Exactly. I'll always remember them for selling to the highest bidder the people they were supposed to protect.JackC wrote:No, they are worse than useless militarily.
[Sarkozy] denounced the United States' refusal to cap carbon emissions and proposed taxing imports from China because it too has refused to limit greenhouse gases
Must be running left to snag the independents in the general election.Well, we do, but Corlyss probably thinks the same thing about the French as JackC.Gregory Kleyn wrote:She's smart and sophisticated and beautiful (and speaks in complete and intelligible sentences). Wish we had someone like her.JackC wrote:Yep, I hope they vote for the Socialist, Royal. It would be fun to see how low they could actually sink.
jbuck919 wrote:Well, we do, but Corlyss probably thinks the same thing about the French as JackC.Gregory Kleyn wrote:She's smart and sophisticated and beautiful (and speaks in complete and intelligible sentences). Wish we had someone like her.JackC wrote:Yep, I hope they vote for the Socialist, Royal. It would be fun to see how low they could actually sink.
I don't know whether to laff or cry, being compared to a good-looking flaming socialist. Sure we can. You know, it's very annoying that the liberals here are free to say whatever they want to, about conservatives and Republicans in general, the President, the Vice President, southerners, religious folks, etc., but the conservatives are supposed to maintain a "high tone." I heard that one of our newer members called this a "hate-filled" board because he disagreed with some of the conservative posts. Naturally I don't agree with his assessment. There's a lot of open talk here by opinionated people. But let me break the coded message behind the newbie's complaint: if you disparage the right things (Bush, neocons, conservates, the military, America, Republicans), anything goes; but if you disparage the wrong things (liberals, Democrats, victicrats, PC, pacifism, secularism, soft-headed European policies), you are biased, disagreeable, disruptive and should be censured. I had enough of that double-standard crap from the late and unlamented Alban Berg.Seriously, folks, we can't have this kind of trash job here.
The assumption is that nobody here is from France. so we can safely talk about them behind their back the way we might have told a derogatory ethnic joke on the assumption that no one of that ethnicity was present.
We actually lost a member from another European country not long ago when something not nearly this outrageous was posted.
It wouldn't matter if Americans were saints, the reaction would be the same. The Europeans despise us when we help them out; they despise us when we do nothing; they despise us when we do something they don't have the guts or the ability to do; they despise us when we listen to them and agree with them; they despise us when we listen to them and disagree with them. Pardon me if I conclude they despise us, period, and don't give a rip what their opinion is. When they need us, they'll use us and denounce us all the same; when they don't need us, they'll complain about us just for sport.In such matters, citizens of the US who make these kinds of crude attacks are always going to be in the position of people who live in glass houses.
Has anyone here been rude to another member here in this discussion? I think not. If someone were to PM me and say, "Someone is abusing the French and I won't stand for it!" I would have to tell 'em that's not against the rules here. The only thing that counts as far as the rules here are members abusing other members. If someone were to PM me and say, "Someone is abusing our Aussie members and I won't stand for it!" I would have to intervene and get the offender squared away.Chalkperson wrote:what happened to civility,
Well, I sympathize with you, coming from NYC. I'm sure you rarely hear anything except urban liberal pap. We have a few outspoken conservatives here (not nearly as many as liberals), something you won't likely find on many boards devoted to the arts. If you think we're shocking, you need to hang here some more. We're really quite tame.i'm just a pleb and a newcomer, but you lot are pretty scary...
Likewise. Two for me as well (and a third where I've simply decided to stick to music threads and stay away from the political ones because of how rabid the anti-Americanism is on that board); for those same reasons. If people feel more comfortable in a setting where it's okay to call the American president a fascist and disparage American culture, but not okay to criticize Europe or defend American foreign policy, that's fine by me. I prefer the atmosphere here.Corlyss_D wrote:We actually lost a member from another European country not long ago when something not nearly this outrageous was posted.
BFD. They can dish it out but they can't take it. I've left at least 2 music sites, one of which I was a substantial contributor to, because of their Europeans' rabid anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, and non-stop attacks on Bush and anyone that defended American actions.
We actually lost a member from another European country not long ago when something not nearly this outrageous was posted.
