First of all I was a bit harsh and got a little crazily emotional with my first post, so sorry about that.
I was actually impressed with Haiti like another contributer to this post and their stopping these people and taking that initiative at a time when their already struggling government was handcuffed by the recent earthquake.
I just can't see a point in arguing with the original poster however as his view of the world is not going to change based on what I've read. The United States is no where near perfect but who could be when put in the situation the U.S. is in? I know its the usual cliche but its hard to ignore that the U.S. has responsibilities other countries don't have. We not only have to protect our own interests at home and abroad, but we also are economically in the position of playing helper and healer during times like this in Haiti. The U.S. is literally miles away from Haiti and we're expected to do more than just wish the Haitians well after a catastrophe like what happened. Its simply comical to me that people hate the U.S. so much they want to first use a single church groups actions to define a countries actions, and take shots at the country for basically trying to do the right thing. Sure, the country may be flawed in it's efforts at times, but the U.S. is faced with a responsibility that no other country is faced with. It's easy to Monday morning quarterback the United States response to this and that, but the belief that somehow the U.S. is just pure evil in their intentions, tells me a lot less about the U.S. and a lot more about the person making remarks like that. I constantly see remarks like these taking shots at the U.S. but rarely if ever do I see any real solutions or productive criticisms to a country that to be quite honest does an awful lot for the world. You can bet that if any country in Europe ever came under attack (God Forbid) the U.S. would put the resources in play to help faster than anybody else. I just wonder sometimes how a country like France or Belgium would be if they were the most powerful country in the world. Surely they would have cured the world by now right? It's not always an easy job. I don't know maybe I need people like this to renew my patriotism sometimes as it surely is tested at times. But, after living over in Europe for most of last year and now, I've never really appreciated my country more I suppose. Until other countries want to pitch in as much as the U.S. in terms of foreign aid its all just completely ridiculous to me anymore. Even after the country pours in millions or in the case of Haiti a billion, the average citizens of the U.S. throw in swelling amounts of cash out of their own goodwill, only to be trashed by ignorance from abroad. People love to sit back and make ignorant comments from their computer chair but the fact of the matter is the U.S. has over the past 100 years, sent its money and its soldiers all over the world in the name of the protection of freedom. God forbid if we're protecting our own interests also, as we get attacked for that too, like we're not supposed to do that or something. It's just apparent to me that people who are from the United States are talking about an entirely different country than people look at it from afar. Comments like America is capable of pulling a 9-11 should tell any American that this person is not really worth arguing with or even associating with. They are more interested in hate speech and don't really have a clue of what America really is or what it stands for. They haven't been raised in our schools, haven't had a friend or family member in our military, or simply just grown up in our neighborhoods. The cool thing about America is you don't even have to do any or all those things to be one of us. You can just show up and catch on. That's how this country was built and we're basically hated for it. Every hole and every imperfection magnified in the eyes of people who would rather hate than see any good in anything. Americans, whether they are liberal, conservative, radical or moderate generally have one thing in common. We love America despite its flaws, and we all see a good in this country. We also believe there is no better friend in the world to have than us and like another poster commented there are many other people in the world who are happy with the United States and the brave role its played over the years.
I'll finally shut up as I seriously haven't been this patriotic or anything in quite some time. But I'll leave you with this quote from Colin Powell to the United Nations. I think it speaks a lot.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey asked General Colin Powell if he felt the U.S and its allies had given due consideration (in terms of attacking Iraq) to the use of "soft power" -- promulgating moral and democratic values as a means of achieving progress towards international peace and stability, basically -- versus the "hard power" of military force.
There is nothing in American experience or in American political life or in our culture that suggests we want to use hard power. But what we have found over the decades is that unless you do have hard power -- and here I think you're referring to military power -- then sometimes you are faced with situations that you can't deal with.
I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.
So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. [Applause.]
We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.
Anyway sorry for all that, but I really feel like sometimes Americans in general need a wakeup call, and we need to forget about trying to reason with some people and realize we are lucky SOB's and despite our political views we are very lucky people who need to stand up for the principles that the United States really stands for and has stood for despite its flaws at times.
