Proud to be an American?
 

You're damn right I am.

Do I agree with everything the American government does? Nope. Do I think that we fuck up sometimes? Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that our government provides my family with the ability to live a life that is full of happiness and freedom.

I can worship who or what I want to worship with no fear. Or I can choose to not worship at all.

I can voice my opinion on our government actions and policies (be they pro or con) at any time without fear of agents beating down my door and arresting me.

I can eat a grape at the local supermarket without paying for it and not be afraid I'm going to get my hand cut off in a public square in front of my children for theft.

I can listen to rock and roll, jazz, rap, or any other music without getting thrown in a government prison accused of treason.

I can be gay, straight, bisexual, or a fucking nun, monk, or priest.

I can walk down the street with the sun on my face and speak without being spoken to. My daughters can do the same.

My husband can shave...or not. His choice.

My daughters can grow up to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, or pornographers for that matter. They have a choice.

I can say "FUCK" in a public place and the worst that happens is a couple dirty looks.

The list could go on and on...all the little freedoms that I have that make my freedom precious.

So am I proud to be an American? You're goddamn right I am. I may not agree with all of our policies, procedures, and actions, but that doesn't change the fact that my country provides to me, and more importantly to my children, the ability to live a fulfilling life.

Americans are going to die in this war. Thank you to the men and women who are in our military, willing to risk their lives to provide myself, my family, and my friends with a life that is worth living. My respect is yours.

http://paveblue.com/flag.gif


He whos country has not fucked up cast the first stone.


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Too long to read

Well said sweetie, but you need to stop stealing grapes ;)

:thumbsup

I can already here little feet running in here, just waiting to lash out on "American freedoms" once again. Fuck them.

Me too! God Bless Canamerica! :thumbsup

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK......lalalalala.....FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.....lalalalala.....FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK......

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

Amen

LMAO..

Good call Di. :)

This may help:

http://www.chadd.org/

:)

Hey...you have to live on the edge once in awhile :winkwink:

Yeah, what magic said.....

I still say people should just go on with their lives, the shit is on, the news is everywhere so stop being glued to CNN 24/7. Love your kids & family, and say a little prayer for those you know that were sent over....

As any lengthy news event goes, it makes people nuts who become addicts.

I mean really what can you do now....except pray for a short war and economic recovery.

Work on getting more sites up, so many say traffic/sales are either down or way up since the threat of war, alot of net news surfing is leading them to XXX member sites....thats what some brag on other boards....

This apparently goes for the work place too...but I use my boot;)...and I think here in Georgia Grape stealing is at least a day in the pokey.

Actually Diane reminds me that I ave a masters in the inflected use of the word;)

Don't you get me started, sistah!

That's a real american
:thumbsup

KimmyKim....

what happens in Aly's room...

STAYS in Aly's room! LMAO!


Manwich, it's not just a sandwich... it's a MEAL! :winkwink:

bwahahahaaaaa!!!

:1orglaugh

"He whos country has not fucked up cast the first stone."

... must be greenland I suppose !!

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Greenland

LOL

USA! USA! USA!

"I can eat a grape at the local supermarket without paying for it and not be afraid I'm going to get my hand cut off in a public square in front of my children for theft......"

Have you test this concept yet?

You can't nail a chick in the ass in Georgia tho...

More often than I care to admit :1orglaugh


I beg to differ

:winkwink:

You steal grapes AND swear in public places?!

THAT'S IT! Someone arrest this woman!
(Then send her my way for appropriate disciplinary action.)

:Graucho

Your attention span cannot be that bad! It was a great read, I suggest you take the time out of your busy posting schedule and read it!

Oh you soooo wish, don't you ;)

Aly....not before she gets sent my way!!! Dang it all...miss my sistahs :)

All you stay safe...hopefully, this will be over soon...

*Hugs*

Take pride in your actions, not in your coincidences. :2 cents:

Interesting statement...care to elaborate?

Not sure what HE means, but to me it sounds something like why be proud of something that is based on pure luck (=place of your birth)?

Your actions are not based (solely) on luck and coincidence

That doesn't make any sense...if that were the case, then we could be proud of absolutely nothing. Our entire lives are shaped by where we are born. The same person that was born in Chechnya would be a completely different person if he had been born in London, Paris, Montreal, or anywhere on earth. Different teachings, different educations, etc.

