Quote Originally Posted by 4252
I'm with Looker on a lot of this; I've associated with and worked with many people from abroad in the last few years, and though many of them have been pretty good people basically, many are the type to barge in, take what they want, and insult us in the process. Let me hasten to add that they're not all like that. It may be that assimilating into another culture (syntax?) is bound to involve some rough spots, like the way most Japanese seem to consider us westerners barbarians when we go there. I can't say how many times someone from a foriegn country has boasted to me about how perfect their homeland is, and I'll admit I've given in to the temptation of saying "If it's so great, why did you leave it to come here?" more times than not. The answer to that can be quite amusing sometimes. Hypocracy isn't the exclusive property of Americans.

There are good reasons to remember Dunkirk, Louvain, Manilla, Hue, and so on. And, while I'm being completely objective, Mi Lai, for that matter. History has proven that entire cultures can and have turned against other cultures, with the stated intent of exterminating them, with no morals or conscience whatsoever. The end justifies the means, or maybe Gott mit uns. (God gets blamed for a lot of things.) We must remember such things because it makes us realize that left unchecked, there are those who would stop at nothing, would take everything, and rationalize whatever nonsense they cared to for justification. In a hostile world, morality (and survival even) dictate that decent people face adversity in the form of totalitarianism, racial hatred, and simple greed and blood lust from time to time. Thank God there are those that still do.

So I guess I can say I'm proudly ambivalent to be an American.

This thread is nicely tangental, but it's no TalkBlade Imitation Horn.

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UUHHH....YEAH WHAT HE SAID....