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Post by Thorngrub on Apr 9, 2008 10:10:55 GMT -5
Anyone who takes the time and effort to bring up faults and shortcomings in our society is doing us all a favor. I want to take the time to thank Phil for caring enough to post these articles which reveal these various shortcomings in our society. By having these faults pointed out we stand a better chance at getting a clearer overall picture of our condition, here.
Why don't you ask your God for a little more compassion and understanding, chrisfan ? Maybe if you pray hard enough He'll hear you and take pity.
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Post by Matheus on Apr 9, 2008 21:46:31 GMT -5
Anyone who takes the time and effort to bring up faults and shortcomings in our society is doing us all a favor. I want to take the time to thank Phil for caring enough to post these articles which reveal these various shortcomings in our society. By having these faults pointed out we stand a better chance at getting a clearer overall picture of our condition, here. Why don't you ask your God for a little more compassion and understanding, chrisfan ? Maybe if you pray hard enough He'll hear you and take pity. This is quite true, but I think what America really needs are solutions to these issues. I haven't read anything here that hasn't already been pointed out before. |
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Post by Thorngrub on Apr 10, 2008 9:35:55 GMT -5
You know, its weird, there seem to be two opposing viewpoints as to the intended spirit by which Philemon here posts his articles exemplifying all that is wrong with our country.
1. That he is "shoving it in our face" cuz he gets a kick out of making us see what a fucked up country we live in, you know, that he is doing this because he has nothing better to do but "show them Americans they ain't so hot" or whatnot.
2. That Phil is simply posting articles showing the ugly underside of our society not out of spite towards us, but in an effort to simply spread the truth, keep us "in check" so to speak. This would be more in the spirit of camaraderie or at least an attempt at keeping things in perspective for us over here.
Now, I beseech thee all to please tell me, which is it ? Perhaps there is a 3rd explanation that someone can provide. Most of all, I hope Phil can simply step in now and give us the answer himself. Is it 1 or 2, Phil ? Or are neither of those options even close ? I for one would like to know for the express purpose of settling this matter once and for all. In my lifetiime I've built up more than enough evidence that honesty is the best policy. Perhaps we can never really know if someone on a message board is being perfectly honest. For what its worth I'd be interested in hearing your own explanation Phil...
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Post by ken on Apr 10, 2008 18:21:40 GMT -5
Anyone who takes the time and effort to bring up faults and shortcomings in our society is doing us all a favor. I want to take the time to thank Phil for caring enough to post these articles which reveal these various shortcomings in our society. By having these faults pointed out we stand a better chance at getting a clearer overall picture of our condition, here. Why don't you ask your God for a little more compassion and understanding, chrisfan ? Maybe if you pray hard enough He'll hear you and take pity. This is quite true, but I think what America really needs are solutions to these issues. I haven't read anything here that hasn't already been pointed out before. Phil, I love your c&p's. Keep up the good work. |
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Post by phil on Apr 14, 2008 13:11:49 GMT -5
You know, its weird, there seem to be two opposing viewpoints as to the intended spirit by which Philemon here posts his articles exemplifying all that is wrong with our country. 1. That he is "shoving it in our face" cuz he gets a kick out of making us see what a fucked up country we live in, you know, that he is doing this because he has nothing better to do but "show them Americans they ain't so hot" or whatnot. 2. That Phil is simply posting articles showing the ugly underside of our society not out of spite towards us, but in an effort to simply spread the truth, keep us "in check" so to speak. This would be more in the spirit of camaraderie or at least an attempt at keeping things in perspective for us over here. Now, I beseech thee all to please tell me, which is it ? Perhaps there is a 3rd explanation that someone can provide. Most of all, I hope Phil can simply step in now and give us the answer himself. Is it 1 or 2, Phil ? Or are neither of those options even close ? I for one would like to know for the express purpose of settling this matter once and for all. In my lifetiime I've built up more than enough evidence that honesty is the best policy. Perhaps we can never really know if someone on a message board is being perfectly honest. For what its worth I'd be interested in hearing your own explanation Phil... Oh well, where to begin? ... And most importantly ... Does it really matter? I started a long post this morning about my motivations for putting those articles here and then it dawned on me that I had neither the time nor the will to explain in details *where I come from and where I try to go with this* ... The only thing I can say is that there is only one other place on the Net where I interact with other people and where I do voice my opinions ... It is a Québec news site where some columnists have blogs where you can leave comments and discuss the subject at hand ... Guess what? Except for the war in Irak, I never discuss American affairs, only subjects that relate to Québec, Canada and the World at large and I am highly critical of some aspects of the *Québec Way of Life* ... Last thing I wanna say about this is that I never said that the U.S. is a *fucked up country*, nor do I believe that it is the case ... Of course there are some american *values* I find questionable and when I saw exemples of that in the papers I read, I did share them here ... I think I'll keep them to myself from now on ... |
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Post by Thorngrub on Apr 14, 2008 13:28:49 GMT -5
... I think I'll keep them to myself from now on ... ... no, no, no... ! I'm w/Ken, above, in appreciation of all your C&P jobs. I vote you continue being yourself.  |
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Post by Thorngrub on Apr 14, 2008 13:32:41 GMT -5
