Well, politics (and I had hoped I could stop this discussion ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> ) has also a *lot* to do with culture.
Just cionsider that the Europeans tend to consider things different than Americans do - or at least the U.S. Governernt. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
That's also to be seen in games : Games from the U.S. - at least this is my higly subjective view <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> - are rather brutal and feature violence - as a "way to solve problems" , for example , than European games - well, as I said before, my point of view is subjective. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Another thing is that a) Mr. Rumsfeld called all those countries who didn't want to follow Mr. Bush into War as "The Old Europe" . He - and most U.S. citizens I fear - didn't realize how strong the offence was ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/exclamation.gif" alt="" /> Personally, I feel highly degeraded by this saying - to be old, lame, under developed, ancient, not modern, and so on. It was higly offensive for anyone I know of.
My worst fears were confirmed when I heard that the current U.S. Government will give jobs in Iraq ONLY to those countries who had been pro for them - no objective considerations at all. It's now just pro and contra - for Bush and Contra Bush.
I don't trust a Government that gives jobs only to its friends.
At least there should be some kind of respect for the critics of war - once, for criticising the whole thing, and thus explaining how (from one's point of view) everything might go wrong or is wrong in itself (the law of nations didn't say anything about a country invading another country just because it's an "evil country"). Second, respect that they dare to criticize such a "grand nation" at all. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />
There are countries out there where the need for invasion by the U.S. is
far more needed, than just Iraq. Mr. Mugabe in Africa, for example, is driving a whole, once wealthy and rich country nuts. He needs to be thrown out !
Or that the writer and artist Ken Saro Wiwa was executed because he criticised the way companies and the government dealt with the poele in the country (heavy pollution by producing Oil, money of the selling of the Oil wandering into the pockets of the Givernment there), is another point where Bush or the president before him should have intervented. I can only shake my head : An artist is executed for criticising its Government ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/exclamation.gif" alt="" />
From my point of View, Mr. Bush just wanted to "secure" Iraq's Oil sources - and Mr. Peter scholl-Latour, a renowed journalist here in Germany, sais the same. The U.S. is dependend ( I had almost said "addicted <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> ) to the flux of Oil. They just consume too much. As a result, the USA needs some reliable sources of Oil - Iraq, as it turns out now. Especially since the Governments - at least from my personal point of view - does nothing to minimize the use of Oil and Gas there - I mean sparing , building cars that only need a minimum of gas, for example. The Car Companies (CC) don't want to build them, just because gas is inexpensive there. As the institution which can actually make laws, the congress and the government should make laws for not using so much oil and gas - or we'll end up like in Fallout in the next few centuries.
Vision of the Future - Our worldwide resources of Oil andGas are limited. That's a fact. From a Geological point of view, Oil is a*very* special thing, because *several* factors must come together so that Oil can actually be produced. Oil is the Exception, not normality.
As I envision the future, or rubbish dumps might well be places of resources - in later generations, wehen our oil has run out. The people nowadays act as if there was plenty ahead - and "after us the Flood". We - and especially politicians - don't care about our precessors, about our children. Politicians tend to think only until the next election campaign - hardly ever further.
Take the point of view of a woodman : He has to think in *much* greater terms. Trees need several decades or even hundreds of years to grow, and a whole wood also needs hundresds of years, maybe.
These are the terms we need to deal with !
When I hear that companies are cutting down the greatest trees that are there in the U.S. , then I can only shake my head. Why do they destroy trees that are
hundreds of year old ? For fat money ? Yeah, some economists - and there are far too many of them out there ! - only thing in terms of money, of income, of profit. They don't wastze a thought on how long such a tree needs to grow. They just want to see cash cash cash.
And so act many governments : They just think in too short terms, at least until the next election campaign. The precessor can then try to repair all those mistakes made by the former government.
Going back to the current U.S. Government : There was an incident of
so highly symbolical meaning that I couldn't stand it.
Shortly after the Fall of Iraq's capital city, the Museum there was plundered, scavenged. Items which are :
thousandfs of years old are now lost, to reappear on someone's black market.
The symbolical meaning in this was, that
meanwhile this Museum with so many treasures was plundered, the only builting in ton that was guarded, was the Ministry of Oil.I will hate Bush and his Government erternally for this.
The symbolical meaning in this is, that Culture is less worth than Oil - and therefore Economics. Oil - meant as a supply for the U.S. - was much more worth than Treasures that are thousands of years old.
I will hate Bush and his Government eternally for this.
