From: buchanan@rintintin.Colorado.EDU (BUCHANAN TIMOTHY E)
Subject: Re: If you don't like it here.....
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 00:08:44 GMT

In article <1asmtfINNg27@agate.berkeley.edu> alpet@ocf.berkeley.edu (Alex Petrushko) writes:
>In article <92100570@tbucks.com> root@tbucks.com (Timothy E. Buchanan) writes:
>>1- About one-quarter of PhD's are awarded to non-americans, who evidently
>>come here to make use of our deficient system. This educational system is
> 
> What does that signify? Obviously, a quarter of all American Ph.D. candidates
> are dumb, so that 25% is awarded to the people who are better. This educational system was good enough to turn out Dan Quayle, who can't even spell! This edu-
> cational system was good enough to turn out Ronald Reagan, who couldn't remem-
> ber the names of his own Cabinet people without his 3x5 cards.  This educatio-
> nal system was good enough to turn out Lee Iacocca, who instead of helping
> U.S. automobile industry by _doing_ something simply opened a verbal war with
> Japanese, who in fact have much better quality of _any_ products.
>
I don't think you understood me there. 25% of PhD candidates are aliens.
diplomas aren't taken away from others to give to them. I wouldn't begin to
defend Dan or Ronnie, but what if I mentioned Brezhnev? I think Iacocca is
a whiner. We took a beating on autos, but American cars are improving in
quality; maybe I'll even buy one! Shall we discuss the Lada?

>>2- American communication satellites brought the world closer together. An
>>American craft is the first vessel to leave our solar system. Americans
>>stood on the moon.
>
>I am not sure what are you talking about... If you mean the omnipresent
>MTV and Turner Broadcasting Network, then your definition of bringing the world
>closer together is different from mine. I don't even want to argue about
>the superiority of Soviet space program, because every political economist
>knows that Politburo dumped a _lot_ of resources into that enterprise, and
>maybe American craft was the first to leave the solar system but who was the
>first to have a satellite anyway? Yes, xSU is the right answer. Who was the
>first to have a first manned spacecraft? xSU again. The list goes on and on.
>Americans stood on the moon but if I remember right, Soviet satellite was
>the first to map the darkside of the moon (I am not sure).
>
Yes, yes, both the US and SU have many things to be proud of in space. Does
it make me jingoistic to point out some of the things we've done? I only hope
for more joint ventures. BTW, one of the astronauts of the Soyuz-Apollo
flight is from here, Vance Brand, and I have met him.  

>I am not sure how to reply to your statement that American movies are loved
>around the world. Of course, they are loved, because you don't need any taste
>or brains to understand T2 or Commandos but you need a great deal of artistic
>talent to make a movie like The Player or Andrei Rublev.  I don't think
>that anybody who likes _true_ art would think that most American movies fall
>into that category, although very few of them do indeed.

Naturally, all cultured people agree what "_true_ art" is, yes, or perhaps
you have the secret and will share it with us. I don't think my opinions
are the final say, in fact I change them from time to time. Well, I liked
Terminator 2; I liked The Player and I will let you know if I like Andrei
Rublev when we see it at CU, if you want.

>Many of the threads are titled "Is America that bad?" as if it is a given
>>that America is 'bad' and now we'll decide how bad it is. Complain all you
>>want; it's a free country. But millions of people have and will vote with
>>their feet, including some I think in this group. Can someone name ten
>>people who have emigrated from the US to the XSU, to find a better life?
>>
>
>Millions of people in this country don't vote at all, simply because they 
>don't want to get their ass of the couch! They don't care about the wars some-
>where in Kuwait or Panama but they start to understand it when it comes and 
>knocks on their door.  Furthermore, I know people who have emigrated to USA
>and then moved back to xSU, because they couldn't stand the blatant materialism
>and snobbery of the American society. They simply didn't want to live under
>the hegemony of the dollar. These were few but they did exist, and I even know
>one of them.  Moreover, I would like to live and work in Europe, and the
>circumstances that determine my fate are not favorable at the present time, sin-ce I am still here. 
>
>		      Always un-American, Shura.

It's true, many people don't vote, don't care about the world, don't discuss
important issues. They don't have to, understand? It's a democracy. Freedom
means you're free to be an apathetic slob, no-one is going to force you to
go to meetings or even to vote.

So you want to live in Europe? I hope you're not blaming the US for forcing
you to be here. Good luck, though I'm afraid you may be disappointed there,
too. I've visited most countries in Eastern and Western Europe and 
everywhere found people interested in the material life. As for snobbery,
try rereading some of your own statements.

Timothy.