Oh, right, tame like a pit bull...If you think we're shocking, you need to hang here some more. We're really quite tame.
Chalkperson wrote:I decided to stick to the music threads, not start any more threads here and merely observe.
Well THAT's hardly the spirit! I honestly don't see the difference between commenting on posts and initiating threads. It's true you need to have a thick skin, regardless of your politics, if you're going to participate here. It looks a bit wild to newbies, but most of us here have been grinding against each other for over 3 years now and we know what to expect. I hope you will reconsider but you have to expect some push back on politics. Cripes! We have a septuagenarian grandmother here in the pub who gives as good as she gets. Surely you have that much mettle!It'll keep you safe, make you richer, raise you above the herd, cure you of delusions about the perfectibility of man, and probably grow hair on your head as well. Urban liberal pap simply can't compare for salutary effects.Donald Isler wrote:Corlyss wrote:
"I'm sure you rarely hear anything except urban liberal pap."
Ah, yes. Conservative pap is so much better for the soul!
I would agree with you if I thought it was mindless. The criticisms have some basis in fact. One has only to recall the tepid French actions last summer in Lebanon as compared to their bold but empty rhetoric to get the idea. And let's not forget their craven behavior as well as that of the Dutch in Bosnia-Kosovo after cheerfully standing around in shameless indifference, waiting for the US to take the lead and commit the vast majority of ground troops in yet another European mess they were completely incapable of dealing with, militarily or morally.jbuck919 wrote:I don't think that's cause for mindlessly brickbatting other countries on this board.
Corlyss_D wrote:
Wright's book is too good to be set up with such a smarmy title as the one on this thread.[/quote]Understanding why they hate us...
Guilty as charged. I was for 13 years. I'm sorry. No excuses. I still think you could have come up with a better title but I apologize. I was in a hurry. I honestly thought later that I might have been too sharp with a new member.Chalkperson wrote:makes me think you might have been a lawyer in an earlier life...
Silly talk, really. It takes a thick skin to endure quickly passing and always inconsequential barbs on an internet talk forum? That such pin pricks could ever ruin one's day is extraordinary.Evelyn Laden wrote:. I agree with Corlyss that a thick skin is helpful, and would advise anyone becoming engaged in some of these political discussions to grow one if she/he doesn't already have it.
Actually no, I've only lived in NYC for 20 years, and I don't watch TV...gave it up when the First Gulf War started, Hey, It's The War!! Live at Five!!...said I'd turn it back on when it was over!!!JackC wrote:Don't you remember Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live??
If Voltaire were still around, he would have found a somewhat more subtle way than your brute force method, Jack.JackC wrote:Oh geeeeee -- I'm sorry for making an uncivil attack on France. lol I'm sure that no one from France would ever, ever say such negative things about US foreign policy.
Interesting. Given the problems in Macedonia, I'm glad to see our viewership is on the rise . . .piston wrote:CMGF is almost entirely a site for US and, to a much lesser extent, for UK traffic.
Anyone aware of this search engine on traffic? Quite interesting, actually. It appears that things are looking up for Lance and Corlyss
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traff ... p&x=63&y=8
Yep, it was to the British Commonwealth's great credit that they stood alone so long, after the French folded in a couple of weeks, after which a very great number them became collaborators.piston wrote:Euh, the USA waited well over two years, only after being slammed at Pearl Harbor, before joining its military allies during World War II because majority democracy had dictated non-intervention to FDR. Australians and Canadians were there almost from the start.
Oh yeah, France, unlike others, is deeply, very deeply concerned about black people? lol Sure they are.RebLem wrote: What too many Americans fail to understand is that France is an Yes, yes, I realize that most Americans think we should just let Africa go to hell. Who gives a crap about black people, anyway? Well, the French do. Them's the breaks, Jack!
"collaborating psychologically" ??? Oh really ?? I'm sure that after the US entered the war, there were just huge numbers of Americans "collaborating psychologically" with Hitler and the Nazis! NOTpiston wrote:3. as much as collaborators are despicable, it's a double-edged sword and one should bear in mind that, while they were not occupied by the Germans, some Americans were also collaborating psychologically.
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