Posted on 02/09/2005 4:42:16 AM PST by Hudobna
After reading most of this thread and the thread at DU where you were banned I now can say you are my favorite new member.
Easy to see why you were not welcome at DU. You were too logical and logic does not mix well with the irrational opinions so prevalent on that site.
When we so frequently hear how the US is disliked in much of the world your opinions are indeed great to hear.
Dear Malsua,
Thank you and thank you all for your welcome. Freepers, not Freeps.
And thank you and a warm hug to the poster who lost a cousin in the war in Iraq. I didn't lose family, but a friend, a civilian friend who died more than a year ago in the big suicide attack of Nassariya in which 22 Italians were killed.
Here in Rome during a protest march, our crazies, many wearing Arafat keffiyahs, were chanting: "10 100 1000 Nassariyas!"
That was disgusting. Like worshipping oblivion. I have seen oblivion in my own silly life, when I did drugs. There can be no freedom without right and wrong.
It might look like freedom, one might be able to say and do the wildest things, but it is an uncaring and unloving attitude that prevails, to the detriment of all that is worthy of man.
It really was a big shock to see my Parliamentarians honoring Arafat the Mass Murderer. It is like accepting that you and me and all the children of the world are worthless. That the ends justify the means.
We in Europe have embraced this big nothingness which is extreme relativity, ungrounded in God, Country and Family. They sound so cliché and trite that never mind the DUmmies, it is hard for ourselves not to sneer. But they are nothing more than tending to the patch of garden that we both inherit and claim. God, the spiritual patch, a happy, loving, sharing, learning, creative, forgiving disposition; Family the patch with our loved ones, the children who NEED to be loved and educated, fed and dressed and reassured; the country patch, our society, our neighbors, our safety and progress. God, Family and Country... what is there to sneer? But today, that's what almost everyone does. Today they are like three oppressions, instead of being absolutely simple and logical.
Here in Europe, we seem destined to fade away, fade away with all the very hip and chic and cool ideas that will allow us to marry not only same sex, but even horses and trees; to finance the building of Mosques where self appointed Imams thunder for annihilation; to permit Satanists to be officers on warships (as happened in UK).
Now to our way of thinking all religions are false and therefore they are all the same. As if the revenge of Satanism and Islam were the same as the Compassion of Christ or the Wisdom of Judaism. As if Sharia were the same as the very wise give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
We have embarked on a road where thinking in terms of good and bad is considered "hate speech".
Relativism is fine, but the paradox is that it demands absolutism, and inevitably enforces a tyranny far more brutal and complete than any of the good religions of the world.
G.K. Chesterton, a wonderful British author and Catholic apologist said that an Atheist, more than someone who believes there is no God, is someone who is capable of believing anything.
And so now Bush, who might not be smarter than Einstein and who walks funny, is a Nazi. And ciao ciao... away goes the memory of the crematoria... and now because of my white face, I am responsible for the African Slave Trade... and ciao ciao personal culpability, and hello atavistic racial sins. Today everyone is entitled to make their own country within a country and ciao ciao... civility, amity, harmonization. Today children are made almost by mistake because no one has 18 free years on their agenda... and now in Italy there are only 1.2 babies per couple, whereas the Muslim immigrants with their four wives make 7! Ciao Ciao Italia.
Today it is as Chesterton said. We believe in anything, in everything, in whatever, instead of the very simple guideline, the broad avenue of good sense.
Today the choice is really no choice. The total submission of conscience is just the more stupid and unlettered version of total submission to ones own pride. There is no real difference between the murderous and frenzied mobs of Falluja who stomped their heels on the charred remains of the poor contracters and the Italian idiots clamoring for more Nassarijas. Screaming Allahu Akbar is identical to screaming "Me me me, I want it all, I want it now!"
PC and Islam are perfect bedfellows of moral relativism and excess.
Buonanotte...
WOW! Just WOW! That says a lot. I'm using that for my tagline.