Any successes that you accomplish in your life are all coincidences. Depending on where you were born, you would act upon opportunities presented to you differently. Not only that, but the opportunites themselves would be different as well.

So how can it be said that we can basically be proud of nothing...not even ourselves?
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Of course your decisions matter. You can guide your life and be proud of your actions.. If you disagree, this world will become ridiculously absurd for you. Like you said, everything would become a coincidence. Not too realistic

However, you CANNOT affect the place of your birth, your parents, childhood etc. Thus, to some extent you cannot affect many aspects of your life. But within the framework that you are given, you are pretty free to live your life and take a stand

:thumbsup

Well put.
No matter how I might disagree with the war we're in, the good here FAR outweighs the bad, and I could never look poorly on our country as a whole.

Who said she wasn't proud of her actions as an American?

I have no intention of repeating the whole determinism vs. non-determinism debate of the past few thousand years for you. If you do not want to believe you possess free will, that's your problem. Reading into Kant a bit might be a good idea though. He has a few good arguments for free will, of which one is inescapable.

However, the idea of being proud of one's country is flawed in many more ways. I do not care enough to write it all down though.

Since she didn't mention those, I see no point in debating that matter.

LOL Ok Punkworld...you are entitled to your opinion...no need to get defensive :winkwink:

But your interpretation of my post was flawed. I do believe in free will. However, what happens as a result of our free will is directly affected by our environment as well as the opportunities we are presented with. Our environment is directly connected to where we are born.

I find the writings of the Prussian philosopher interesting as well...right along with the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and others. But thanks for the suggestion :) If you have any other suggestions for authors I would genuinely like to hear them.

On another note, here is something to make this thread a little more interesting:

http://www.hardcorepornlinks.com/con.../images/98.jpg

:glugglug

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LOL thanks Sly_RJ...nice to know somebody actually understood my post :winkwink:

How can free will exist if it is fully determined by other factors? In that case, it would be a mechanism, not free will.
If it is, however, not fully determined by other factors, it makes little sense to take pride in the coincidences we happen upon, since those are not our doing.

Oh, and about authors: From the authors you named, it looks like you've mostly focused on the older parts of philosophy. There is however quite a bit of newer stuff you might enjoy.
For ethics (which is most closely related to the discussion at hand) I would suggest Dworkin (goes deeply into the subject of free will vs determism in "The theory and practice of autonomy"), Korsgaard, Moore, Ross, Rawls (postulates a very interesting new foundation for semi-objective ethics), Nozick (his answer to Rawls' idea of the veil of ignorance is simply fantastic). For an overview of ethics you could try Sidgwick (a bit dated, but still good), Singer or Rachels (short but good, although not quite objective).
For other subjects a few good ones are Latour, Habermas, Foucault, Rorty, Dennett, Feenberg, Beck, Popper, Quine, Chalmers, Marcuse, Wittgenstein, Nagel, Carnap, Weber, Smullyan, Russel, Searle, Axelrod, Lyotard, Benjamin, Adorno, Baudrillard, Durkheim, Haraway.

Then where exactly did your actions come into play in that post?

"So am I proud to be an American? You're goddamn right I am. I may not agree with all of our policies, procedures, and actions, but that doesn't change the fact that my country provides to me, and more importantly to my children, the ability to live a fulfilling life. "

What did you do to create that country? Did you write the constitution, make the laws, rule the country or do any other thing that made the country into what it is, apart from coincidentally being born there and living by the rules that were given to you?

I'm not to argue with you punkworld, you are obviously much smarter and more enlightened than I.

:)

:thumbsup

AAAAAAWWWW!!! You're not?! Too damn bad! This debate is rather gripping!

Thanks to both of you for that! LOL

:thumbsup

p00p for president!!

Nope ;) I never argue simply for the sake of arguing...it's a waste of time and energy. If I expect people to respect my opinion, then I have to respect theirs as well :thumbsup But you are more than welcome to take up where I left off! I would love to see you get into a good piss hehehe


adamneve, you liked that eh? Here's another one for you :)


http://www.hardcorepornlinks.com/con.../images/23.jpg

Heh if you keep posting we may make it through the whole set :winkwink:

Hmm... Are we allowed to be proud of America and glad to be american?

:thumbsup