From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: rec.xenophobia (was Re: US as No. 1)
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 17:15:15 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.114023.28748@adobe.com> cjackson@adobe.com (Curtis Jackson) writes:
>In article <1993Jan22.220321.8579@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> jlacey@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (james.w.lacey) writes:

	Holohan and Pinkerton have bred and their progeny
	speaks.

>
>Well, certainly the "look, everyone wants to live here" bit of
>"logic" is a factor, but there are many more that are probably
>more important. In particular, the issue of individual freedom
>and choice (at least, until the drug war started in earnest).

	Just because I'm here, and I am an immigrant, doesn't
	mean I like it.

>Americans look at other countries and see things by which
>Americans are not constrained:

	This is a manifestation of a very American viewpoint: that
	freedoms are all-important with no cognisance of the
	responsibilities associated with those freedoms.

>Official state religions

	Ah yes, the brutal repression of the Sikhs, Muslims
	and Hindus of Bradford.

>Mandatory government/military service

	In which of the countries you have mentioned in the
	newsgroups does this apply to?  Britain ended compulsory
	military service in about 1960 and Japan and Canada have
	all-volunteer forces.

>Mandatory separation of college-bound vs. trade-bound students
>in the early/mid teenage years

	On the other hand, by forcing all children to follow
	a uniform syllabus, essentially regardless of abilities,
	U.S. educational systems are extremely unfair to a very
	large fraction of their students.  Then you have the scam
	of charging the parents several thousand dollars to get
	them a college education that will advance them to a
	stage not much beyond that reached by their European
	contemporaries when they finished high school.

>Unreasonable (to Americans) search and seizure in the name of
>public safety

	This is the classic case of the American failure to connect
	rights and responsibilities.  In the name of the rights of
	the nutcases down the street to own a gun, I do not have the
	freedom to walk safely down that street.  Which is the more
	important freedom?

>Mandatory shop closing hours (a la Germany, Nederlands, etc.)

	There is nothing more relaxing than a Sunday afternoon in
	Germany, no need to go shopping, just relax and enjoy the
	day, a glass of wine on the balcony, magic!

>Legislation without true representation (House of Lords)
>
	I'll leave this one to Guy and Matthew.

>Add to the above the military might of the country, and you have
>a citizenry who feel they are powerful as a country and powerful
>as individuals. They can own as many guns as they like, they can

	There's a chilling thought...

>drive an automobile with no instruction after passing the most
>absurdly minimal of tests, they can worship whomever they like

	Yes, and one of them nearly killed us on Sunday.  I don't
	think it's as minimal as the Belgian test.  Let's try again:
	rights and responsibilities...

>publicly, and they can stand in front of the White House and call
>the President a horse's ass as long as they're not so loud as to
>be considered disturbing the peace.

	In Britain you can call the President a horse's arse and all
	you'll get will be encouragement.

>That kind of personal (and national) power breeds arrogance and
>contempt; it is human nature. I seem to recall that England
>herself had a rather healthy case of it a few hundred years back,
>and it ended up costing her The Empire.

	I fail to see the connection between this paragraph and the rest
	of the post unless it's an escape clause.


	Alec
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.canada