Thank you Good Bad Company,
I'm on a 48 hour work session... and writing my heart out to Free Republic is my moment of relaxation. These are the things I wanted to say in slow and steady increments to the people of the Democratic Underground. They are the ones who need to awaken from the slumber of lost conscience.
In many ways, more in life style than in politics, I was like them. I know what it is like to see the beauty of the whole universe become a hungry vein, a need for cash, an uncontrollable rage. The goodness of our civilization was born inside an underground cave, with a baby who was already an outlaw, hunted by the authorities. He gave us the way to live both according to the law and above, below and between the lines of the law.
I am no preacher, no religious fanatic. In a way I'm defending something also intoxicating. Wine. Wine in moderation. (politics, friendship, comaraderie, carnival fun, etc.).. and that means appreciating the vine, tending to it (God, Family, Country).
They guzzle and ignore the source and just like drug addicts, will be condemned to diminishing returns of satisfaction. Today asking people te become saints is too much, better to lead them to be better sinners.
We normally think that separation of church and state only means the state keeping its nose out of religion. But in truth, it's the state that is now imposing the values.
It is the state that is making the people immune to terrorism. And that is a religious, moral, good bad question at the very bottom of humanity.
Yes I demand the separation of Church and state. But I demand it the other way around.
In UK the queen is the head of the official church and despite that the UK has thrived as a democracy... But in the soviet and Nazi systems the state invaded the Church's sphere of values, in a few short years millions were slaughtered.
Taking the ten Commandments down from the courthouse, or the cross from the clasrooms of Italy is nothing... I would even concede it if the State were not so busy taking them away from our hearts and minds.
If I'm not making sense, it's too much espresso and not enough sleep!
Good night to you!
This is one of the BEST threads I've read in a while!
All I can say is after reading this thread and the related DUmmie thread, if Hudobna is an imposter, she is one of the best, most diligent scam artists I've EVER seen!
Ripped the DUmmies a new one with so much INSANE LOGIC that they had no choice but to ban her! It's pretty good when a non-American tries to explain to other Americans why they should be proud and happy to be an American, and yet they STILL can't see the light! All they can do is whine, piss, and moan how bad their lives are and they've been wronged and cheated! That's a "DUmmie"!!
If you want to see more of the logic and hamster-driven brain power you're up against, check out DUmmie FUnnies for a humorous and sometimes bizarre look into the "thinking and rationale" (I use those terms loosely, maybe "feelings and irrationality" are better words) of the DUmmies!
Have You Filled Out Your FreeRepublic Profile Yet?
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Reference For Excerpting Articles- Please Read And Bookmark.
"Hating America is like hating the world."
Only here a short time and you have already won my heart.
The America haters we call the DUmmies have been resoundingly rejected in our elections and don't know how to handle it. So they have decided that the American people are a bunch of stupid louts and, like little kids, are pouting.
Even raving liberals are not booted for no good reason. MurrayMom, a Clinton butt-kisser deluxe, has remained in good standing for years.
And many Bush haters remain as well.
I sent you a private welcome, but I must say that you English is beautiful.
Thank you Spunky, thank you all!!
I feel overwhelmed by the kindness and helpfulness shown to me here. This morning I found a useful shortcut trick to keep better track of answers and comments. Yesterday I was despairing, because the threads move so quickly that by the time I answer somebody the whole issue is on page 54 - already ancient history.
I felt like screaming: Slow down!!!!!
I wrote a long post on a "Meaning of freedom" thread (that cost me 5 coffees and one pack of cigarettes) and I felt that it went straight to the debris rings of Saturn!
Blessings and hugs to you all!
Unless you are night owls like me, you are probably all sleeping now (except for New Yorkers in the city that never sleeps).
So Castro just banned cigar smoking?
Managgia, I don't have time to comment!
Allow me to copy paste a funny Cuban joke.
In one of his visits to the countryside, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro came upon a preganant pig. El Comandante, with characteristic confidence, boldly predicted: "I swear it; this pig will have twelve piglets."
Time passed, nature took its course, and it came to be the pig gave birth to six beautiful piglets.
