4 ms·

You should live outside USA for a while to check out why that happens... You don't have to go as far as the middle east, just go anywhere south of the border.

by molmalo 14y ago

You should live outside USA for a while to check out why that happens... You don't have to go as far as the middle east, just go anywhere south of the border. Almost every coup in Central and South America was orchestrated with help, support and/or acceptance from the CIA and Pentagon. They trained and supported dictators (School of americas, national security doctrine, and so on), that ruled in support of their interests. That's why that's the sentiment in most of the world about the US government. Some people realize that it's not the main portion of the population the one to blame about this. But given that government after government has followed the same foreign policies, involving in every other nation's internal affairs, it's fair to ask: If the vast majority of the US population would have really opposed to this, there would have been a change by now. The only reason left, aside from indifference, is just that "the defense of the american way of life" seems to be far more important. The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas.[1, 2] That explains it all. It doesn't really matters what happens in other countries as long as resources keeps moving, and money keeps flowing. Even if that means placing dictators all over the world. And that is why you end up with that kind of statements. It won't change, unless your governments start to change. And it doesn't seem to be happening any time soon.[3] [1] http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810 http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810 [2] http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-con... [3] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-record.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-...

mattmanser 14y ago
I can't tell if this is a parody or not! A perfect example of kprobst's point with the added comedy bonus that you threw a rant about oil in there too!
- flyinRyan 14y ago
  If you can't tell that probably means you haven't spent any real time outside the US (and being on a military base in a foreign country doesn't count). I'm glad all the suffering that the US military causes is humorous to you though.
  - mattmanser 14y ago
    And I'm not even from the US...
kprobst 14y ago
> You should live outside USA for a while That's amusing, considering I was born in Mexico. Keep trying to 'school' me though, you're doing great.
- batista 14y ago
  Which means nothing. What he meant with "You should live outside USA for a while" is not actually literally living outside the USA, but seeing from the viewpoint of other countries. As in, the viewpoint of the MAJORITY of population of said countries. In all those countries where the US staged coups or intervened there is a fat-cat pro US establishment. Actually, that goes without saying for coups --you need local allies. There are also apolitical people all around. HN is not really the best sampling space to get the national sentiments of Latin America.
  - kprobst 14y ago
    > Which means nothing. It means that the OPs implied assertion that I fit his (probable) stereotype of the ignorant gringo is obviously incorrect. > the viewpoint of the MAJORITY of population of said countries Not sure how you get that, or even what it means, really.
    - batista 14y ago
      >It means that the OPs implied assertion that I fit his (probable) stereotype of the ignorant gringo is obviously incorrect. No. You could still be fitting his stereotype to a T. It's just that his way of determining it was inaccurate (but it wasn't meant to be taken literally in the first place). "Try living there" should be read as "try walking in their shoes / understanding them", not as "live in that physical space". One could be living in a country and have no fucking clue how the population thinks and feels. Westerners, with their expat clubs and little isolated houses, are very good at this. But even a local can achieve this ignorance. How many rich americans really know how "the other half lives", be it blacks, hispanics, white trash, etc? >Not sure how you get that, or even what it means, really. It means the "general sentiment" about something in a place. If you doubt that such a thing exists about the issue of american intervention in latin countries, then you don't have a very good grasp of politics and/or reality (at least in this matter).

by molmalo 14y ago

mattmanser 14y ago

I can't tell if this is a parody or not! A perfect example of kprobst's point with the added comedy bonus that you threw a rant about oil in there too!

flyinRyan 14y ago
If you can't tell that probably means you haven't spent any real time outside the US (and being on a military base in a foreign country doesn't count). I'm glad all the suffering that the US military causes is humorous to you though.
- mattmanser 14y ago
  And I'm not even from the US...

kprobst 14y ago

> You should live outside USA for a while That's amusing, considering I was born in Mexico. Keep trying to 'school' me though, you're doing great.

batista 14y ago
Which means nothing. What he meant with "You should live outside USA for a while" is not actually literally living outside the USA, but seeing from the viewpoint of other countries. As in, the viewpoint of the MAJORITY of population of said countries. In all those countries where the US staged coups or intervened there is a fat-cat pro US establishment. Actually, that goes without saying for coups --you need local allies. There are also apolitical people all around. HN is not really the best sampling space to get the national sentiments of Latin America.
- kprobst 14y ago
  > Which means nothing. It means that the OPs implied assertion that I fit his (probable) stereotype of the ignorant gringo is obviously incorrect. > the viewpoint of the MAJORITY of population of said countries Not sure how you get that, or even what it means, really.
  - batista 14y ago
    >It means that the OPs implied assertion that I fit his (probable) stereotype of the ignorant gringo is obviously incorrect. No. You could still be fitting his stereotype to a T. It's just that his way of determining it was inaccurate (but it wasn't meant to be taken literally in the first place). "Try living there" should be read as "try walking in their shoes / understanding them", not as "live in that physical space". One could be living in a country and have no fucking clue how the population thinks and feels. Westerners, with their expat clubs and little isolated houses, are very good at this. But even a local can achieve this ignorance. How many rich americans really know how "the other half lives", be it blacks, hispanics, white trash, etc? >Not sure how you get that, or even what it means, really. It means the "general sentiment" about something in a place. If you doubt that such a thing exists about the issue of american intervention in latin countries, then you don't have a very good grasp of politics and/or reality (at least in this matter).