Hello there! I am from America and am interested to hear about your opinions on my country.
you know, the falcon is a magnificent creature. It can spot rodents from way up high with its great, sharp eyes. These eyes take up a lot of space in the falcons head.
So there's America for you: Great vision, small brain.
Post-death is frustrating. Especially when it was a very lengthy and detailed post.
Summary:
political comments: http://4-ch.net/politics/kareha.pl/1120282154/l50
("why do so many people hate Americans?")
However:
America != USA.
Ameirca = South America + North America. two whole continents.
"The Americas" is an acceptable alternative name for the two continents, America is not an acceptable alternate name for USA. If you are so keen on abbreviating United States of America, say U S A (approximately 'yuessáye').
>>1 is not helping the general stereotype of too many USA citizens being ignorant/egocentric asshats who think others do not count. I have many intelligent friends in USA, stop making them look bad.
American climate, geography, wildlife, history, culture, cuisine = too bleeping diverse to generalize, but very interesting, obviously.
USA climate, geography, wildlife, history, culture, cusinie = diverse and interesting, though mega-corporations want to turn the culture, cuisine, etc into a one size fits all. The terribly loud miniority of fundies = bad (duh); being crusade obsessed morons. FDA = crony for the mega-corporations. Trend in the human population: kids getting babysat by corporations via TV, school cafeteria "sponsorships" etc thanks to the consumerist culture touted by the companies. It's leading to too many of them suffering from hollow egos, feeling that they need to buy as much as possible to -> too busy working too much due to needing too much cash -> their kids getting babysat by TV/Internets and being neglected -> need to buy to feel more fulfilled etc (it is delicious loop, you must eat it). It feels paradoxal that when such a huge chunk of the population is religious, far too many nevertheless feel terribly hollow. Oh, also, the fact that too many of those religious people cannot comprehend that it doesn't take a god to be moral: that it's just plain common sense, is a telling sign of their viciousness, ignorance and idiocy. It's not a good indicator when a significant number of religious people think that the fear of god/not getting into heaven is the sole reason to behave well.
http://www.google.se/search?q=Atheists+least+trusted
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/03/24/67686
Sorry for the fundie-rant, I have nothing against religious people, but I do have a lot against idiots, regardless of whether they're religious or not.
>>3 The Japanese would disagree, as would anyone who isn't a dork obsessed with political correctness.
"Canadian Provinces of America" has a nice sound to it.
>>4
It has nothing to do with being politically correct.
I don't think anyone outside the U.S. really minds if we call our country America. You don't see Canada trying call themselves Canada of America, or Chile trying to call themselves Chile of America. It's simply easier to say IN AMERICA
yep, generally when people say America, they mean the US.
"American flag"
America = USA (correct)
United States of AMERICA
God Bless AMERICA
AMERICA the Beautiful
AMERICAn people
>>10-11
if I call anything non-geographical from south or north america (of the non usaian kind) for american, you'd get all huffy and claim i'm wrong. when in fact i would not be, as i'd be referring to it in relation to the continent. people frequently speak of african things without referring more closely to the exact region, why would it be more wrong for me to refer to any country in the americas as american, than any african place african? does it mean that africa is an accepted way to refer to exclusively south africa? that's the way you people use america.
yes, i made a lot of assumptions regarding your responses, based on opinions too many other usa citizens have.
guess why many others feel too many 'americans' have overinflated egos.
lol amerikkka
>>15
I wouldn't go that far.
Though with as much power as USA has, it's worrisome that there are many people there that want to turn it into a jihad-ing Jesusland. I hope the rest of the population can keep them at bay.
The rest of us have already started. The people voted to shift the congress from Republic to Democrat in the '06 mid-term elections. Of course, the Democrats come with their own set of disturbing issues, but they are not in bed with the crazy fundamentalist Christians. I think this trend will continue in the '08 presidential election. I would be surprised, depressed, and possibly violently angry if we got another super-religious pandering inept feckless corrupt president. It won't happen though, because even the densest back-country hick is starting to figure out he's been cheated and lied to.
> I think this trend will continue in the '08 presidential election. I would be surprised, depressed, and possibly violently angry if we got another super-religious pandering inept feckless corrupt president.
unfortunately for you, it looks like the democrats are doing their best to make sure that happens.
