How to kill an American (what to look for)

Falstaff

Written by an Australian Dentist....and too good to delete....

To Kill an American
You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)


"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani o r Afghan.


An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other trib es known as native Americans.


An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in A merica than in AfghanistanThe only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.


An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.


An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.


The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.


An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other na tion in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.


When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!


As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.


The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people w ho built America


Some of them wer e working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself . Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

I thought that was profound so I posted it here.

Mr cairo

sorry falstaff but that was written by an american the bias towards america being the best and the greatest

the Australian Dentist story is a myth no one but an American would have written such a pro america piece , in the world at the moment america is pretty much hated and funnily enough this is best shown in Alan Shore's speeches normally at the end of Boston Legal he nails it every time several times he has pondered how the world looks at america and everytime i find i agree

other times though he does state what is wrong with america and how it could be fixed and funnily i agree with that too

anyway check out Break the Chain and Snopes it was written by a Law Proffesor in Viginia

Urban Legends Reference Pages: What Is An American?

Australian Dentist Describes What An American Is? - BreakTheChain.org

the UK doesnt look at America like that at all in fact respect for America seems to have fallen in the last few years

mkk

I dunno it might be true since dentists have access to some damn funny substances.

Falstaff

It was written in spite of the fact that the world finds or may find any country unpopular, but the story about a Pakistani ad offering a reward for killing Americans is undeniable.
America like many other free nations is justifiably proud of many things, including their heritage. Like GB, America is made up and is continuously influenced by an influx of immigrants from all over the world. I dont want Americans to forget that being American means being tolerant and embracing other cultures, nations and belief systems without losing any of it's American identity. However any nation percieves America, there is no reason for anyone to persecute Americans, nor Americans to persecute other nations that respect our place in the world.
People from all over the world, including Americans lose sight of the fact that one day there will be one Nation call Earth, not just individual countries. Killing anyone from any nation is still killing a brother or a sister of the family of man.

SFOSOK

Good job getting yourself blacklisted. Let me know if airport security starts taking longer than usual.

Grace

It is more likely that he is someone with access to so many damn funny substances that they actually made him believe that he is a dentist...

Falstaff

Oh stop...
the thread had some meaning until it spiraled away....
such is life...
you guys are terrible..

Mr cairo

sorry Falstaff i didnt mean to rain on your parade but i think you will find that the world isnt that "pro america" at the moment if you had posted that 6 years ago you probably would have 500+ replies all praising that message as it is you have had Half a Dozen or so and none of them really agree and some just take the mick

Most people just dont care one way or the other at the moment

sorry

[hobo]eclipse

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Falstaff

its not about being pro anything really...
its about patriotism and national identity...
like a tele program about being a Brit
come to find out, the most "British" of many poeple
interviewed were decended recently from immigrants
when cultures or people or countries are attacked
it either makes martyrs or victims or combatents out of
the dead, but in reality it is you could substitute almost any
country for the USA and make similiar statements about
being attacked, albeit the 9/11 incident stirred national feelings
within people that lay dormant and others were equally aroused
to action. The US had no problem bringing its enormous mailed fist
down upon not one but to several countries to destroy or suppress
our adversaries. The speed and ferocity of the US response was
calculated already by their adversaries.
It doesnt take a political scientist to see that this has occured many times
in the past, and with great affect. America is a great sleeping bear
sometimes that reacts very violently to attack.
Its a little sophmoric to think that it was merely one to two provocations
to make the USA do this, but imagine any great power, suddenly bringing
its military resources to bear on a problem that might require a little more
inspection and examination before swords and shields are rattled.
Every time I see that America or any country is attacked, I know that
a little later on down the road, the repercussions will be out of proportion
to the original attack (if you will).
The post was interesting in many ways, but the not the first I have seen, and not meant to be so superficial as to be a flag waving oppurtunity.
Rather look beyond this, for within the conservative thinking majority of the US is smoldering the desire to rise again and smite all of the enemies of the state.
The next president of the US might very well be elected to approximately this one thing.
Just food for thought, but it takes a great deal to wake the bear, but once it is awakened there will be hell to pay for everyone.
I wonder if we are not mortgaging the future of our children away as we unleash the dogs of war to rip the flesh from other nations.
I have grand children, and I have a different perspective than I did years ago, when I sat off the coast of IRAQ and launch 32 Tomohawk missles into space and only half reached their intended targets. Imagine how the crew felt when we learned that some of the warheads exploded into residential areas of the city killing women or children.
What is acceptable to the state? When is it okay to crush a nation and destroy its government? Toppling regimes and going to war seems to be the legacy of this country, great or gruesome.
I am perfectly aware of the image of the US in the world, that is where I work and I sit elbow to elbow with warriors, wenches and peaceful people too, and they all wonder why we have to go to war all the time.
Its about one world, one people and the hope for the planet.
Its about peace, not religion, and freedom, not oppresion, and its about the future of our children. You can wave all the flags and martyr all the people you want, but when the show is over, our bretheren and our kids have to clean it up, roll us into our graves and they dont give a damn about all the political crap, they just want to live.

