An apology...

[Indiana]

Hi there,
I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to all US citizens for the statements of our secretary of Justice, Hertha Däubler-Gmelin.

Just be sure that's NOT the way all germans are thinking.

(although I'm fearing that they most likely will elect this damn arrogant Schröder again tomorrow, in spite of his poor track record )

[GT98]

Um what happened????

[efty]

Don't be so hard on her. She just did what most politicians do at local meetings. This time though it got too much publicity.

[Gurm]

*shrug* It's ok. We were just chalking it up to the blinding ignorance of the average European.

I've discovered some things recently. Now, we have to take as a given that the average American gets their entire dose of news from Ted Koppel each night at 6PM. That's a given. I'm not excusing the complete illiteracy and out-of-touch nature of 99% of the American population.

But Europeans all CLAIM to be clued in. They all THINK that they know what's going on in the world.

And then they all (and you're all guilty of this to one degree or another, no finger pointing but you know who you are) go on and display glaring ignorance about Americans, the American political process, and many hot-ticket items in the world.

I'll be honest - I know little or nothing about the troubles in Macedonia right now. I know there's some crap going on, and Greece ain't as nice as it used to be (go watch "Crazy People" for the basis of that quote). But frankly I just haven't been interested. BUT you won't find me going on at length about the injustices there, or how one party is more right than another. I just don't have the knowledge to comment.

HOWEVER, there is no end to the string of Europeans who will gladly comment on the American situation, the Middle-East situation, the Israeli situation, or any other situation - despite the fact that they get THEIR news solely from the BBC and have no more idea what's really going on than I do about the current food epidemic in the poorer provinces of India (there IS still a food crisis, yeah?).

Then these Europeans have the gall to turn around and tell ME that MY news sources are tainted by the "American Propaganda Machine".

Folks, if you honestly think that there is some American propaganda force at work corrupting the reporting and swaying the opinions of Associated Press reporters on the front lines in Afghanistan, you're high on crack.

And if you think that the White House controls American media, you obviously haven't been paying attention. American media is the American politician's WORST ****ING NIGHTMARE.

If anything, American media is too damn liberal, so it's hard to get the real story for all the "look at the tragic loss of children in the latest round of fighting in Israel".

At any rate... don't sweat it. I've simply learned that 99% of Europe is either so blindingly apathetic and/or liberal as to be of no use whatsoever politically, or is tragically misinformed.

And... that's kinda the same numbers as in the USA.

Only we have the nukes, and we USE 'em.



- Gurm, proud citizen of the only country in the world to use nuclear force against another country... not once but TWICE. Boo-ya!

P.S. This is post 4042. That is disturbingly meaningful. Not quite as meaningful as post 4242 will be... but close.

[lecter]

It doesn't really matter where the info comes from, be it from Ted Koppel, CNN, Euronews or BBC it's all tainted one way or the other...even excluding American propaganda conspiracy theories, the news we average people get is far from objective....sometimes it's in the best interest of the media group itself to show info one way and not the other. This reminds me of that great movie "Wag the dog" -who has seen it knows what I mean

P.S. Oh yeah, and politicians are mostly ill-educated lying publicity-avid morons -big surprise there!

[KvHagedorn]

Indiana, you don't have to apologize for anything some ****wit politician says.. anyone worth a damn knows it was the stupid opinion of a left wing loony. We have them here in the states too.. I could not believe all the fried old hippies that crawled out of the woodwork thinking getting Osama was another Vietnam.

Here's hoping enough Germans have the sense to kick them out this time around.. thank God we got ours out of the white house for awhile.

[efty]

Only we have the nukes, and we USE 'em.
Gurm, proud citizen of the only country in the world to use nuclear force against another country... not once but TWICE. Boo-ya!

How can you be proud of killing so many people??

I'll be honest - I know little or nothing about the troubles in Macedonia right now. I know there's some crap going on, and Greece ain't as nice as it used to be (go watch "Crazy People" for the basis of that quote)

What does Greece has to do with what is going on in FYROM?

Then these Europeans have the gall to turn around and tell ME that MY news sources are tainted by the "American Propaganda Machine".

