What's an American?

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: hagbard
I live in a tourist town and I have no trouble spotting an American and they won't either.

Tourists are easy to spot no matter where you live.

Yep. When I lived in Biloxi, tourists were people who weren't wearing coats when it got cold (like 55F) or that had sweat pouring off of them on a mild day (90F).

🙂

 

[rawoutput]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
Not to rain your your parade, but do you honestly think we helped Afganistan 20 years ago out of altruism? Think again. (Remember cold war, USSR, McCarthyism....)

Obviously not. But did ANY other country lift a finger to help Afghanistan? Correct me if I'm wrong. And what does McCarthyism have to do with Afghanistan?

And the U.S. government and many charities, corporations, and private citizens from the U.S. have contributed massively to other nations that need and needed help. The Afghanistan example was just that; an example of American foreign aid, not the only instance of it.

*Hugs flag*

Did any other country have the motives we did, being the arch enemy of the Soviet Union during this time frame? No. Your question answered. I am not belittling America, no nation uses altruism as a form of governement, I just hoped that it is understood our motives in that situation. There are thousands of situations around the globe that we don't help in, we choose that which we stand to benefit from, and from the government's perspective it makes enough since. Relief organizations like World Vision do these things out of altruism and religious motivation, and my hat is off to them. But when the government does it, don't assume they're just being nice. We don't live in that kind of world, we obviously stood to gain. On McCarthyism, our rationale in the conflict was stopping the spread of communism, and anything communist was an immediate threat that if you disagreed with, you were anti American.

Who's we? The American government isn't the only body in the US that gives aid to foreign countries. The Red Cross, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, thousands of church groups plus countless other organizations help people in other countries every day. The article in this thread related to the United States as a whole, not just the government. Maybe for once some people can see that there's more than a government in America and what they read in the newspaper.

 

[ROTC1983]

Originally posted by: Mrfrog840
im an american

So am I 🙂

 

[TourGuide]

I know I'm an American.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
Not to rain your your parade, but do you honestly think we helped Afganistan 20 years ago out of altruism? Think again. (Remember cold war, USSR, McCarthyism....)

Obviously not. But did ANY other country lift a finger to help Afghanistan? Correct me if I'm wrong. And what does McCarthyism have to do with Afghanistan?

And the U.S. government and many charities, corporations, and private citizens from the U.S. have contributed massively to other nations that need and needed help. The Afghanistan example was just that; an example of American foreign aid, not the only instance of it.

*Hugs flag*

Did any other country have the motives we did, being the arch enemy of the Soviet Union during this time frame? No. Your question answered. I am not belittling America, no nation uses altruism as a form of governement, I just hoped that it is understood our motives in that situation. There are thousands of situations around the globe that we don't help in, we choose that which we stand to benefit from, and from the government's perspective it makes enough since. Relief organizations like World Vision do these things out of altruism and religious motivation, and my hat is off to them. But when the government does it, don't assume they're just being nice. We don't live in that kind of world, we obviously stood to gain. On McCarthyism, our rationale in the conflict was stopping the spread of communism, and anything communist was an immediate threat that if you disagreed with, you were anti American.

The Soviet Union was the arch enemy of EVERY non-Communist nation in the world (and Communist China). The fact that the U.S. was the only nation with the power to match the Soviets does not mean that no other country had an interest in fighting the invasion of Afghanistan.

I think we agree that the U.S. aid to Afghanistan was not out of pure altruism. On the other hand, I would venture that this was a good thing, and you cannot discount the fact that altruism may have played some role in our decision to support the Mujahedin. Moreover, as I stated before, this is ONLY an EXAMPLE of the good that Americans have done around the globe. Perhaps the author could have chosen a better example of American altruism in his essay, but I don't necessarily think it's a poor example.

McCarthyism -
1. The practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.
2. The use of unfair investigatory or accusatory methods in order to suppress opposition.

I still don't see what McCarthyism has to do with Afghanistan.

 

[Byte]

Originally posted by: ROTC1983

Originally posted by: Mrfrog840
im an american

So am I 🙂

No your not, your a german NOTC

 

[WalMart1564]

i love america