Maybe we should start calling ourselved United Statians
America
Home of the brave,
Home of the free.
>>17 It doesn't matter how corrupt the president is, what matters is how corrupt congress is.
You are right, of course. However we haven't had a genuine leader in the White House in my generation, and trying to clean up the congress is totally unpossible. So I hope for my mediocre dream of a president who doesn't metaphorically rape me in the ass to come true, since thinking about how Barbara Boxer "represents" me makes me slit down, not across.
>>25
You fail at life. This is not an image board.
Sage is not an insult. Read 4-ch's wiki about the usage of sage.
I'm a resident of the US of A, and I disagree with the general name of 'America' applying only to us. Are there any people here who are actually Japanese who want to say what they THINK OF THE US? Wasn't that this threads topic?
>>27 Not Japanese specifically but non-Americans (British, Mexican, Canadian, Brazilian, Hawaiian, etc.)
Americans must like themselves if they want others to like them.
America was a one-hit wonder back in the 1970's.
1/the biggest country in the world
2/a country of hypocrites
3/selfish and childish
I'm an Amerifag.
Yes, I'll agree, the U.S has its fair share of problems. In fact, if I had the chance, I'd move somewhere else. (Except for the fact that people would still call me an Amerifag.) However, the one thing I get sick of are these "[INSERT COUNTRY HERE] SUX CAUSE THEY'RE [INSERT STEREOTYPE HERE]!!" threads where everyone bashes on this country and that going only by sterotypes.
How many U.S-hating posters have actually been to the U.S? Personally, I've never been to another country and I never say "OLOLOL!!1 [INSERT COUNTRY] SUXX0RZ!!1one!1" I've never even met anyone who was a current citizen of another country, so I can't judge anybody on any matter.
The point is, why can't we all just get along as citizens of Earth? In a hundred years, when we terraform Mars, will we be having the same kinds of discussions? Seriously, guys.
> In a hundred years,
i think you're being unrealistically optimistic if you think we won't have nuked ourselves into oblivion by then.
>>34
Ok, this is assuming we can avoid that kind of situation.
I think it is a piece of land. Also, some people live on it.
That's just what I think, though.
>I've never even met anyone who was a current citizen of another
country
Where do you live? Somewhere down in Arkansas or up in North Dakota?
>when one explicitly states his intention to "sage" a thread then it becomes an insul..
That was my point exactly. Going "sage!" in here is as stupid as going "Man you're gay" at a Pride festival.
It doesn't work, because the words work too differently here vs an image board, which is clearly where >>25 came from.
Nothing wrong with that, I wasted over a year of my life at 4chan's /b/. But that doesn't mean I'm going to be an ignorant nimrod.
To quote the stereotype line, >>25 needs to "lurk moar".
Remember, >>30, it's down the lane, not across the street... Nah. No heroing needed. >>25's usage inside of his post (as opposed to the actual saging) is not acceptable, however, as it shows too great ignorance of how this site works.
>>33
I've been to USA. It digusted me. Not the country's fault, though. It was the retarded morons who kept using the bible as an excuse to spew hate and ignorance that distgusted me. Don't move out of USA. Please contribute to saving your contry from those disease-bearing human cockroaches. Forget the nukes, they'll turn your country into a 3rd world country, then go taliban on us all, and THEN nuke the world, believing that the old "duck and cover" video tapes they've passed on to future generations taught them everything they need to know about how to survive that.
>>37
Dallas, Texas. Perhaps I wasn't too clear about that. I've never personally known anyone who was a current citizen of another country.
>>38
...THEN nuke the world, believing that the old "duck and cover" video tapes...
And then we'll see what looks like a duck on the floor caused by the flash burn.
>>37
Outside of the large cities on the coasts, such people are vanishingly rare in the US.
>>41
So what you mean is the "retarded morons" from 38's post are present only in the big big cities and seemingly non-existant in the countryside? Or is it something else entirely?
Im an american citizen and i think any one who would diss our country is either jelous or a Liberal
What I mean is, foreigners visiting the US on business, or on vacation, tend to stay in the big cities on the coasts (which is logical when you remember how much of the economy, and how many tourist attractions, like the Statue of Liberty and the Hollywood sign, are concentrated in those large cities).
