save the internet

[cooper]

Now that is out of the way I want to say that ofcourse alot of people distrust America, some with good reason some with bad, some with no reason at all. Look at any company that is a big player, or rather any organization that is in the spotlight. Its always the prime target to go after the top of the pyramid because they are the easiest to see, the most well known. Shady buisiness tactics or even government tactics are for the most part plain to see and pick apart and ofcourse that isn't counting the stuff we don't know about. I just wish two things, one that people will stop trusting media so blindly just because it isnt "American media". This refers to alot of people in europe taking everything the BBC says as truth without even checking their facts and E V E R Y O N E, even the reporters have bias one way or the other and A L L media has a slant on it, even independent journalism. The other thing I wish is that people will stop trusting our own American media, e.g.-fox news, cbs, msnbc, etc. There is an old saying that those that control the media control the people and for the most part this is true.

True, all media has some bias, if anything by picking which stories to run or not. But I do have a deal of trust for the truthfulness of my media, in part because of things like this:

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554

Also, our news media is comprised of for the most part 4 independant broadcasters. While there are news programs on 2 of them now that learned a trick or 2 from US media and try to sensationalize local news, they all have a 30 minute daily news program that's about 25% local news, 75% world news. And yes, when they report on something, I trust it to be true. The newspapers here, with De Telegraaf being somewhat of an exception, try to print news as unbiased as possible, and rarely have to retract anything. When they do (De Telegraaf printed a big picture of guy and a girl, claiming it to be our crown prince and his new girlfriend. Turns out it was just some random guy and a _hooker_), it's not buried somewhere deep down in the paper.

Our media tries to show all sides to a story, and thus also allows you to come to your own conclusions.

About China giving the US money, I can actually see that happening but where you read this, did you actually read it and believe it even if it was in multiple sources and trust it blindly or were you actually in the meeting where the check changed hands and witnessed it with your own eyes. Don't believe everything you hear.

The US has an enormous national debt and I thought it was rather public knowledge that China, with its booming economy, has been quite eager to fund this debt. China is currently the #2 loan giver to the US, used in large part by the excess dollars from its dollar trade surplus.

It's hidden in this large-ish article in the Asia Times for one, but more sources can be found I'm sure. When the chinese prime minister came to the US recently, even CNN claimed that Bush's calls for more human rights respect in China could hardly be backed up by anything since the US has become very reliant upon China funding its national debt.

And yes, we are all overweight, all polluters, all evil car crazy people that has a SUV in every garage. My god when I go to a parking lot its hard to tell which SUV is mine, they're just SUV's as far as the eye can see. Nope, no economy cars here, nope, no hybrids either, no organizations here trying to get ethenol or other enviroment friendly fuel sources going, nope.. its all a fantasy. Just close your eyes little americans and continue to dream, when you wake up you'll have a brand new SUV in the driveway that utterly fail emission standards. We're also all drunk trailortrash rednecks that give our wives black eyes and we all live in the country.

Gas prices in the US are comparatively low, and the government provides tax breaks to SUVs, because they're actually considered light trucks, using some very old laws that were initially made to promote farmers.

How many people in the US own a bike (as in bicycle bike)? Take a look at this.

If you're not getting around on a bike, I'm assuming (and friends who went to the US support this) that americans drive everywhere. And why wouldn't you? It's not like it's very expensive to do so, given those gas prices. Of course, nowadays people are starting to notice due to the price increases.

But hey, why we are all into stereotyping and believing whatever we're fed, lets go to the Netherlands, where they always stay out of wars even if hundreds of thousands of people are being innocently slaughtered (*cough* world war 1 *cough*)

I kinda expected you to name Sebrenica here. I don't have much fondness of our military.

Do note that the only reason the US joined WW2 was Japan bombing Pearl Harbor. The fact that millions of people died in europe didn't bother your government one bit before then.

and where the people, according to Wikipedia are drug addicts, prostitutes, same-sex married and euthanasia loving people in the world.

Well, we believe drugs that aren't physically addictive (hemp, alcohol) should be legal to use recreationally. It reduced crime and lifted the stigma a bit. Also, since smoking hemp is now legal, it's not 'cool' to do it anymore. Hence, a lot of kids don't start doing them. Those that DO want to get high can get the drugs that don't completely hook them much easier, so there's a smaller chance of them ending up using cocaine or heroine. For the most part the dutch strategy is working.

Prostitution is legal in certain designated areas, and the dutch as a whole are pretty lax when it comes to sexual things. We don't mind seeing boobs in a shower commercial in the middle of the day. We don't mind tanning topless or nude. Sexually, the dutch tend to be very openminded, going with an 'Hey, if that's your fancy and it involves 2 concenting adults, do as you please' attitude.

As a result, same-sex relationships here aren't considered bad. Heterosexual people still feel a little awkward when there's 2 guys kissing in public, but again, if you don't want to see it, just look away.

Finally, I do love euthanasia. In fact, I personally think suicide is a fundamental human right, but the government doesn't go that far. :) What's the point in keeping a cancer patient who is in excruciating pain 24/7 alive just because you can? Why is Jack Kevorkian rotting away in a jail in the US, when he helped an invalid who knew he would only get worse and cause incredible burden on his family, to commit suicide? Euthanasia has its place, and I'm damned glad we allow it.

