Comments on: An Amazonian Conspiracy http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/ The blog of a British freelance writer living in New York Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:48:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Cretin Regnant http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-72545 Sat, 13 Oct 2007 23:05:18 +0000 http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-72545 Mark. At first, as I was reading your post, I thought stop whining you pathetic sap. But as you proceeded you made some good points. Apart from the war bit. American help came WAY too late. Shamefully so. And Americans take too much credit for the victory, even if it would have been impossible without them. Which we all know, and are all very grateful for. But you are right. There are a lot of snobs here and in Europe and the anti-American mindset is silly. If there is such a thing as "Americanism" it is and always has been a more positive force than negative, and still shines bright in a world riddled with hateful gangs and bullies. "a theme park full of happy elves" I like it. Mark. At first, as I was reading your post, I thought stop whining you pathetic sap. But as you proceeded you made some good points. Apart from the war bit. American help came WAY too late. Shamefully so. And Americans take too much credit for the victory, even if it would have been impossible without them. Which we all know, and are all very grateful for.

But you are right. There are a lot of snobs here and in Europe and the anti-American mindset is silly. If there is such a thing as “Americanism” it is and always has been a more positive force than negative, and still shines bright in a world riddled with hateful gangs and bullies.

“a theme park full of happy elves”

I like it.

]]> by: Mark http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-72406 Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:52:38 +0000 http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-72406 I disagree with you where you write "America bashing is fine, as long as it’s done with some thought. After all, Europe takes enough of a pummeling over here..." First of all "bashing" doesn't require thought, that's why it has such hateful and violent undertones. The American hater dehumanizes Americans (as the fascists and Nazis did other minorities) to negate any possibility of moral righteousness from the States, even when that righteousness meant 60 years of peace and prosperity in western Europe. Second, there is little if any criticism of Europe from Americans. In fact, most the US media, academia, Hollywood and others who get the opportunity to climb on a soap box and vent, go out of their way to exonerate europe. What was Gwyneth Paltrow's latest rant against the United States in which she lauded Britain as superior? The New York Times reads like a virtual travel brochure for Britain, for crying out loud. Try to find something similar in Europe in wich the States are made to look like a theme park full of happy elves. Don't even bring up the Holocaust at a cocktail party in New York City. Even the Jews will go into rant of how the US is as much to blame as the Germans. Never in history has a nation endured (and taken it rather peacefully, I might add) the most hateful instults hurled at it as America. If you can summarize which nations are good and "evil" based on character--the Europeans who view America as nothing but a wasteland or the Americans who view Europe as "haut couture"--it is the Americans who come out looking not only like the good guys, but as holy saints! 20 years ago an American publishing company published a photo essay coffee table book featuring photos by Americans of Europe. There were windwills, smiling faces, rosey cheeks (lots of white people), fun, love and beauty throughout. Riding on the sucess of the book, the same publishers hired a group of European photographers to take pictures of the US. What did we get? Ghettos, dump yards, abandoned buildings, and other negative images. For me this was very telling about the difference between Americans and Europeans. I disagree with you where you write “America bashing is fine, as long as it’s done with some thought. After all, Europe takes enough of a pummeling over here…” First of all “bashing” doesn’t require thought, that’s why it has such hateful and violent undertones. The American hater dehumanizes Americans (as the fascists and Nazis did other minorities) to negate any possibility of moral righteousness from the States, even when that righteousness meant 60 years of peace and prosperity in western Europe. Second, there is little if any criticism of Europe from Americans. In fact, most the US media, academia, Hollywood and others who get the opportunity to climb on a soap box and vent, go out of their way to exonerate europe. What was Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest rant against the United States in which she lauded Britain as superior? The New York Times reads like a virtual travel brochure for Britain, for crying out loud. Try to find something similar in Europe in wich the States are made to look like a theme park full of happy elves. Don’t even bring up the Holocaust at a cocktail party in New York City. Even the Jews will go into rant of how the US is as much to blame as the Germans. Never in history has a nation endured (and taken it rather peacefully, I might add) the most hateful instults hurled at it as America. If you can summarize which nations are good and “evil” based on character–the Europeans who view America as nothing but a wasteland or the Americans who view Europe as “haut couture”–it is the Americans who come out looking not only like the good guys, but as holy saints! 20 years ago an American publishing company published a photo essay coffee table book featuring photos by Americans of Europe. There were windwills, smiling faces, rosey cheeks (lots of white people), fun, love and beauty throughout. Riding on the sucess of the book, the same publishers hired a group of European photographers to take pictures of the US. What did we get? Ghettos, dump yards, abandoned buildings, and other negative images. For me this was very telling about the difference between Americans and Europeans.

]]> by: Senator Smoot http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-62932 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 01:30:58 +0000 http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-62932 I get the impression sometimes that "beginning in a very dark place" is not that uncommon in Europe, at least where it concerns the American bogeyman. What is shocking to me is the unbelievably low standard of evidence required to "verify" various evils of the US. Speaks of an utterly desperate need for a bogeyman. Nice blog. I get the impression sometimes that “beginning in a very dark place” is not that uncommon in Europe, at least where it concerns the American bogeyman. What is shocking to me is the unbelievably low standard of evidence required to “verify” various evils of the US. Speaks of an utterly desperate need for a bogeyman. Nice blog.

]]> by: Virginia http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-62127 Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:31:36 +0000 http://pdberger.com/an-amazonian-conspiracy/#comment-62127 Well put and well written! Well put and well written!

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