Americans are bankrupt.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/22/8757/75678

A recent trip to the United States - after a three-year absence -
showed me how far the country and its people have deteriorated in a
short period of time. Americans are bankrupt. They are bankrupt at
every possible level: spiritually, morally, educationally. The
country's economy has deteriorated to the level of a Philippines or a
Thailand (and I mean no disrespect to the Philippines or Thailand - I
love those places).

Mr Populist's diary :: ::
Human-to-human communication in the United States has also faltered
greatly. People who would rank as the vilest of trolls on any Internet
chat room are now on the air as TV and radio hosts, spewing forth
hatred and even barefaced lies. These talking heads do this, of course,
to make money, but the effect it has on the average listener is nothing
short of devastating. It is devastating to a population not educated to
think analytically; it is devastating to a people who - above all -
need to open up communication with each other, not close it.

The worst culprits are the talk radio show hosts. Average America
doesn't know what is involved in becoming a talk show host, but trust
me, just about all of these people are no more or less intelligent than
you or I. Of course, they keep up on current events better than you or
I could: It's their job. While we are putting in a good eight or ten
hours of work each day, these guys are brushing up on current affairs.
As a result, it is very difficult to challenge and defeat them in an
on-air discussion - especially when they have control of what goes on
air. So to call up a talk show host and try to argue a point and win is
akin to pushing water up a hill: It can't be done. I know. I worked as
a talk show host for many years.

By the way, another part of the job of being an on-air talent is to
keep yourself looking good and in decent physical shape. Guys like Rush
Limbaugh are grossly overweight because they are, and have been,
abusing drugs or alcohol. There are many examples to prove my point.
John Belushi is an easy example that comes to mind.

Thus, in modern America, talk show radio and TV is not about debating
the issues of the day. It is a forum for a megalomaniac to make himself
or herself look better to an audience that doesn't know any better, and
to belittle opponents in front of other people. This never happens in
Japan. It doesn't happen because the structure of the Japanese language
does not lend itself well to interruption when someone is speaking, and
also because the Japanese are polite. But I suspect that it never
happens in any other country excepting the United States.

This childish behavior is especially damaging to the psyche of the
American male - although women seem to be affected by it also (witness
so-called "soccer moms"). It seems that winning is everything. Whatever
happened to the saying, "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you
play the game"? I know that this phrase does not apply to today's
American male. The verbal one-upmanship is insidious as it begins to
creep into other areas of the American psyche. It becomes contagious
and is damaging to civil discourse and civil behavior all around.

Infantile machismo is a definitive trait of today's American. During my
recent visit I witnessed a TV commercial for some sports car. The sales
point of the commercial boiled down to this: If you buy this car, then
that tells your friends, `I'm just a little better than you are.' How
childish American men have become. What kind of man needs to show off
his car, and to feel superior to his friends?

Imagine a guy with an average vocabulary and no gift for repartee. What
does he do when he has been belittled in public for no real reason? He
probably holds it in, until one day when he raises his fists.

In Japan, I have never seen a sports game - especially so-called
"pick-up games" - break down into fisticuffs. Have I seen this in
America? Have you folks in America seen this? Yes, far too many times
(do I even need to ask?). The last time I witnessed it was in
California, when a so-called friendly basketball game turned into a
hockey game and a bunch of guys started punching it out over some foul.
You would have thought their lives depended on the outcome of that
game. It was embarrassing. I was out on the court to get some exercise.
I didn't care if we won or lost. I certainly wasn't interested in
getting hurt, or injured, or hit. I walked off.

Americans today have become some of the most childish, self-centered
adults I have ever seen.

A recent trip to Crawford, to visit Camp Casey before it really got
into full swing, allowed me to see for myself another slice of American
life. I had brought my video camera and eight hours of tape. I was
going to make a documentary to try to explain to the Japanese public
what was going on there in Texas. (Japanese news will rarely show
anything critical of a foreign government - especially the government
of the United States). I wanted to capture the sights and sounds; the
atmosphere of a real American-style anti-war demonstration. I had
really hoped that I could make a documentary that would show the
Japanese just what the average American is thinking.

When I came back to Japan, I transferred the video tapes to the editing
machine and I watched in increasing despair. I'm sure I can get the
average Japanese to understand what Americans are all about and what
they are thinking. I'm sure that if I ever do finish this documentary
(and I'm wondering now if I want to), the Japanese will understand more
than they want to understand about America. They will watch it and
think: "Americans have gone completely nuts." I would have to agree.

