white house = y.m.c.a. i know it is i would just like to add an observation of mine america has had 44 presidents...all men not a single woman president ever
@Moderator: The same thing was said about a Black (African-American (?) ) president. And that came to pass. Give it time. Anything can happen. I don't think it's about "De-Americanizing" the world as much as it's about curbing greed. Avarice and hyper-consumption are what's destroying the planet. And these are human traits which show no preference for race,creed or color. We Americans didn't invent conquest. Nor are we the best at it. The Romans (Italians?) didn't do too bad at creating an empire based on conquest and greed. Neither did the British. (The sun never sets on the English empire) Every "evil" deed that Americans are accused of are shadowed by dozens of evil deeds done by others. We're not the only guilty parties here.
@ Galileo Figaro Skämskudde - please don't post anything more politically related and claiming you're Swedish. At least try talk to a woman first and see for yourself, they aren't that bad. As for your manhood/masculinity issues well time will do wonders don't worry.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/i-crashed-a-wall-street-secret-society.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-26264745 Boy, you gotta luv 'em or what? What!!! Deffo "WHAT"!!!
The first association with the word "America" is not freedom and democracy anymore. It's aggression and violence. Here is yet another strong case for de-americanizing the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaq50D4Tp6w
It is all part of the bigger plan that's been in place almost since the beginning of time. 1. make America perceived as the bully of the world 2. dumb-down the populations through entertainment and propaganda 3. get every nation tied into the central banking systems 4. collapse the world economy, causing famine, disease, civil unrest and political upheavals 5. instigate a war, to destroy the evidence and shift blame from those who caused it You can know who is at fault, by seeing who it is that finances both sides.
"Perceived as the world bully"? My word, what is that if not propaganda? It most certainly IS THE worst bully in the world, hands down, no debate needed... And the financiers are (mostly) Americans, from powerful individuals and families, to corporations that earn fortunes through war... The rest - where do I sign?
ach, wtf, gorski... de-oilifying the world would be more feasable, then.. whereever oil is found, war and misery follows in its footsteps.. and the profits go down the same funnel. always.. look at sudan, etc, etc, call me a cynic if you like..
Just one aspect of it all... For how long shall we allow the "chemists from the dark side" (the poisoners of Mankind) to continue their devilish work?!?!?!?!? Evidence aplenty but... http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27980344 Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!
In more than one thread now, I've seen a lot of anti-capitalist rhetoric slung around, and I'm curious as to why y'all don't seem to care for it. Personally, I'm of a bit of an anarcho-capitalist mindset, but that's hardly static. As I read and listen to various podcasts, my views are both changing, and reinforced. What's so wrong with capitalism itself? Is it to blame for the state of the world, even partially? What of the concept of the state? Is that not more destructive than any greedy capitalist notion? When this entity called "the state" has a monopoly on the initiation of force (or the threat thereof), would it then be suffice to say that anyone who is corrupt, or "evil", would desire to become a part of that monopoly? This isn't isolated to simply America, but any government institution around the world. The thought that a select few have more rights than you, and know better than you how to live your life. A system of human beings granted power to protect us from other human beings, even though we're all human. Personally, I think it's not so much about "De-Americanizing" the world... rather, it's more about shedding these power-over structures and replacing them with power-with. The rights of the individual, the world's smallest minority. If governments serve to protect the rights of minorities, then why not yours?
The problem with the world is money, it shouldn't exist and the system needs a change that really won't happen.
To go back to the more basic principle: It is about false ideas of oneself. One is identified with 'things' and the rule: The more I have the more I am is the effect. Since this idea is lived by US authorities / companies most it can be determined as American attribute, hence De-Americanizing the world is synonym to de-identify with things. Strengthen / cultivate social attributes. Money / capital are not bad. They are already the effect of a bad cause (greed due to false identification, accumulation of things as replacement for real happiness).
Agreed with Ixtilli regarding the anti-capitalist rhetoric. The problem is not capitalism. Real capitalism has not been tried anywhere in any of our lifetimes. How can anyone possibly say something doesn't work if it has never been tried and proven. What people are calling capitalism in this discussion is more correctly termed "crony capitalism" or simply "cronyism." A simplistic example: - Some rich guy with a large pile of money spends a portion of it to purchase politicians (his "cronies"). - The politicians make laws that favor the guy (their crony) who gave them the most money. - The politicians also make sure that the laws are detrimental to the guy's competitiors (a less powerful politician's "cronies"). - You and I, who pay the taxes, are not deserving of respect or consideration from the politicians because we are not cronies. This results in the guy having an even bigger pile of money, politicians having their own big piles of money as well, and the rest of us having less choices of what to buy and how much it costs because there's no true competition. The problem is not the money. It's not the principles of real capitalism. It's not even the greed. It's the fact that greed is allowed to exist unencumbered, without any fear of being held responsibile. That has enabled a few people who think they should have control of everything, to engineer, bribe and buy their way to unlimited power. If someone got rich by their own hard work, I am all in favor of that and would like to do the same myself. If it was done through nefarious means, by taking undue advantage of every loophole and walking on the backs of others and by bribing politicians and making backroom deals, well I'm not really sure what should be done with such people. Give them a rank of Private First Class and a gun, and deposit them behind enemy lines to be the boots on the ground in the wars they funded and instigated, that might be a good idea.