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Two things:

  1. Has anyone considered that an America with citizens that have extensive knowledge of the world may not necessarily be a good thing? I wonder if a completely ignorant and insular America would serve the world better. Watch out when the learned people take an interest in youer country and its problems. Out of the goodness of their heart, they may suggest a solution.

  2. When I was over in Italy for a Literary Conference last year, we had a question and answer period attended by the media. A Sloevnian reporter asked me to address my feelings about America politics and relations with the world. I was actually shocked by the question, and I'm afraid I gave a bit of a diffident response. I simply said, "We all know what the problem is." Curiously enough, a lot of people nodded their heads at that answer. Obviously, most of us here agree. The question is, "What do we do about it?" And that's where the disagreement starts.
by Upstate NY on Fri Dec 8th, 2006 at 04:11:55 PM EST
One of the things that happens often (at least here on ET) is that the moree we learn about the situation in another country, the less inclined we are to suggest a "solution", and we get called on it. The English Language press is full of op-ed decrying Europe's hesitation and indecisiveness. Maybe it is because we are aware of our limitations.

So I don't think it would be a bad idea for Americans to become more aware of the rest of the world.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Dec 8th, 2006 at 05:14:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Agreed, I was just playing devil's advocate because I am too used to people in the US sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. Not to mention the willingness of our more nefarious foreign policy actors to suggest solutions far afield.

It makes me wonder, how much do the End-Timers in the United States know about Israel and Palestine? I suspect they know more about the history and events of that region than most Americans. They may not understand it, but they have a discourse about it.

by Upstate NY on Fri Dec 8th, 2006 at 05:30:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
One or the other.

Be ignorant and disengaged, interacting primarily through hands off trade rather than hands in mud direct control of corporate subsidiaries, very little standing army, essentially a professional cadre for a slight larger National Guard to form around, and a Navy that focused on halfway across and Ocean from an American coast.

That'd be OK.

Or be heavily engaged and have voters ready able and willing to kick the SOBs out when they engage in moronic acts or, even, well meaning and well informed acts that somehow turned out badly.

Its the heavily engaged and running blind combination, that's the really heavy going for everyone else, and gradually for more and more Americans as the costs escalate beyond 6% of GDO as current account deficit.

Of course, Rome conquered Greece, and when the Roman half of the Roman Empire fell, the Greek half lasted on for quite a bit longer. If that is a precedent, Europe may well do better out of the fall of the American Empire than America does.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Dec 8th, 2006 at 06:22:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
When Rome conquered greece it absorbed its culture, not the other way around. When elsewhere they romanised the conquered peoples, they became hellenised when they conquered Greece.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Dec 8th, 2006 at 06:38:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Patience, patience. American mass culture is like dandylion ... its spreads and grows quickly in a barren environment of monoculture lawns on poor soil, but start developing a more diverse polyculture and it gets swamped.

OTOH, that is switching from analogy to metaphor, so if I was a poet I should have done that in verse.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 08:55:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In iambic pentameter, even.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 09:06:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well no, I'd ne'er complete the feet. So four, as cats prefer. Or three, I think, or those combined. Five lies beyond my reach.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 09:57:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Bravo!
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 11:12:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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