Have we gone too far to admit our mistakes?

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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I was reading a piece in the NY Times just now about Chile and the aftermath of the military coup which toppled Salvator Allende.

There is a small group of Chileans who are reminding their nation of the scars that are left. The majority of Chileans have found it much easier to simply forget.

"As it prepares to mark the coup's 30th anniversary, Chile likes to think of itself as a normal, even boring country ? prosperous and calm, more concerned with mundane issues like the fishing law and the marriage code than plans to transform society. It has achieved that condition, though, only by ignoring ? or by failing to heal ? the most painful wounds left by its past, in what a resentful minority describes as a calculated act of "collective forgetting."

"What few here or abroad wish to acknowledge, however, is that Chileans did not, at first, freely choose the economic model under which they now live. Instead, it was imposed on them as the result of the coup. Underlying the current prosperity, in other words, is a long trail of blood and suffering that makes the thought of reversing course too difficult to contemplate."

Are we as a nation approaching the same outcome? Has the thought of changing course or saying we made mistakes in Iraq become so difficult to contemplate that seventy percent of us would continue to support it rather than admit the errors? Are we suffering a "collective forgetting"?

Chile's forgetting spans thirty years. Americans, true to form, have made forgetting much more efficient. We forget from day to day, speech to speech. We make up excuses to fit the changes we're told on the fly. We collectively forget daily.

That is, somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy percent of us do. I wonder how long will that last? Will it last until we completely believe the daily versions of events and commit a conscious act of collective forgetting which permanently erases the truth of what brought us to this point?

There are some Americans, as there are some Chileans, who will never agree to forget, although it is much easier to just give in and cooperate in the deception, some of us just can't bear to live the lie.

I hope more Americans wake up and realize what is happening to us as a nation before it's too late and their forgetting allows the lies to become their truth.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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I have seen people be obsessed with a man's penis before, but the people are so obsessed with Bush's that I start to wonder how big it might possibly be.
 

NesuD

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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What mistakes? I have no idea what you could be talking about.
rolleye.gif

Anyone feel like they made any mistakes? I don't!
 

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: NesuD
What mistakes? I have no idea what you could be talking about.
rolleye.gif

Anyone feel like they made any mistakes? I don't!

Ignorance is bliss.

You must be ecstatic.
 

Orsorum

Lifer
Dec 26, 2001
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America is the mob. The masses need intelligent, forceful masters to make their decisions for them.

Oh, yes, don't worry about it. We can forget these mistakes and just move on with life. 4 more years!
 

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: Orsorum
America is the mob. The masses need intelligent, forceful masters to make their decisions for them.

Oh, yes, don't worry about it. We can forget these mistakes and just move on with life. 4 more years!

Bush should have been as forgiving as governor of Texas.
rolleye.gif
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
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Originally posted by: BOBDN
Originally posted by: Orsorum
America is the mob. The masses need intelligent, forceful masters to make their decisions for them.

Oh, yes, don't worry about it. We can forget these mistakes and just move on with life. 4 more years!

Bush should have been as forgiving as governor of Texas.
rolleye.gif

There goes your obession again. You might want to get that checked.
 

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
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Stupid Bush! Where was he 30 years ago to prevent this disaster? As our current president, he is responsible for what happened 30 years ago and we should persecute him for it!




On a more serious note: What specific lies are you speaking of? I wasn't around 30 years ago so maybe you can fill me in. From your post there, I don't see anyone lying about anything. From the looks of your post, we just went in and assasinated a very nice guy and put a total dictator in. Is this the point you're trying to put across? I don't see anywhere in your post why these Chilians should be upset or happy. Yout put together 9 paragraphs of typing, yet you provided no information whatsoever other than your typical bashing. Are you anti-US or something? Maybe you should see a counselor because all you ever see in the world is the bad stuff. It's like you just scan the internet for anything that shows what a POS America is, then you post it here. Get a more positive outlook and look at some of the GOOD things the US has done instead of all the bad things.
 

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: XZeroII
Stupid Bush! Where was he 30 years ago to prevent this disaster? As our current president, he is responsible for what happened 30 years ago and we should persecute him for it!




On a more serious note: What specific lies are you speaking of? I wasn't around 30 years ago so maybe you can fill me in. From your post there, I don't see anyone lying about anything. From the looks of your post, we just went in and assasinated a very nice guy and put a total dictator in. Is this the point you're trying to put across? I don't see anywhere in your post why these Chilians should be upset or happy. Yout put together 9 paragraphs of typing, yet you provided no information whatsoever other than your typical bashing. Are you anti-US or something? Maybe you should see a counselor because all you ever see in the world is the bad stuff. It's like you just scan the internet for anything that shows what a POS America is, then you post it here. Get a more positive outlook and look at some of the GOOD things the US has done instead of all the bad things.


My point in this post is, like Chileans, Americans are choosing to forget what our government is doing wrong. Only the Chileans are forgetting what happened thirty years ago. Many of us are choosing to forget what is done daily.
 

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: EndGame
Oh, you mean like we've done basicly back at least to our Civil War?

Maybe like you've done. I don't delude myself. I recognize the truth and don't make apologies for the mistakes we make. How are we to learn if we never admit our mistakes?
 

EndGame

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Dec 28, 2002
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Originally posted by: BOBDN
Originally posted by: EndGame
Oh, you mean like we've done basicly back at least to our Civil War?

Maybe like you've done. I don't delude myself. I recognize the truth and don't make apologies for the mistakes we make. How are we to learn if we never admit our mistakes?

Oh, now you're going to single a person out instead of a countries views? LOL! I made a statement which was broad and accurate and which described the past sentiments of our country as a whole. Truths like opinions can vary vastly from nation to nation and culture to culture.

 

BOBDN

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May 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: EndGame
Originally posted by: BOBDN
Originally posted by: EndGame
Oh, you mean like we've done basicly back at least to our Civil War?

Maybe like you've done. I don't delude myself. I recognize the truth and don't make apologies for the mistakes we make. How are we to learn if we never admit our mistakes?

Oh, now you're going to single a person out instead of a countries views? LOL! I made a statement which was broad and accurate and which described the past sentiments of our country as a whole. Truths like opinions can vary vastly from nation to nation and culture to culture.

That's why I said "maybe." You expressed the idea, I wasn't sure if you agreed with it so I said maybe.

Sorry if I offended you. I didn't intend to. :)