And you've had soooooo much experience with living in other countries, haven't you?

Can I hit 'em now Daryus? Please?

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"Why do you want to spend time with a deer? They're so stupid, they get hypnotized by headlights!" - Guido Anchovy

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

I've lived in 4 countries, and I can say, that out of all of them, Canada is my favorite. Note, I'm not saying it's the best, because I'm not a prick. It's my favorite so far. Damn nationalism.

Oh, BTW, that goes anyone who's "proud to be black", or "proud to be Oriental", or "proud to be Maori", or whatever. It's all incredibly racist.

I, for instance, rather fancy my Homo Sapiens status, even though I freely admit the Reticulans might throw better parties.

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

First, as you may have judged, we're really, really scared.

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Re: Russia in WWII

"Hey, we butchered Poles! Thats OK."
- DT.

In many parts of the western world children are raised to be thankful and appreciative of where they are and how they're doing. That can lead to feeling not only happy to be who you are but feeling superior.

I'm not just talking racial issues, mostly ones of wealth. In my country there's a clich� that probably a lot of you recognize; when a parent feeds a child that doesn't want to eat they can say "think of the starving kids in blablah" and try to inflict a guilty conscience. There are other versions, of course, ones applicable to adults too.

Yes, Sweden has a fine legacy of being content. Prolly a lot because of our neutral state in WWII which let us keep our resources in the market and not in war-factories, it also spared an entire generation of young men. That had us being "pretty" thankful we have what we have, for a long time. So it could lead to not advancing or evolving but staying in your place and being thankful for what you have, but as with some others it can make one feel "better".

Then of course, as PsyLiam said, ignorance, lack of general knowledge and propaganda can make you believe what you have is the only way it should be, and it's the best.
To that, I think pretty much every nation that ever existed is guilty as charged...

I'd like to take it a step further, and take all those good feelings people have about "their" culture, "their" standards and "their" piece of land and aim them at Tellus instead.
If people could say, "Man I just love living on Earth, the food is good and the people are nice". It's the same with team-sports.
If soccer-supporters could see that they love the sport and not just the idolized players of a certain team (that get traded away or quit after just a couple of years) we would'nt have those messy riots. Of course, many guys prolly become "supporters" just so they CAN come down on others of other teams...
Aaand we're back at square one.

This concept that we should treat all philosophies and religions and viewpoints and ways of looking at things , nations, etc. as though they have equal merit sounds fine...

Until you realize it isn't true.

Or, as the teacher in the 'progressive' school, going AGAINST its 'modern' philosophy, said: "No matter what your perspective is on it, Johnny, 2+2 still doesn't equal 22."

It is self evident, that if a large variety of philosophies exist, it is likely that one is closer to "Truth" than the others. If a large variety of governmental systems exist, it is likely that one IS 'best.' Being an advocate for your own way is not unhealthy, except in where it is blind. You should, at least, present a decent argument, or shut up. (This goes for sports fans, especially.) Being an advocate for your way, but looking down on people simply for being advocates of THEIR way, is, at best, unworthy.

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

quote:

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For myself and only myself, being white is a good thing

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I'm proud I scored a 98% on my Biology Exam, I'm proud I learned the solo from Metallica's "One" in 2 weeks. I'm proud I'm not a bad baseball player, I'm proud that I've discovered a way to scratch my ass in public without anyone noticing. I'm not proud that I have brown hair, or blue eyes. Nor am I proud that I'm nearsighted, or that I'm a size 10 1/2 shoe. And I am most certainly not proud that I'm white.

I'm proud of things that I actually had a hand in doing, things that are accomplishments, or feats. I don't feel any pride in my skin color, my eye color or the size of my - feet. These are things I had dick-all choic over, and I don't see how someone can be proud of someting that isn't any of their doing.

What's the difference between skin color and feet size? I don't think there really is any at all.

So, does being proud of the fact I have a 10 & 1/2 shoe size sound pretty retarded? Well, ask yourself, what aspect of your life did you have more hand in creating, your shoe size, or your skin color, and tell me what the difference is.

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"Why do you want to spend time with a deer? They're so stupid, they get hypnotized by headlights!" - Guido Anchovy