Here is why I think that America is doomed...
 

It's not the economy, it's not the debt, it's not the wars or foreign terrorists (I have to be specific because American terrorists are called skinheads this week)...

No, the reason that America is doomed is because it is very rapidly being divided in 2. Not by differing political views but by hate. Pure hate.

"A Nation divided against itself cannot stand."

What ever happened to that? Sure the slave issue is a thing of the past but the quote is even more relevant today than it was then.

The politicians no longer advertise their policies, their strengths, their experiences... they advertise what you should hate about their opponent. The media refers to other media sources as "far left liberal extremists" and "ring winged propaganda machines" because they hate each other and they want you to hate them too. Not just the other media companies but EVERYONE that watches or listens or reads.

And it's not an 80/20 split. It's not 70/30. They do very well at keeping this split as close to 50/50 as they possibly can. The closer it is, the more you hate each other. The more you'll fight. The more "extreme" you'll become. At 50/50, you can't just dismiss the smaller group as easily, you have to fight.

It also keeps you powerless against them for the only real way to ever enact real change in a government is with an overwhelmingly loud unanimous voice of the people. America will never have that if this course continues.

There is one thing I find ironic though... almost funny if it weren't so tragic.

Patriotism.

The one thing that every American has in spades and can agree upon is their love for their country. That their country is #1. Except for the other half of it.

It's a paradox that further sends the US into chaos as people try to rationalize to the rest of the world how they love their country 100%.... except for half of it.

This is my own opinion. Neither as an Obama fan nor a McCain fan. I have many friends who are Americans, even American relatives. I, much like most of the world, really like Americans and even the US.

I'm sure some Americans will disagree with me and that's fine, that's what opinions are for. To be agreed AND disagreed with (just don't hate me for it). And if it were my country that I was so proud of, I wouldn't want to believe it either.

I believe that the US is strong enough to fight any enemy, to over come any economic crisis, to even crawl out of a debt that is way beyond what anyone could ever have imagined... but I'm beginning to think that there is nothing that can save America from itself.

The US is much more divided than that.

everything about this place is divided anymore, it's sad to me to watch it all just come unfolded and fall apart. I just pray SOMEONE can get it back together. :Oh crap

Great post. :thumbsup

Very interesting post. :2 cents:

Welcome to America. Either you're a "baby killing" moneymonger, or a "save the whales, no crackhead left behind" idiot.

So true.

I was thinking about this today, but unfortunately, the genie is out of the bottle. You are not going to change things without NWO or communism type of system where you have complete control.

The media fosters the hate, and blame game. It's never about fixing problems. It is always who is to blame. Just like when your kids are losers, killers, or whatever. Not YOUR FAULT it is SOMEONE ELSES.

You do not get a job. It's not YOUR FAULT. It's affirmative action for blackie.

When you do not get into college because of your grades, it's not YOUR FAULT. It's UofM's minority point system.

When you lose your job because you have sex on the job, hit the pipe, sleep on duty, or do not hit your performance goals its not YOUR FAULT. It's the rich asshole business owner.

:disgust

what's worse is that the hate and division is based on ignorance and lack of education..

and yes, it's on both sides... republicans and democrats...

our forefathers would be disgusted with what we have let our nation become...

you cant be a rebel today like back in the early days of the US. the govt will come in and squash you..

if obama loses, you are going to see nationwide riots and the declaration of martial law..

maybe it's what the govt wants.... i guess we'll see in a week...

Your post is kind of true, but until we pull out our guns have a civil war, it doesn't really mean much.

"united we stand,divided we fall"

The US was divided 50/50 in 1775 and it won't change too much in the future either.

The country was a little different in 1775. :winkwink:

Great post Stuart! Very well put! :thumbsup

The two party system needs to go. That would be a start.

Good post, but I think its not an american phenomena. Its happening worldwide.

Brilliant post :2 cents:

Today's government, media, etc., etc. they aren't the real problems (they're just there to make you believe they're the problem). They're doing all the monkey work for the big boys on top. The real beast and control of every decision in America isn't the people, the politicians, etc., it's the Federal reserve. The Federal Reserve oversee the brew of hate and controls every single aspect of America (and the majority of the world for that matter).

It's too late for change, it's too late to slay the beast that is the Federal Reserve (they can only destroy themselves). They have complete power of America's make believe democracy and it is only going to become much worse.

"As a whole" the people of America are too scared to stand up and use their voices (and brains for that matter) and because of this the country can only look back and dream and say what if?

When the government gave the banks control of the country in the early 1900's, they handed over the country's future & the people's futures.

Sigh, you're post is sadly mostly true

:thumbsup

To an extent, much of the same could be said about Canada.

