Does it really so deeply trouble you that you have to see ads everywhere? For some people, this is how they find out about the products they want to buy. Advertising is not the fault behind consumerism (although it certainly encourages it). And unsolicited? If someone knocks on your door to tell you about a product, that's unsolicited. But if you buy a newspaper, magazine, or periodical, or if you turn on the TV, you should practically expect advertisements by now.
Welcome to life, buddy. Suck it up and deal with it.
Substitute for Siemens Card
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PVR For Linux
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I believe the Seimens (yes, it's fun to say aloud from your cubicle) card is the same as the Hauppage DVB-S card. Linux support is spotty, but they do support their WinTV cards for SUSE and RedHat. However, either way you'll have to get someone in Europe to ship you a card. It'll be at least 8 months before I deploy to germany, so don't look to me.
The problem in terms of social globalism is that too many groups are trying to forcibly inflict globalism on people who don't want it. There are a number of societies and cultures on this planet who don't share Europes newfound sense of confederation, while others have had long histories that have taught them to avoid such pan-nationalist alliances.
The the primary failure of Marxist-Leninist philosophies is the blatent idealistic assumption that everyone is willing to work for a common good, and will gladly give up their way of life to do so - an idea which willfully ignores basic human nature which is to serve ones-self.
We see this even now, as neo-communist interests co-opt pre-existing political power structures in order to reassert their base under a more acceptable banner following the public spectacle that was cold-war communism. But not having learned the lessons of communism, they are again trying to forcibly impose socialist regimes on people, only instead of revolution they are using evolution.
Social globalization may eventually happen, but only when the collective will of humanity allows for it, and then, demands it. The question will still be if it's at all practical.
I agree that adopting OSS could, in theory, help developing countries, but only if and when OSS is fully interoperable with the dominant proprietary software systems like Microsoft Windows. Even then, there's very little money in OSS, so the development of competitive software tools to match those available on PC or Mac is slow. Most hard core linux enthusiasts I know still dual boot into the hated Windows OS because certain tools are simply not available to them under Linux. I believe this will change as 'nix style OS's grow and establish marketshare, but that is still years away.
Moreover, you still have the problem of government. Most of the developing world is still struggling with antiquated and bloated beauracracies that strangle the economic and civil freedoms of their populations. OSS will not solve these problems, and neither will globalization. Free markets, and democracy will solve those problems, and only after those problems are solved will globalization be a practical reality (this point also ignores the desirability of globalization, since nationalism is still a strong and necessary componant for most of the worlds citizens).
Thanks for the plus comment though, it can be hard to write something without dedicating the full text to Katz bashing.
A a plus note, Jon Katz has finally given up his habit of sending fusillade of dime words, and has finally tailored his message to his audience. Unfortunately, this means that more and more people will understand him, and see that he really doesn't have much of a point.
Linking open source to the economic energizing of the third world is a bit of a stretch - okay it's simply ludicrous. The one fundamental aspect that gets skipped over time and time again by such idealogical shills is that EDUCATION is the one and only way towards prosperity. We can throw computers, Internet connections, and open source software at the third world until the Yaks come home, but until they can read, do math, and know something of history (other than what their tin-pot-dictator-of-the-day tells them), they're destined to be stuck in the morass of their circuimstances.
What about open governments? That was the only valid point in the entire essay. Oppressive regimes are at odds with proper education. An uneducated populace is easy to control - willing chattle and useful fools. But the strongest internal dissidents have always been the more educated, even if their actions aren't benevolent or even beneficial to their people.
And what should we be teaching them? Put your Marxist textbooks, graphing calculators, and Linux boxes back in the closet boys. Before you even think about teaching these people how to program in C#, you need to teach them how to program soil with seeds, and basic sanitation. You need to teach their civil police and army how to police their population patiently and justly. You need to teach them basic free market economics, so that their farmers, factory workers, and budding businesses can deal with each other and the rest of the world. You need to teach them how to effectively self govern.
The bottom line is, the solution your prescribing doesn't address the problem at hand. Addressing the fundamental root causes of third world poverty and economic insecurity is what needs to be done, and free distros aren't going to do that.
