US soldier admits they massacred innocents

Originally posted by ANOK
[sarc]But of course the world doesn't exist past America's borders right?[/sarc]

I think once this point has been established in the general American populous, suddenly the world will become a much smaller space, and people will actually care what happens to others...

In order for the American populous to open their eyes, the entire American education and media system needs to be destroyed and a new one put in place...

For all you Americans out there, don't you think its strange you only learn of "your" countries history, and no one elses?

as posted by ghostsoldier
For all you Americans out there, don't you think its strange you only learn of "your" countries history, and no one elses?

Huh?
What turnip truck did that essay fall off that you read that 'propaganda' assertion quoted above from, ghostsoldier?

Even Che' Guevera wouldn't even assert such a lucid assertion.

As with any country, national history is taught foremost and with emphasis, BUT world history is taught, as well.

Then you jump to the college level, and as a history major myself, your assertion losses all validity. Latin American, European, Russian, Middle Eastern, etc., along with American history.

*shakes head*





seekerof

[edit on 27-3-2005 by Seekerof]

I may be mistaken, but as for Primary and Highschool students learning about World History I think you'd find that the level of National-History learnt vastly out-numbers the World-History taught, I think also think that if you were to compare the NH vs. WH of all the developed countries you'd find that the American ratio is quite the bit different from the rest of the worlds...

American ratio - 10:1
The rest of the world - 1:1

NOTE:
All of the above information is merely based on an opinion, but the point I was trying to make was that; The American populous, more so than anyone else, is brought up in a system that untilises what could be defined as "brain-washing" to create ignorantly patriotic people who collectively support what ever the government suggests...

I don't think it's so much Americans don't learn World history.
It's that American media very rarely covers World news unless it directly effects Americans.
And most Americans don't seem to care what happens to the rest of the World as long as they are still number one.

Originally posted by ghostsoldier
American ratio - 10:1
The rest of the world - 1:1

NOTE:
All of the above information is merely based on an opinion, but the point I was trying to make was that; The American populous, more so than anyone else, is brought up in a system that untilises what could be defined as "brain-washing" to create ignorantly patriotic people who collectively support what ever the government suggests...

I understand this is merely your opinion, but could you fill us in on where you obtained the information to base it on?

edit-spelling (again)


[edit on 3/27/2005 by Montana]

[...]

Even after five years in the United States, I continue to be surprised by the omnipresence of patriotic conformism. This phenomenon long predates 11 September. When my son started playing baseball this year, he and his friends were made to recite the Little League pledge which begins: "I trust in God. I love my country and respect its laws." What has that got to do with sportsmanship? When, a few weeks later, he and I went to see our first ball game at Dodger Stadium, I was flabbergasted all over again when the crowd rose to sing the national anthem. This was just a routine game, not an international fixture. So what was with all the flag-waving?

[...]

People love to beat up on Americans for their ignorance of the wider world, and there is no lack of evidence to back them up. Every now and again, a gob-smacking poll will reveal that most of the population can't place the Middle East on the map, or think that Africa is part of Asia, or some similar nonsense. Ignorance is not, of course, an exclusively American vice, but there is something goofily compelling about its expression in so deeply insular a country as the United States. I spent the period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany reporting for an international news agency; nine months into the year-long assignment, I learned that most US newspaper readers had no notion that East and West Germany had ever been divided.

[...]

Two examples. On 19 March, the day the war with Iraq began, two experts in child psychology appeared on a highly regarded radio show in southern California to talk about the best way parents should explain world events to their impressionable offspring. Betsy Brown Braun, a child development specialist, acknowledged the difficulty of justifying the morality of warfare to children forever being told to resolve their differences without resorting to violence. But her solution was simply to defer to the official line. Parents, she said, should explain that "we tried to talk to people in Iraq", but that this is "a dangerous situation that has to be stopped". "Think what you will about President Bush," she went on, "it is our job to let our children know that President Bush's number one concern is that everyone who lives in this United States is safe, that we're not trying to hurt anybody, that we want to keep all the people in the world safe."

[...]

The curriculum itself displays a similar lack of seriousness. In California, for example, no history or geography is introduced until the fourth grade (that is, age 9), and there is no exposure to the contemporary world outside the United States until high school. Even in the upper grades, most students will focus on 20th century US history, economics and US government institutions. So it is entirely possible to graduate from the school system, perhaps even excel academically, while barely knowing that the rest of the world exists.

[...]

LINK: A great do or die land

These are all contributing factors - and I could list many more...

For risk of this post being deleted I apologise my "over-quoting" but I felt it neccercary considering that almost everyone who does not agree with what I'm saying will probably not even open the link...

[edit on 27-3-2005 by ghostsoldier]

An interesting read, the interpretations are a little out there on some things, though.

It was interesting that the author thought parent participation in the classroom was a bad thing. Supposedly to ensure the children were brainwashed correctly?

Interesting, but i'm not sure how much I credit this source. Do you have any others, preferably one that supports your statement that the other countries of the world spend as much time teaching the history of other nations as they do their own?

I haven't read this whole pissing contest here, If I repeat something, excuse the Echo.

Abu Ghraib
Mosul
Guantanamo Bay
You know the story, so deny ignorance.


Hiroshima
Nagasaki
200,000 dead civilians

Kent State, May 4, 1970 4 dead, 1 paralyzed 8 wounded, all innocent civilians.
Waco Texas April 19, 1993 56 innocent men women and children murdered in cold blood.
Panama Invasion 1989, 13 dead civilians for every US fatality

Falluja April 2004, 600 Civilian Non-Combatants killed, 95% of population now homeless living in tent cities. How many of you have seen the "independent media" photos of men and women murdered in there beds in from that? I have seen over 260 images of such things.

17,000 to 19,000+ est. dead Iragi civilians to date in the past 3 years.

Any of it sinking in yet?

American troops kill civilians, to deny such a thing is being an complete idiot, and embraces ignorance to the point of disgust.

I quote a particular Navy Pilot I know who said this just days before the Iraq war "I don't care. Kill them all. We Should Bomb Every Last Man Woman and Child in Iraq into a glass parking lot."

Thats the mentality of the so called "brave"?

Thats just one guy of 40 million troops with that crap attitude, and he's flying with how many millions of dollars of equipment and how many tons of bombs?

How many more scumbags like that hide behind a uniform?

How many more sadistic perverts are among the ranks wetting their pants when they are called hero's because nobody knows just what kind of sick things they've done.

This whole "dont' say anything bad about the armed forces", crap, is just that, crap.
They are a force made of humans, with flaws and mental problems, people who come from broken homes, and disturbed backgrounds, that get thrown in prison, they have chemical dependancies, they have divorces, they beat on and kill other Americans, any given day.

They are not gods, they are not angels, they are not sacred.

Not every thing they do is "the right thing".

Try to keep that in perspective.