Relatively few visit the interior of the country, or, if they do, they take a few pictures of the Grand Canyon, and then they go back.
Other than illegal aliens, anyway.
I know a man with a very Arabic-sounding name who's been living in France for more than 50 years. He doesn't practice any religion. He worked hard all his life and now is quite wealthy. He told me he was invited to spend a week in the USA by a couple of friends, but he was way too afraid they'd Gitmo him as soon as he'd arrive. lol amerikkka
>>45
LOL you're right! But here's an interesting story from my neighbour.
He is not Muslim to begin with. A few years after 9/11, he went to America for some sight seeing with his wife. The moment he got off the plane, people started to give him the stares and looks. Then when he got to Customs, he got lead to a room and got interrogated instead. You know why? Because he had a beard and that made him looked like a Muslim. But the Officers were OK too. After they realise that they have made a mistake and made a debacle, they apologized to him and to show that they really mean it, they gave big discount coupons and free meals tickets to be used in the airport stores to my neighnour. The moment my uncle checked in to the hotel, the first thing he did was to shave his face clean for the first time in 10 years.
I am an Iranian who was born in US, that means I am a dual citizen. When entering amerikkka to visit my aunts they went through all my 50 something years old mother's baggage and questioned her for hours straight while she was being recorded! A woman in her late 50s that barely speaks English, they also got her finger prints. Later we figured out that they were pissed off because they had no right to get my finger prints, so they thought that picking on my mother would be the right thing to do.
I live in Canada, and I decided to not to apply for universities in US. I hate that place.
>>47
As a US citizen, I can say that those guys were being racist. Airport authorities are the ones that I really can't stand because they have too much power. Of course, there are people like that in our government too.
But, people shouldn't judge the US purely a small minority of xenophobic, fundamentalist assholes that live there. Like most fundamentalist minorities, they're often the loudest. The political standing is mostly somewhere in between left and right.
the US is the axis of evil.
>>48
Easier said than done, considering that airports are usually the first point of entry where foreign visitors experience the US.
All these airport stories make one think how double-standard things are. That is, US visitors usually don't get the same kind of treatment abroad, certainly not to the extent where they are finger-printed and interrogated for hours.
I understand that this resulted from the US's holly crusade, "War on Terror". Well, first they announced, "Woops, sorry, no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Now a lot of people are questioning the 9/11 incident. The 7th WTC building collapsed without a plane collision. No fire or debris can bring down the building in a free-fall fashion. Seriously, who are we kidding?
To >>48, if they are a small minority, why are the president and those neo-cons still in the office? Isn't it because a majority of people voted for them? Please face the problem squarely and figure out what went wrong, and fix it. It's your country.
P.S. No, it's not one of those "Well, every other country hates us because we are rich and so powerful so that we can take care of problems happening in other countries where native people can't" accusations. It really is something seriously wrong with your country.
>>50
Unfortunately, >>50-san, in the US, those who have money are the ones who have power. It doesn't matter that people can vote because votes can simply be bought. Therefore, things don't get done because the rich minority likes to keep the general public down. Also, the small minority banks on the fact that the majority are ill-informed about the current issues of the day.
It's sad to say, but the majority of US citizens honestly don't care about the underlying political current. They simply vote for whoever payed the most for advertisements. That's how we got into our current situation.
Basically, the government in our country is not built on the principal of fairness and equal power as most people perceive it to be. Instead we are stuck with a massive powerhouse allied with some of the richest people in the world who recycle their power, essentially locking the common man out of the political process. In essence, the public at large cannot do anything about that small minority because they have effectively cut us out of the running.
I think your country (lol, it's mine as well) is becoming too authoritarian for its own good, and forgetting its roots. It's unfortunate the the global view of our country is as a bunch of hillbilly fundementalist ultranationalists, but every country's got to have its stereotype.
That is how it is like every where. That is how it has always been. People with money rule. And it is sadder that most American's don't vote than those who vote for neo-cons.
Lets face it, America is fucked, not becaues of the terrorist, but because politicans are more concerned about serving their needs than those of the people.
