History has shown that it can fluctuate (both here and elsewhere).

I wish I knew more about world history. Than perhaps I could say who’s been at it the longest now?

It sure as hell ain’t us.

Nicoles last blog post..Awesome, Smart Shit Around the Web Today

So Maher can shut the h377 up, and so can anyone who agrees with him or Straw. If it was men wanting to veil nobody would be debating the matter with them. Women are not decorative objects. Quit thinking of us that way.

As to the other, it’s dishonest to compare France and North Korea and to say that it is a cultural comparison. Communism is not a culture, it is a form of government and an economic model. We have been quite adept in modern times at separating these factors from human culture generally, so that’s how we have to judge those things now. Korean culture is a whole ‘nother animal from North Korean government, and it would be more honest to compare French culture and Korean culture minus the communism.

Anyway, I thought that as good Americans we were supposed to hate both the French and the North Koreans? Which would be weird for me, as I have French ancestry and virtually no English (if any at all), but whatever, nobody said American jingoism made any sense.

Chuckling. Well that would be me to a tee. And I appreciate your abilities. The anonymous you sucks…does that add value? About as much as sound bite media passing as news or debate. They’re not only idiots, but cowards as well. Shame on them.

I look forward to future posts.

Janice Cartiers last blog post..Uh Oh, It’s Getting A Little Whacky

@ Chad, thanks for responding to Emily’s comment. I wasn’t sure how to, but you did a good job.

@ Shilpan, what an insightful quote! People often don’t see their own weaknesses, and no evil person sees themselves as evil. I agree that for things like shaking hands vs. bowing, it comes down to personal preference, and we can’t say that one way is inherently better than another.

@ Janice, thank you very much for the clarification. I think I understand your point much better now. Before I thought you were referring to this specific post. My U.S. and Japan posts were indeed meant as “my dad can beat up your dad” posts. I did what I could to maximize their popularity, by using list posts, putting a number in the titles, and trying to provoke a reaction. Absolutely. And I’ll continue to do that, as long as I don’t cross the line as I see it.

We might disagree about where that line is, and that’s OK. Steve Pavlina recently wrote 10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion (which came after my U.S. and Japan posts, so I wasn’t influenced by him). His post is far more controversial than I want to be. I wasn’t offended at all, and in fact I really liked that post and admired his courage, but as you can imagine, many people were really pissed off.

When I’m controversial, I want to be only mildly or moderately so. I think I was very balanced in bashing both countries, and in fact I bashed my own country first in order to avoid being perceived as anti-Japanese.

Now this post right here, this was a much more serious post for exploring whether the “my dad can beat up your dad” perspective is based on our personal preferences, or if there are any objective standards for right and wrong. And I think we got some great comments out of it.

By the way, I really appreciate that you used your real name and your brain when disagreeing with me. It’s much more constructive than the anonymous “you suck” comments I received (and deleted).

Since you asked specifically:

“who are the dads”- refers to both your US and your Japanese posts and the word choice for their titles, useful for your purposes

bragging about the stats- poor word choice on my part, but here is the reference

“Given the traffic, it’s not surprising that some people felt the need to stick up for their country.

IMHO it was not so much the traffic, but your nationalistic challenge. In the sentences before that you were mentioning the stats , the stumble…not bad things just your POV

And for me-
“some generalization is needed you have time to individually judge the 6.7 billion people on this planet.”

You wanted a nationalistic conversation. You got it. It is easier to “judge ” larger entities like that for discussion sake. And that’s what this was. A limited discussion of geopolitical borders with some culture tossed in. So it worked for you. Nothing wrong with that.

“A meaningful discussion of cultural acceptance” . That’s a different conversation in my humble opinion.

“We don’t see the things the way they are. We see things the way WE are.”
- Talmund

This great quote applies to countries as well. As Barbara said, each country has its positive and negative culturally. Now, I understand your view point of superiority in terms of socio-economic parity between two countries but as far as cultural parity, it’s hard to consider one country better than another.

Shilpan

Shilpan | successsoul.coms last blog post..How I Transformed My Life with These 5 Simple Thoughts

Why should rich countries just cancel debt owed them by poorer countries? The poorer countries knew what they were getting into when they took on the debt. Sure, some of that debt is forced upon them, but not all of it by any means.

Also, the richer countries have “ravaged resources” in some 3rd world countries, but that is the exception now, not the rule…ask any oil producer.

The poorer/failing countries need to get their act together and quit fighting centuries old tribal battles, and set up a functional government. Good examples are Brazil, Columbia and even a one or two African countries are coming around.

Chads last blog post..Have a Great Weekend!

Is the country where people enjoy a high quality of life still better if their refusal to cancel out debt, ravaging of resources and theft of land is the reason that people in the other country are dying of starvation and disease? This doesn’t only apply to the US, but the UK as well (where I am).