Cindy Sheehan and her movement are quite understandable. Cindy seems
like a level-headed woman with plenty of common sense. It's the others
who have jumped on the bandwagon who seem crazy. Not all of them, of
course, but it did seem a bit like a circus full of freaks. And those
freaks were fully represented on both sides of the fence.

Even worse than (some of) the anti-war group were the pro-war people -
they seemed like they were really crazy. (I only saw six at most - even
though the next day's newspaper reported 250.) I talked to one woman
who claimed to have "just arrived from Baghdad." She was lying. I could
pick that out in a second of talking to her. Her English level was that
of someone who had been in the United States for ten years. Yet there
she was, claiming to have "just arrived." (Well, okay, I suppose
everything is relative, especially in a country where it is now
acceptable to out-and-out lie to get what you want.)

There was another guy playing a guitar - or trying to - and singing,
"How many ghosts did you make today? Aiding and abetting the enemy, how
many ghosts did you make today?" (Bet you a donut he hasn't a clue as
to the meaning of the word `abetting'). I suppose a few off-key
choruses of this song wouldn't have been so bad, but this guy went on
to play straight for at least six hours in the blazing sun without a
break. Perhaps that would explain his behavior - he's suffering from
cooking his brain in the hot sun for too long.

The entire scene, from the anti-war group to the pro-war group to
George W. Bush taking a helicopter to avoid those groups to visit a
little league game, seemed like a Lewis Carroll story. And I was
standing there watching Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen (played by
George) and the rest of them scurrying about their business but
actually going nowhere.

On top of all that, throw in the local TV news reporters with their
perfect teeth, slicked-back blonde hair and make-up caked on thick to
cover their wrinkles, who think they are all hot stuff because they
report for some local in-the-sticks TV station, and you have a real
life horror-show on the Comedy Channel.

But the real-life horrors in today's America don't end there. Today's
American is poor, both monetarily and in common sense. In many ways,
these two are related. The Japanese save money. Americans don't. Of
course it is common sense to save money. The Japanese save for all the
right reasons, but they also save money for special reasons. It's those
special, just-in-case reasons for which the Japanese would always have
a nest egg saved.

When I went to the United States this time, I visited a good friend.
I'd consider him one of my best friends. I am glad I could visit his
place because then I could truly see for myself just how far America
has gone downhill. Even though he had little, he was gracious enough to
let me stay with him. I was thankful for this as, without his help, I
had no way to get around and knew no one else who could help me to do
so. But within two minutes of entering his abode, I could see just how
poor Middle America has become.

My friend had no money - none. He asked me for twenty dollars for gas.
I gave him a hundred. He was happy. I was greatly disappointed, for
many reasons. First off, I'm sorry America, but $100 is not that much
money to most of the Western world (or China, or Japan). I was
disappointed that he would ask me for money. Don't get me wrong, I
don't blame him. He has lived all his life in America; he was brought
up there. He has been taught that this is now acceptable behavior. But
I remember a time when it wasn't. It is unheard of in Japan (and, I
suspect, in all Asian societies).

In Japan, a guest is a guest. A guest in your home - especially one
from far away - is to be treated with reverence. It would be completely
unthinkable to ask a guest for money (although it is also common sense,
in Japan, for the guest to offer to pay - an offer which will certainly
be refused).

I know it used to be this way in America. In Japan, honor and respect
are much more valuable than money. If you had a guest come to stay in
your house in Japan and you had no money, you would borrow money - you
would do something - in order to treat your guest with the utmost
respect. It is absolutely unheard of to ask a guest for money.

It reminds me of that Chevy Chase movie Vegas Vacation where he and his
family visit his wife's broke family and the brother-in-law says to
Chevy, "Would you like a cold one?"

Chevy answers, "Sure!"

To which the brother-in-law replies, "Me too. Got any money?"

That was a joke in a movie released in 1997. It's not a joke any more
in today's America.

From what I've seen, the average 30-year-old college-educated guy in
America today is getting paid less than I was paid in 1975 as a
part-time commission salesman at Sears Roebuck department store. I have
friends who tell me that they are getting six or eight dollars an hour
right now. At 40 hours a week, that works out to about $320, less
taxes. In 1975 I was getting paid over $1,000 per month after taxes -
and those were 1975 dollars. I'm no economist, but it sure comes as no
surprise that today's young American has no money left to save after
receiving this paltry income.

When my friend took me around, driving through the city and out to Camp
Casey, we stopped at a gasoline stand. Of course I volunteered to pay.
He was complaining about the sudden rise in the price of gasoline. Here
was where I witnessed just another small item that made me sure that
America is headed for third world status, if it is not already there.
He was complaining about gasoline at $3 a gallon. I hear that in
Atlanta, after Hurricane Katrina, it hit $6 a gallon.