Would'nt happen to be a fan of classic Star Trek would ya? Anyway, the idea sucked because at some point, when no other solution exists that is amicable to both parties, war is the only answer. Hopefully, one day our species will evolve to the point where a QIIIDM Tournament will decide these issues, but until then give me my M-16, 1,000 rounds of ammo,and point me towards the battle.
They *don't*. Simulations are best guesses. Typically, a series of simulations are followed by small scale tests, and that is how you establish the performance of a system. Unfortunately, the wacko's and peacenicks of the world seem to think that if anyone detonates a nuke, the whole world will go to town in all out war. Afterall, did'nt we all go to war after France's last nuclear test in the Pacific in 1995?
What saddens me is that some people take the opportunity of discuss a serious and exciting technological achievement - one that gives us a greater understanding of the physics around nuclear technologies - and then people like you have to post offtopic flamebait spewing the same tired diatribes predicated on inflammatory assumptions.
The death of analytical thinking marks the birth of populism.
So, first the music industry (BMG included) pummels Napster into oblivion with lawsuits, then once the company has had enough injunctions to keep it from operating at a profit, and once their stock is on the verge of being downgraded to junk status, they buy them up.
The trick is between thermal energy and heat. In order for thermal energy to become heat, it has to move. That basic symantic trick is why you can hold the edges of a thermal tile off of the space shuttle in your hand while the inside is nearly a thousand degrees.
Too bad it turned out to be for not...I was having dreams of fusion powered beowulf clusters...(had to say it : )
BTW The US has not been isolationalist since WWII.
Aaah, you don't say...and who begged us into WWII? Matter of fact, let's just call a spade a spade and say "Shut the hell up while we clean up the mess you left behind after 400 years of European mercantilism"
Here here, I tried to submit this yesterday (three times). Of course, expect the exact same damn thing to be successfully submitted by one of the mods today.
C|Net is reporting that the joint Microsoft and Unisys website attacking Unix has been experiencing problems all day. Now, normally I would venture an evil laugh, but in light of yesterdays revelation here on/. about the site being FreeBSD powered, could this merely reinforce Microsoft's point? Not likely, since it was quickly switched over to IIS running on Windows 2000.
Re:Why is no1 talking about the real reason for 9/
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Globalism Post 9/11
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The terrorists attacked the US because they are funding Israel's attacks on the arabic minority.
There are three bold faced lies in that one statement.
1) The terrorists who attacked us (Al Qaeda) never had the Palestinian issue on their agenda until a statement made by Bin Ladin some two months after 9/11.
2) The US sells surplus arms to Israel, and provide *millions* not billions in foreign aid. We also give a substantial, but smaller amount, to the Palestinian Authority and other Arab governments in the region. Unfortunately, that means we are also guilty of funding the terrorist attacks against Israel, since the Mossad recently released invoices showing that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade actually invoiced Yasser Arafat for some $4,000 with the express and stated purpose of committing terrorist acts.
3)Arab minorities? Arabs make up some 20% of the Jewish state sure, but the region is almost 80% Arab itself. Last time I checked Israel was holding it's own little corner by the sea while surrounded by enemies who have vowed to destroy every Israeli man, woman, and child. Who is the oppressed minority in that region again?
Oh, and those 20% Arabs living in Israel? You won't here complaints from the 5% or so who aren't Palestinians - they're having a grand old time.
Is that so hard to see? You're so fucking myopic thinking that you were attacked because the rest of the world is so envious of your high standard of living or whatever...
The "or whatever" part is a big portion of the problem. We aren't the only target of these terrorist bastards, we're just the most visible and popular. These sons-of-bitches make a living intimidating people in their own lands. They commit acts of terror against anyone who doesn't follow their lead, and usurp legitimate government authority throughout the middle east and south west asia. They don't need a reason to be terrorists - they do it for a living, and they have a ready supply of useful idiots in the refugee camps and slums of the mideast.
The US is giving Israel billions of dollars worth of arms every year that they use to oppress arabs, all the time pretending to try to make peace in the middle east. How can you be a peacebroker when you're supplying the arms to one side??
