America and Americans suffer from delusions of granduer

by **PenultimateManStanding** » Fri 03 Aug 2007, 17:31:43

There is a Giorgione painting right here in San Diego. I can't tell you how beautiful it is.

by **Bas** » Fri 03 Aug 2007, 18:09:51

well, that certainly resulted in a whole spectrum of Americans and opinions, and some art, too.

I guess it's a nice reflection of the diversity and extremes of America and the complexity of reality in general. I suppose it can be hard not to overestimate American power or moral standing; many people outside of the US do it too, even if they have a negative opinion on it's foreign policy. They see the same american movies and other tv productions and even the 6 o'clock news is more or less molded on the American model. And when it comes to hte news, the freedom of the press and of speech in general can hardly be overestimated as it allows America and other countries to actively investigate itself and correct it self when things are going down the wrong road. It's not so much a flag and country, nor materialistic rights that I would give my life for but it is for these rights; freedom of expression and press and also accountability of government and open access to information about government.

I don't care about symbols, in fact I think they are dangerous, they are used to consciously or subconsciously manipulate people all the time. It's ideas that are important. And there is no such thing as "the Idea of America", America, and reality are too complex for that.

by **NotMyBlood** » Fri 03 Aug 2007, 18:27:42

Bas - I agree with you 99.9%. Howevere, at its core, America was built on several common Ideas. From the start(I'll exclude the indians like we always have), it was settled by individuals looking for a free environment to implement their ideas which were stifled in Europe.

by **Bas** » Fri 03 Aug 2007, 18:39:02

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NotMyBlood', 'B')as - I agree with you 99.9%. Howevere, at its core, America was built on several common Ideas. From the start(I'll exclude the indians like we always have), it was settled by individuals looking for a free environment to implement their ideas which were stifled in Europe.