In another forum, I made fun of someone who was making fun of a South American for using the European convention for specifying numbers ( 4,301kg is the same thing as 4.301kg expressed the American way). I said "Just another ugly American mistreating foreigners and showing his ignorance of the world again, thinking that his own second-rate country that tortures prisoners and isn't even the largest economy in the world anymore is the entire world."
Needless to say, I got some feedback :-). But the most interesting feedback was regarding two words: "tortures prisoners". This person said, "I did not vote for Bush and I had nothing to do with setting up the secret prisons where people are tortured. You shouldn't tar all Americans just because some Americans are ugly."
The thing is, we are all tarred by this fact. Rather than being insulted, this person should have been ashamed of the fact that America tortures its prisoners. This is a disgrace and a blot upon the whole country, and we should all be ashamed. I know I am.
-- Badtux the Ashamed Penguin
Well, don't see yourself as an American, but as a citizen of the planet that just happens to live in America.
ReplyDeleteYou have no control over what those idiots are doing anymore than I do.
True, not all Americans torture prisoners.
ReplyDeleteNot all Germans shoved Jews into gas chambers, either. Nobody bought the "but I vas not involved" line.
I'm ashamed of many things about the country where I was born, which is much of the reason why I'm here. And I state my shame to everyone who asks me about my accent. Then they like me, they really like me! And we can move on to the fact that I'm a citizen of the planet, not another one of those dirty damn Americans. It gives me and the person I've just met LESS to talk about, but that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHell yes, it reflects on all of us and will for a long long time. Anyone who isn't ashamed must a very cold heart. No, we didn't personally torture anyone, but it was done in our name.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how much things changed in our country over the past seven and a half years. I never thought I would live in a country that tortured human beings, but I do and that is sad as hell.
We have become the enemy.
ReplyDeleteHow can we be a symbol for freedom, liberty, and human rights when we are taking those things away from people in this country and around the world?
It is a big shame. We should all be ashamed at the crimes the executive and legislative branches have allowed.
The government has turned this country into a dirty, morally-bankrupt society, who are more worried about having cheap gas, rather than the crimes and murder committed to keep that gas so cheap.
Yes, I'm ashamed.
I am ashamed of what my country has been doing. I am not ashamed of myself. I began bitching, moaning, calling legislators and everything else I could think of right off the bat. I knew ON 9-11 that the idiot in the White House was going to use it for bad things. But it was NOT my choice, I have not gone quietly into his nasty black monster-inhabited night that America has become. I am ashamed FOR my country, but do not consider myself culpable for the actions taken by my so-called leaders.
ReplyDeleteIts difficult to say that I am proud to be an American these days...
ReplyDeleteIt's embarrassing for sure, to see America's stature destroyed for the sake of a few greedy beady-eyed neocons bastards.
ReplyDeleteI am, however, glad to know that this terrible hiccup in the grand experiment that is democracy, will be gone in ≈4 months. And I hope the successor to this current lousy administration fixes the messes made by the privileged one and puts things in motion that bring back the glory that was once America.