"It cannot be", the veterinary said, "it cannot be El Comandante was so far off". "But", he thought, "whomever says six, means seven". "Seven piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"What a shame", the local administrator thought. "What a shame El Comandante was so far off". "But", he thought, "whomever reads seven, writes eight." "Eight piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"I'll be dammend", the provincial administrator thought. "I'll be dammed, but only eight piglets were born". "But", he thought, "there can't be much harm, in changing eight to nine". "Nine piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"Not too bad", the provincial Party Chairman thought. "Not too bad, but not too good either". "But", he thought, "it becomes better yet by changing nine to ten". "Ten piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"A near miss", the national Party Boss thought. "A near miss, but not too near". "But", he thought, "a near miss becomes nearer by changing ten to eleven". "Eleven piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"El Comandante will be happy", Fidel's personal secretary realized. "El Comandante will be happy, just not fully so". "But", he reasoned, "he will become ecstatic by changing eleven to twelve". "Twelve piglets were born", he wrote in his report.
"Mi Comandante, mi Comandante", the personal secretary reported, "the pig you predicted would have twelve piglets twelfe piglets had".
"I knew it", Fidel exclaime. "When the piglets grow we must celebrate".
"How so mi Comandante".
"Two pigs must go to the Party's Central Committee, and four must go to the all-important tourist industry".
"And the other six mi Comandante".
"The other six", Fidel answered proudly, "the other six must go to the people".
Yet another welcome from the vast horde of us who're lurking around here.
But I'll also add an invitation to discuss Native American stuff all you'd like with me - after all, I'm in it, around it, and doing it seven days a week. And I've got a reasonably good concept of the mentality which breeds the "fierce warrior" attitude, as well as the far more standard and more common views amongst Native folks out there today.
So if you have any questions about anything Native American, feel free to toss some discussion my way, either privately or publicly - I don't mind in the slightest bit.
One other thing: your "bury the hatchet" argument from DU is actually quite appropriate to most tribal folks, as the phrase originated in Native American circles. To bury the hatchet would keep it out of your hand and to not continue to argue or fight... and the entire basis of the current usage of the phrase comes from that. So, believe it or not, it's not an offensive phrase to the vast majority of tribal folk. It's only the super-sensitive ones who are deliberately seeking a fight (and who wouldn't put down their hatchets if their lives depended on it) who would find it an offensive comment. :)
Again, welcome to the crowd!
Dear LadyPixel,
Thank you for your very interesting post.
I am against PC in general, there at DU the interlocutor, William Bloode, happened to be an Indian. But he could've been a Black man or a Mexican or a Bosnian.
I wouldn't dream of telling any Ethnic or racial group to abandon ways, spirits, customs, habits. If I were to move to America, I would still talk too much with my hands, still make pasta every day and prefer espresso to American coffee (and avoid instant coffee like a capital sin). But I would also be an American. Though an Italian "discovered" America, I am reformed enough to understand the context of that word "discovery"... and I can equally say that he discovered a place that was already inhabited by humans in every way as human as anybody else.
By talking freely, making gaffes, expressing maybe something good and maybe something bad, but openly, cheerfully, with the honesty even of my prejudices - for indeed what do I know about Indians? Sadly, only things from some books, some movies, and especially from one beautiful book (that I cannot find at the moment) with wonderful pictures taken by a photographer sent out to preserve on photographic plate the memory of all of America's native people as they were at the turn of the Century... by talking openly, I honor the other person's humanity...
But the PC approach isn't generous enough to let people be stupid and wrong. They are instantly chastised and as in my case, banned. Had Mr. Bloode been less touchy, by now we would have been exchanging recipes. Instead I have only the bad images, the smallpox on the blankets, the sense that I am an oppressor because I happened to be pulled out red and raw and crying as a white, or olive skinned Caucasion.
How many kind people here, knowing I am Italian speak about food and vacations. "Hey! I'm fed up with this racism! What do you think I live in a country of cooks!" Wouldn't I be stupid to react like that? Indeed I would be incredibly stupid and ungenerous and most of all unhappy and false.
