wasn't your intention to encompass, it's just easier to say "God blank the US" than "God blank the people in the US who think along the lines of GWB and big business and the right wing and..." well you get the point. I understand the frustration that you convey, and it is the same frustration expressed by the vast majority that I come in contact with here in the US (albeit I am living in California...).

Actually the real reason that I wrote back was because of what you had to say about Chile. I used to live in Chile, and am actually moving back in a couople of weeks, and it is my contention that the US's interests were not the only interests that played a part in the event that you refer to. And if you talk to Chileans about this (if you can get them to open up on the subject as it is very sore) most will not contend that it was a purely US initiated endeavor. In fact, a current top presidential canditate (Lavin) was one of the so called "Chicago Boys" who helped to create the new economic system put into place after the coup. He remains in high popularity today even with his close connection to the Pinochet govt.
I guess this is because most Chileans believe that they are better off today than the would have been had the country remained communist. And many, many Chileans believe this, whether they will out and out say it or not.

Now, I know this can turn into a huge discussion about philosophies on government, and the history of coups throughout the course of history, and I'm sure my knowledge of these topics is far inferior than most of you on this forum. And don't get me wrong, I am no republican. I just site this example to show that it is not only the US's interests that come into play, at least in some cases.

Regards,

Evan

PS. See Seth, it didn't have to go down that way.

[amy1982]

the thing is, the country is split just about in half of those who support GWB and those who don't. (my guess is that there are approximately equal numbers of ignorant people who don't want to think for themselves on both sides...)

at any rate, depending on where you live, it can seem like most people disagree (or agree). and ESPECIALLY when you're talking about people who voluntarily leave the united states. regardless of where you are and who you come in contact with, when you're talking about americans as a whole, of the approximately 50% who voted, about half voted for GW and half against... that's just the way it is - approximately

[Henry_Cowell]