I read american press, European and Greek press and sometimes arabic. What do you read?

[Admiral]

Only we have the nukes, and we USE 'em.

- Gurm, proud citizen of the only country in the world to use nuclear force against another country... not once but TWICE. Boo-ya!

And you're acting paranoid about other countryes having them when you were the only country in history barbaric enough to actually use them

[mutz]

...well now folks, before we get too far down the pike... the first thing that always comes to my mind is CONSIDER THE SOURCE.

...this isn't a flame, just a question...

TV: Television gives you the illusion you have been somewhere you haven't been. Who was actually there? The camera crew plus "reporters"? Have they grown up there, do they live there? Rarely. They flew in the evening before and out on the first flight after the shoot. So they deliver or uplink what they've got in the can, and from there on it's in the hands of the weren't-theres.

So there's a 95 second slot, in competition with ten other topics, and thirty minutes to edit before the two o'clock news...

How many crews are shocked at what they see when it comes out on teevee? Not many. Were they sent with a brief, or even a script, what to hit, what to miss? The "pros" know the game, hit the brief, skip the rest, and get paid. And when in doubt, pick up the satphone for direction from the not-theres. Have you done that?

Have you been near, or in the middle of something and seen it later on TV, in the newspapers? Were you surprised, disappointed, shocked, unreal?

You've seen photos, a video of somebody's house. Do you know in which drawer the spoons are? If the basement leaks? Met the neighbors?

Do you have trusted family or friends in a real position to know about something, or did you get it second, fourth, hundredth hand, or just see it on TV?

Have you been there, done that?

Most people have a modicum of common sense, intuition and intelligence, but many are armchair generals, couch potatoes, day dream judges, voyeurs, frustrated impotents, fantasy policemen, et cetera ad infinitum. Delusions of power, grandeur, omnipotence, infallibility?

Consider the source, consider yourself, mull it over, and perhaps reconsider...

[Indiana]

Originally posted by eftychios
Don't be so hard on her. She just did what most politicians do at local meetings. This time though it got too much publicity.

Still it's absolutely inacceptable to state that Bush was acting like Hitler, provoking wars just to distract people from other problems.
She could maybe say something to that effect in a private talk - but not in any official meeting. There she is not any normal german citizen anymore but a representative for the whole german nation and HAS TO think twice before making any statements as stupid as this.

[Ant]

And this statement quite glaringly illustrates your own ignorance about Europeans and in fact from your previous posting history any non-(US/white)American. People in glass houses should not throw stones

Originally posted by Gurm
But Europeans all CLAIM to be clued in. They all THINK that they know what's going on in the world.

And then they all (and you're all guilty of this to one degree or another, no finger pointing but you know who you are) go on and display glaring ignorance about Americans, the American political process, and many hot-ticket items in the world.

[efty]

Still it's absolutely inacceptable to state that Bush was acting like Hitler, provoking wars just to distract people from other problems.

I don't disagree with you, what I am trying to say is that, she said that because her audience most propably wanted to hear it, maybe not to such extreme level, none the less she was expressing a general sentiment of her audience.

[Wulfman]

just a thought:

what happens if somebody from the actual government in germany is compromised only a few days before a (important) election is going to happen? especially when the result is expected to be pretty close?

it looks a bit like foul play, even if she really said it. [cannot comment on that]

mfg
wulfman

[mutz]

...she should speak for herself and nobody else. If she can't personally stand behind what she says and back it up, she should shut up.

George is certainly no Hitler, but he is most likely an uncomfortable, somewhat confused passenger on a train with Cheney, Ashcroft, Chambliss & Co. up front, mostly out of sight, in the loc, with Colin Powell and a bunch of others running alongside the tracks shouting "George! Get out! GET OUT! THAT TRAIN'S HEADED FOR TROUBLE!

It's kind of hard for George to hear Colin, 'cause every time Colin shouts, the guys in the loc blow the whistle and shovel coal.

[Joel]

I think that people should take the time to realize that when you are pointing a finger at someone else there are actually three fingers pointing back at you.

I read something the other day that I thought was pretty cute. We have two ears and one mouth so maybe we should learn to listen twice as much more as we talk.

Joel