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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (14865)	12/27/2001 4:24:57 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Mq, you are in rare, fine form today. As a child who lived most of the year in Mexico, spending time sporadically in the States, I vividly recall the culture shock I had when I crossed the border. Most it resulted from a straightforward attack on my senses. The first thing that struck me on arrival was the gawd-awful noise. More klaxons, beeps, burps, groans, sirens, loudspeakers, radios, sales pitches, shouting, jet engines, etc., than my young ears could handle. After living in a small quiet Mexican city, the din and the roar was impossible to take. And this was 35 years ago! I cannot possibly imagine making the same transition now. The folks blasting rap "music" through their cars at 112 dbs. on full bass power would have caused me to have a sensory breakdown. This beastly shouting masquerading as music is incomprehensible to me, but I understand a lot of it is aggressive, exploitative of women, pandering of violence, etc., certainly not the kind of thing I would use music for. Thre first American meal I ate upon arrival was the second attack on my sensory system. Having gotten used to freshly squeezed orange juice from really heavenly oranges, the first taste of diluted orange froth from concentrate was like drinking liquid cardboard. Also horrible were the so-called tomatoes with their genetically engineered thick skins, "lemons", and the general lack of flavoring to the typical American meal. I have no doubt that US residents of a certain age went through the sensory deprivation/shock I did as a youngster. Unlike theirs, which proceeded gradually, mine was exacerbated by the fact that it was immediate and jolting. But I digress from the foreign affairs strictures imposed on this board. I do not wish to be banned. Your complaint is not with the US but with the breakdown of classic 17th and 18th century cultural values we both hold dear. In a sense, it is very much the same complaint the Islamists make. More broadly, it is the same fight between so-called progress and the past which has raged since time began. It is also a battle between the young and the old, but that aspect is not on topic on this board.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (14865)	12/27/2001 4:40:58 PM
From: 49thMIMOMander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Is that minimum concentration span also imported, pestizides, cadmium, lead water pipes or regular straight and first class chiquita bananas to also reduce sperm counts, not just Kellog's purifying, guaranteed not tempting spicy, cornflakes in the mornings?? Or is it enough to interrupt news just every 2-5th minute not to make them boring and painful?? Ilmarinen Luckily there is always the chance of many parties, the chance most have taken and more will, even for the stability, consensus continuity of foreign policies

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (14865)	12/27/2001 6:25:16 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

When you write "our ideas", I wonder just which ideas you mean. I suppose you mean "my ideas". Maurice, first off, you have got to quit using racial remarks on SI. I know you are not trying to be offensive, and think you are just being funny, but anything that can be construed as "racial" will be taken that way. We have just had too many problems here to tolerate those kind of remarks. The ideas that have to be transmitted are the ones from the enlightenment that this country was founded on. You know, "Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness." Individual freedom. One of the most interesting books I have ever read was a biography called "MIG pilot", published about 25 years ago. It was the story of the Russian who brought his MIG to Japan to get the reward from our government for turning it over. His description of his experience upon being brought to a Virginia "Safe House" to be debriefed is classic. When they took him to a supermarket, he was sure it had been rigged by the CIA to brainwash him. He just could not believe the wealth of this country. He gives many examples of this type of reaction in his book. One that stuck with me was the Russian audience reaction to watching the movie "Grapes Of Wrath" when he was a kid. It was one of the few American movies that the Government allowed to be shown. He said the Russian audience was amazed at how RICH the Joad family was. They owned a TRUCK! This was unknown in Russia. I believe it is this kind of unintended background that sells this country to the world. The VCR Copies of American movies, Satellite TV, and the Internet is doing more for us than all the Government PR combined, IMO.