Ask your buddy Yasser Arafat that. On the one hand, he forces Israel's hand into giving him 13% of Israel (Camp David Peace Accords), promising them nothing but peace in return. Then, he turns right around and tells his own people in Arabic that he will "push the zionists into the sea", and the bombings continue.
We give military aid to Israel because they are our ally in the region. They reciprocate by giving us a presence in that area. And in case you forget recent history (the past 2 decades), we have spent billions and lost thousands of lives defending Arabs, so FUCK OFF YOU INGRATEFUL PISSSANT.
Shuddup and eat your McDonalds (TM), because you know you'd rather have your fancy BMW and plush house than live in a cave like Bin Laden.
Yeah well, most of mankind figured out that living in a plush house and driving a fancy (hardley an applicable word, since BMW's are more austere and spartan than "fancy", they're just built well) was better. But, if you want to go live in a cave and sleep on a pile of leaves, more power to you. Just make sure you shake your shoes out before you go sticking your foot into it.
What's so wrong, with globalism? If mom-n-pop Gizmo-Parts dealer can sell their wares to Kerpleckistan, what's wrong with that?
Ha ha, your naivete and lack of breadth on the issue is amusing, especially considering it's thinly veiled as sarcastic ignorance. But, let's take your example: what's wrong with a mom-n-pop gizmo parts dealer selling to people in kerpleckistan? Well, nothing unless you're the kerpleckistani mom and pop dealer of the same parts, but you can't afford to keep up with their cheaper product for higher quality than you can produce. Then you have to either get your government to put a tariff on the other guys stuff, or starve. Globalization ain't all bad, but it ain't all good either. Unless you can guarantee free trade and encourage private investment where it is strategically needed, globalization isn't going to help anyone.
The only (cough) major corruption in the system, is that the people who make the rules (politicans)
I don't know about your country, but here in America the politicians make the rules at the peoples behest. The problem is the people would rather bitch moan and cry about a problem then to work the system and solve it.
have a reputation of being unethical (accepting campaign contributions from SIGs: tit-for-tat, quid-pro-quo, etc.).
Hmm...Special Interest Groups - the ever popular whipping boy of...wait...other Special Interest Groups. You know, you might want to actually understand what a SIG is before you go damning them all in one blanket statement.
What makes you so arrogant to think that the USA will absolutely be king of the hill in even 100 years?
What makes you so sure that's what we even want. In case you don't remember, Americans are quite isolationist, and it's the rest of the world that's been dragging us out of bed for the last 100 years.
You people talk about arrogance, but who does the rest of the world go begging to when they need something? It's like a bunch of children out there sometimes. You expect us to divy up simply because we're on top, but when we ask you to do some chores, you bitch moan and whine. What you people need to do is stop complaining about our "arrogance", and admit that out of some 180 countries none of you can get it together long enough to accomplish anything. Hell, it's taking the EU a few hundred years what we did in 20 - form a united federal system. Oh wait, they still haven't gotten that finished.
Re:Penis Envy (was Re:America is better.)
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Globalism Post 9/11
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Most of what you said I find insightful and dead-on, but...
The last time the USA had a large-scale land invasion as the War of 1812.
C'mon...large scale? I've been with British tour groups that hit the beach in larger numbers! And hell, they burned Washington, if someone does that every 200 years I'd consider it a favor : P
Re:Penis Envy (was Re:America is better.)
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Globalism Post 9/11
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Your statement is predicated on America being a "great civilization" in the sense of Empires of old "Roman, Ming, Chi'In, Byzantium, et al". Apples to oranges. Personally, I don't want my America to be around in 1,000 years - I would hope we'd have a chance of achieving a true enlightened democracy before then given the promise of technology. Right now, however, in the age of Jerry Springer and liberalism, we need a Republic to protect us from ourselves (and the populists that we all are, whether we admit it or not).
Regardless, the issue of "respect" is more or less a matter of earning it. China today is a 50 year old sociopolitical structure which itself shows to respect to its people - something that violates the basic tenant that forms the foundation of America's sociopolitical paradigm, that power comes from the people, of which government is a servant (yeah, I know, it sounds good in theory, but we still fall short in actual practice sometimes). China of today was born of the blood of thousands if not millions of innocents, and in that respect China today deserves no respect for the 3000 years of enlightened civilization that existed before it any more than we in America have a right to the thousands of years of enlightened civilization that predated us on this land.