Aledronix

Where I'm from the overall mood as I'd call it is no longer pro American.
I don't deny the fact that the US have had reasons to take up arms in the case of the 9/11 attack , but not really in the Iraq issue.
Yes, a large country has dangerous enemies for obvious reasons. My country was never all that great for existing at a crossroad between super powers at their respective times. For the mere fact that the Otoman Empire wanted to conquer Central Europe they first attacked us cause we would have become dangerous adversaries if we had teamed up with western nations against them, by blocking supply routes etc.
This somewhat simple example however illustrates a different principle. It makes me think of the less obvious reasons for the US governments decisions regarding foreign politics.
And what's with all this propaganda about the "enemies of the free world"?
America isn't the only democratic country

Mr cairo

Just going to highlight a few bits

Your saying that first post wasnt pro america .. im sorry but that really is the way it reads Sorry

i have reread that three times and i am still struggeling to understanding what you mean (not being personal m8 but try using some Paragraphs , Full Stops and proper spacing) do you mean you watched a program recently about being a Brit

Again im sorry to be funy but do you really talk like that in conversation , if you have a point to make keep it simple wrapping it up in Soundbites doesnt help you sell your viewpoint

TBH your post sounds more like a speech than an opinion something that i would get in an email with the usual "read this then mail it to 5 friends" type of thing

but to say that the first post isnt pro anything ... cmon m8 be serious

anyway i feel like im having ago at you personally at the moment ( i am not trying too) so i will stop here

Brutality

fuck you all

Falstaff

you are having a go at me personally, Its no doubt part of your character, but I can accept that. And yes, I do talk like that, you dont like America or Americans or no biggie, but if you disagree then fine, maybe you dont debate or you have a different agenda, mine isnt confusing to me, but in the language that I understand and use daily America is characterized in quite a few ways that are niether complementary or kind, and my point is clear enough. Your avatar looks suspciously similiar to someone else that I have seen before but I wont let that color my future statements.

Falstaff

was that necessary\/

Mr cairo

This really wasnt/isnt meant to be personal i just dont agree with the sentiment and i dont agree with some of what you have said in this thread but i have agreed with other things you said in other post's and im sure i have never had an issue with other things you posted to date

like i said at the end of my last post i felt that it was coming across that i was having a go at you personally and thats why i said i was going to stop debating/discussing it we do have 2 very different views but thats life

also its not that i dont like America there some stuff i like its just like the UK the politics and policies of both countries the last few years dont sit to well with me i find the UK is becoming a difficult place to live sometimes

as for my Avatar looking suspciously similiar to someone else that you have seen before i cant help that i am really looking forward to the Dark Knight that's why i use it , i do use the same one on several other forums as well namely the UOcUK forums and the SFX magazine forums but i can assure you i only have one username and profile here ( I am not some other member with 2 profiles ) and anywhere else (i am always Mr Cairo) as for the avatar before i used the Joker i had the guys from Shaun of the Dead

hope this hasnt coloured your opinion too much as there are probably other topics that i would agree with you on ... its just this isnt one of them

Al_Vampyre

Jeff, normally I'm a huge respecter of your opinions, but this last section is not only bordering on jingoistic but is actually quite insulting...

I understand what the piece is getting at (faked or not is irrelevant) but please, every right thinking, freedom loving, compassionate person is by extension an American? I know that patriotism is important in America but claiming the freedom and compassion crown for yourselves is insulting...and I would imagine somewhat of a surprise to the indigenous peoples of the americas that were ridden rough shod over to get to where you are now!!

