5 ms·

Didn't Osama bin Laden write a declaration about culture invasion from the West?

DominikR 10y ago
Invasion implies use of force and against the will of someone. Nobody forces you to use Google services, eat hamburgers or listen to US music.
- soundwave106 10y ago
  Downvotes for this? I personally think that many who use the "cultural invasion" angle fail to realize that it often ends up being a two way street. In the US, not many people make a big deal when, say, a French film wins a US Academy Award (example: The Artist) or a French artist tops the US pop charts (example: Daft Punk). It's a global world, after all. Perhaps there is some scope for protecting the uniqueness of individual cultures that might get lost in the global shuffle. But a lot of people happily stand up for this cause on their own, without any sort of political angle. Now, the NSA snooping angle with American tech emphasized in the article, that's another story -- I see this as a legitimate concern for any foreign firm. America's spy agencies probably underestimate how much they've hurt American companies in this global world.
  - DominikR 10y ago
    I as a citizen of a EU country (Austria) also share the same concerns regarding NSA and invasion of privacy by the US government and I'm highly critical of the wars started/instigated by the US in the last 20 years. But I have no problem with being fair even if I'm the loser in the end. Google is in it's space better than anyone else by far (in the Western hemisphere), same goes for many if not most other tech companies. I cringe when thinking about using a German or French search engine and having no other option because the EU commission has imposed a ban on all foreign competition. Sadly we are moving in this direction. The solution I believe is to change our legal framework to reduce the risks, bureaucracy and costs (taxes) for founders of startups. Currently in many EU countries a failed business means for a founder that he'll lose everything he owns. And if the founder has some kind of success he'll be tortured by bureaucracy and insane taxes/regulations. (50% just for income tax, in France there was even a 75% tax for a few years) For example if you employ a handicapped person in Austria you almost have no way of ever firing that person. You have to request this from a government commission but they rarely allow this. Or you hire a woman that gets pregnant. She gets paid leave for up to 2 or 3 years (the government pays for that, but in the end we pay higher taxes for this) and when she gets back she has the right to be employed by you for 5 years in the same or an equivalent job without any way to fire her. I get that these laws have been created because employees were abused but this is too much. Edit: When I talk about firing persons I mean of course bad players that don't do their job well or worse, cause damage to the company. I don't care about a persons background, race or sex as long as the job is done well.
hodwik 10y ago
That's not just a funny coincidence -- the American left has for decades been slowly allying themselves against the West. That's why no one on the left batted an eye when Google chose Yuri Kochiyama for their Google Doodle, despite that she said in 2003: "...I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro.... I thank Islam for bin Laden. America's greed, aggressiveness, and self-righteous arrogance must be stopped."
- woah 10y ago
  Bin Laden killed many fewer innocent people than were killed and continue to be killed in the American middle eastern wars. Do you feel that Google should deny the doodle to anyone who says anything good about Gerorge W Bush or Barack Obama?
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- shitlordism 10y ago
  Lefties have parasitic degrees(sociology, gender studies, philosophy etc.) and they can't get money by doing something useful for other people. So what is their next step? It's to find a rich target and extract resources from them by blackmailing them. Since it's mostly white men who have the most money, they are vilified. Lefties will implicitly tell white men: "Gives us money for our non-profit, diversity program or we will call you a racist/misogynist". It's a fucking racket. Gives us money or we will bomb you will emotionally charged terms like racism, misogyny, privilege, sexism, bigotry, anti-poor and many other terms like that.
- rangibaby 10y ago
WalterSear 10y ago
And how it was an non-issue in his opinion, or he would have been attacking Sweden.

Invasion implies use of force and against the will of someone. Nobody forces you to use Google services, eat hamburgers or listen to US music.

soundwave106 10y ago
Downvotes for this? I personally think that many who use the "cultural invasion" angle fail to realize that it often ends up being a two way street. In the US, not many people make a big deal when, say, a French film wins a US Academy Award (example: The Artist) or a French artist tops the US pop charts (example: Daft Punk). It's a global world, after all. Perhaps there is some scope for protecting the uniqueness of individual cultures that might get lost in the global shuffle. But a lot of people happily stand up for this cause on their own, without any sort of political angle. Now, the NSA snooping angle with American tech emphasized in the article, that's another story -- I see this as a legitimate concern for any foreign firm. America's spy agencies probably underestimate how much they've hurt American companies in this global world.
- DominikR 10y ago
  I as a citizen of a EU country (Austria) also share the same concerns regarding NSA and invasion of privacy by the US government and I'm highly critical of the wars started/instigated by the US in the last 20 years. But I have no problem with being fair even if I'm the loser in the end. Google is in it's space better than anyone else by far (in the Western hemisphere), same goes for many if not most other tech companies. I cringe when thinking about using a German or French search engine and having no other option because the EU commission has imposed a ban on all foreign competition. Sadly we are moving in this direction. The solution I believe is to change our legal framework to reduce the risks, bureaucracy and costs (taxes) for founders of startups. Currently in many EU countries a failed business means for a founder that he'll lose everything he owns. And if the founder has some kind of success he'll be tortured by bureaucracy and insane taxes/regulations. (50% just for income tax, in France there was even a 75% tax for a few years) For example if you employ a handicapped person in Austria you almost have no way of ever firing that person. You have to request this from a government commission but they rarely allow this. Or you hire a woman that gets pregnant. She gets paid leave for up to 2 or 3 years (the government pays for that, but in the end we pay higher taxes for this) and when she gets back she has the right to be employed by you for 5 years in the same or an equivalent job without any way to fire her. I get that these laws have been created because employees were abused but this is too much. Edit: When I talk about firing persons I mean of course bad players that don't do their job well or worse, cause damage to the company. I don't care about a persons background, race or sex as long as the job is done well.

hodwik 10y ago

That's not just a funny coincidence -- the American left has for decades been slowly allying themselves against the West. That's why no one on the left batted an eye when Google chose Yuri Kochiyama for their Google Doodle, despite that she said in 2003: "...I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro.... I thank Islam for bin Laden. America's greed, aggressiveness, and self-righteous arrogance must be stopped."

woah 10y ago
Bin Laden killed many fewer innocent people than were killed and continue to be killed in the American middle eastern wars. Do you feel that Google should deny the doodle to anyone who says anything good about Gerorge W Bush or Barack Obama?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
shitlordism 10y ago
Lefties have parasitic degrees(sociology, gender studies, philosophy etc.) and they can't get money by doing something useful for other people. So what is their next step? It's to find a rich target and extract resources from them by blackmailing them. Since it's mostly white men who have the most money, they are vilified. Lefties will implicitly tell white men: "Gives us money for our non-profit, diversity program or we will call you a racist/misogynist". It's a fucking racket. Gives us money or we will bomb you will emotionally charged terms like racism, misogyny, privilege, sexism, bigotry, anti-poor and many other terms like that.
rangibaby 10y ago

WalterSear 10y ago

And how it was an non-issue in his opinion, or he would have been attacking Sweden.