Respect is earned from, and must constantly be renewed by deeds. Our political, military, and cultural dominance is the result of our deeds, and whether they admit it or not the rest of the world respects us when they buy American Levi's, American Cars (hecho en Mexico), listen to American music, and watch American movies (starring 54 year old Austrian guys).
Because it's easy and fun to hate Jon Katz. Honestly, I don't hate him personally. I'm sure anyone with the surname "Katz" has to be a good guy : )
What I ABSOLUTELY HATE is the fact that he is a moderator, and his only apparent contribution to this board is a set of posts which in essense do nothing more than trumpet the blatently obvious, and while doing so he goes so far as to unnecessarily fill the text of his writings with the finer words of the dictionary.
A rule of writing is that you tailor your message to fit the audience. Katz is writing an article that uses language way above and beyond the contemporary lexical useage of most/.'ers (hell, even I have to hit the dictionary sometimes).
But, while using nice pretty dime-words, the only actual concepts he's communicating are basic and fundamental principles to which the only reply by anyone who can comprehend the language of his posts would be "like, duh".
What Jon Katz writes deserves no better placement than in the threads with the rest of us, and certainly doesn't belong on the frontpage of/.
And would you, my dear anonymous coward, like to cite evidentiary examples showing the direct correlation between 3 world conflict resulting in the loss of life and US Foreign policy?
...or, are you just spewing the same ad hominem diatribe. Ever hear of Lenin's "useful idiots"?
It's rare for me to find anyone more cynically myopic then myself, but I have to say, I feel sorry for you. If you were not profoundly changed on at least some level after the events of 9/11, then you need to look inward and as "what is broken in me". Maybe stand in front of a mirror and do this in Stuart Smalley style.
As for me, last year effin sucked. I got in a bad car wreck, which deprive me of my much loved, nice looking, sporty, and most of all - almost fully paid for truck. Lost my job because I did'nt have a truck (and it was a good paying job). Then, my sister got in a bad accident leaving her in a coma (yesterday was the 1 year anniverary for that), and we had to make "the choice" to taker her off life support (8 days till that anniversary). Then I got a shitty job for a lying weasel of a boss, and the bottom fell out of the job market so I had to take it. Just when I thought shit could'nt get worse, 9/11 happenned.
Now, on 9/10 I was contemplating swallowing a bullet (but trying to figure out how to do it without leaving a big mess, since I think the building super is a nice guy and would hate to leave him a gorey crime scene). On 9/12, I decided that my petty worries about material and monetary posession and self flagellating attitude over losing a loved one I should've show more love for when I had the chance weren't helping me or anyone else, and therefore weren't worth doing.
Many other Americans have used this as an excuse to seek betterment of themselves. If you think it's just the 'useful fools' responding to a "psychological phenomenon", your deliberate attitude isn't as productive as what they are pereceptively working towards.
Catchy title, has little to do with what I'm going to write though.
One thing that pisses much of the rest of the world off, and the parent touched on this very lightly, is that our country is 227 years old - and it is the most powerful, most influential, and richest on the planet with a more even per capita distribution of wealth than any other society (excepting communist-socialist states, where everyone is poor). 227 years, and we can kick ass on cultures that have thousands of years of history.
Nothing is more exemplified by this then when my chinese friend told me that the reason America is arrogant is because we don't respect cultures like that of China that are thousands of years older. In turn, I told her that if after thousands of years, they couldn't do any better than slave labour and pandemic poverty, it's their own damn fault, not ours. While I pretty much ruined my chance of scoring with her, she later agreed that most of the problem was envy.
The same goes for the middle east. 500 years ago, there were 11 universities in Bagdad, and Basra was likewise a center of learning, philosophy, and theology. In Iran, Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side in peace. Ten years ago we were bombing the piss out of Baghdad for not playing fair with their neighbors, and Iran after turning away from western ideals has sunk so deep into the third world mire that they're confiscating DSS dishes so people there won't find out how fucked they really have it.
