i listen to this guy on the BBC World Service all the time, so his latest piece on his state of mind on returning to the UK after having spent 7 years living in the states is quite interesting.. thought u might all like to read it and comment???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from...ent/8176448.stm
What struck me most was his scathing remarks about how the Dark Ages still lurk in the most technologically advanced nation on earth.... do u agree??
I think that sort of superstitions lurk in all neighborhoods on this planet... i am not surprised to hear it still exists in the suburbs of the states.
Full Version: America shines a light on the entire human condition
The guy takes some rare incident in Wisconsin (a state - as many states in the U.S. - probably the size of some European countries) and makes it out to be some how normative in both the state and country. No it is not. There are people that believe all sorts of sh*t in the United States (the NOI thinks space ships are hoovering above to take black people away and destroy white people). It would be better to find statistics on how many parents in Wisconsin take their children to the doctor or hospital when they're ill or infected with disease.
I knew a Jehova Witness (I think that was his religion) who stated he would not get blood transfusions because its against his religion. Granted, there are a number of JW's in the U.S., but he's the only person I ever met in my life that expressed something like that. Most people I know in the U.S. not only visit hospitals or clinics, but over medicate themselves, AND their children. The contemporary answer to any hyper-active boy, or depressed child in the U.S., is to medicate them. The business is so large American commercials are filled with drug advertisements. Hell, they make living with Herpes look like fun on the American drug commercials. And you know how many people in the U.S. live with diabetes and take insulin?
Plenty. I have one nephew, one uncle, and a friend that has diabetes, and that friends mother died from diabetes. The United States in terms of population is the third largest in the world. Three hundred million people live in the U.S. With a population that large it should not be strange to find people doing things outside of the norm.
Believe me, there are plenty of criticism to be launched on American culture (obesity and disposable culture for example), but people not going to the doctor is not one of them. I know someone who allows exploratory surgery on his back (nothing wrong with him) just so he can collect disability ($$). And actually, bacterial diseases in the U.S. are mutating so rapidly now, largely due to a combination of Americans being prescribed drugs for every little thing, and Americans not finishing their drug prescription completely, but rather ending the medication when their symptoms leave (the bacteria then are not wiped out, but some survive, build up tolerance, and mutate).
I knew a Jehova Witness (I think that was his religion) who stated he would not get blood transfusions because its against his religion. Granted, there are a number of JW's in the U.S., but he's the only person I ever met in my life that expressed something like that. Most people I know in the U.S. not only visit hospitals or clinics, but over medicate themselves, AND their children. The contemporary answer to any hyper-active boy, or depressed child in the U.S., is to medicate them. The business is so large American commercials are filled with drug advertisements. Hell, they make living with Herpes look like fun on the American drug commercials. And you know how many people in the U.S. live with diabetes and take insulin?
Plenty. I have one nephew, one uncle, and a friend that has diabetes, and that friends mother died from diabetes. The United States in terms of population is the third largest in the world. Three hundred million people live in the U.S. With a population that large it should not be strange to find people doing things outside of the norm.Believe me, there are plenty of criticism to be launched on American culture (obesity and disposable culture for example), but people not going to the doctor is not one of them. I know someone who allows exploratory surgery on his back (nothing wrong with him) just so he can collect disability ($$). And actually, bacterial diseases in the U.S. are mutating so rapidly now, largely due to a combination of Americans being prescribed drugs for every little thing, and Americans not finishing their drug prescription completely, but rather ending the medication when their symptoms leave (the bacteria then are not wiped out, but some survive, build up tolerance, and mutate).
He used ONE religious family as an example of stone age backwardism. Lol. Typical for such reports. It's like me summarizing Afghanistan from one insurgent we stumbled upon. In my opinion column I would write "Well we can all summarize Afghanistan as one giant clusterfu-k. We can all embody the country of that of a man from Northwestern Kandahar who decided he will blow himself up but decided to make just enough to critically damage himself and slowly died in a matter of few hours." Not mentioned by the author, the various retardations that happens in his country that are certainly backwards: a 10 year old boy impregnating 15 year old girl, and the various honor killings that happened in their own London metro area...LOL.
Sensationalism. Such reports are like paparazzi $hit. They would write about because most people in the world don't really know America...so when you write about little things that happened in such a way that you would summarize you're few year experience in the country which you probably had biased against to begin with before you got there, people listening in such a big media as the World Service people would ooh ahh to it.