Sure, the public image is one of tolerance for this giant 'cultural melting pot' we call a country. Behind closed doors the Anglophones strongly dislike the french in Quebec. Many loathe the bottom-of-the-barrel immigrants that are straining our healthcare and social assistance programs. Whiteys aren't trusting the blacks (drive-by shootings, gang violence, robberies). Blacks hate the whitey because they're the perceived 'authority'.

Despite it all, the Cdn. government would have the world believe our melting pot is Mr. Roger's neighbourhood with rainbows in the sky and opportunity for everyone. The propaganda they disseminate is with the intention of brainwashing the sheeple into thinking that everything is copastetic within the cultural diversity.

Yes, Canada is in very much in the same boat but we've never been driven to this extent. Sadly, the US may be a foreshadow for us if we let it ever get that way.
And right now, if this past election was any indication.... it is where we're heading.

I've "debated" with many Canadians on their political choices, and opinions on abortion, healthcare etc etc.
I have never "argued" or been "heated" with one. Ever. I am a right wing Conservative and proud of it (folks there's a difference between a CDN Conservative and US so be aware) and I have argued with the dedicated Green Party donation machine. We have smiled and agreed to disagree at the end.

In America, I have almost had to defend myself from a fist from insane right wing conservatives.

Then I tried a new approach this year. I told people I didn't care who won. I figured hey it saves me from having to defend a position I honestly don't believe anyway (let's face it how are Obama and McCain REALLY different?). So I said I didn't care. I got more venomous hate spewed at me than before. "You should be ashamed. Move back to your country." I got from people at Cafes.

I've realized that Americans love to HATE things, and it is what drives the country. Fear and hate keep us moving. Otherwise we'd just eat KFC and turn into a nation of:

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-cont...-e-captain.jpg

It's becoming a sad state real fast. We like to think we are all powerful and knowing, but we are one step away from being the Congo.

they need to bump up their game now and also throw in a few new things ... 9/11 was the day when they started tweeking things. I've never seen elections like these before, recounts, re-votes, stalemates, voting software .... Obama will win so the little guy can get make a few bucks maybe even for 8 years. They'll get every penny back so work harder. Get that American Dream. It's just a fact that if you don't reach a certain income level you might as well not even exist in this country.

... also the color of the majority is changing. That still scares the shit out of a lot of people.

*overpopulation
*access to more information

We get to vote right? We only have 2 choices that were given to us. Yeah, there are more people to vote for but ... they own the system. You're just a renter of the pie crumb. They work hard to enslave our minds and they do a great job.

none of this shit is anything new. go read animal farm .. boxer was 9/11 for the bush machine. They inserted the Obama into the mix now. What do they have to gain. Was 9/11 rigged? Common sense would tell you to look at the "entity/thought process/people" that benefited from it.

We aren't doomed, things just will never be the same. They set the agenda for this new Millennium obviously you've noticed ... who are "they" ? Their just the little people that talk to me in my head when I feel the need to have a conspiracy episode.

Obama 08

Michael Moore is to blame :)

they dont want "owners"
they want "renters"

The middle class were obviously getting way more then they needed to and they realized this years ago. The gap between rich and poor has never been larger.

Keep the workers divided, in fear and as ignorant as possible. Open borders = more cheap labor. They fucking love that. I knew a very well educated guy from Italy that tried for YEARS to get in here. He couldn't ... had to go back home. They don't want him here !

I can walk down my street and find 20 people that have great jobs, homes ... that are not citizens.

well said

Just watch Zeitgeist the Movie (I think there's a sequel now) and it will make you think. I'm not saying I believe 100% of it but a lot of it is hard to ignore.

It's on Youtube and posted all over the Internet so it won't be hard to find. Definitely worth watching.

Great post, Stuart and Slammed Network. :thumbsup

Go to church! Communist!

Nahhh they would have been too busy being disgusted with each other to notice.

Jefferson vs Adams is widely considered to be one of the dirtiest presidential campaigns ever. Here's a review of a book on the subject.

"It was a contest of titans: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two heroes of the Revolutionary era, once intimate friends, now icy antagonists locked in a fierce battle for the future of the United States. The election of 1800 was a thunderous clash of a campaign that climaxed in a deadlock in the Electoral College and led to a crisis in which the young republic teetered on the edge of collapse. Adams vs. Jefferson is a gripping account of a true turning point in American history, a dramatic struggle between two parties with profoundly different visions of how the nation should be governed. Adams led the Federalists, conservatives who favored a strong central government, and Jefferson led the Republicans, egalitarians who felt the Federalists had betrayed the Revolution of 1776 and were backsliding toward monarchy. The campaign itself was a barroom brawl every bit as ruthless as any modern contest, with mud-slinging--Federalists called Jefferson "a howling atheist"--scare tactics, and backstabbing. The low point came when Alexander Hamilton printed a devastating attack on Adams, the head of his own party, in "fifty-four pages of unremitting vilification." The election ended in a stalemate in the Electoral College that dragged on for days and nights and through dozens of ballots. Tensions ran so high that the Republicans threatened civil war if the Federalists denied Jefferson the presidency. Finally a secret deal that changed a single vote gave Jefferson the White House. A devastated Adams left Washington before dawn on Inauguration Day, too embittered even to shake his rival's hand. Jefferson's election, John Ferling concludes, consummated the American Revolution, assuring the democratization of the United States and its true separation from Britain. With magisterial command, Ferling brings to life both the outsize personalities and the hotly contested political questions at stake. He shows not just why this moment was a milestone in U.S. history, but how strongly the issues--and the passions--of 1800 resonate with our own time."