Falstaff

no, that isnt what I meant...
American
Irish
Scottish
Iraqi
etc...
what I am trying to say that it isnt the province of Americans, but it is my wish that America represents much more than bombs, invasions and certain death. So if you believe in the future of our children, the future of a free world without hangups like we suffer from now, then it really doesnt matter where you are from. I use America as an example, because I am proud of the ideals of the America that I love, but it is no different than the India, the Crete, the Norway in anyone elses heart and soul. I try to seperate how I feel about God, my family and my duty to myself and my country, as a citizen, but I think as a citizen of the world, I have a duty that transcends nationality, sorry if I wasnt clear on that point, I would have devoted more time to fleshing that out. I learned to be a patriotic American from of all people my Greek History Teacher in Crete where I went to school with kids from all over the world. I know the preamble of the constitution, the foundation of the country that we all know and I wonder why we are so distant from the ideals of Thomas Jefferson, and a few French philosophers that the first government of the United States was based on. Why have we become this monster that reacts to world events with sabre rattling and posturing. If you read what I wrote about launching missles against innocent women and children, or shooting down an airliner over the Persian Gulf, it is sobering to know that when you shoot a bullet, launch a missle or napalm a building you most proabably will take innocent human life along with the target.
We are all patriots and we are all warriors and we are rarely peace makers, but the greatest country in the world ( my country) approaches the cross roads in time where our path will be war after war after war, or we will cooperate with old enemies and work for peace, understanding and saving the very planet that we fight upon.
If it sounds crazy then consider this, the very reasons we engage in conflict, to preserve our way of life, our countries security or the personal safety of Americans and our friends, is the very thing that will destroy not only America, but the world in which know and love, unless we change.
So American, Russian, Chinese, South African or what ever, if we love our children and we are truly patriotic then why dont we work to preserve what is left of our rapidly shrinking world and create a new fabric that will not become unravelled, torn or ripped by conflict and become one nation, one earth or just one people that will save this world, that is what I am trying to say.
Every country has endured a war, endured a conflict or an event that changed its course or its path. 9/11 is just one of the those events that seems to force us back on the path of war, or vigilent peaceful cooexistence, etc. How many Americans still feel as patriotic as they did following the series of events that mobilized the military and sent our sons and daughters to war, how many times will we have something like this again as conflict becomes more asymetrical, more difficult, and the goals less tangible, less defined, and we slip further and further off the path of peace.
The message, like any other message that is supposed re-awaken patriotism and national pride finds us counting our dead, praying for the return of our children and asking our government why we are still "over there".
I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War and people that didnt come home from the war, children that grew up without their fathers. That was many generations ago and those lessons are almost forgotten, the only thing we have learned to do with any zeal is kill more people, faster and from a further distance away.
I am old enough to remember many wars, and have learned only one salient point, they never seem to end or find patriots to fight them.
when we kill an American, an Iraqi, a jew or a muslim for whatever reason, we taking way someones father, daughter, son or mother, we are killing our fellow man. Call me crazy, but why cant we just take a day off, or a week or even a month, just stop killing entirely for the sake of religion, politics, or ideals or even patriotism, cant we just take a long vacation from war and never come back.
When someone waves a flag, waves their arms and rallies us to march off to another nation for the sole purpose of toppling that regime, forcing a comprimise or projecting our power, we remember that our fellow man across the line that divides us is hoping for peace, hoping to go home again and hoping that they wont have to fight.
but I guess that will never happen in our lifetime.

[hobo]eclipse

i see a writing asking for compassion, with maybe even a bit of forgivness in there. asking people to realize principles of certain unalienable rights bestowed by no mortal. it is not a new thing or unheard call that the worlds opinion of the United States of America are at a low point, but there is a dream still alive in America, a dream to right wrongs done in Americas name and that dream is taking hold in Colorado right now.

Falstaff

I know poeple want me to post a certain way, say things a certain way or think a particuler way. The very post that I used to awaken feelings of resentment or patriatism for or agains America served only provoke feedback about me or America.
But I am not surprised really.
If all the responses had been pro American and we had four or five flag waving and stand up and hand over the heart testimonials it still would have served its purpose.
Whether anyone is for or against America is meaningless, its all about how we percieve ourselves in the world and how we fit in.
I learned to be an American from Europeans when I lived in Greece and Germany, and I saw the price of blind patriotism and reciprical acts of revenge not just by my home nation but by others as well. The idea of peace is not lost on me.
This world is not ready for peace, and maybe it wont be ever, so I keep my sword and shield handy and pray for a better world. Anyone that has children or grandchildren or has seen the world waste away must feel something when his or her fellow man is killed in wartime or pea