Slashdot Mirror
Does it really so deeply trouble you that you have to see ads everywhere? For some people, this is how they find out about the products they want to buy. Advertising is not the fault behind consumerism (although it certainly encourages it). And unsolicited? If someone knocks on your door to tell you about a product, that's unsolicited. But if you buy a newspaper, magazine, or periodical, or if you turn on the TV, you should practically expect advertisements by now.
Welcome to life, buddy. Suck it up and deal with it.
I believe the Seimens (yes, it's fun to say aloud from your cubicle) card is the same as the Hauppage DVB-S card. Linux support is spotty, but they do support their WinTV cards for SUSE and RedHat. However, either way you'll have to get someone in Europe to ship you a card. It'll be at least 8 months before I deploy to germany, so don't look to me.
The problem in terms of social globalism is that too many groups are trying to forcibly inflict globalism on people who don't want it. There are a number of societies and cultures on this planet who don't share Europes newfound sense of confederation, while others have had long histories that have taught them to avoid such pan-nationalist alliances.
The the primary failure of Marxist-Leninist philosophies is the blatent idealistic assumption that everyone is willing to work for a common good, and will gladly give up their way of life to do so - an idea which willfully ignores basic human nature which is to serve ones-self.
We see this even now, as neo-communist interests co-opt pre-existing political power structures in order to reassert their base under a more acceptable banner following the public spectacle that was cold-war communism. But not having learned the lessons of communism, they are again trying to forcibly impose socialist regimes on people, only instead of revolution they are using evolution.
Social globalization may eventually happen, but only when the collective will of humanity allows for it, and then, demands it. The question will still be if it's at all practical.
I agree that adopting OSS could, in theory, help developing countries, but only if and when OSS is fully interoperable with the dominant proprietary software systems like Microsoft Windows. Even then, there's very little money in OSS, so the development of competitive software tools to match those available on PC or Mac is slow. Most hard core linux enthusiasts I know still dual boot into the hated Windows OS because certain tools are simply not available to them under Linux. I believe this will change as 'nix style OS's grow and establish marketshare, but that is still years away.
Moreover, you still have the problem of government. Most of the developing world is still struggling with antiquated and bloated beauracracies that strangle the economic and civil freedoms of their populations. OSS will not solve these problems, and neither will globalization. Free markets, and democracy will solve those problems, and only after those problems are solved will globalization be a practical reality (this point also ignores the desirability of globalization, since nationalism is still a strong and necessary componant for most of the worlds citizens).
Thanks for the plus comment though, it can be hard to write something without dedicating the full text to Katz bashing.
A a plus note, Jon Katz has finally given up his habit of sending fusillade of dime words, and has finally tailored his message to his audience. Unfortunately, this means that more and more people will understand him, and see that he really doesn't have much of a point.
Linking open source to the economic energizing of the third world is a bit of a stretch - okay it's simply ludicrous. The one fundamental aspect that gets skipped over time and time again by such idealogical shills is that EDUCATION is the one and only way towards prosperity. We can throw computers, Internet connections, and open source software at the third world until the Yaks come home, but until they can read, do math, and know something of history (other than what their tin-pot-dictator-of-the-day tells them), they're destined to be stuck in the morass of their circuimstances.
What about open governments? That was the only valid point in the entire essay. Oppressive regimes are at odds with proper education. An uneducated populace is easy to control - willing chattle and useful fools. But the strongest internal dissidents have always been the more educated, even if their actions aren't benevolent or even beneficial to their people.
And what should we be teaching them? Put your Marxist textbooks, graphing calculators, and Linux boxes back in the closet boys. Before you even think about teaching these people how to program in C#, you need to teach them how to program soil with seeds, and basic sanitation. You need to teach their civil police and army how to police their population patiently and justly. You need to teach them basic free market economics, so that their farmers, factory workers, and budding businesses can deal with each other and the rest of the world. You need to teach them how to effectively self govern.
The bottom line is, the solution your prescribing doesn't address the problem at hand. Addressing the fundamental root causes of third world poverty and economic insecurity is what needs to be done, and free distros aren't going to do that.
