... in which no one would watch it, not tonight

[soupytwist]

OMG, people, this is so good: there is now a way to play with the American federal budget online. Check it. Being told "you have cut the defecit by 57.23 billion dollars" is very cool indeed

Comments

[gryffin23]

I'm American and I hear you. We do have a bit of a superiority complex to put it mildly. We can definitely do better in terms of ideals and I suppose in my own silly naivete I always thought and hoped that one of the ideals the US was built on was that of freedom of ideas, that no idea was better than another, heck, Locke even said that the same system of government will not work for every culture.

As for papers and things, I'm having the opposite problem. I'm at school in London at the moment so I'm very confused about marks and grades and all of that. It's nice to know that 66 is ok over here though.

[soupytwist]

Yeah, that's exactly it; believing the US has the right ideals is one thing, but then to have that mean everything about the country is perfect and brilliant (especially when that then means any criticism gets called 'unAmerican', yuck) just seems cracked to me. I can't help thinking that it should be damn obvious that every system can be improved upon, that every culture has things which are great and things which suck, and that the only way we're going to improve any of them is through discussion with people who did it better.

And oh dear, you're dealing with the cracked out British system? Yeah, it's kind of nuts... it's not exactly percentages, but nobody exactly knows what it is, either. All I can tell you is that over 70 is a First (very good, A - not many people get over 75, ever), over 60 is a 2:1 (pretty good, a B+ or A-), over 50 is a 2:2 (a decent pass), and over 40 is a third (just a plain pass). So if you're getting 66 then that's pretty good indeed. :)

[threnody]

1. Huh. My father was at the bad end of the antiGerman feeling. When his family moved to Canada he spoke no English or French, only Platt (low German). He got the 'heil Hitler' treatment until he could speak decent French and switched schools. And this was in 1967. The kids doing it were born more than a decade after the war. It's scary, what can be passed on.

2. The hell it doesn't exist. My mum was getting weird looks, Army guys driving past her v.e.r.y. slowly the other day. Then she realised she was wearing a black snood. From a car's length it looked like a hijab. >.<

This guy... does not have his head screwed on right. He's comparing apples and oranges in a lot of places. And the US in particular never gave a rat's ass about anti-Semitism in the Middle East until after WWII, when it made room for Israel and became its Special Friend Official Protector. They were quite ready and willing to watch the rest of the world blow each other up, and y'know? They still *would* be, if they hadn't (again) been forced into the conflict. I

[soupytwist]

Yeah, you made a lot of sense. It's exactly the same thing as the people who don't how having "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance endorses Christianity. *eyeroll* Personally, I have way too much desire to smack him. Oy.

[therealjae]

My goodness, you were on fire last night.

Germanaphobia *absolutely* exists, and go you for pointing it out. I'm not even German-American, and I felt it just for studying it. And around the time of unification, it was bad, bad, BAD. And so sad that this wasn't obvious to the person who wrote the piece.

Congratulations on the politics exam. :-)

-J

[soupytwist]

Heh, pissed off, at least. :) It's definitely sad; this is someone who's lived in the world and professed interest in it, and he either refuses to see it or just honestly doesn't, and I don't know which os those is worse.

And heh, thankyou. I even got to talk about the one and only Warren Kinsella, which reminded me of you, so you can take partial credit. :D (It turns out it was lucky that I'd just read Kicking Ass In Canadian Politics, heh.)

[therealjae]

!!!!

You got to talk about Warren Kinsella in an EXAM? Oh, my GOD. I wanna take classes like that. Man.

-J

[soupytwist]

Hee! Sadly it wasn't on "why Warren Kinsella is brilliant even while being on occasion Incredibly Wrong", just on the media's role in Canadian politics. And ooh, I wish you could take that class with me - I strongly suspect you'd end up wanting to smack the professor as well for turning it into Yay Canada 101, but it would be a lot more fun. :D

[myf]

I wish I were all smart and clever-like, as you are. Luckily the world has Katie around! Calloo callay!

Good luck with exams and essay and stuff. I got crap marks for my ENTIRE law degree, and I managed to get over it eventually. :D

[vlad_impaler]

This is a little behind, but still... looks like you need to read, if youi haven't already, this. Just so you can get more down on America. No, actually, there is good behind it! Suggestions offered. Which makes me pity America all the more - so many good things have come out with so many bad. Pity the people, but don't excuse the government (sounds like a very Canadian rallying cry, doesn't it? "Peace, secutiry and good government - hurrah!")

I will now catch up on other posts and continue my jabbering.

Oh, btw, what is the new form of introductory paragraph? I'm all for the (rather simplistic) 'tell them what you're going to tell them', because I guess it's what they like. But this from a person who once wrote a short story instead of an essay for Russian class. Well, come to think of it, it was more like an essay. But there was a duel in it. :-)