Interesting article on the matter:
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5318
Look Bush's approval rating is lower than Nixon's and we hate that Nixon. But the most that is happening is the Daily Show is making fun of Bush. I honestly believe terrorist are backing off from attacking the US because the government does more harm to the country than anyone else. Hey, terroist blow up two buildings but instead of finding who is responsible, lets invade Iraq, get stuck, and try to invade another country especially because we are recruiting less and less people into the armed force. AH fuck, I am ranting...again.
>had a beard and that made him looked like a Muslim
This is one of the many things that's wrong with the world. Islam is a religion, not a fashion statment. You can't tell if someone's muslim by them sporting a particular kind of beard. The 25+ muslims (of the non-taliban type, obviously) I know don't have any proper beards, never did, and the ones younger than that don't have one either. But then again nor do the jews I know sport the stereotype orthodox-jew hair-/bearstyle, as they're obviously not of the orthodox kind.
So if the guy would have been a non-retarded religious person (IMO believing in a religion doesn't automatically make people idiots, if they want to believe in a mythological story to help make life more sense to them, that's fine by me) that happened to be muslim, regardless of where he came from, would that have been okay to harass him, and no coupons and freebie-junk had been given as compensation?
>I honestly believe terrorist are backing off from attacking the US because the government does more harm to the country than anyone else.
Wasn't that the whole point with the terrorist acts? Not to screw up the country - as that takes too much resources - but to make it screw itself up by injuring the country in a soft spot and launching it into zealot defense mode. Paranoia and fear does an excellent work of destroying lives. I think it was in the book Good Omens that the demons (well, some of them) were impressed with humans, because the demons couldn't even make humans half as miserable as what they did to themselves.
Ah, found it:
"He rather liked people. It was a major failing in a demon.
Oh, he did his best to make their short lives miserable, because that was his job, but nothing he could think up was half as bad as the stuff they thought up themselves. They seemed to have a talent for it. It was built into the design, somehow. They were born into a world that was against them in a thousand little ways, and then devoted most of their energies to making it worse."
"There were people who called themselves Satanists who made Crowley squirm. It wasn't just the things they did, it was the way they blamed it all on Hell. They'd come up with some stomach-churning idea that no demon could have thought of in a thousand years, some dark and mindless unpleasantness that only a fully-functioning human brain could conceive, then shout "The Devil Made Me Do It" and get the sympathy of the court when the whole point was that the Devil hardly ever made anyone do anything. He didn't have to. That was what some humans found hard to understand. Hell wasn't a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley's opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind."
I sort of have to agree on that notion.
> Wasn't that the whole point with the terrorist acts? Not to screw up the country - as that takes too much resources - but to make it screw itself up by injuring the country in a soft spot and launching it into zealot defense mode. Paranoia and fear does an excellent work of destroying lives.
that's why it's called "terrorism"...
>>55
You'd think that would go without saying, but no. Some people need to get reminded of that.
it really is funny. so many people here are attacking a country that they
1) have no power to influence.
2) have no say in anyway.
3) are completely naive and uninformed about.
what's great, is that it's obvious that most of you get your ideas straight from the mass media or some other load of shit source.
and that's why i read these threads for humor. :)
please keep up the good work, it really does brighten my day!
>>57
1) I am over 18 and thus I have voted in both elections in Iran AND Us due to my dual citizenship.
2)wtf does that suppose to mean anyway...
3)I have lived in Iran for half of my life, and the other half in Canada and have frequently visited Amerikkka to see family, I have Iranian and American dual citizen with permanent residence status in Canada. And I have experienced racism against Muslims first hand in US while not so much in Canada.
I also believe that you are a DIPSHIT.
>>58
that was fast! good job.
1) it's good that you vote. i must respect you for that. honestly.
2) people from countries other than the US complaining about pointless things, you get the idea...
3) again, the bit about the mass media. you only know the tiny bit that you have seen.
racism is normal, dude. not nice, but normal. it's everywhere you look, because that is the way that people are. and don't try to tell me that Iran and Canada are not full of racists as well, because YOU will know that you are lying.
and if i'm a dipshit, that's fine. i suppose reading these boards would make me one anyway. :) i'm white and roman catholic, and i've been persecuted too. strange but true. but at least i laugh at it all, huh?
>>57
1) Indirectly it's fully possible, by affecting the ones who do live there. There needs to be some sort of large-scale operation to actually make a significant difference though.