... And most importantly ... Does it really matter? THis nails it, imo. Of course not.... it doesn't really matter. I never once took the slightest bit of "offense" on any Q&P you ever did here, Phil. Much to the contrary. I always appreciate relevant news bytes, so please, don't take my questioning you the wrong way. I merely asked for the benefit of those here who may have questioned your motives. I would never. Please think nothing of it. And continue C&P'ing away, I nearly always find something of value in the things you paste in here. Kudos to you, Phil |
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Post by strat-0 on Apr 15, 2008 23:53:07 GMT -5
Welllll... I've been thinking about this, and whether or not to chime in with my two cents... I think after all this time, Phil and I have carved out a sort of respect for one another here (at least I'd like to think so) and I feel a genuine friendship with him after all these years. Having said that, there have been times when I have been deeply offended by things Phil has said about the US or Americans. One time in particular, after he expressed (in his own words) some generalities having to do with what "most Americans know about terrorism," I took him to task for it rather harshly. I was promptly rebuked by others as a "racist" (?!) among other things, but in the end, we apologized to one another and moved on. I sure don't intend to bring it up again here. What I tried to point out then, and would simply reaffirm now, is that the reason some members can post or paste almost any anti-American diatribe they want and likely get away with it is because they are Americans. This is not a peculiarly American phenomenon either. It is a universal characteristic of human nature. Just as a wife might make a snide comment to her girlfriend about her own husband's mental acumen, let the self-same girlfriend make the same comment to the wife, and look out! At any rate, I think I smiled at Chrisfan's comment back there, because it does seem to be suspiciously the rule that Phil's pastes are overwhelmingly anti-US in every way. It could tend to give the average reader here the impression that he doesn't much like the US or Americans. Perhaps it would be hard to blame him in some ways. There's little doubt that the US has steamrolled our good friends to the north (and south, or elsewhere) at times, despite what other good we might have done in this world. Of course, when you c/p articles from The Guardian, you won't get anything else! That's why I just generally scroll past them altogether.  Perhaps Phil feels that as a fellow inhabitant of the North American Continent, it's not rude and shouldn't give offense. I mean, most of the press on the continent revolves around the US for what should be obvious reasons, so to take the piss out of it should be fair game, right? Well, I'll give the benefit of the doubt today, because I'm sure that if I could sit down with Phil (and a few others around here) and throw a few drinks back, we'd have an absolutely famous time! (Maybe Phil feels compelled to speak the truth to power. It still just comes off as rude here, though.) |
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Post by ken on Apr 16, 2008 14:38:44 GMT -5
Phil, even if all of your posts were invectives against the US, I wouldn't care in the sightest and would (in fact) cheer you on.
The US is the most powerful country in the world. We can't sneeze without the rest of the world catching a cold. Certainly you are allowed to talk shit about the wrongs perpetrated by a country that holds the collective welfare of the world in the palm of its hands.
Have at it.
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Post by chrisfan on Apr 16, 2008 16:40:02 GMT -5
Just to interject among all these "Phil keep posting" messages -- No one around here has asked Phil or told Phil not to. I realize that no one is claiming specificallythat such a sentiment was expressed. But often times, it can be assumed that "keep doing it" messages are in response to a "don't do it".
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Post by RocDoc on Apr 16, 2008 17:05:27 GMT -5
sounded like thorn said you had said something.
top of the page...pretty clear implication.
...ask your god blahblahblah...
i assumed he said it in response to something that got deleted, though i won't say you're one to delete comments of yours.
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Post by chrisfan on Apr 16, 2008 20:09:59 GMT -5
No Doc, didn't delete anything. I know that there are times that anyone can misinterpret what another person says. There have been plenty of times - some to me, some that I've seen to others - when a person noting disagreement with anothers point of view is interpreted as an attempt to silence. That's a misunderstanding. It is entirely possible to disagree with something, but still respect the other person's right and value in expressing it. So if Thorn said what he did (and others joined in) from a belief that I was saying "Phil, you should not post such things" then they were coming from a rather large assumption and misunderstanding.
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Post by maarts on Apr 17, 2008 6:19:41 GMT -5
Indeed. I remember that well. Being taken to task by stratman after I attacked the US Government to tear up international relationships by ignoring the United Nations and its Security Council- speaking as a non-American citizen I was immediately deemed anti-American.
Never forgotten that- that really was America at its worst. As if anyone else but Americans had the right to answer.
Fortunately now all water under the bridge but a poignant memory of the stress in foreign relations eitherway.
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Post by skovrecky on Apr 17, 2008 8:21:30 GMT -5
Ken, I will have to disagree with you on the observation that America is still a superpower. I think we are now in 2nd place. China is the number one dude on the block now. They literally own us.......
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Post by Thorngrub on Apr 17, 2008 10:04:10 GMT -5
Phil, even if all of your posts were invectives against the US, I wouldn't care in the sightest and would (in fact) cheer you on. The US is the most powerful country in the world. We can't sneeze without the rest of the world catching a cold. Certainly you are allowed to talk shit about the wrongs perpetrated by a country that holds the collective welfare of the world in the palm of its hands. Have at it. Very thoughtfully put, ken |
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