Would'nt happen to be a fan of classic Star Trek would ya? Anyway, the idea sucked because at some point, when no other solution exists that is amicable to both parties, war is the only answer. Hopefully, one day our species will evolve to the point where a QIIIDM Tournament will decide these issues, but until then give me my M-16, 1,000 rounds of ammo,and point me towards the battle.
They *don't*. Simulations are best guesses. Typically, a series of simulations are followed by small scale tests, and that is how you establish the performance of a system. Unfortunately, the wacko's and peacenicks of the world seem to think that if anyone detonates a nuke, the whole world will go to town in all out war. Afterall, did'nt we all go to war after France's last nuclear test in the Pacific in 1995?
What saddens me is that some people take the opportunity of discuss a serious and exciting technological achievement - one that gives us a greater understanding of the physics around nuclear technologies - and then people like you have to post offtopic flamebait spewing the same tired diatribes predicated on inflammatory assumptions.
The death of analytical thinking marks the birth of populism.
So, first the music industry (BMG included) pummels Napster into oblivion with lawsuits, then once the company has had enough injunctions to keep it from operating at a profit, and once their stock is on the verge of being downgraded to junk status, they buy them up.
Isn't there a law against that already?
The trick is between thermal energy and heat. In order for thermal energy to become heat, it has to move. That basic symantic trick is why you can hold the edges of a thermal tile off of the space shuttle in your hand while the inside is nearly a thousand degrees.
Too bad it turned out to be for not...I was having dreams of fusion powered beowulf clusters...(had to say it : )
...this will worsen my habit of bobbing and ducking my head when playing Urban Operations.
BTW The US has not been isolationalist since WWII.
Aaah, you don't say...and who begged us into WWII? Matter of fact, let's just call a spade a spade and say "Shut the hell up while we clean up the mess you left behind after 400 years of European mercantilism"
Here here, I tried to submit this yesterday (three times). Of course, expect the exact same damn thing to be successfully submitted by one of the mods today.
/. about the site being FreeBSD powered, could this merely reinforce Microsoft's point? Not likely, since it was quickly switched over to IIS running on Windows 2000.
C|Net is reporting that the joint Microsoft and Unisys website attacking Unix has been experiencing problems all day. Now, normally I would venture an evil laugh, but in light of yesterdays revelation here on
we dropped two bombs, what's yer phuqing point?
The terrorists attacked the US because they are funding Israel's attacks on the arabic minority.
There are three bold faced lies in that one statement.
1) The terrorists who attacked us (Al Qaeda) never had the Palestinian issue on their agenda until a statement made by Bin Ladin some two months after 9/11.
2) The US sells surplus arms to Israel, and provide *millions* not billions in foreign aid. We also give a substantial, but smaller amount, to the Palestinian Authority and other Arab governments in the region. Unfortunately, that means we are also guilty of funding the terrorist attacks against Israel, since the Mossad recently released invoices showing that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade actually invoiced Yasser Arafat for some $4,000 with the express and stated purpose of committing terrorist acts.
3)Arab minorities? Arabs make up some 20% of the Jewish state sure, but the region is almost 80% Arab itself. Last time I checked Israel was holding it's own little corner by the sea while surrounded by enemies who have vowed to destroy every Israeli man, woman, and child. Who is the oppressed minority in that region again?
Oh, and those 20% Arabs living in Israel? You won't here complaints from the 5% or so who aren't Palestinians - they're having a grand old time.
Is that so hard to see? You're so fucking myopic thinking that you were attacked because the rest of the world is so envious of your high standard of living or whatever...
The "or whatever" part is a big portion of the problem. We aren't the only target of these terrorist bastards, we're just the most visible and popular. These sons-of-bitches make a living intimidating people in their own lands. They commit acts of terror against anyone who doesn't follow their lead, and usurp legitimate government authority throughout the middle east and south west asia. They don't need a reason to be terrorists - they do it for a living, and they have a ready supply of useful idiots in the refugee camps and slums of the mideast.
The US is giving Israel billions of dollars worth of arms every year that they use to oppress arabs, all the time pretending to try to make peace in the middle east. How can you be a peacebroker when you're supplying the arms to one side??
