[Devils-list] Canadian memorial service

[WORLOK]

I can appreciate and accept your opinions.  You made some valid ones. 
Never one to ever suffer from excessive US pride, I actually cringe when
some of my countrymen express behavior similar to what people call "the
vulgar American".

To be honest I saw an example of it yesterday on the BBC World news
where at one of the church services these 2 women were holding up an
American flag between them, rudely unaware that they were totally
blocking the people behind them who were now just forced to look at the
flag.  I hate that kind of stuff.  I wish some fellow yanks would wake
up and realize that we may be a superpower, but we are not alone in the
world.

I just wish the rest of the world would realize that not all Americans
need civility lessons, because we aren't all like that.  It's just that
the worst offenders get the most press.

As for the Olympics thing you mentioned, I can't defend that and simply
won't.  Like I said, I cringe when I see fellow Americans violate other
nationalities by rudely demonstrating too much pride in innappropriate
and mixed venues.

With that being said, and not to sound too arrogant, I still think the
rest of the world could demonstrate their feelings in a way to let
Americans know when they are acting up without booing like those
Canadians did in the So. Pacific 5 years ago.

Hey look, if we can't maturely discuss these things in the worst of
times then are we really civilized people, I ask?


>>----worlok---->



Jason Williams wrote:
> 
> This is probably not the best time to mention things like this, but I believe
> it will give you some insight as to the state of mind of the global Anti-American
> (before the events of last week) opinion.
> 
> I'll begin with an example.  The Atlanda Olympics vs. the Sydney Olympics.
> Think about the differences between the horrible Atlanta experience, and the
> best ever Sydney experience.  I'll come back to this later.
> 
> My roommates sister was on a student exchange program in the US a few years
> back.  Canadian citizen, US landed immagrant status.  She was sent to the principal's
> office when when she refused to pledge allegiance to the US flag.  Why should
> she?  She was there for one year and never was going to be a citizen.  Yet,
> it was MANDATORY that she accept the US flag as her own.
> 
> What the US suffers from is EXCESSIVE national pride.  In the same way as Albert
> Belle and Dion Sanders embrrased themselved and their sports, the US is looked
> upon in a similar way by the rest of the world.  We have this New Zeland example
> below, my roommate who has been to Britain says the same thing.  My grandmother
> who has toured Europe as well as Turkey and Isreal says the same thing.  I don't
> think you can doubt the validity of their words.
> 
> Back to the Olympic example.  In Atlanta, EVERYTHING was American.  If you won
> a medal, and you weren't American, you were ignored.  If an American athlete
> won Gold, the amount of (for lack of a better term) media ass kissing was absolutely
> sickening.  Even US athletes that didn't medal were completely ignored.  It
> is this "Win or die" attitude that is just another example of this excessive
> US pride.
> 
> Take the Sydney Olympics.  What a wonderful example of how to welcome the world.
>  Sydney truly loved every athlete and country that came to compete.  Nobody
> was unimportant.  No country forgotten.  No athlete overlooked.
> 
> As an athiest, I am the first to call for saturation bombing of ANY facilities
> housing such religious fanatics, with no regard for human life.  I truly hope
> the US, along with the rest of the world, ERADICATES every trace of any organization
> capable of these acts.  The purpose of this message was to explain why Americans
> are treated so poorly all over the world, and are such a target for these acts.
> 
> I don't expect you to like what I have said, but I want you to read and understand
> why these opinions are held.
> 
> - Jason
> 
> >Yes, I saw that on C-SPAN and was moved.
> >
> >I had my doubts about Canada ever since my honeymoon in the So. Pacific
> >in October of 1996.  We were in the Cooke Islands (4 plane hours
> >northeast of Auckland, NZ), and when the local maitre'd was asking who
> >was there from which countries, the Canadian came first and of course we
> >all clapped, but when he said Americans I noticed a majority of that
> >Canadian group booed us quite rudely.  I was shocked and beside myself.
> >I don't know what international thing was going on at that time to make
> >them do that but I was quite insulted.  I also notice many Anti American
> >comments comming from Canadians, Brits, & others when I read
> >Slashdot.org....
> >
> >Yes, the support the US is getting from Canadians, Brits, and others is
> >going quite a ways to expunge the rudeness of recent years.  It IS
> >noticed AND appreciated.
> >
> >
> >>>----worlok--->
> >
> >
> >
> >Hoonani@aol.com wrote:
> >>
> >> Today, while the US memorial service was going on in Washington, I
> >> happened to turn to C-SPAN.  They were covering the Canadian memorial
> >> service which took place in Ottawa on Parliament Hill.  It was a
> >> beautiful day in Ottawa!  The lawn in front of the Peace Tower was
> >> filled with people....Canadian, Americans, and I'm sure folks from all
> >> over the world.  Canadian and American flags were EVERYWHERE.
> >>  Canada's Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, gave a brief but powerful
> >> speech and our ambassador to Canada was also quite moving.  The
> >> feeling of the service was of our two countries being not just
> >> friends, but family.  It was very emotional....very few people in the
> >> crowd weren't crying.
> >> Having lived in Ottawa, I already knew it was a beautiful city filled
> >> with wonderful people....I felt very proud to have lived there!
> >> C-SPAN frequently repeats what it has shown...so if you have a chance
> >> to catch this, I strongly urge you to do so!
> >> Be safe everybody,
> >> Judy
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> >
> 
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