2) If USA had kept to itself, then yes it would have been none of our concern. That is very much not the case, however.
3) Some of us here have actually been to the states, don't waste time on TV and are very well aware of that just because it's in the mass media doesn't make it automatically true.
>>60
i was wondering if the same guy would post again. anon, where are you?
1) indirectly...large-scale operation...do you mean terrorism? :) no i understand. (that might be more direct.) but none of the people here will ever be part of a large enough operation i'm guessing.
2) this just makes me laugh. wonderful!
3) it's not just tv, but you know that. i too have been to the states, but that isn't enough to get the info you need.
i must agree that "just because it's in the mass media doesn't make it true."
>...racism is normal, dude. not nice, but normal... i'm white and roman catholic, and i've been persecuted too. strange but true. but at least i laugh at it all, huh?
So, let me get this straight. You LIKE being persecuted? And you laugh at it all when people around you who don't really know you keep calling you say, monkey or terrorist or white-supremacist. You must be really thick skinned. What a breed you are!
>>62
"Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets."
- Luke 6:22-23
About that US keeping to itself bit... Very few countries do that, y'know. Globalization and that whole shebang. This makes it important for the kids to behave towards each other, and not make fun of older brother UK or sister Canada without a good reason, 'mmkay? We're stuck together, ain't got no choice. We're all a family whether we like it or not. Countries need to behave like adults and not fool around like children or teenagers for no good reason.
hooray, more people are posting!
>>62
well of course I don't like it! do YOU like it? but by the same token, i don't like having to pay taxes. in both cases somebody is subjecting their will on me, in both cases inevitable (but at least i get something for being taxed.) you just have to live with it (and don't go all anarchist on me or i'll bust a lung laughing.)
and when people who don't know me insult me... (see dipshit comment) well, what can i say. i'm surrounded by idiots :)
>>65
seconded. very good.
i know it's annoying but we all do have to live together. and we also have to realize that the biggest kid on the block will push around the littler kids. until they grow up and beat the tar out him that is... and then i laugh the hardest. :)
>>67
why is globalization bad? i mean sure, there are problems with it, but that doesn't mean it's pure evil or anything. it's just growing pains.
>>68
Sad, not bad.... Not globalisation, the pointless fighting is sad. ;_;
>>68
It's bad because it forces First World workers into cutthroat wage competition against billions in the Third World whom the multinational corporations can pay pennies a day.
There's a better quote about this from Neil Stephenson, in the early part of "Snow Crash."
"When it gets down to it--we're talking trade balances here--once we've brain-drained all our technology into other countries, once things have evened out, they're making cars in Bolivia and microwaves in Tadzhikistan and selling them here--once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel--once the Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani bricklayer would consider to be prosperity..."
Our grandchildren will work for the same three cents a day as Chinese political prisoners. They will live in Third World style maquiladora slums. And when they hear us talk about how we used to have electricity and running water, they'll call us liars.
That's why globalization is bad.
Naomi Klein's No Logo book is an interesting read as well.
I'm an American, and I think this thread was a huge downer.
I'd have a hard time generalizing and saying something about all Americans, but one cool thing about us is we're always good-humored and ready to try new ideas (with a healthy dose of skepticism). If you narrow it down to my particular area, which is an east-coast suburb, the thing I like most about people here is how open and friendly we are to people different from us, but the thing I like least is we don't tend to know our neighbors (literally, like: next door, across the street, etc.) well at all.
I live in the Midwest, which tends to be much different (it's much like the South, but not quite as bad!), and people here in some of the college town have respect for others, but those working class towns, people can be the real American stereotype. These people are religious, either in a traditional church or are the charasmatic megachurch type, don't have a lot of education, don't know much about the rest of the world.
What's really scary to me is some Tecan people who trust President Bush, just because he's "from Texas".
I seriously blame, in part, the education system in this country, although a lot of these parents tell their kids not to actually believe it when they say that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, etc.
>>73
Okay, perhaps so. I did visit Kansas and Missouri only a few months ago, but I can't claim to bhave strayed too far from the more populous areas, nor did I get to know any one place too intimately.