And this from CNN.com

Things got ugly fast. Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

In return, Adams' men called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."

As the slurs piled on, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward.

Even Martha Washington succumbed to the propaganda, telling a clergyman that Jefferson was "one of the most detestable of mankind."

It was just as bad back in the 1700 ands early 1800's as it is now. Presidential canidates were accused of being pimps (Adams) , athiests (Jefferson), and economic idiots ( Hamiltons central bank ). The medium its transmitted on may have changed but the hate stays the same.

So those of you who think it's been as bad or worse before think it's ok to just continue on being this way forever more?
I'm not trying to offend you, just trying to understand the reason for bringing it up. I understand that you think that America isn't really doomed if it's been this way so long, but do you think it should remain this way or change? Would the change be better or worse for America?

PS. I don't mean "change" as in Obama's campaign dribble, I mean change as in having a country more united than dividied.

There seems to be a tendency for people to think they are living in the worst of times. That people, politicians, governments and so on have never been this bad. That the world is uniquely threatened today in a way that it never has been before. I don't just refer to the US. I refer to the entire world. People who believe they are living in "the end times". People who look back to the past at a "golden age". This is a theme that continually repeats.

Technology may change. We talk on cellphones instead of calling an operator. We read the news online rather than waiting for a newspaper to be delivered to us. We send an email rather than mail that takes 3 days to and back to our relatives. We fly across the a country in a jet rather than taking a covered wagon. But human nature remains the same. We're the same despicable beings we have always been. And I mean "all of us". present company included.

There are those who think that what is really wrong with the world today is us. You know, we pornographers. It's always a matter of perspective.

I like the world just the way it is. Give me more of the same.

Oh, and as far as "America". it will come and go. In its time. No reason to be all that concerned with it. The Byzantines are no longer around. They were for quite a while.

I'm simply not worried about it at all. Its human nature so there's nothing that can be done to change it.

Things I worry about are more along the lines of the poor, the hungry, stuff like that.

the TUBES are coming! the TUBES are coming!

I want my MTV. ;)

Down with tubes!































but up the irons

MTV didn't help. They took away the music and replaced it with bad celeb-reality series that just gave people more reasons to hate :upsidedow

I agree with you in part, but not entirely. I actually think that the majority of Americans are moderates. They?re neither liberal nor conservative, they?re somewhere happily nestled between those two extremes.

However, the media, the political parties, both harp on the extremists. Who makes for a better news story...the guy that?s willing to compromise or the guy that?s got his feet firmly planted left or right and willing to spew hatred? The news is about infotainment now and they go for those hate mongers.

Just look at the Presidential Candidates for the last few years. Gore, Kerry, Dubya?really all three are polarized to the core of their party and winning the primaries because they were most aligned with their party base. I don?t think they were representative of all of America though.

Regardless of what gets said of Nixon, the one thing he had correct was there existed in America this vast silent majority. To me, I?m part of that majority, I tend to be very moderate in my political views, the candidates I like tend to fall somewhere in the middle, and I?ve felt pretty much disappointed with most of the candidates I had to choose from. The one election I did feel good about was voting for Clinton?s second term, because he really proved to be moderate in many ways.

This silent moderate majority needs to find a voice in today's political atmosphere...if they don't, then I agree with you that America will be torn apart by hate.

A country takes longer to turn around then individuals. It took most people a few years to realize GW Bush is an idiot, it took the whole country about 8 years.

People are starting to realize this polarized society we are building is counter productive but it will take time for the whole country to come around.

Just like everyone makes fun of "fat" Americans. Most people have realized many of our food choices are very bad and are changing their eating habits, but it will take a while for the whole country to come around.

It just takes time. A society is like a frieght train, it can't stop or turn on a dime, it takes about a decade.

They also make fun of our straight white teeth but I'm not going to stop brushing. I'm a rebel.

i had to stop reading at that point.
that statement made it clear to me
you dont have much experience
to back up your nifty opinions.

Why do you disagree?

now backup yours:1orglaugh