Police State USA

Anything resembling a direct route from NYC to SF would not pass through any of my favorite places in the US, except for downtown Chicago (summer only).

I personally wouldn't want to do any kind of police work. It seems like a horrible job.

Do you have in mind any kind of minimum standards they should be held to? Random citizens who are not suspected of a specific crime have always been treated with some basic level of respect and dignity. Obviously, police officers would be safer if this practice was completely flushed down the toilet.

 

I find it hard to believe you've thought you were about to die at the hands of another but want to ban mediums of self defense. I guess it's possible but that was not my reaction from it.

On a positive note, nothing fell on me today and the Volvo runs like glass.

 

That one's shot to hell...

 

Yup. Thanks to the war on drugs, and erroneous 'no knock' warrants. Fast forward to now, people think it's ok for militarized cops to search every house on their block.

 

I like how this works. When someone has visited and gotten to know the United States it becomes time to knit pick. Nothing short of being an all american girl that grew up in the midwest and was head of the cheerleader squad will ever be accepted to voice an opinion against the culture of the USA.

So all I say is that there are some differences between various parts of the United States but for the most part there's a lot more common then there isn't. It might not be the nicest thing to say but for the most part america fits nicely into the stereotype that much of the world has of the nation.

Therefore from my perspective what Jack Kerouac saw and experienced in his day doesn't appear to exist anymore.

 

What's funny is cynicism from both sides. I'm a proud American but also ashamed of quite a few things even though they were/are out of my control.

You're like the hippie that gave up all idealism. Yeah sure, stereotypes are always based on some element of truth if you ask me. And sure, much of the world has a stereotypical understanding of us. But not a comprehensive. I don't even think we have a comprehensive understanding of ourselves. Because whether anyone wants to admit it or not, we are the ones the entire world looks to for inspiration, guidance, security, at least on some level. And in that is the ability to influence ourselves and the world at large toward good things. The corporations have done a damn good job at dividing us.

 

as a member of the entire world, i would have to disagree. very few canadians look south of the border and think 'i wish canada was more like america'.

 

That's not what I was talking about. But since you brought that up, so much of your culture as it is now was influenced by us. I really don't give a shit if you hate me for being from the US, or if you hate the US. But that's the truth.

What I was trying to get at is that if we have the power to politically and militarily get the rest of the world up in arms upset at us, and closely following our current events around the world..then we have the power to harness that in a more positive manner and put out more positive energy across the world. But I wouldn't expect anyone living in a different part of the world to explicitly agree with that statement either.

 

Now you see in that last comment you just slid so far into a stereotype that it begs ridicule. Which I will endevor to do my best to avoid.

Most of the rest of the world sees the United States as a force of destablization. A war mongering nation that manipulates and shoves it's fast food culture down our throats. Now arguably big business and politicians are quick to get on their knees and suck the cock of the good old USA. Unfortunately political and corporate pornographers are a plague world wide. But then here again is american shoving it's business and political agendas and models down our throats.


Now I'm not saying England is a saint by any measure of the word. Our head of state isn't fit to be a hairdresser never mind the voice of a nation. Plus we just buried a witch that was rewarded and made a baroness by our Queen for being a fucking ****. But at least we english don't have to pretend we're canadians when we travel. (When I taveling I met lots of americans waving the canadian flag)

PS. I'm not cynical. What I'm is a pragmatist and the truth is the truth. There's no sense trying to deny it.

 

By all means 'endevor' yourself not to avoid it. You missed my point as well, just like the poster from Canada. But like I said, I wouldn't expect people like you to explicitly agree with anything I have said. You are the people that consider yourself 'open minded progressives' but are really just as closed minded as the war mongering rednecks you rail against.

 

That book was written several years before I was born, and he was mostly passing through areas that reached their peak, economically and socially, during the 1950's. A lot of that territory is now known as the Rust Belt.

Throughout my lifetime, the majority of the growth and development in America has taken place well south of the line from New York to San Francisco.

If somebody really wanted to get to know America and had time to do it right, I'd tell them to work their way down the east cost from Boston to Miami, then up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Chicago, then down the Pacific coast from Seattle to San Diego.

 

We are supposed to be 'the better person' type thing. We have to play by a set of rules in war but the enemy does not. I understand where you are comming from but times have changed.
'We always get what we want' no matter what and somtimes it is low. Now that everyone has a computer and or TV can see whats going on in the world to a degree. But get the general idea and go from there.

 

It has nothing to do with fucking open or closed minds.

It has everything to do with

• war,
• depleted uranium being dropped on innocent people,
• gentically modified food,
• having some twit look me up at the airport,
• american films and music having their foriegn sales subsidized by the whitehouse so that we get indoctrinated by american McCulture

And at least a million other fucking shit things that we have zero say in. Think about it, we have to deal with your rubbish and we don't even get a lousy vote once every 4 years. If we english got to vote in the USA George Bush would never have been re-elected.... But you wankers sent the tosser back for a 2nd act and he destroyed the world banking system.

But what makes it unbearable is we always have to hear from some yankie tosser screaming "WE'RE NUMBER 1" and "YOU NEED US MORE THAN WE NEED YOU"

I'll let you in on a secret. I think we're all about fucking tired of the arrogance and are more than happy to try living in a world without the USA. Asking someone to be tolerant towards destruction and perversion is a demand from a self absorbed lunitic.

Tell you what, when americans start taking a stand against the rubbish in their nation, I'll open my mind.

 

Can we get back on topic please? What was it...oh yes: Police State USA.

 

You just exemplified what I'm talking about as far as closed minds. How the fuck do you know I'm not against everything on your list and pissed off that it is out of my control as well?

But instead you call all of us yankees and wankers, and state you'd like to see my homeland not exist.

I would get pissed off at you and tell you to go fuck yourself, but I'm tired of getting angry over this shit. I'll just say you have a very limited understanding of the things going on over here. And you confirm my original point, you are affected by the negative aspects of the US to the point you are seriously worked up about it.

 

I'm an isolationist, I don't think we should be involved in any of this shit. We should just be independent and prosperous and let that bleed off into the rest of the world. Stop all the foreign aid and political agendas that creates enemies in the first place.

 

Ive been labled a gun totin' physco, Be as it may. I too agree we stick our nose in everyones business. I feel we were justified for the 9/11 war, But we got the guy(s) we went for, We can even get a reason WHY that is.

I agree cut off all ties. We do our thing and they do theirs and all is happy. But for some reason im pretty sure they will keep that from happening. Too many pockets to line with trades/deals bounced around the globe.

Nothing we or anyone except a handful of people can change and who would cut off the hand that feeds 'them'? Its a cluster fuck

 

What you want is to be personally excused.

Ok I'll excuse you but tell us first what are you personally doing to stop this rubbish? What actions are you undertaking to clean up the mess?

And once you're excused you can't continue to have it both ways. You continue being an arrogant fool abd keep asking the world to focus only on the good and pretend the bad no longer exists. Especially when it comes to this like war and poisoning our food and water

 

what are you doing to keep american culture out of your country?