But even if there are some places that meet that stereotype, they're not all of America! You even say your college town isn't like that. Besides, 79% of Americans live in urban areas (source: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_lang=en&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTP1_US1&-format=US-1&-CONTEXT=gct).
2.
>Learn more first before you attack.
The US should have done so before it attacked Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction? 9//11? Why are you guys satisfied with the half-boiled investigation of 9//11 for which less money was spent than for the Clinton scandal?
Please educate me.
>which is an east-coast suburb, the thing I like most about people here is how open and friendly we are to people different from us,
Lucky you @_@
I don't remember what american said it, but a quote I found interesting was that "Most people think USA is a lot less conservative than what it actually is."
>>76 a survey i read the other day in the newspaper said that 56% of America called itself conservative. obviously, that needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but still - it was in a liberal paper
The actual political leaning is more like
76% Moderate
12% Conservative
12% Liberal
For the most part, people will vote whichever way sounds best to them, but they probably won't completely agree with the candidate. But, since there isn't a clear-cut "Moderate" party, most people will either vote Democrat or Republican depending on which one is making bigger promises.
>>75
Abortion isn't as much of a religious issue as you think.
My religious views don't have any bearing on whether murder is acceptable or not, but i think that abortion is murder, and if it's illegal to murder an adult it should also be illegal to murder an unborn child.
>>79
What kind of abortion, though. Are you in favour of making it illegal to abort in any situation at all? For instance in one of those cases where it turns out that the mother will die if she gives birth, and thus wants an abortion?
Or when a woman got raped and thus wants an abortion?
>>80
today i saw a sign that someone had posted at the bus stop that had a picture of this woman. it said something like:
what crime did i commit when i was conceived through rape? i was almost aborted twice. now i am a successful, productive adult.
children that are the result of rape do not deserve the death penalty. i am the exception to abortion, "in case of rape or incest."
think of me when you think of abortion.
or something like that.
it was very surprising. it said that it was produced by a pro-life feminist group.
i personally have a hard time with the whole abortion debate, but it was odd to be reminded that there are a WHOLE variety of different opinions on the matter, and from all sides.
just one more thing to confuse the issue...
I'm not personally responsible for the actions of the U.S. military, nor is anyone I know, nor is anyone on my block or in my neighborhood. I cannot imagine why you are confused about this.
If your point is we elected the guy who ultimately made the decision to attack Iraq, therefore our democratic system is not perfect, then fine, I agree with you. It is not perfect. Otherwise I don't see what you are saying here. Do the actions of your government reflect what everyone in your country thinks?
>>82
Given the name of this thread, "What do you think of America", there is no denying that there needs to be a certain amount of generalization necessary. Otherwise, some people will limit themselves to small areas of the US, as anonymous posters did in >>72 and >>73, or you did (even smaller area in your case). But I have to wonder how much relevancy such opinions focused on small areas of the US have when non-US citizens look at the US.
To get around this problem, I picked the president, its supporters, and election outcome because of the majority votes it got. But if you have better options, by all means, educate us.
>Do the actions of your government reflect what everyone in your country thinks?
I remember that right after Bush announced that the US would send troops to Iraq, his approval rate was somewhere between 60-80% despite of what other countries (France comes to my mind) and the United Nations expressed.
>>81
Yeah, though I've seen the exact opposite situation as well, where the child was constantly seriously abused, physically and mentally for the first few years, because of that she was part "evil". Then they discovered that her mother was abusing her and took her away from the mother. The child kept getting sent from home to home because of being more like a savage collection of wrath and chaos, than a human. Then she killed herself before she even had turned 15, if I recall correctly. Perhaps even before she turned twelve. Even though people had tried hard to get through her madness and reach through to her.
All children that come from rape won't automatically turn into well-adjusted people, the same way all children won't turn into creatures that are less like functioning humans than what even some animals are (and hopefully the former is more likely than the latter). Although one of the best options would be to give the child up for adoption after it's born, some women get so traumatized by the rape that the nine months of being punished for something they didn't deserve will make them destroy the child once it's born, having gotten too obsessed with it after the nine months of being stuck with it 24/7. The women won't retain much humanity after that, either. I can't but feel that in such cases it's better for the child to die without having lived, than to go through an unimaginable hell nobody could survive and then be killed, by their own hand or someone elses.
