On Thu, 22 May 2003, Manoj Srivastava wrote: > On Thu, 22 May 2003 22:39:02 +1000, Russell Coker > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > On Thu, 22 May 2003 17:06, Miles Bader wrote: > >> You mean the iraq war? What's the point? How is avoiding the > >> U.S. going to help anything, regardless of how strongly you feel > >> about the U.S. governments acts or positions? > > > When tourism goes down the hotel, entertainment, and airline > > industries suffer. If enough people boycott the US because of this > > then it'll keep the American economy down. > > I see. You all are personally taking action to make it harder > for my friends and relatives to find a job, or get decent health care > (my ex-boss has been looking for employment for 27 months now, and my > step daughter does not have a job with benefits), and you expect me > to have sympathy for your views?
Do you have a better way of encougaging the U.S.A. to take an alternate stance? It's fairly clear that they don't actually give a shit about the UN or anyone else, so we can't just "express our displeasure" and expect Bush and cronies to give a shit. The citizens of the US have a little more power than the rest of the world, in that you have a *vote* as to who gets to fuck the rest of the world. So, it goes like this: * The rest of the world is sick to death of US imperialism; * The US government ignores world opinion and does it's thing; * The rest of the world puts pressure on the US people to change things, since they've at least got half a chance to make changes; * The US people make the change, or live with the consequences of not changing. Remember, the rest of the world does *not* owe you and yours a living. > You are taking personal actions inimical to the standard of > living of me and my loved ones in retaliation for actions by my > government (which I have little control over), and you expect me to > roll over and congratulate you all on your stance? Hell, my first > instinct is to try and see how I can retaliate. Not looking for congratulations. Again, from where I'm sitting, you've got more direct influence over US policy than I do. If you have a better suggestion of how foreigners can influence US policy, I'd love to hear it. > Let me clue all of you in: anyone who takes a stand and tries > to hurt the US economy, I see as a taking action inimical to me, and > my loved ones, and I do *NOT* see that as friendly action. And most of the world does not see the actions of your government (and, since you live in a "democracy" it truly is *your* government - remember, "of the people, by the people, and for the people", or some such) as overly friendly, I don't quite see the problem. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- #include <disclaimer.h> Matthew Palmer, Geek In Residence http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~mjp16