Common Sense

Stan Shannon

Christian Graus wrote:

The US thrives on this sort of thing, keep the people scared.

Is that why the EU is warning people not to come to the US? You don't know shit about the US, Christian.

Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.

Christian Graus

Oakman wrote:

The U.S. doesn't do anything.

Well, any comment I make along these lines, I am obviously saying that it appears that a significant proportion of people in the US love this sort of thing. If that's not true, then I don't know how to explain the media in the US.

Oakman wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't a few folks in Australia who were similarly inclined

Probably, but I'd say we have more an issue with the majority wanting to hear about how anyone who is successful, is robbing them, and how anything that happens, is not their fault. That's a theme I see in our media, the theme of fear, I see more in the US.

Oakman wrote:

Christian, you really have to stop assuming that you can sum up 20 million people in one sentence.

I'm sorry, perhaps I just figured you knew me well enough to know that I didn't mean ALL Americans. Just the majority.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

Stan Shannon wrote:

You don't know sh*t about the US, Christian.

Yeah, having spent at least 6 months of my life there, over the course of three years, and having seen your media, I know nothing about the sort of things that get reported, or the tone that is taken. I thought the EU always warned people not to come to the US :P Seriously, I don't know how serious this is, and as someone who is coming soon, I am watching, but I have learned that the mainstream US media specialises in hysteria, so I am looking elsewhere for advice on how much of a threat this really is.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

Yeah, having spent at least 6 months of my life there

Christian, if someone, say you, was in the ASP.Net forum trying to pass on his mumbletee-mump years of experience and someone said. "You are wrong. I have been programming in .NET for six months spread out over the last few years, so let me tell you how things are," would you be inclined to think he was probably right and you were probably wrong?

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Christian Graus

Well, that's a flawed analogy. How many countries have you spent more than 6 months in ? I believe that a lifetime in Australia AND 6 months in the US gives me a reasonable perspective on differences in the media between the two countries. But I am surprised that you'd post something suggesting the response to this flu is largely hysteria, and then bag me out for saying the same thing, but on a broader scale.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

I'm sorry, perhaps I just figured you knew me well enough to know that I didn't mean ALL Americans. Just the majority.

Right. And not all Irish are drunkards, just a majority and not all Brits have an umbrella up their ass, just a majority and not all Australians have an inferiority complex, just a majority. . .

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Christian Graus

This is different. Like I said, I believe that most Aussies DO like to feel like they are victims, because we're talking about the media. The media would soon find out if it was not pandering to it's audience. So, I am happy to make a generalisation about both of our countries, based on the same standard of observation. If you're happy to tell me that your media is incapable of working out what it's audience wants, I am happy to listen to your reasoning.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Lost User

Christian Graus wrote:

The USmedia thrives on this sort of thing, keep the people scared.

- F

Christian Graus

well, I can't speak for other countries, but I don't feel it's as bad here as it is in the US. I remember my first night in the US, turning on a news channel, and sitting there with my mouth open, astounded at what I was seeing.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Mike Gaskey

The swine flue pandemic is what the right hand is doing, what is going on with the left? Oh, ya. Citi and B of A need more money because of the stress tests that the fed won't release. And socialized health care plus the carbon tax, cap'n trade, are potentially being voted on and we're talking about a pandemic.

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

Christian Graus

you're actually having a vote on having actual health care in the US ?

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

How many countries have you spent more than 6 months in ?

Hey, I was in the Army. We traveled to many exotic countries. Saw amazing scenery. Met exotic people. Shot at them. You can actually claim an advantage here. We almost speak the same language. That certainly wasn't true in my case. I would certainly agree that you have a better handle on the differences between the two countries than I do, or than an Aussie does who has never been here. However that fits the analogy you called flawed quite well. A Cobol programmer who's been working in .NET for six months has a much better handle on what .NET is about that one who is still happily chugging away at mainframes.

Christian Graus wrote:

then bag me out for saying the same thing, but on a broader scale.

I'm not even sure what bagging you out means, let alone doing it on purpose. :rose: But what frosted my cookies, for what it's worth, is that you dismissed an entire country not even just its media. I am tired of hearing, even in here where the concept of shades of gray is shouted down far too often, about all Americans or all democrats or all conservatives or all black men, or all women, or all Muslims or all Australians. I am especially sensitive to it when I see these damn talking heads on TV speaking as if they knew all 20 million of us personally and had our power of attorney in their back pocket. Maybe I was overly sensitive in this case. However, I'm glad we agree about hysteria.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

turning on a news channel

Owned by that damned Australian, Murdoch? ;)

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Oakman

Mike Gaskey wrote:

And socialized health care plus the carbon tax, cap'n trade, are potentially being voted on and we're talking about a pandemic.

Hmpf. I made that connection days ago, Mike. ;P Did you know that today the Prez met the the Congressional Progressive Caucus? Not a whole lot of reporting on that, from what I can tell - worked a full day and had two doctor's visits so maybe I missed something. At any rate, I woulda given Oily's left nut to be a fly on the wall in that meeting room!

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Mike Gaskey

Christian Graus wrote:

you're actually having a vote on having actual health care in the US ?

it is ambiguous, but yes. the first step anyway. it'll bankrupt the nation, drive down the number of medical professionals and increase taxes to stunning levels.

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

Lost User

Oakman wrote:

Owned by that damned Australian, Murdoch?

Be became a yank, by choice. Naturally we disowned him :)

Captain See Sharp

Christian Graus wrote:

Probably, but I'd say we have more an issue with the majority wanting to hear about how anyone who is successful, is robbing them

Well when you have the government spending trillions for garbage, generating 12 trillion dollars in national debt what do you expect media reports to be about? How great the government is? Puppies and the latest fashions?

Captain See Sharp

Christian Graus wrote:

Yeah, having spent at least 6 months of my life there, over the course of three years

ChitChatting in a confy hotel and riding around in the back of a car gives you little idea of American life. Until you grew up here, experience all levels of public schools, and worked most of your life here then you can pretend to know America.

Christian Graus wrote:

and having seen your media

The media is crap. Each news program is designed to make you feel a certain way and think certain thoughts. The fancy graphics, music, catch phrases, personalities, and the loads of eye catching commercials interfere with normal thought processes. I find it sickening when a newscast lacking almost every detail gets interrupted by a GW commercial picturing kids playing in a bright green grassy field with butterflies and a rainbow, or some crap about change and hope. I especially hate that Cricket Wireless commercial picturing all these low income workers in a dirty city singing and making music with garbage cans. Then a black lady puts up a cellphone to her ear and starts rapping.

Stan Shannon

Christian Graus wrote:

but I don't feel it's as bad here as it is in the US.

Thats because no one gives a shit about what happens in Australia. There is no bang for the buck in swaying popular opinion of Australians. Far more effort goes into trying to promote a particular world view in the US by both sides. What happens here affects the entire world. What happens in Australia affects Australia.

Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.

Christian Graus

We don't have 12 trillion in debt.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )