12-04-2003, 12:48 PM | #101 | |
Lord Ao
Join Date: June 24, 2002
Location: Nevernever Land
Age: 50
Posts: 2,002
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Quote:
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[url]\"http://www.duryea.org/pinky/gurkin.wav\" target=\"_blank\">AYPWIP?</a> .... <img border=\"0\" alt=\"[1ponder]\" title=\"\" src=\"graemlins/1ponder.gif\" /> <br />\"I think so Brain, but isn\'t a cucumber that small called a gherkin?\"<br /><br />Shut UP! Pinky! |
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12-04-2003, 01:47 PM | #102 | |
Ra
Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: Ant Hill
Age: 49
Posts: 2,397
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12-04-2003, 06:21 PM | #103 |
Dungeon Master
Join Date: December 5, 2002
Location: Deep within the Spikey Forest.
Age: 51
Posts: 99
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Well, what an interesting thread! The variety of answers given is outstanding and all of the opinions are valid and important. Maybe that is why the United States of America is a cool place to live: because here in this country you can say any of the things posted on this board and not be thrown in jail (or worse). One post spoke of a "definition" for "freedom". I would like to take a stab at it if I might: freedom as I choose to define it (as it applies in America) does not mean that one may do always precisely what one wishes. If that were the case, as most of you probably realize, the net result would be chaos. In order to have any kind of functional society, you have to have rules. The rules originally created by the founding fathers of this Country (ie-the Constitution of the United States of America and The Bill of Rights with all later amendments) were and are the heart of what it means to be an American. Anyone who wishes to see what it means to be an American should feel free to peruse these documents. Does this mean that all Americans behave in a completely predictable manner and completely resemble the ideals of the Constitution, no! Every society is comprised of people and all people are imperfect!!! That is why we have Police Officers and a Judicial System in this Country. I will not attempt to hide the fact that anyone who chooses to stereotype Police Officers as bullies, etc. annoys me in the extreme. You cannot possibly attempt to understand cops unless you are one. Certain Law Enforcement Officers at certain times have made mistakes and these usually receive a lot of bad publicity. These incidents are, however, the exception rather than the rule. Most people, most of the time, are treated with respect in the Law Enforcement profession. I have been in Law Enforcement for about three years, and I have seen a thing or two. My opinions are based on real-life experience. One more soap-box: instead of complaining about your country, whatever country that may be, try to think of ways to improve things; but above all: SUPPORT YOUR COUNTRY AND ITS LEADERS. The aforementioned is very important because words are more powerful than most people suspect...SELAH.
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Going out your front door is dangerous buisiness...you never know where you might be swept off to. --Bilbo Baggins |
12-04-2003, 11:04 PM | #104 | |
Lord Ao
Join Date: May 17, 2001
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Age: 54
Posts: 2,069
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The majority of people around the world rely on media outlets for the lion's share of their information. If that is how the media in other countries portrays Americans, and they are not exposed to many (or any) other sources, then that is all of the information they have to form their judgements. Of course, media outlets show what will earn them the most advertising revenues, so if what seems to sell is showing Americans as greedy and stupid, then that is how they will be portrayed (forming a self-perpetuating situation).
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[img]\"ubb/noncgi/smiles/new/ghoul.gif\" alt=\" - \" /><br /><br />\"The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work.<br />The lower class exists just to scare the middle class.\"<br />-George Carlin |
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12-05-2003, 03:10 AM | #105 |
40th Level Warrior
Join Date: July 11, 2002
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 11,916
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Draten, despite the fact I may "annoy you in the extreme," many officers are bullies by nature. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In his Republic, Plato did a good job of defining "silver souls," the protectors of the Republic, and akin to soldiers. The fact that a "bully" personality lends itself to police work does not mean every officer is a bully. Nevertheless, many officers do get upset with the crooks, and "falls" do happen all too often. At least, that's my experience. On one hand, I can't blame them -- I'd like to hit everyone who annoyed me. On the other, their training should make them better than that. Most of the people they deal with are annoying, but our society has defined rights of opinion and speech for those people.
Anyway, [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] off. You did mention one thing of great interest. In my opinion, freedom is useless (from a social standpoint) without concurrent responsibility. Being completely free is almost hedonistic -- freedom in and of itself can go too far. Freedom is one of the extreme ideals of the American society that must be tempered by other ideals. Freedom and equality cannot both completely exist hand-in-hand, for instance. As Hayek and Mill point out, pure liberty necessarily leads to inequality. However, for the American, Freedom and Equality are antitheses which must be balanced. Though both can never exist in pure form at the same time, they are opposing poles, antitheses, which must endure a constant dialogue and search for balance. If you look at American history, you will see that sometimes liberty has dominated the national mindset (for good, the right to privacy, and ill, the right to contract) and sometimes equality has dominated (for good, the Civil Rights Act, and ill, namby-pamby lawyering that leads to a criminal getting to sue the owners of the home he broke into). In the end, though, freedom must be tempered by responsibility. |
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