POLITICAL "THREAD BOMBERS"

No offense but it's naive to think that what goes on in Egypt happens in a vacuum - there is a reason we have a State Department & Embassy's around the world staffed by CIA Agents. This stuff does not happen in a vacuum - the US is there to influence events to their best interest along with the Russians and Chinese etc...

reply to post by digital01anarchy


I would have liked to have added an extra comment to my last response to you Digital but unfortunately it was too late, so here it is instead.

I came across an article today which is quite interesting (DESPITE the article name which i do not wish to use to offend... after all, i did not write this interesting article!).

I think it says everything :

There have been many comments about American arrogance. During my travels to 48 United States and over [65] countries -- most of those states and countries multiple times -- some themes have emerged.

www.michaelyon-online.com...

If you have the time and patience to read that article, i would be extremely interested in your feedback?

IMO : We are all the same inside... It is just a matter of our cultures which make a big difference and unfortunately some people do not have the tolerance to understand other peoples cultures...?

Any way, thats enough for me for the moment as i don't want you to accuse me of giving out snobby morality lessons because i am a snobby European!

Back on topic?

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Samuelis

Could be one of two reasons.
1. It's an American site full of Americans.
2. It's an American site full of Americans.

Err.....no it isn't.
It's an international site that was started by a Brit but just happens to be based in the USA.

The attitude the OP mentions really does piss me off at times and it's simply reflective of the insular nature of US society in general.
However, it's pretty easy to tar everyone with the same brush - some of the very best ATS members whom I have enormous amounts of respect for their integrity are Americans, and some of the biggest dickheads are British and European - not all mind you.

reply to post by digital01anarchy

lol do I need to say anymore? when I can just use a quote from one of the European posters in this very thread?

Thing is its not just Europeans ...

I live in Mexico, so I don't get to experience the cacaphony and barrage of media extravaganza and spectacle that is the US mass media. It's my observation that for the most part, Americans are insular people, unaware of their greater global surroundings. Many Americans assume that everyone all over the world wants to live just like them. After all, don't we have the greatest, most exceptional country in the world? This is not true; we are not the greatest country in the world. We are just one of many
open.salon.com...

NOBEL LAUREATE Wole Soyinka used to ask people not to exaggerate the insularity of Americans by saying things like: ''Can you imagine the Americans? Nobody else plays baseball and yet they call their series the World Series." He used to say, ''C'mon, that's not the issue. That's superficial."

Soyinka, who turned 70 last year, is in Cambridge to be honored by Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. In an interview yesterday, Soyinka, who has braved death many times in his native, turbulent Nigeria, says that for all of our technology, Americans are now among the most insular and least curious people in the world.
www.boston.com...

reply to post by Rodinus


Sorry dude, but i totally have to "d'uh" you

You should know by now, that for huge numbers of posters here, it's all about the good old US of A, regardless of how myopic, irrelevant or hypocritcal that makes them.

Just a fact of ATS and sadly predictable - i respect that you hoped for better, but this aint the place for that

reply to post by Rodinus


Some elements of the Egyptian protests have been aimed as the USA. In a large thread about a Military Coup being underway In Egypt you are going to come across posters that bring this topic up. A large thread is a bit like a wild animal you can never be sure what it is going to do..

Thanks for covering the story though.

Originally posted by skalla
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Sorry dude, but i totally have to "d'uh" you

You should know by now, that for huge numbers of posters here, it's all about the good old US of A, regardless of how myopic, irrelevant or hypocritcal that makes them.

Just a fact of ATS and sadly predictable - i respect that you hoped for better, but this aint the place for that

Hey Skalla,

Good to see you back

I really appreciate your answer as i appreciate a fair number of posts on this thread (with the exception of maybe one...) You don't need to Duh me mate, i am fully aware that there is a majority of members from the USA here and i don't "hope" that this will change, although sometimes i secretly wish that people could just have a little more consideration for others however much i may respect and understand each and everyones opinion.