Ask your buddy Yasser Arafat that. On the one hand, he forces Israel's hand into giving him 13% of Israel (Camp David Peace Accords), promising them nothing but peace in return. Then, he turns right around and tells his own people in Arabic that he will "push the zionists into the sea", and the bombings continue.
We give military aid to Israel because they are our ally in the region. They reciprocate by giving us a presence in that area. And in case you forget recent history (the past 2 decades), we have spent billions and lost thousands of lives defending Arabs, so FUCK OFF YOU INGRATEFUL PISSSANT.
Thank you, and have a nice day.
Shuddup and eat your McDonalds (TM), because you know you'd rather have your fancy BMW and plush house than live in a cave like Bin Laden.
Yeah well, most of mankind figured out that living in a plush house and driving a fancy (hardley an applicable word, since BMW's are more austere and spartan than "fancy", they're just built well) was better. But, if you want to go live in a cave and sleep on a pile of leaves, more power to you. Just make sure you shake your shoes out before you go sticking your foot into it.
What's so wrong, with globalism? If mom-n-pop Gizmo-Parts dealer can sell their wares to Kerpleckistan, what's wrong with that?
Ha ha, your naivete and lack of breadth on the issue is amusing, especially considering it's thinly veiled as sarcastic ignorance. But, let's take your example: what's wrong with a mom-n-pop gizmo parts dealer selling to people in kerpleckistan? Well, nothing unless you're the kerpleckistani mom and pop dealer of the same parts, but you can't afford to keep up with their cheaper product for higher quality than you can produce. Then you have to either get your government to put a tariff on the other guys stuff, or starve. Globalization ain't all bad, but it ain't all good either. Unless you can guarantee free trade and encourage private investment where it is strategically needed, globalization isn't going to help anyone.
The only (cough) major corruption in the system, is that the people who make the rules (politicans)
I don't know about your country, but here in America the politicians make the rules at the peoples behest. The problem is the people would rather bitch moan and cry about a problem then to work the system and solve it.
have a reputation of being unethical (accepting campaign contributions from SIGs: tit-for-tat, quid-pro-quo, etc.).
Hmm...Special Interest Groups - the ever popular whipping boy of...wait...other Special Interest Groups. You know, you might want to actually understand what a SIG is before you go damning them all in one blanket statement.
What makes you so arrogant to think that the USA will absolutely be king of the hill in even 100 years?
What makes you so sure that's what we even want. In case you don't remember, Americans are quite isolationist, and it's the rest of the world that's been dragging us out of bed for the last 100 years.
You people talk about arrogance, but who does the rest of the world go begging to when they need something? It's like a bunch of children out there sometimes. You expect us to divy up simply because we're on top, but when we ask you to do some chores, you bitch moan and whine. What you people need to do is stop complaining about our "arrogance", and admit that out of some 180 countries none of you can get it together long enough to accomplish anything. Hell, it's taking the EU a few hundred years what we did in 20 - form a united federal system. Oh wait, they still haven't gotten that finished.
Most of what you said I find insightful and dead-on, but...
The last time the USA had a large-scale land invasion as the War of 1812.
C'mon...large scale? I've been with British tour groups that hit the beach in larger numbers! And hell, they burned Washington, if someone does that every 200 years I'd consider it a favor : P
Your statement is predicated on America being a "great civilization" in the sense of Empires of old "Roman, Ming, Chi'In, Byzantium, et al". Apples to oranges. Personally, I don't want my America to be around in 1,000 years - I would hope we'd have a chance of achieving a true enlightened democracy before then given the promise of technology. Right now, however, in the age of Jerry Springer and liberalism, we need a Republic to protect us from ourselves (and the populists that we all are, whether we admit it or not).
Regardless, the issue of "respect" is more or less a matter of earning it. China today is a 50 year old sociopolitical structure which itself shows to respect to its people - something that violates the basic tenant that forms the foundation of America's sociopolitical paradigm, that power comes from the people, of which government is a servant (yeah, I know, it sounds good in theory, but we still fall short in actual practice sometimes). China of today was born of the blood of thousands if not millions of innocents, and in that respect China today deserves no respect for the 3000 years of enlightened civilization that existed before it any more than we in America have a right to the thousands of years of enlightened civilization that predated us on this land.