Regarding the mothers.. Being caught in such a prison as rape-induced pregnancy can make even normal people snap. Imagine having to be reminded of the most horribly traumatic event in your entire life 24/7 for the greater part of the year following that event... So, although far from all are like this, the ones that really cannot stand it should definitely never be forced to have the child. If any woman ever should be reduced to a "birth-giving machine" (to quote a certain non-US politician), as in what they want to do with their own bodies not being relevant. Whether a woman wants to carry a child that's the result of a rape should definitely be up to her alone, in spite of that the child might actually turn out alright. The women who do decide to carry should be given therapy and a lot of support, to ensure that the child will get a good life if not adopted away, and to keep the woman from going bonkers regardless of if she keeps the child after birth or not. Not that I can imagine the average taxpayer being interested in paying for that in the event of that the funding cannot be extracted from the rapist.
I'm pro-conscious choice, as opposed to the braindead zealous fanatics percentage of either side in the USA. Many years ago, at school, we got to see the movie Citizen Ruth... My class found it hilarious and ridiculous. But then the teacher informed us about that the movie wasn't really that far-fetched (he had lived in various places in USA for a decade), and made us check out various reports about events different sides did in the pro-life/choice debate in USA. It was frightening. Especially the zealot hypocricy and double-standards, and the stubborn refusal to acknowledge that the world isn't black and white.
I am aware of that most people in the USA aren't like that, and I'm in no way holding it against the average citizen. USA at least isn't as bad as in many other countries when it comes to such things, though it's also not exactly one of the top countries in that field either...
>>85
i was not necessarily agreeing with the opinions of the people who made that poster, i was just noting that even a feminist group (who "normally" support a woman's "right to make choices about her own body") were in this case AGAINST abortion.
i personally feel that rape is one of the worst conceivable crimes, because it has the potential to not only permanently damage a woman physically and mentally, but also to torture her continuously for 9 months, and then for the rest of her life. as my mother told me, "rape is horrible because a woman may have to carry the child of the man that hurt her so badly."
this is why, in my opinion, the punishment for rape should be death (preferably by torture) so as to discourage men from doing it in the first place, and to encourage women to come forward if they have been raped, knowing that the man that hurt them can be destroyed for his crimes.
also, it is generally going to be a mistake to hold people's beliefs against them, especially since the "zealots with double standards" usually do just that.
>>86
I don't think the punishment for rape should automatically be death, there are various degrees to it all, plus that false reports do occur even though they're a tiny miniority, and I'm not happy about the idea of innocent people being killed (a psycho crazy person out to get them, whether male or female, can easily harm themselves in ways that could pass as rape). I don't think really harsh punishments work, not as well as it being properly and openly shunned and seriously looked down on by society so that people will not only themselves feel more distant about the thought ever popping into their head, as well as making others more keen on stopping it if they catch it. For the crazy psychos who rape, they're pretty much going to do it either way, so to me it seems more important that we properly remind and discourage the kind of rape "the average joe" could make himself guilty of when he's having a 'temporary lapse of judgement'. But e.g. having sex with people too drunk to consent (though I find it frustrating they're foolish enough to make themselves function that badly) needs to properly be seen as despicable. If a guy/chick in their late teens at a private party is dragging a guy/chick who can barely stand into the toilet and has sex with them, it's important that the others actually will get concerned about what he/she's trying to do and react, instead of encouraging them or just ignoring it. I also think that the ones who think guys can't be raped (even though it's worse for women, considering possible pregnancy and that) are shooting themselves in the foot.
..Whoops, way off topic by now, I think.
orz
Soo... USA... um..Hmm. has.. wayy too many TV-channels?
It's flat and has some mountains? I'd love to visit for instance the Yellowstone national park some day.
Although other countries have there darkside...I believe the United States has one of the worst...Not the US in particular, but the government is severely currupt. My believes are most likely been morphed by my own emotions for an incident involving my father, so i am sorry if i offend anyone by saying that i do wish someone will do something about the irrogance in this country @_@;
Their youth culture puts me off. Everything seems to be aimed at younger and younger age groups. Too much pressure, too little intellect and experience = morbid, confused, selfish youths. Sadly, the "emo" culture is catching on here...at least fashion wise.