Bash Bush

[pockimidget]

Lately, I've been really into politics. The more I read, the more I seem to see how messed up our American system is. Sure, it's generally good, but not the way it's being dealt with now. There are so many different problems right now, but people are still going around putting on the farce of America being number 1 and that we have to reach out to

Comments

[pockimidget]

Well, if the news aren't exactly headlines or anything, then it's probably nothing too important that has to do with me. Like most other people, I only care about things that would somehow relate to me or if it's interesting. And news usually are problems. News rarely report about anything that's going on right. When they do, people don't usually pay much attention to them. They just go, "Okay, so that's fine. Let's move onto the next problem." Like I said, it's human nature.

Also, I'm only a regular citizen who's not even out of high school. There's only so much I can learn about. Sure, I can probably search online for Canadian news, but why would I do that unless I personally know someone there or have something going on there that I care about? I don't even know much about what's going on in Vietnam besides the usual communism corruption stuff, and I have family there. Yes, I admit that I'm pretty ignorant, but hey, the first step in becoming less ignorant is knowing about the direct surrounds. Awhile ago, I had no idea about what's going on with the Iraq war, and I didn't care either.

And sure, I hear about Africa quite a bit. Though it's always about the poverty and diseases as well as social issues such as the Darfur genocide. Again, that shows that it's issues that people pay attention to. Maybe there are some right things going on in Africa, but we don't really hear about them. People are always looking for things to fix.

[netmaster]

That problem thing is interesting, and I can't really argue on that. Though there have been some smaller issues here and there even in Canada, like the scandal that caused a switch in government a year ago, or the recent words of France's president candidate Ségolène Royal regarding Quebec's autonomy (which is somewhat related to Canada). Also, personally I enjoy positive news, too, or even indifferent ones (a lot of political news can't really be considered neither negative, nor positive).

LOL, since when is Iraq considered as direct surrounds of America :P? I hardly think you can have an established opinion on it just by itself. What do you know of Hussein's or Iraq's history? What do you know of the different Islamic religions? What do you know of the minorities? Neihgbouring countries? Don't get me wrong, it's great that you have become interested in the topic, but you can't just start in the middle, because you miss a lot of important details you can base your opinion on.

Btw, about fixing things. No, news aren't about that, at most they only report the problems. No fixes. And those who hear the news won't provide any fixes, either, just listen to it because it's intereting. That's the key IMO. Disasters, war, kills, deaths are far more interesting than a few politicians here or there, or the ecology or other stuff.

[pockimidget]

Oh, yep, definitely don't know anything that's going on with Canada. Yeah positive news is good, but there aren't too many that are interesting. If we can assume that we live in a decent world, then there's a lot of good news going around. But since we live in a decent world, those good news would be commonplace. It's like... news about some celebrity having a baby. It's good news, but not a big deal. Or maybe something like... Hm, it's kinda hard to think of an example since I don't see many of them .-.;; But anyway, I think you get my idea.

Iraq is pretty direct since the US is currently in a war with them. And yes, I admitted in my first post that I *don't* know that much about Iraq. I'm solely basing my opinion on what's current and what I *do* know. Of course, a lot of what I know is based on the media, so sure, it could be distorted, but hey, having an opinion is a lot better than having no opinion whatsoever. And I definitely did not side with the US or say that Iraq nor Saddam was bad or anything, if that's what you're implying. In fact, I think that the US is in the wrong and that we should get out ASAP. I actually had a debate about the war recently. Maybe I'll rewrite my ideas out later into a post.

True. Though, I've always felt that America has a habit of trying to "fix" things, like with Iraq. I guess that was where my idea about fixing was heading. I agree with the last sentence. But you do have to realize that politicians as well as the ecology are all a big part of the problems. For example, a politicians says something stupid, that'll anger another leader from another country. Result: war. Or ecology, sure it's important. It's part of everday functions. It's how we interact with the environment. If our interactions swings in an extreme way, disaster ensues. But sure, all the other stuff are a lot more interesting, but I think ecology or politicians are interesting too. It has to do with humans, so it relates a bit better to myself I think.

[netmaster]

Oh yeah, interesting... then we arrive to the conclusion that people like interesting things. Big news, LOL :). Then again, I see a lot of politics, which is not really bad, nor interesting. Maybe people feel that it has to do with their life. But then for sure there would be good news having to do with people's life (some celebrity having a baby is not something like that, but stories like that fill women's magazines all over the world).