The key to what is wrong with PC is the word "Unhappiness"... a pre-set, pre-established and dehumanizing unhappiness. Perhaps Mr. William Bloode is a computer programmer, but he talks like someone from a different century who must avenge instead of share, who must be angry instead of buoyant, street savvy and cheerful. PC puts artificial anger into people's hearts, when instead left to themselves, the anger (if any) and the joys would be sincere and would find the words and eloquence to make the proper impact. PC is cliché thinking. After my encounter with Mr. Bloode, I would be afraid to talk to indians, just as the kind people here would think twice about talking to Italians if I got virulently upset when they say: "I love pasta."
What really happens with PC mentality is that the real troubles, the honest grievances are then ignored, because too many phoneys have cried wolf.
Ciao, Free Rep. will be my undoing! I don't work anymore. The temptation is too strong.
Thank you for your post and if you "ping," I will gladly follow you to the threads about American Indians to get the broader and better perspective, and the possibility to have each and every one of my preconceptions burst.
I have read this thread and your posts and do believe you are sincere, and I find your comments very refreshing. Welcome, Hudobna, from an Alaskan FReeper.
Smoking is bad for us......but what the hey, so is bacon.....let's step out for a smoke and say no to fried pork! LOL
Ciao Chena,
Thank you for your welcome. I like Free Rep. a lot and find a great many and interesting links to all kinds of useful information. Now I consider being kicked out of DUmmie Land a reward!
I know, smoking is vile, dirty and even expensive, but here in Rome so too is going to the post office!
Alaska! I would probably feel overwhelmed by all the space and nature. Italy, like many places in Europe, is just like one big city with a lot of parks. It would be physically impossible to get lost or to even glimpse the world in the pristine way that God made it (I mean without cigarette smoking humans).
Today, I will steal some time and go there on the WWW.
Thank you again and all the very best to you.
H
Ciao Prophet,
No, me not liking Coca-Cola was only a provocation. In truth I love the bubbly stuff (and to such a degree, probably from the brainwashing of commercials, that I even feel like I'm committing a crime when I drink Pepsi!). Here in Italy, Pepsi hardly exists. I mean, we have it, but it's so unpopular that it costs half just to get it off the shelves.
Big Macs are all right and sometimes when you're busy, it's good to be able to order, pay, eat and have a burp of relief in under 1 minute. But better, far better to eat good, wholesome foods, slowly and if possible in company. What I don't like are the French Fries. And normally I LOVE French Fries and can eat them until I need hospitalization, but, like real good pasta, they have to be done right.
I am glad and proud that my country supports America in Iraq, and as events have shown, "BBB" (Bush, Blair and Berlusconi) were right. How anyone could support the previous and murderous status quo is beyond comprehension.
However I am sad to say, that like in Spain, most of the Italian people are probably against intervention there, so it is the case of a Strong leader, making a tough and unpopular decision. Europe has lots and lots of voice, but no moral fiber, no good dream... She offers no real help or hope to the common people of the world.
As I mentioned elsewhere, it is not even a matter of left or right politics, but of simple good and bad, right and wrong. In fact, America, by bringing down corrupt and murderous regimes is making the joys and pains of left and right politics available to people who have only known oppression.
Dear Prophet, I am glad that you agree with me concerning guilt for the "sins" of past generations. The only way we can atone for them is for all of us, the grandchildren of victims and perpetrators alike to try our best in the here and now. If innocent people are allowed to be blamed then it's just an endless spiral into a bottomless pit.
If we cannot even forgive the innocent, how will we ever be able to forgive those who really need forgiveness today, so that society can overcome the stumbling blocks and move on towards betterment?
It is truly ironic that those who proclaim to be "advanced" and revolutionary, dwell so much on "inescapable and endless" tribal, social, racial guilts. In truth they are only pretending. And we all know who the Kind of Pretenders is!
Ciao!
H
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