She e-mailed me the following:
And, with that... my blood was boiling.
That was a funny answer out of a girl whose country nearly started wars with Iraq on numerous occasions... because they completely mistreat the Kurdish segment of their population, and their brother-kurds all want to unite and take their precious highlands. I mean, we're talking MAJOR human rights violations. But, of course... it's all our fault. We had no cause to go to war.
I LOVE how the most professed-to-be-tolerant people try to shut people up when they have a different opinion. You're starting to get a taste of why I dislike the current liberal ideology... once they start yelling, it ends up being pretty shallow. I mean, liberal ideology has some very valid points... and a theory that is supposed to help the more helpless segments of society. But, somehow that ideological segment has gone really elitist, snobbish and shallow (which is ironically what they accuse conservatives of being).
My poor friend is in the most liberal atmosphere (a university) in one of the most liberal countries in the world... so a moderate here ends up feeling like a neo-con there.
So, if Turkey freaks out again in her class... she should just say:
So I thought about you today while I was sitting in class. The teacher said that the war on Iraq was a Hot War that kind of had no cause and wasn't a deep rooted conflict. So I said - well it did start on American Soil. That was a no-no I guess.
Holy S. H. swear word!!! Some freakin turkish girl YELLED at me and started flippin out about how it's not funny for me to make comments like that and how my opinion is inflammatory and not appropriate and then she said asked if the teacher could please say that I am not allowed to say things like that because people in Iraq have now died and she basically asked for the class to burn me at the stake. But i guess the Americans who died on 9/11 don't count right? All I said was "It started on american soil" - that was it. I didn't realize that was an opinion or that it would infuriate members of my class. It wasn't just her - everyone agreed with her - it was the whole class against me. I didn't say a single word after "soil" and even when they were tirading I kept my mouth closed ... but for real ... omgosh.
You have more international experience than I do ... Did I miss a key "Hate America" book that I should have read before I moved here? I thought about you because you would just LOVE the people in my classes. lol. I know I'm not super Republican - but these people make me feel like a neo-conservative freak. Apparently if you don't hate america than everyone hates you. They get pissed at the "If you're not with us you're against us" yet they have the SAME attitude - if you aren't with them against america - you are against them.
That was a funny answer out of a girl whose country nearly started wars with Iraq on numerous occasions... because they completely mistreat the Kurdish segment of their population, and their brother-kurds all want to unite and take their precious highlands. I mean, we're talking MAJOR human rights violations. But, of course... it's all our fault. We had no cause to go to war.
I LOVE how the most professed-to-be-tolerant people try to shut people up when they have a different opinion. You're starting to get a taste of why I dislike the current liberal ideology... once they start yelling, it ends up being pretty shallow. I mean, liberal ideology has some very valid points... and a theory that is supposed to help the more helpless segments of society. But, somehow that ideological segment has gone really elitist, snobbish and shallow (which is ironically what they accuse conservatives of being).
My poor friend is in the most liberal atmosphere (a university) in one of the most liberal countries in the world... so a moderate here ends up feeling like a neo-con there.
So, if Turkey freaks out again in her class... she should just say:
"Excuse me... just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean you can ask the authority to shut me up. We're not in your motherland any more, sister!"
And, if she does do that... I hope she gets video. I'd love to see that. I will post it on the blog.
In short, never be ashamed to stand up for America. Yep, we have some issues. But, we are also the only "imperialist" country that has never seized any land from our "conquest." On the contrary, America stays on the dangerous lines and keeps protecting for decades to come. Our military protects so many people who don't carry our passport... but we still get slapped around for doing it. And, we prove over and over and over that when things get crazy (and 3000 people die in terrorist attacks) America is a sleeping lion ready to roar. And when we are done with our operations, we return home and sit quietly until somebody pisses us off.
The truth is... Saddam was a VERY dangerous man. And, his sons (and likely successors) were even worse. I mean, we're talking REAL evil. And, Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy said "The real weapon of mass destruction in Iraq was Saddam Hussein... and we found him."
Maybe the Iraq war reminded the rest of the world just how impotent they are: they are bitter now because they realize that they couldn't hold a candle to the US Military. In fact, they have outsourced their entire protection to us.
In short, never be ashamed to stand up for America. Yep, we have some issues. But, we are also the only "imperialist" country that has never seized any land from our "conquest." On the contrary, America stays on the dangerous lines and keeps protecting for decades to come. Our military protects so many people who don't carry our passport... but we still get slapped around for doing it. And, we prove over and over and over that when things get crazy (and 3000 people die in terrorist attacks) America is a sleeping lion ready to roar. And when we are done with our operations, we return home and sit quietly until somebody pisses us off.
The truth is... Saddam was a VERY dangerous man. And, his sons (and likely successors) were even worse. I mean, we're talking REAL evil. And, Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy said "The real weapon of mass destruction in Iraq was Saddam Hussein... and we found him."
Maybe the Iraq war reminded the rest of the world just how impotent they are: they are bitter now because they realize that they couldn't hold a candle to the US Military. In fact, they have outsourced their entire protection to us.
In the words of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: "You need me on that wall."
Because, our military operation and takeover of Iraq was a truly beautiful thing. We dropped the ball after that, but I think we freaked some people out when we swept into Baghdad (see Libya for more details).
That is all.
Horatio
1 comment:
The crazed Chic from last week yelled at a poor Australian today. He used the word "Kurdistan" - you would have thought someone had just exploded a bomb under her seat.
Another member of the class suggested that no one in class will EVER use the word Kurdistan again and I decided to make my own suggestion. That maybe because we're in an academic situation we shouldn't have to feel bullied into keeping quiet about different topics.
During the break I was labeled as passive aggressive.
Sweet. Passive Aggressive, American, Superficial, Shallow and ignorant. I wonder how many more labels I can collect over the next 3 months.
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