An American's Apology

HealthArts

Dear All on Boards IE--

Well, we in the US have put our feet (and less mentionable parts of the anatomy) in it well and truly, and seemingly for the foreseeable future. For this we must apologize to our fellow citizens in all parts of the world.

The debacle is not intentional on the parts of those of us who voted Democratic, Green or Communist/Socialist--but collectively we have failed to stop the corporate interest-driven attacks upon our constitution and government responsibility and accountability. The results are shocking and saddening to ourselves and the world every day.

My conversations with folks from the UK seem to indicate a similar predicament. No one I have interviewed approves of T. Blair's follow-along with our horrid G. Bush & Co., yet the British PM & cronies seems to have his way all the same. Especially in exercising ever-more scrutiny and control over your citizens using the handy pretext of the ever-readily-available "terrorist threat". A journey through the security gauntlet any airport or public building in this country shows that our own citizens are the real intended objects of scrutiny and control.

I became aware of Boards IE in 2000, when truth was being excluded from our maintstream print and broadcast media even more systematically than usual. I wanted to communication with Europeans for a variety of purposes, and was delighted to find your web site. Each year it grows and improves, and the language and thoughtfulness in your postings remains several levels above those commonly found, say, in www.craigslist.org (our nearest equivalent to Boards IE).

For the record, many of us continue to work against the fomentors of our coupe d'etat, using means such as www.MoveOn.org, www.CLGnews.org and other vehicles. The Republican National Committee complains about MoveOn as a "hate group" (translation: does not approve of and questions the actions and policies of G. Bush & Co.), which may indicate a modestly successful engagement.

God bless and God save us all,

Glen

Gone West

Well, long live free speech on the internet, and so on.
I have always quietly mocked the USA's mantra of 'land of the free', when their press and tv/media outlets are so heavily controlled by various corporate interests.

patzer117

Glen thanks for speaking on behalf of everyone in your country. I'm glad to see you disagree with Bush's self-appointed policeman of the world attitude and intend on stopping it by becoming a self-appointed politician of high enough standing to declare, on behalf of the American people, your nation and it's regime 'horrid'.

And before you start talking about your respect for boards.ie remember you never joined in the debate to rid us of our mistakes, even though you knew about us since 2000, and kindly let us live in ignorance until now.

And before you start tarring us all with the one brush in your patronising manner let me tell you I was a complete supporter of the invasion of Iraq. While I may not agree with George's every decision that is the price of democracy - you had your vote too. We may not have had ours in the American election but we're all hoping for improved diplomatic relations and increased co-operation with the EU.

I'm trying desperately hard not to get too annoyed, but please, if you're not elected don't proclaim to speak on behalf of everyone else in your country, just speak for yourself on what you believe your administration has done wrong, and what can be done to help the situation.

Patzer

[Jackass]

The only thing that annoys me is Kennedy gets assisinated, and this guys gets two terms :rolleyes: Should be the other way around if you ask me.

BEAT

good grief Glen,
let me say as an American also,
get a grip.

Sorry Mods it couldnt be avoided.

I mean we all hate Bush and the crap he has got us into, but really...
that was a bit dramatic dont you think?

Sand

Well, thanks for that Glen.

Best of luck in your guerilla war against the democratically elected regime.

toiletduck

LATIN BEAT wrote:

good grief Glen,
let me say as an American also,
get a grip.

Sorry Mods it couldnt be avoided.

I mean we all hate Bush and the crap he has got us into, but really...
that was a bit dramatic dont you think?

:rolleyes:

BEAT

toiletduck wrote:

:rolleyes:

should I apologise...I mean as an American and all?
/me stands up

I as an american apologise for wondering why that american apologised for all americans to an online chat site.

bonkey

I as an Irish apologise, but I can't figure out who's apologising for who, what or why.

jc

Karl Hungus

No, I'm sorry Shaun...

sceptre

I'm sorry for veering towards being the voice of reason here but would you lot stop apologising for things that aren't entirely within your personal control?

All joking aside, I can't see what the original poster is apologising for. Or the few American tourists I've met in the past few years who've apologised to me for their head of government being a dunderhead.

Tiny chance of this thread developing into a discussion on one of the following: propensity of some worried Americans to worry, propensity of some outraged Americans to decry the actions of their elected government, possibility of the focus of the American media being set on the terrorist threat (and whether they created part of the threat themselves) to the abandonment of serious journalism/investigative practices/any rational editorialising beyond what they're told to say. Or we could apologise till the cows come home.

Karl Hungus

sceptre wrote:

All joking aside, I can't see what the original poster is apologising for. Or the few American tourists I've met in the past few years who've apologised to me for their head of government being a dunderhead.

To be serious for a minute, I think that a lot of Americans take this approach in order to distance themselves as far as possible from those who do support Bush.

athena 2000

sceptre wrote:

I'm sorry for veering towards being the voice of reason here but would you lot stop apologising for things that aren't entirely within your personal control?

All joking aside, I can't see what the original poster is apologising for. Or the few American tourists I've met in the past few years who've apologised to me for their head of government being a dunderhead.

Tiny chance of this thread developing into a discussion on one of the following: propensity of some worried Americans to worry, propensity of some outraged Americans to decry the actions of their elected government, possibility of the focus of the American media being set on the terrorist threat (and whether they created part of the threat themselves) to the abandonment of serious journalism/investigative practices/any rational editorialising beyond what they're told to say. Or we could apologise till the cows come home.

How DARE you be reasonable...

*Narcissistic wanky Mooooooo*

FatherTed

HealthArts wrote:

Location: City of Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Area,

I stopped reading here