But you know, it is frustrating when you are a non American and start off a thread only to see it bombed with Obama this and Obama that... I live in France and can just imagine the disdain of an American poster if i started spouting of about Hollande this and Sarkozy that... AND, as not living in the USA and not "Completely" understanding everything about the political situation in the States i tend not to comment about that situation as it is not my place to do so... hence why sometimes i feel that my threads can be ruined.

However, even though i ranted here, my tolerance level will stay pretty high when i see that type of post and will just ignore them as best as i can I can live with that

It is good though from time to time to have a little rant and get things of your chest

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Originally posted by purplemer
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Some elements of the Egyptian protests have been aimed as the USA. In a large thread about a Military Coup being underway In Egypt you are going to come across posters that bring this topic up. A large thread is a bit like a wild animal you can never be sure what it is going to do..

Thanks for covering the story though.

Lol, i believe that you are talking about this thread that i started : www.abovetopsecret.com...

Reading Some of the posts in there was actuallly what originally set my rant off

But, after having cooled down after my rant "tantrum" (we all have one from time to time i guess?) i realised the importance that some people felt to add the "politico" side of things.

Thanks for your encouragement purplemer

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Rodinus


@OP,

I'll admit I didn't read through all 14 pages of your previous thread to find exactly what comments/posts were derailing your thread, but I did see a few that complained about Obama saying nothing yet, and suggesting that he is always "missing in action" when some big goes down, and then a few theorizing that this coup may have US backing. I'd say the former comment is a pointless jab at Obama one, which doesn't have any merit, while the latter is legitimate; the US has been involved in many coups around the world, including in the Mid East, so it is germane to bring up the possibility here.

To be clear, I have not heard much news one way or the other on how the Morsi/Islamic Brotherhood government has been doing in Egypt. And so when I heard about the recent protests there and now this coup, I wondered, too, if the US might not be involved.

As your initial thread on this topic was a celebration of the overthrow of the Morsi government, can you provide any links to news articles about the dissatisfaction with said government? This is an honest request, not meant in an argumentative way; all the articles I have seen recently have just been about the fact of the protests and the coup, but not the back story as to the people's dissatisfaction; however, given the apparently very large size of the protests, they would seem to be a grassroots movement and not some juiced up, astroturf ones; in other words a lot of Egyptians were fed up with the Morsi government and wanted a change. But isn't that what elections are for? And last time I checked, the Morsi government was elected. That is why I would like to know more about why the Morsi government was so terrible that it had to be overthrown by the populace and the military.

In other words, I am ambivalent and agnostic about the current governmental overthrow in Egypt because I don't know much of anything about what the recent government was doing that was supposedly so terrible.

Now I am wondering if I bombed this rant thread of your. Hope not, as I didn't mean too. I do fully understand the phenomenon that you describe, and appreciate your annoyance with it. But we all have different ideas of what is pertinent or germane to any given topic.

reply to post by MrInquisitive



Thanks Mr,

Much appreciated, respected and intelligently written post and point of view which i do not think is bombing out the thread at all

I will try to do my best next week and add extra links as you have asked as this weekend i am having some quality family time.

However, i do believe that some other posters have added a couple of links concerning your questions.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Rodinus


Rod, thanks for your reply. I did find an editorial article by, I believe, an Egyptian about the Morsi government and the civilian mass protests and military coup. Bottom line is: he acknowledges that the MB government reneged on a lot of promises to other political parties, and had done a bad job of governing, but he also points out that it was a democratically elected government, which had already been thwarted on a number of counts by the the Mubarak-seated Supreme Court, and that as a rule (for the most part) the US and western countries look negatively on the overthrow of democratically elected governments. Thus, this regime change isn't all a bed of roses.

Counterpunch article on the Egyptian government's overthrow

Warning to conservative/right-wing ATS'ers: this site is a VERY leftwing site -- it makes the HuffPost look downright centrist in comparison -- so go to the site at your own risk. I am not responsible for any strokes or blown gaskets caused by viewing it. The particular article I cite, however, is quite moderate; stick to that and avoid looking at anything else there, and you should be fine.

reply to post by MrInquisitive



Thanks for the extra info Mr

Just about to get ready to take son to see World war Z, so when i get back i promise that i will visit that link...

Hoping no-one blows up in the meantime reading it

Kindest respects

Rodinus