I was actually impressed with Haiti like another contributer to this post and their stopping these people and taking that initiative at a time when their already struggling government was handcuffed by the recent earthquake.
I just can't see a point in arguing with the original poster however as his view of the world is not going to change based on what I've read. The United States is no where near perfect but who could be when put in the situation the U.S. is in? I know its the usual cliche but its hard to ignore that the U.S. has responsibilities other countries don't have. We not only have to protect our own interests at home and abroad, but we also are economically in the position of playing helper and healer during times like this in Haiti. The U.S. is literally miles away from Haiti and we're expected to do more than just wish the Haitians well after a catastrophe like what happened. Its simply comical to me that people hate the U.S. so much they want to first use a single church groups actions to define a countries actions, and take shots at the country for basically trying to do the right thing. Sure, the country may be flawed in it's efforts at times, but the U.S. is faced with a responsibility that no other country is faced with. It's easy to Monday morning quarterback the United States response to this and that, but the belief that somehow the U.S. is just pure evil in their intentions, tells me a lot less about the U.S. and a lot more about the person making remarks like that. I constantly see remarks like these taking shots at the U.S. but rarely if ever do I see any real solutions or productive criticisms to a country that to be quite honest does an awful lot for the world. You can bet that if any country in Europe ever came under attack (God Forbid) the U.S. would put the resources in play to help faster than anybody else. I just wonder sometimes how a country like France or Belgium would be if they were the most powerful country in the world. Surely they would have cured the world by now right? It's not always an easy job. I don't know maybe I need people like this to renew my patriotism sometimes as it surely is tested at times. But, after living over in Europe for most of last year and now, I've never really appreciated my country more I suppose. Until other countries want to pitch in as much as the U.S. in terms of foreign aid its all just completely ridiculous to me anymore. Even after the country pours in millions or in the case of Haiti a billion, the average citizens of the U.S. throw in swelling amounts of cash out of their own goodwill, only to be trashed by ignorance from abroad. People love to sit back and make ignorant comments from their computer chair but the fact of the matter is the U.S. has over the past 100 years, sent its money and its soldiers all over the world in the name of the protection of freedom. God forbid if we're protecting our own interests also, as we get attacked for that too, like we're not supposed to do that or something. It's just apparent to me that people who are from the United States are talking about an entirely different country than people look at it from afar. Comments like America is capable of pulling a 9-11 should tell any American that this person is not really worth arguing with or even associating with. They are more interested in hate speech and don't really have a clue of what America really is or what it stands for. They haven't been raised in our schools, haven't had a friend or family member in our military, or simply just grown up in our neighborhoods. The cool thing about America is you don't even have to do any or all those things to be one of us. You can just show up and catch on. That's how this country was built and we're basically hated for it. Every hole and every imperfection magnified in the eyes of people who would rather hate than see any good in anything. Americans, whether they are liberal, conservative, radical or moderate generally have one thing in common. We love America despite its flaws, and we all see a good in this country. We also believe there is no better friend in the world to have than us and like another poster commented there are many other people in the world who are happy with the United States and the brave role its played over the years.
I'll finally shut up as I seriously haven't been this patriotic or anything in quite some time. But I'll leave you with this quote from Colin Powell to the United Nations. I think it speaks a lot.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey asked General Colin Powell if he felt the U.S and its allies had given due consideration (in terms of attacking Iraq) to the use of "soft power" -- promulgating moral and democratic values as a means of achieving progress towards international peace and stability, basically -- versus the "hard power" of military force.
There is nothing in American experience or in American political life or in our culture that suggests we want to use hard power. But what we have found over the decades is that unless you do have hard power -- and here I think you're referring to military power -- then sometimes you are faced with situations that you can't deal with.
I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.
So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. [Applause.]
We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.
Anyway sorry for all that, but I really feel like sometimes Americans in general need a wakeup call, and we need to forget about trying to reason with some people and realize we are lucky SOB's and despite our political views we are very lucky people who need to stand up for the principles that the United States really stands for and has stood for despite its flaws at times.