Written of course, the old "Stone Age" boring and defeatist attitude exhumed by Hobbesian English style. No wonder American Emo took harder hit in Britain than it did here in America. Who can blame us if he likes the old dingy England landscape he grew up in.
Sensationalism. Such reports are like paparazzi $hit. They would write about because most people in the world don't really know America...so when you write about little things that happened in such a way that you would summarize you're few year experience in the country which you probably had biased against to begin with before you got there, people listening in such a big media as the World Service people would ooh ahh to it.
Written of course, the old "Stone Age" boring and defeatist attitude exhumed by Hobbesian English style. No wonder American Emo took harder hit in Britain than it did here in America. Who can blame us if he likes the old dingy England landscape he grew up in.
Maybe u got misled with the title on the thread... (so i hv changed the title of thread) such that u missed in entirety the gist of this Englishman's writing which is that America's has this zest for life that is not found elsewhere, except maybe India...and more importantly, it is a representation of the whole of humanity because the whole of humanity is represented there: their possibilities and propensities...
see extract below:
I think he's given a very stark viewpoint on America.. but of course, its quite easy to dismiss it as european gibberish... but objectively, as u are often capable of doing flippo, u must find there is some truths to his observations.
see extract below:
QUOTE
Zest for life
And yet for all the ugliness, the deadening tawdriness of much of the American landscape and the tinny feebleness of many of its politicians - for all that nastiness and shallowness and flakiness - there is no question in my mind that to live here has been the greatest privilege of my life.
The immensity of America, the energy and the zest for life remind me sometimes of India. And as with India, where I spent some time for the BBC many moons ago, America shines a light on the entire human condition.
Few other nations really do. Italy reveals truths about Italians, Afghanistan about Afghans, Fiji about Fijians. But America speaks to the whole of humanity because the whole of humanity is represented here; our possibilities and our propensities.
Often what is revealed is unpleasing; truths that are not attractive or wholesome or hopeful.
On the last day we spent in our home in north-east Washington, they were holding a food-eating competition in a burger bar at the end of our street. The sight was nauseating: acne-ridden youths, several already obese, stuffing meat and buns into their mouths while local television reporters, the women in dinky pastel suits, rushed around getting the best shots.
America can be seen as little more than an eating competition, a giant, gaudy, manic effort to stuff grease and gunge into already sated innards.
You could argue that the sub-prime mortgage crisis - the Ground Zero of the world recession - was caused mainly by greed: a lack of proportion, a lack of proper respect for the natural way of things that persuaded companies to stuff mortgages into the mouths of folks whose credit rating was always likely to induce an eventual spray of vomit.
There is an intellectual ugliness as well: a dark age lurking, even when the president has been to Harvard. The darkness epitomised by the recent death in Wisconsin of a little girl who should still be alive.
And yet for all the ugliness, the deadening tawdriness of much of the American landscape and the tinny feebleness of many of its politicians - for all that nastiness and shallowness and flakiness - there is no question in my mind that to live here has been the greatest privilege of my life.
The immensity of America, the energy and the zest for life remind me sometimes of India. And as with India, where I spent some time for the BBC many moons ago, America shines a light on the entire human condition.
Few other nations really do. Italy reveals truths about Italians, Afghanistan about Afghans, Fiji about Fijians. But America speaks to the whole of humanity because the whole of humanity is represented here; our possibilities and our propensities.
Often what is revealed is unpleasing; truths that are not attractive or wholesome or hopeful.
On the last day we spent in our home in north-east Washington, they were holding a food-eating competition in a burger bar at the end of our street. The sight was nauseating: acne-ridden youths, several already obese, stuffing meat and buns into their mouths while local television reporters, the women in dinky pastel suits, rushed around getting the best shots.
America can be seen as little more than an eating competition, a giant, gaudy, manic effort to stuff grease and gunge into already sated innards.
You could argue that the sub-prime mortgage crisis - the Ground Zero of the world recession - was caused mainly by greed: a lack of proportion, a lack of proper respect for the natural way of things that persuaded companies to stuff mortgages into the mouths of folks whose credit rating was always likely to induce an eventual spray of vomit.
There is an intellectual ugliness as well: a dark age lurking, even when the president has been to Harvard. The darkness epitomised by the recent death in Wisconsin of a little girl who should still be alive.
I think he's given a very stark viewpoint on America.. but of course, its quite easy to dismiss it as european gibberish... but objectively, as u are often capable of doing flippo, u must find there is some truths to his observations.
