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America: Like It Or Unfriend It
Hugh Pickens writes "As we celebrate America's birthday today, head over the to the NY Times and take a look at a very clever 'op-art' creation, 'Like it or Unfriend It' by Teddy Wayne, Mike Sacks, and Thomas Ng, that represents what 'America's Wall' would look like through our history. Beginning with 'Christopher Columbus wrote on America's wall: 'This IS India, right?,' through 'America added Great Britain to Kingdoms I am Fighting With,' through 'The South has changed its privacy settings to accept carpetbaggers,' and finishing with 'America stopped playing the game Wild-Goose Chase While Nation-Building,' and 'America has joined the China Network' the wall includes dozens of invitations, likes, posts and changes to privacy settings that shows a summary of American history as seen from a Facebook perspective. Our favorite from the 1980s: 'Ronald Reagan created a page: "Trickle-Down Economics" followed by "Half a million upper-income people like this.'" For another take on 4th of July data visualization, Tim O'Reilly points out flag.codeforamerica.org, which aggregates twitter posts tagged #July4 into an evolving flag tapestry.
If it helps kids learn, then that's a good thing... right?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
How to I unfriend it?
There are around 150,000 troops in Iraq/Afghanistan. We have bases all over the world. We are currently bombing other nations (Libya/Yemen/Somalia). We have bases in over a hundred other countries around the world.
When did we stop nation building again?
A part of me can't help but think of what our founding fathers would think of America today and how quickly they'd be branded as terrorists.
War on Drugs, TSA, 'mandatory' DUI checkpoints, gun control, police abuses, etc, etc.
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.-
Imagine if a group of informed citizens stood up and sent that to the feds. How quickly would they be shut down?
You are maintaining an empire.
HTH.
Deleted
Let's see... When the inept Carter admin was overthrown I got a tax cut. It was my first job out of college and the pay sucked. Hardly upper class.
And wait, there's more. The tax cuts gave us a couple decades of growth. Oh, and the Soviet empire fell.
You know, he was a good president after all.
Just because you declare independance doesn't make you a country. Try again on April 9, when the treaty that ended the war of independance was ratified, and the former colonies became recognized as their own country. If anything, July 4 (or July 2, or August 2 depending on which historian you're reading and what your point of view is) is America's "Conception Day".
How fitting. Your comments are both petty and bourgeois.
I had a bit of an epiphany today about date formats. Any other day of the year and this would be known as July 4th, 2011 (ie Sept 11th), and any attempt by other people to say "why are you using such a dumb arsed date format?" would be met by jeers of "It's our date format and we'll do what we like with it". However, today, on what is probably the most venerable US national holiday its known as "4th of July" .. just like it would be known in pretty well every other country in the world. I can't say that I know the history of why this is, but I do find it curious.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
He may well not care enough to vote. I'm amazed at the number of people who will whine online, but do not cast their vote. They will cry about how bad things are but cannot be bothered to take the least of steps to try and change it.
That is also part of the reason why things like this get supported. It isn't that so many people necessarily support it, it is that so many people who vote do. If the supporters of something all vote and the opponents of ti all don't then it'll continue even if the opponents outnumber the supporters.
That, combined with people's tendency to self select groups that agree with them leads to people having their view that "everyone" wants something changed. You get someone who hangs out with people who want drugs legalized, and who posts in forums online that want that and they come to believe that most of America wants it, the government just won't listen. They do not consider that there are people not in those groups that feel different, and that the groups may have a very low amount of voters and thus not matter so much to those in charge.
So remember: If you really care about something vote, and write to your representatives. It is never futile, even if you lose. Democracy isn't about getting your way 100% of the time.
That's called Ghey.
No. The word 'Ghey' was invented by mouth-breathing morons who felt bad about getting ostracized for their use of the word 'Gay' but didn't really want to stop using it either.
And like all good compromises, everybody hates the resultant state of affairs.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
the lefty drivel and Bush-bashing has no appeal for, oh, at least half of the NYT's potential audience
obviously you lean right. did you not get the memo that right-thinking, right-leaning people should only head to "nytimes.com" to bitch at Krugman? to suggest that a "real American" would ever be in the NY Times audience shows your commitment to the cause must be flagging or flaccid. the left still has its Mojo, just ask Mr. Weiner. no flaccid problems there!
-- How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.
It wouldn't bother me if some of our so-called "friends" quit being our friends. What does bother me is the fact that these "friends" are our friends because we give them money. In an economy that has yet to see the bottom, our so-called "friends" would understand if the money stopped, and those that don't understand, screw 'em. The abuses of the state department in squandering the tax money of the US voters while the voters once again, have to tighten their collective belts. The payoffs to these "friends" does nothing more than prop up totalitarian regimes and support an illicit drug industry.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
I wish they'd get it right for once.
So do I. The very first post should have been "America has added GB to Kindoms I am Fighting With" since before that there was no America. If he means the continent then he should have said North America and, in any case, his later posts are clearly written to take America as US.
The only reason Reagan didn't give us world War Three was because Thatcher and a pile of others finally managed to convince him that all he had to do was wait a few months and the USSR would fall apart on it's own. Using astrology to influence policy, invading a member of the British commonweath without contacting the UK first, needless sacrificing marines in Lebanon merely to "show the flag" when they should have at least been prepared for hostilities, escorting Saddams oil tankers, selling weapons to Hezbolla and Iran plus a pile of other insanities really should never be forgotten. He's an example of ego being put before the needs of a nation and the inability of congress to remove a dangerous President.