And yeah we could vote for other parties, but if you would of read further on Wikipedia or spent more than 10 minutes if any at all in the States you would realize taht it is a little more screwed up than that. The Electorial colleges screw it all up, a state in particular can vote even 99% one way and the Electorial College still has the ability to override that majority vote and vote their own way.

I know how this works, but don't you feel that an increase in votes for one of the other parties would get noticed by the big boys? Even if the guy you voted for doesn't go into office, you've just done your bit in protesting the guy that will go in there, and possibly sent a signal to them that way.

Oh yeah, we WOULD of voted for a diff president besides Bush or Kerry but omg, there was no one else RUNNING. Now if I'm wrong about no one else running, please let me know the name because I may not have even been aware of it.

David Cobb appears to have been the guy running for the greens.

If you abso-frigen-lutely have to place blame somewhere, place it on big buisiness as another poster already stated. Money = power here and votes = shit.

True. My point is that if you, and a lot of other equally disappointed people, vote for the 'other' guy as a form of protest, that most probably will get heard. The only way to deal with a politician is to kick him out of office, and the best way to do that is to NOT ELECT the fucker. While the ways in which elections are done makes this difficult, rest assured that the guy will know when the feet of his chair are starting to get shaky.

[Shaun]

Well, we believe drugs that aren't physically addictive (hemp, alcohol) should be legal to use recreationally.

Erm, alcohol is physically addictive. In fact you can die from alcohol withdrawal. It's far worse that a lot of other drugs, but people don't think of it like that because it's legal.

[cooper]

I have been told, and thankfully don't speak from experience, that when you do a drug like cocaine or heroine even once, it's very difficult to not continue using it. Alcohol can be addictive, but when someone drinks a few beers, that person doesn't automatically feel a need the next day to drink as much or more.

But the thing to keep in mind is that it's, to the best of my knowledge and experience, impossible to OD on hemp. You can smoke a ton, but its effect will level out after a while. I've also never had any ill after-effects from smoking hemp. In fact, I always felt surprisingly well-rested the next morning. I'm sure some scientist will say it's bad for you, and since hemp smokers are pretty much by definition smokers, if the hemp doesn't kill you the tabacco will. But I feel that hemp is actually one of the safer drugs that you can use. Safer than alcohol at least.

And for the record, I started smoking when I was 15 because my gf at the time smoked and kissing her tasted awful. Kept on smoking (pretty heavy in fact. A roll-your-own tabacco pack per day) because I enjoyed getting stoned with my friends, and probably figured smoking came with the territory or was plain cool or something. When I was about 17 I had moved to Veenendaal with my parents, had no friends (stoner or otherwise), and I asked myself why I was still doing it. I couldn't think of a good answer so I quit smoking altogether then and there. Never looked back.

[Shaun]

Yep, I know what you mean - I've never taken either but from what I know it is easier to get addicted to those drugs (although at least you can't die from cocaine withdrawal). Of course that may be somewhat overexaggerated by the media, government, etc.

I agee with you about hemp. Weed's a pretty safe drug. Alcohol and tobacco are certainly not on the list of drugs I would legalise if I was to legalise 2 drugs, I would legalise weed and magic mushrooms, far safer and don't cause physical dependence.

[VaKo]

I have been told, and thankfully don't speak from experience, that when you do a drug like cocaine or heroine even once, it's very difficult to not continue using it. Alcohol can be addictive, but when someone drinks a few beers, that person doesn't automatically feel a need the next day to drink as much or more.

From expirence: Cocaine is not that addictive, true you buy some coke and you usually do the lot in one night. But it takes a serious habit to get addicted, as in 2-3 times a week for about a month. Cocaine, until recently (but thats cheap crap cut with speed), is a rich persons drug. You need a lot of cash to even get addicted.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/cocaine/cocaine.shtml

As for smack/scag/brown/heroin, if you inject then its a very quick addiction process. If you smoke it, its not so addictive in the short term. VERY DANGEROUS DRUG TO BE INVOLVED WITH.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/heroin/heroin.shtml

But the thing to keep in mind is that it's, to the best of my knowledge and experience, impossible to OD on hemp. You can smoke a ton, but its effect will level out after a while. I've also never had any ill after-effects from smoking hemp. In fact, I always felt surprisingly well-rested the next morning. I'm sure some scientist will say it's bad for you, and since hemp smokers are pretty much by definition smokers, if the hemp doesn't kill you the tabacco will. But I feel that hemp is actually one of the safer drugs that you can use. Safer than alcohol at least.

Dope is mentally very addictive in the longterm, mainly because it makes you OK with being bored. You can smoke weeks away of your life. However, if you regulate it, go on breaks and force yourself to do things its usually not that bad. As with alcohol, moderation is ok.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml

And for the record, I started smoking when I was 15 because my gf at the time smoked and kissing her tasted awful. Kept on smoking (pretty heavy in fact. A roll-your-own tabacco pack per day) because I enjoyed getting stoned with my friends, and probably figured smoking came with the territory or was plain cool or something. When I was about 17 I had moved to Veenendaal with my parents, had no friends (stoner or otherwise), and I asked myself why I was still doing it. I couldn't think of a good answer so I quit smoking altogether then and there. Never looked back.

Personally I smoke because otherwise I smoke to much dope, and also because i genuinly do enjoy it. Obviously when I'm with my gf I have to stop, and eat a ton of chewing gum.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco.shtml