TheLoveBandit said:
Actually, this is HUGE (should I say YUGE?
) for me. I have always been interested in how non-Americans view our country. We're pretty insulated and self centered when it comes to ... well, everything. We don't get much news or reflection from outside our own media. So I've always loved to hear how others view us and our activities (I mean, we are in the spotlight and the center of the universe, are we not? LOL). Seriously, though, I recall a discussion on BL at one point (over a decade ago) expressing the difference in perception between an American and a European based upon the environment each grows up in and is exposed to. Americans are VERY limited, IMO. So, I greatly appreciate others' opinions, and understanding how those opinions are reached.
agreed, i do not limit it to just europeans and to those who have a negative view of us. i tend to think we can learn from others as much as they can learn from us (even if they hate us). haha, yes?! we are whether we like it or not, doesn't mean we are the center of the universe. we're still just planet earth
. i think environmental factors are just one part of the equation as i take it on the outlook of the whole. i agree on americans being limited, i believe a lot of countries are, we all take time growing in understanding in our own ways.
TheLoveBandit said:
The odd part to this is the so called 'fourth branch'. This would be our news media who were viewed as impartial, investigative, and the eyes and ears of the public watching to ensure none of the three traditional branches were corrupt or stretching their authority. Unfortunately, I know going back to at least the 70's major news outlets would present their take on a situation which would actually become a slant as opposed to 'presenting the facts for the public to make their own decision'. It has gotten worse in the past decade or so. I won't use the term 'militarized' but you find media outlets that present one side of things as reality and do a significant disservice to the American public by omitting or clouding facts in order to support 'their side'. Note, I'm not claiming either 'side' is at fault of this...I believe BOTH are, and we are left with no real outlet for an impartial reporting of reality. This feeds back to my interest in views from outside the US.
the news sucks
. sorry for being so final on it but i don't think they report the news as truth anymore, too much opinionating and selective story telling going on. they pull an Anchorman 2... sensationalism; much like super market tabloids, conspiracy theorists and "the church" have in the past to get people to pay attention to what they are putting out there. so i agree and i like the way you put it better, you smart people making the rest of us look like trumps! (seriously though i'm not done healing yet and would have put it much the way you did.)
this fourth branch to me is the people. all government is predicated off having people be apart of it. without those living in the land then that organization cannot exist. all social structures, governements, etc. are constructs that would not exist without people supporting it in some way.
so in america (to me) the fourth branch is the people holding power. we have the ability, right and occasional need to over throw the government in certain yet rare cases.
when i turned 18 i registered for the draft per law but not to vote. i still have not registered to this day, i feel out of place in discussions sometimes because of this leading some to think if you don't vote you have no say in anything. i think this is only half true. (much like how we can listen and learn from other nations and vice versa, as they don't vote on what happens here.) regardless of personal reasons as to why i don't vote the power of voting is within the common peoples hands. we elect officials on state and federal levels and we can determine who we want in these offices to make the best decisions. if we don't like them after they have proven themselves to be insufficient we can simply vote them out or vote someone else in.
and the third way the fourth branch of the people having the power is stated in the constitution - We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
funny how people often forget that these words were to govern ourselves, that so many people struggled to ensure the right to form that more perfect union and effort they put into it so that we could understand this for generations to come. it was written by a bunch of smart people but put into plain and simple words that were easy to understand for anyone back then, today and for future generations to come. it was also written in a way that kept all these freedoms from being taken from us by our own government as well as internal and external organizations.
without us keeping these truths to our country we are making the choice (out of negligence) not to work at it, which is just as bad as someone who is making the wrong choices intentionally. "it has been said that for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing."
i posted a long one in the gun debate thread, it included societal downfall info. that also applies to this topic (it actually applies to all of humanity during this step in evolution and wonderful moment of society not only being about individual groups anymore but as a species as a whole now imho), especially the part about "Modern social critics commonly interpret things like sedentary social behavior". to me this equals people in hover chairs (wall-e, funny movie). truth being the new hate speech, societal downfall, opinions over truth and understanding, the quote in the political meme thread from dali lama ( brought to you by an auspicious poster - CFC, post #758 ) and not making sure the system is continuing to be successfully working equates to people not exercising their power and right to make things happen.
it's a lil out there and i'm not healed enough to use my faculties like i use to yet but i also don't think it requires that much effort and time, especially when there are 350 million people here. a lil bit from each person and a lot of problems could be taken care of in very lil time and with very lil work. of course i'm of the mind that problems have easy answers but not always easy solutions so what do i know.