Respect is earned from, and must constantly be renewed by deeds. Our political, military, and cultural dominance is the result of our deeds, and whether they admit it or not the rest of the world respects us when they buy American Levi's, American Cars (hecho en Mexico), listen to American music, and watch American movies (starring 54 year old Austrian guys).
Just keep telling yourself whatever you have to to be able to justify your mindless baseless hatred.
Because it's easy and fun to hate Jon Katz. Honestly, I don't hate him personally. I'm sure anyone with the surname "Katz" has to be a good guy : )
/.'ers (hell, even I have to hit the dictionary sometimes).
/.
What I ABSOLUTELY HATE is the fact that he is a moderator, and his only apparent contribution to this board is a set of posts which in essense do nothing more than trumpet the blatently obvious, and while doing so he goes so far as to unnecessarily fill the text of his writings with the finer words of the dictionary.
A rule of writing is that you tailor your message to fit the audience. Katz is writing an article that uses language way above and beyond the contemporary lexical useage of most
But, while using nice pretty dime-words, the only actual concepts he's communicating are basic and fundamental principles to which the only reply by anyone who can comprehend the language of his posts would be "like, duh".
What Jon Katz writes deserves no better placement than in the threads with the rest of us, and certainly doesn't belong on the frontpage of
And would you, my dear anonymous coward, like to cite evidentiary examples showing the direct correlation between 3 world conflict resulting in the loss of life and US Foreign policy?
...or, are you just spewing the same ad hominem diatribe. Ever hear of Lenin's "useful idiots"?
It's rare for me to find anyone more cynically myopic then myself, but I have to say, I feel sorry for you. If you were not profoundly changed on at least some level after the events of 9/11, then you need to look inward and as "what is broken in me". Maybe stand in front of a mirror and do this in Stuart Smalley style.
As for me, last year effin sucked. I got in a bad car wreck, which deprive me of my much loved, nice looking, sporty, and most of all - almost fully paid for truck. Lost my job because I did'nt have a truck (and it was a good paying job). Then, my sister got in a bad accident leaving her in a coma (yesterday was the 1 year anniverary for that), and we had to make "the choice" to taker her off life support (8 days till that anniversary). Then I got a shitty job for a lying weasel of a boss, and the bottom fell out of the job market so I had to take it. Just when I thought shit could'nt get worse, 9/11 happenned.
Now, on 9/10 I was contemplating swallowing a bullet (but trying to figure out how to do it without leaving a big mess, since I think the building super is a nice guy and would hate to leave him a gorey crime scene). On 9/12, I decided that my petty worries about material and monetary posession and self flagellating attitude over losing a loved one I should've show more love for when I had the chance weren't helping me or anyone else, and therefore weren't worth doing.
Many other Americans have used this as an excuse to seek betterment of themselves. If you think it's just the 'useful fools' responding to a "psychological phenomenon", your deliberate attitude isn't as productive as what they are pereceptively working towards.
So like, shut your hole and know your role.
Catchy title, has little to do with what I'm going to write though.
One thing that pisses much of the rest of the world off, and the parent touched on this very lightly, is that our country is 227 years old - and it is the most powerful, most influential, and richest on the planet with a more even per capita distribution of wealth than any other society (excepting communist-socialist states, where everyone is poor). 227 years, and we can kick ass on cultures that have thousands of years of history.
Nothing is more exemplified by this then when my chinese friend told me that the reason America is arrogant is because we don't respect cultures like that of China that are thousands of years older. In turn, I told her that if after thousands of years, they couldn't do any better than slave labour and pandemic poverty, it's their own damn fault, not ours. While I pretty much ruined my chance of scoring with her, she later agreed that most of the problem was envy.
The same goes for the middle east. 500 years ago, there were 11 universities in Bagdad, and Basra was likewise a center of learning, philosophy, and theology. In Iran, Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side in peace. Ten years ago we were bombing the piss out of Baghdad for not playing fair with their neighbors, and Iran after turning away from western ideals has sunk so deep into the third world mire that they're confiscating DSS dishes so people there won't find out how fucked they really have it.
Eu Steel sucks. OTOH, our bananas are great, but those EU jackasses still put tarrifs on them. Tit for tat...