Some reflections on life in The Dog House
Some reflections on life in The Dog House
I am not a person who usually participates in political discussions, but like most people I have very strong views about the state of the world today. Since Karen & Paul introduced the Dog House, I considered this a suitable place to air my views. One thing that is very important for me is the right to freedom of expression, and the toleration of political satire as it is practised in most democratic societies.
I am English by birth, but have lived most of my life in other European countries. I was brought up with the Goon Show and Monty Python and other such satirical programs, so when I see the articles by Terry Jones, I consider them relevant and acceptable political satire. Unfortunately, I was rather thoughtless, my timing was not good, and I should have taken into account that many Pet Talkers have relatives and loved ones in a very dangerous situation. Funnily enough, my original intention was to make fun of Tony Blair, and definitely not the American people, or even the American administration for that matter. In order to try and regress this situation and get a bit of balance, I posted some nasty(?) jokes about the French. This didn’t seem to help at all, but just made matters worse!
I am not just totally against the Coalition invasion of Iraq, that is presumably a very unpleasant task which has to be done, and the Americans were the only ones prepared to do it. It is at least very pleasing to see that the Coalition forces are acting so humanely and intelligently in their implementation of this awful task. For that they should be praised.
Many of you may well consider me “unpatriotic” for leaving my country of birth and settling elsewhere. I would prefer to be just a citizen of the world, I’m afraid I’m not too keen on extreme patriotism, nationalism or any other ‘ism.. Extremism in anything is for me a negative and dangerous thing. I would prefer that my views were not coloured by my background and roots, but try and get a wider, more balanced perspective on things. This is VERY difficult, and I would not presume to be especially good at it. I would also like to point out that although I now live in a small, insignificant country, it is one of the few that has actually sent men and materials to actively help the Coalition forces. OK, just a submarine and a Corvet, but we are only small and insignificant after all. That suits my mentality best. We can’t all be the biggest or the best.
I am more worried about the long term implications of all this. When the White House starts to imply that America will in future decide how the world should be run, I start to get worried. It is an undeniable fact that America is the greatest economic power in the world, and that that power is sometimes used to impose Americas’ views on other cultures. There is nothing new in this, it has happened all through our history. I was brought up to believe in the great “British Empire” and how good it was and how it helped so many under developed societies, but with a more mature, critical view, I can see how much damage that sort of thinking has done to the world in the long run. Many of the disputes in the world today can be traced back to British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch etc. politicians haphazardly deciding on the borders of countries from a political point of view, with no respect for the cultural or religious principals of the people involved. This is quite obvious in the Middle East and Africa.
The American ideal seems to be that everything has to go as fast as possible and that big is better. I do not contribute to that view, and feel that we should give ourselves more time to think things out and make better, more balanced and objective decisions about the future of this increasingly complicated and confusing world. We can all bring up “facts” that support our point of view, but they are in reality just drops in the ocean, and can easily be refuted by other “facts”. Seen from afar, perhaps superficially, America seems to be motivated by gross commercialism, infantile TV advertising (up to 30% of the viewing time!), arrogance, egoism and conflicts of interest. There’s so much HYPOCRICY out there, and I don’t mean just in America.
Is it true for example that “Mr Bush and his chums want this to be an exclusively US business. They're only allowing American companies to bid for the £640 million worth of reconstruction planned”? And is this true - “What's more the UN won't continue its humanitarian aid (which currently feeds 60% of Iraqis) because the yanks will insist on US troops delivering it”? I don’t know, probably not, but it sounds ominous to me, and even if they refute this, my experience tells me that there is no guarantee that it won’t happen anyway. That’s politics as far as I can see.
And then there is the PNAC: “PNAC's stated aims are: to shape a new century favourable to American principles and interests, to achieve "a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad, to increase defence spending significantly, and to pursue America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles."
I’m sorry, I don’t care what you think about me, but I do not like the sound of that at all.
Freedom of speech?
I noticed that there was a post about the Dixie Chickens and their singers silly comments. I can understand that people get annoyed when their entertainers say stupid unpatriotic things about their country or president, but isn’t the following a bit over the top?
Quote: Although Maines has since apologized for her comments, she is still being fiercely criticized by patriotic country music fans. In fact, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a resolution last month that requires the group to put on a free concert for the troops as recompense.
This doesn’t seem to show any tolerance for freedom of speech to me, and being upset is no excuse. I hope I have misunderstood something.
In reality, it isn’t possible to have a really productive discussion about such matters, since nobody has all the facts, and none of us can see into the future. So we must try to stop being personal, just try to discuss matters in a neutral, objective light … and that is by no means easy!
It was definitely not my intention to show any lack of respect for this great site. Thank you Karen & Paul, please keep up the good work!.
By the way, perhaps we should rename The Dog House “The Hornets Nest”! That’s what I seem to have poked my finger into.
john
”How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will” Albert Einstein
Re: Some reflections on life in The Dog House
Quote:
Originally posted by jonza
Some reflections on life in The Dog House
America seems to be motivated by gross commercialism, infantile TV advertising (up to 30% of the viewing time!), arrogance, egoism and conflicts of interest. There’s so much HYPOCRICY out there, and I don’t mean just in America.
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let's see, monty python, fawlty towers and that guy that chases the half clad women.....benny hill!!!!! infantile tv programming!
peh! catspit!!!!
arrogance??
in the US we have a saying, IT AIN'T BRAGGING IF YOU CAN DO IT.
egoism, naw....
freedom of speech is a big one around here also!!!!!
dude,
first of all, when you lead with your head, you'll find out that that is the first thing that you encounter is hard objects!!!!!!
conflict on interest? you make it sound like we are only interested in conflicts.
NO disrespect meant-
walk into a room and start saying things like, "hey that wallpaper sucks", or "what crappy carpet"........get the idea???
we are pretty tolerant until someone rattles the cage....
hornet's nest????????
geez, who wasn't paying attention when they stuck their hand out?????
actually, i rather enjoy everyones right to make their point known.
it's great comedy when people hit themselves in the head and
shoot from the hip.
(shoot from the hip is a term that comes from those AMERICAN COWBOY movies, kinda like a 'Hey, I'm bad, watch me shoot without aiming........do they have cowboy movies in denmark???)
hugs!
Re: Some reflections on life in The Dog House
Quote:
Originally posted by jonza
[B]I would also like to point out that although I now live in a small, insignificant country, it is one of the few that has actually sent men and materials to actively help the Coalition forces. OK, just a submarine and a Corvette, but we are only small and insignificant after all. That suits my mentality best. We can’t all be the biggest or the best.
”
by the way.......what kind of corvette? the 68 stingrays are kinda cool!!!
(don't be so serious! :) ask anyone who's been in the US and they'll tell you that we are a fun loving, generous country that love fast food and fast cars !!!)
Re: Re: Some reflections on life in The Dog House
Quote:
Originally posted by RICHARD
freedom of speech is a big one around here also!!!!!
dude,
first of all, when you lead with your head, you'll find out that that is the first thing that you encounter is hard objects!!!!!!
conflict on interest? you make it sound like we are only interested in conflicts.
NO disrespect meant-
we are pretty tolerant until someone rattles the cage....
actually, i rather enjoy everyones right to make their point known.
it's great comedy when people hit themselves in the head and
shoot from the hip.
(shoot from the hip is a term that comes from those AMERICAN COWBOY movies, kinda like a 'Hey, I'm bad, watch me shoot without aiming........do they have cowboy movies in denmark???)
DUDE,
I think you're kinda rude , Richard.
