By going to McDonalds you might be excersising your freedoms but you impinging upon the freedoms of others… By supporting this company you are supporting their treatment of the low paid workers who are not allowed to form unions, the meat industry workers who are similarly low paid for a rather dangerous job and the use of land that borders on being destructive.

Similarly, visiting internet porn… you are supporting, most likely, the abuse of women and sex traffiking.

I can’t think of a way in which serving your community (unless that includes gunning down another community) impinges upon anyone’s freedom however.

I think if the US (and indeed the UK) were to steer away from the socialist policies, a lot of people would have their freedom stripped from them, not by their own actions but by the greed of the minority.

If people excercise that freedom by going to McDonalds, visiting internet porn, or serving their communities; that should be their choice.

Here’s the short version: I’m ashamed of what many Americans have done with our freedom, but I wouldn’t dare wish freedom to be taken away. As someone mentioned above; America is headed full-speed ahead into socialism right now. If it keeps up, I’m moving to Texas or Montana.

I read a pretty interesting article (which I’ve lost) about how he straddled two generations without being particularly taken with either. His writing is pretty old-school, dense and detailed but his outlook is far more cynical than some of his contemporaries… It’s usually these sort of writers that go down that road, either that or they tend to become hermits.

Another MacArthur genius fails to live.

Hey, a cloud

*BOOM*

There are many things to be proud of as an American. We definitely are one of the first in line to send aid and have many organizations devoted to helping the less fortunate. Even the fact that McD’s and KFC are known around the globe is just an example of American business acumen. (Do I hear a tinge of jealousy?)

Thanks to the Canadian and the Australian for their fine points of view on the effects of American culturalization. My memories of greats include many artists from your countries. It seems many of the truly funny comedians are (were) Canadians! Musicians? Name someone born in the US (not Elvis –eww!) that compares to the Beatles, Stones, Who, Neil Young, ABBA.

The only reason we seem less affected by other world cultures is because our news media doesn’t know there are other countries in the world, unless there is a tidal wave, earthquake, famine, bombing; or an Olympics.
Elaine

I know Michael Moore made a big deal about the NHS in the UK in Sicko… but he took a very naive and simplistic view. Just because the service is free at the point of entry, doesn’t mean that it’s any good.

Personally, I had to wait for nearly a year to be seen by a consultant whilst I lost my hearing. It was very distressing, mostly because of the lack of support and information. The truth is that we do pay for it too, through considerably higher taxes and national insurance. I worked out that if I was given the money back I would have been able to find a private consultant and would have been seen within a few days.

And I won’t start on dentistry… actually I will, since I believe it is a very important part of healthcare… the problem here is that there are way too few dental surgeries for the population. I know many people who can’t register with one, like me. This means if anything happens I have to travel a considerable distance to an emergency dental practise where they are only required to patch you up – usually just by pulling teeth – it’s like the dark ages.

Perhaps if I were to lay off the candy…

““Y’all” are alright” – true, except for Ben, he’s a lose cannon.

And thanks for commenting, Laurelle.

That should be used as a logo for all overseas forces, both British and US.

(And healthcare.)

“Y’all” are alright.

That’s not culture…that’s a mess.

And if I put an ‘s’ in my written words (which I tend to do and used to do often when I was younger for whatever reason) I get told to put a ‘z’ because I’ve mispelled the word. =^-^= So I guess that depends on which side of the Big Water you’re on.

I like the sound of that… and thanks, but no god am I, nor would I want to be. i have enough trouble running my own life to stress about everyone elses.

…And the hours are terrible, I mean, when did god last get a day off? One Sunday, six thousand or so years ago? I’d be going to the union with that.

Surely you are a GOD?

in my experience, monotheism is based primarily on a few assumptions, the first of which is that there is a all-powerful being , the second that said omnipotent and omnipresent being likes you, and the third being that this being will smite the shit out of whomever your particular enemies are.

as comforting an ideology as this doesn’t seem to take a lot of bravery to believe in. now, I’d be willing to acknowledge the courage of the daring, rebels who are willing to hold onto their beliefs in a world filled with fascists walking the halls of power, and lurking in every shadow. However, it remains that Christianity is one of the most widely held religions in the world, and anyone displaying less than complete faith in the christian god has virtually no chance of getting elected to public office

Your grammar has improved, fella! However I’m afraid I must deduct 25 points for invoking Hitler (again proving Godwin’s Law) and 25 more points for clearly being a crazy person. I mean, that part about “Neo-Communists waiting on the sidelines for everyone to abandon their faith in God?” NUTTY! You should seek professional help.
42 out of a possible 100. YOU GET AN F! Keep it up and you’ll be put on academic probation!

NICE.

But they can’t hide behind a fake IP address… let me guess, Wichita?

@Adam, try to keep your cool. I can tell they’re getting to you a little.

I don’t think the comment about your mother was intended as an insult to her: all women have vaginas, and all babies get squeezed through one, regardless. (Well, there are C-sections, of course.) I think it is intended to play on the squeamishness of fundamentalists concerning the facts of life (and it did, as evidenced by your assumption that it was an insult). It does amuse me, however, that you pick this one point to respond to, a supposed insult to your mother, lambasting it as ‘ungraceful’ et cetera, and yet reply in kind: “That’s assuming your mother cared for that much, Adam.” Most interesting, no?

But aside from that, what about the other responses to your rant? What about: “Christians tend to be very vocal about their rights and their beliefs, and they seem to be quite ignorant of others… such as yourself, and that is why I don’t want god being brought to the ballot box and why I think religious lobby groups should try to practice what they preach and show some tolerance.”

Or: “What a poor view of humanity you have and, if you ask me, an insulting way to look upon one of your god’s creations… the idea that your creator would create something so imperfect that he’d need to patch them up with hokum religion is saddening.”

And please, Hitler? Stalin? Humanism doesn’t ask anything of anybody. What does (and here I’ll use inverted commas as you do) “Christianity” ask of you? The fact is, what the religion has asked of its followers has changed over the years, that the Bible is read selectively. If you took all of it literally, we’d still be stoning women in the streets, and not eating pork. I believe there’s even a verse by Paul stating that it is immoral for a man to wear his hair long.

I think you’re missing the point of all of this. The point is not that we’re all godless atheistic heathens, or even that some Christians are outspoken ignorant bigots. The point is that people are people regardless of religion, god, all that.

I will agree with you on one point. You said “I told you to find God. Not a church, not a study group, not culture or politics. Find God for yourself, and not as excuse to say you “belong” to any human construct.” I think that’s valid, but what you can’t see is that religion is a human construct, that Christianity and the Bible are built by human hands, human minds. God is a human construct: god is inside you, inside everyone. God is what a person makes her, if you want your god to be petty, cruel, and bigotous, so be it, I can’t stop you: that god is a reflection of your own self, just like everyone else’s. But that’s not my god, nor Adam’s god I think, and nothing you say can make it so.

Until your reflection is a little less tarnished, I’d think you should stick to introspection. Let’s not cast that first stone, eh?