I shook my head and thought, When are these crazy people going to wake
up? Apparently it's good that the USA invaded Iraq to secure oil. Japan
has no natural resources. America does. America even has its own oil.
Guess what? About seven years ago, the price for a liter of gasoline in
Japan was 100 yen (3.78 liters per gallon). The price today is about
125 yen per liter. That means today's price for a gallon of gasoline in
Japan, a nation that produces no oil, is about $4.58 - an increase of
25% over the last seven years. Now, it doesn't take much of a math whiz
to figure out that if the prices at the pumps in America - a nation
that produces oil - have doubled in the last few years, there's
something strange going on. How is it possible that Japan's gasoline
prices have just barely inched up over these past few years, at about
3% per year, while USA prices have doubled or more?

Is it just the Iraq war? Or is it the decline of the dollar? Probably a
bit of both, but you can definitely be sure of one thing, it is the US
government taking advantage of you - regardless of whether you are a
Democrat or Republican. And the average American still cheers on the
federal monster.

After filling up, we headed back onto the freeway. I looked at the
scenery and had a feeling of déjà vu. I thought to myself, Hey! I've
seen this before. Now where did I see it? Then it came back to me: The
road leading to Crawford looked an awful lot like the road leading from
Phuket International Airport towards Patong Beach - a nice place, but
definitely not a road leading through a world power.

Every once in a while we would pass through some small town - the
buildings decayed and shuttered, a shadow of what it once was. And
besides the rundown buildings and the empty streets, there was the
filth. It was everywhere - everything seemed broken down. Public
restrooms reeked as if they'd never been cleaned. Every once in a while
I would see a solitary homeless figure - dazed and disheveled - walking
by the side of the road. It looked just like some third world nation.
You'd never see such poverty in Japan. But that's today's United
States.

Americans are always boasting about how they are the richest and the
freest, etc., etc. But from the eyes of this American son, America's
twilight has fallen. It is getting dark. I cannot see any way out of
the disaster you folks are headed for. The problems are too numerous,
the needed debate unheard, and the psyche already destroyed.

wrote:

snip


YAWN. Another rejected article that Z Magazine wouldn't publish, huh?

YAWN

Yet another mind numbingly boring post by mmdir2

Ken

wrote in news:1127497688.845172.94570
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:




http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/22/8757/75678


John Belushi is an easy example that comes to mind.
The entire scene, from the anti-war group to the pro-war group to
just think that the country needs to return to the self that was more "can
do" than "can whine".

It is like it is cool to be an aggressive victim rather than a peaceful
humanitarian. Real leadership would provide a road to self assured
collective participation rather than a gang-land style of self serving
operations dotting the country.

The more focus our leaders and the media put on the divisions the more we
pull apart and fractionalize. Americans used to have a better sense of
national unity. Americans used to believe that there is nothing to fear
but fear itself. I have no idea how this will turn out, but maybe we will
rediscover that sense of self reliance that allowed us to be more giving
when someone else was in need.



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I got to the part where you said "trust me" and started laughing so hard
that I couldn't finish.
You aren't trustworthy. You're nothing but a troll. Now, go away.

Pat in TX

On 23 Sep 2005 11:02:46 -0700, wrote:




A whole lot of drivel from a mental paitent

What does this have to do with bicycles?

Jeff Starr wrote:

What does this have to do with bicycles?

It must be that he fell off and suffered a (serious) head injury.

"Ken M" wrote in message
oups.com...
YAWN

Yet another mind numbingly boring post by mmdir2

Ken

Whatever makes you think that the author is the esteemed mmdir2000? The
literary style, spelling and grammar is in a different league. According to
the link, the author is one Mike Rodgers, masquerading under the pseudonym
of "Mr Populist"
If you have the time, energy or inclination, scroll down to the bottom and
read some of the 383 feedback comments.Rodgers seems to have quite a bit of
support.
I don't see how you could describe it as boring. Below is just one short
example:-.
"..but how far are we going to fall before we hit bottom? Bread riots?
Massive FEMA poor camps of millions of the completely down and out? Massive
in-fighting, apathy and denial that makes us blind to the real issues of the
outside world? Sounds like Rome of a certain period. Sorry, gotto go now
to my third job at Wal Mart to save for that awesome vacation to Pyong
Yang."

As a non-American I found it all quite alarming and certainly expected to
see more outrage and dissention from the respondees.

Regards,

Roy.

Trollling.

You can tell what a trolling asshole these Americans are. They think I
wrote that article.
They can't even read the article correctly.