Um, no. US is not in war with Iraq, since Hussein is gone, and now there's democracy there with a government supported by the US. I still don't see how it is more direct than your neighbour countries. It may be direct for the troops, but for the whole country, not really. And if you mean the US presence there, well, it's a matter of taste, maybe the relations with your neighbours are more subtle, but it's still there.

On opinions, I would say it never hurts knowing more than less, and do whatever you can to have a less biased, and well-based opinion. There's always a bit of personal views and taste included, but it's generally a good idea trying to put those away, or clearly distinguishing between what is based on facts, and what are/might be the distortions caused by lack of knowledge, or your own bias (since it's an opinion, bias is almost always included). At leas that's my opinion :).

Correction: America has a habit of trying to fix things when having an interest.
Well, politicians most often say stupid things, but fortunately they're behaving better when it comes to international communication, so there are not so many wars :P. Glad you have interests in those, people could be more like that, but most of them hardly see farther than the end of their yards.

[pockimidget]

Yeah, I now shift to the conclusion that for something to be "interesting," it has to somehow relate to the person viewing. So it's all a matter of personal view.

No, apparently we *are* still in war with Iraq. Looks like someone hasn't been reading the news about one of the major events in the world :P The US is still in there fighting "insurgents," trying to get the democratic system running in Iraq. Not everyone in Iraq is happy with it, so yes, there's still a war there. Bush is currently trying to get more troops in Iraq, and most of the US population as well as Congress is trying to stop him. That was the point of my post in the first place. I was against how Bush is doing whatever he wants, sending in more troops. There wouldn't be a need for more troops if there was no war, would there?

Also, it *is* pretty direct. It relates to not just the people who have family fighting, but even people like me who don't. After all, our tax money is going to the war when it could be used for better purposes. And I think when your country is in a war, it's always good to know about the opposing country... So I don't really see what's wrong with me trying to know more about Iraq than Canada. We're not at war with Canada. Our relationship with Canada is as it has always been, so there's nothing "interesting" to know about it. No offense to any Canadians outt here of course.

Of course it's good to know as much as possible to form a less biased opinon. However, sometimes that's not possible as I had stated before. I'm limited in my resources and even the resources are baised on their own. There's nothing I can do. If I want to have a completely well formed opinion, I'd have to actually go to the country in question. However, that's obviously unreasonable for me to do.

[keppim]

happy xmas

[netmaster]

You might be in war in Iraq, but not with the country itself. That's quite a difference, I would say (maybe not technically, since it's still war in a way, but rather different from open warfare as you pointed out). On the other hand, if troops are suddenly moved out from Iraq that might lead to civil war, which is not so good. Then again, part of the opposition surely comes from the fact that alien forces are intervening.

If you think it's so direct for you, think of the Iraqi people who now can hardly exist without arms. They're not soldiers. They're not relatives of soldiers. They're not peying for US operations there (well, who knows, it's their oil getting channelled to US companies). But... they are living there. And their lives are worth more than a few million or billion dollars here or there.

Having the internet at your hand, I seriously doubt that. There's almost nothing you can't know or find out. You might not have the time to find every bits of information out there, but I'm sure they are collected rather neatly, on wikipedia for example.

[pockimidget]

War's still war, and if we're fighting in that country. We *should* have an idea of what's going on in there. Who are we fighting? What are we doing in there? I think it's important to know these things. I don't even know why we're debating on why it's important or not to know about a country your country's fighting [in]. And I'm not urging that troops be suddenly moved out. I'm saying that Bush is stupid in how he wants to add more troops. I do want our troops back here though, but not moved out immediately. It should be a gradual thing, and definitely no more troops should be added. Exactly, I think there'd be less calamity if the US didn't interfer. I don't think government can be successful unless its own people believe in the government (most of the time). Even if the Iraqi people are insurgents or not, they're still Iraqi people. It's their land, and we should let them try to resolve it and not butt in, trying to spread our own government that also has issues.
I'm not arguing that the war's more direct to me than the Iraqi people. I'm arguing that it's more direct to me than knowing things about my neighboring countries which has been in the same relationship with us as far as I know.
Sure, the internet can be handy... if you know how to properly use it. Sometimes too much information available is not really good. There's too much to sort through, and besides that, you know I'm a slow reader. Sure, Wikipedia's good and I do learn a lot of things from it. But again, I don't really read things for fun unless I'm interested in it. Interesting to me is something I can somewhat relate to, or it's somehow strange enough so that it intrigues me. Maybe I can start reading an entry on Canada in Wikipedia, but I find that sort of thing rather boring. I like reading STORIES. It just has a bunch of random facts about the country, but not really related to me or the US at all. I don't really see much on the "neighbor" factor there.