QUOTE (tangawizi @ Aug 6 2009, 04:36 AM) 
Maybe u got misled with the title on the thread... (so i hv changed the title of thread) such that u missed in entirety the gist of this Englishman's writing which is that America's has this zest for life that is not found elsewhere, except maybe India...and more importantly, it is a representation of the whole of humanity because the whole of humanity is represented there: their possibilities and propensities...
see extract below:
I think he's given a very stark viewpoint on America.. but of course, its quite easy to dismiss it as european gibberish... but objectively, as u are often capable of doing flippo, u must find there is some truths to his observations.
see extract below:
I think he's given a very stark viewpoint on America.. but of course, its quite easy to dismiss it as european gibberish... but objectively, as u are often capable of doing flippo, u must find there is some truths to his observations.
No, absolutely none
Who the hell is this guy anyway, I haven't listened to the World Service in 10 plus months. Is this the irritating guy with the rhotic accent?
U get the BBC World Service in Colorado? Good for u! it's cool u try to listen to news outside of the network
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
QUOTE (tangawizi @ Aug 9 2009, 12:09 AM)
U get the BBC World Service in Colorado? Good for u! it's cool u try to listen to news outside of the network
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
Americans view Al Jazeera as the jihadi network. The network has an agenda unconnected to objective reporting. Tell me, were they serving alcohol at the Al Jazeera correspondents' party?
QUOTE (tangawizi @ Aug 9 2009, 03:09 AM)
U get the BBC World Service in Colorado? Good for u! it's cool u try to listen to news outside of the network
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
Now the truth comes out ... reading all those articles by other people ...
you're a wannabe ... still you don't want to see that reading others articles is airing their bias
Journalism was never my favorite subject ... too much hidden agendas
The information broadcasting out of Al Jazeera won't be any cleaner of bias and malice just
because it comes from ex-BBC correspondents .. you have to remember who signs the checks
will always determine the news content. (Very much like living in a Communist coutry,
you can't say anything bad about the gov't.)
QUOTE (tangawizi @ Aug 9 2009, 03:09 AM)
U get the BBC World Service in Colorado? Good for u! it's cool u try to listen to news outside of the network
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
I went to an Al Jazeera correspondents' party last night, it was full of ex-BBC correspondents!!!! Seems like the Qatari government set up an English Al Jazeera to fashion the BBC's style and modus operandi, except that it covers the news from a third world/islamic perspective much more than the usual global networks like CNN or BBC.
I have been listening to the World Service for years via satellite radio. Lately haven't because I disconnected, I still got the subscription but it's not in my car. Kinda bored too because at least last year, the channel had been promoting nothing but being green.
al Jazeera is alright, I like how hippies try to make it more than it is though. "Oh it has shows about things that other news networks don't cover"... the only news it seems to show of the philippines was the plight of the muslims, yet other ethnics they rarely bother. lol.
are there still hippies where u are, flip? i tot they are like extinct???
hippies is a term not just for the real hippies (which still exist) but liberals in general, esp. idiotic liberals.
I also went to a correspondent's pary the other day, and someone is setting up some kind of network blahb zfjgtlkegbksfdan
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
BBC and Al Jazeera are for wimps. For my news needs, i go directly to the Truth 
Haha Pravda. LOOLLLL. if truth stinks of soviet propaganda maybe. it may not be soviet, but i dare it talk $hit about putin and not find it's editor swimming with the fishes in the volga. lol.
reuters is the only one neutral in most cases. but i'd rather read the Nytimes even if the editor was tripping balls in woodstock than pravda.
reuters is the only one neutral in most cases. but i'd rather read the Nytimes even if the editor was tripping balls in woodstock than pravda.
QUOTE (flipcombatmedic @ Aug 14 2009, 02:10 PM)
Haha Pravda. LOOLLLL. if truth stinks of soviet propaganda maybe. it may not be soviet, but i dare it talk $hit about putin and not find it's editor swimming with the fishes in the volga. lol.
reuters is the only one neutral in most cases. but i'd rather read the Nytimes even if the editor was tripping balls in woodstock than pravda.
reuters is the only one neutral in most cases. but i'd rather read the Nytimes even if the editor was tripping balls in woodstock than pravda.
LOL Russian news isn't famous for it objectivity, but www.russiatoday.com has a very nice layout, but you always know its Propaganda
Normally i just have BBC on the TV for international (instead of CNN, but which has better non-News talking heads stuff) Al Jazeera is fine, but you get to know that its finely spun as well
My motto is: Know the spin, then sift the truth. Works on all media
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