Where the West is wrong

[Faithfulservant]

The US isnt a dictorship.. its a democracy... The people vote in who they think will make the choices they want for our country.

[Katyana1980]

Originally Posted by Vajradhara

when you say "west" what are you actually meaning?

from my point of view, Saudi Arabia is "the west" as much as Britian and America are.

I'm confused about this too. What does "western" mean? It seems that for a lot of people it means that you have a mcadonalds in your nearest city and know who Britney Spears is.

Is it more the idea of materialism and capitalism? I agree that there is a dominant culture spreading around the world that basically has commerce behind it. Think about it... why is the internet spreading so much? Because of economic reasons. And there is a culture based around the English Language, materialism and liberalism that comes with it. And it's the same for other "Western" things, like the world of air travel, business, the media, leisure...

I do think it's a shame that certain people around the world think that if they don't take on this culture that they are behind the times or not going to be successful on a world stage. I'd love it if another culture could rival it. Everyone shouldn't feel any pressure to move away from their own culture.

As for spiritual and ethical issues, I don't think that you can generalise about a "western" set of beliefs and standards just as you can't generalise about eastern ones. I've visited Sicily and noted that women are treated in a very "non-Western" way. We should just learn to be tolerant of each other and not impose our beliefs on others. OK, there are some cultures that have wide-spread ideas that I don't agree with, but I'm not going to go over there and tell them that they are wrong. It's their own business. It's different however when it does harm to people.

I'm sure that if I went to a so-called non-Western country, people would look at me and presume things about me because I'm Western. Perhaps think that family and community aren't very important to me. Perhaps think that spirituality isn't important to me. Maybe assume that I wasn't interested in what they have to say about how they live. Perhaps feel superior. Couldn't be further from the case. Likewise, people in the so-called West might see someone non-Western and presume that their lives are simpler, more religious, perhaps distrusting of the West.

We need to stop presuming and actually listen to each other and learn. It would help with so many problems in the world and within our own countries. People from all cultures have something valid to say and have values and lifestyles that we can all learn from, Western or not.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Faithfulservant

The US isn't a dictorship.. it's a democracy... The people vote in who they think will make the choices they want for our country.

The US isn't a democracy...it is a federal republic based on democratic principles. A country the size (population wise) of the United States could never survive with a democracy. It would result in mob rule. Pure democracies only work in small numbers, such as townships, villages, and perhaps small cities, or states with few citizens. Your second part is absolutely correct. We vote for those we think will look our for our interests. That does not always happen however. In such cases we have the power to recall those representitives "home" (think Senator Daschle of South Dakota and Governor Wilson of California).

This is the primary strength in our form of government. We the people have the power to remove/replace our representitives at any time, and/or the power to liquidate our government and create a new one, or new type.

my thoughts.

v/r

Q

[lunamoth]

Originally Posted by Quahom1

The US isn't a democracy...it is a federal republic based on democratic principles. A country the size (population wise) of the United States could never survive with a democracy. It would result in mob rule. Pure democracies only work in small numbers, such as townships, villages, and perhaps small cities, or states with few citizens. Your second part is absolutely correct. We vote for those we think will look our for our interests. That does not always happen however. In such cases we have the power to recall those representitives "home" (think Senator Daschle of South Dakota and Governor Wilson of California).

This is the primary strength in our form of government. We the people have the power to remove/replace our representitives at any time, and/or the power to liquidate our government and create a new one, or new type.

my thoughts.

v/r

Q

Hey Q, that is an elegantly concise civics lesson!

lunamoth

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Hey Q, that is an elegantly concise civics lesson!

lunamoth

Hmmm, I'm not sure about the "elegant" part....

[Awaiting_the_fifth]

Hypothetically speaking, would it still be a democracy if you only had a choice of 2 candidates who were both essentially the same and the public's views were shaped by misinformation fed through a government controlled press?

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Awaiting_the_fifth

Hypothetically speaking, would it still be a democracy if you only had a choice of 2 candidates who were both essentially the same and the public's views were shaped by misinformation fed through a government controlled press?

Certainly. If the public were savy enough to recognize the con, and the majority wrote in "none of the above" on their ballots...

...then the election would have to be held again.

v/r

Q

[brucegdc]

Originally Posted by Quahom1

Certainly. If the public were savy enough to recognize the con, and the majority wrote in "none of the above" on their ballots...

...then the election would have to be held again.

v/r

Q

I still like another idea of this: Allow a "none of the above" on the ballot, and if it wins, none of the candidates could run again for 10 years. (Ok, my original idea was to just shoot them, but that's a *bit* too much)

... Bruce

[17th Angel]

OH! Like that film... buster's millions, brooster's millions? Something like that... When he runs for Mayor and forces everyone with money and drink to vote none of the above...


Buster?: excuse me can I ask a question?
Buster?: Who's paying for the booze?
Crowd : YOU ARE!!!!! *cheers*
Buster?: And who is trying to buy your votes?!
Crowd : YOU ARE!!! *cheers*
Buster?: And who you gonna vote for?!
Crowd : NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!! *crowd goes wild*


lol that film tickles me, tickles me in such a way if someone was to tickle me like that, i'd say ooooh yeah, thats the spot.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

OH! Like that film... buster's millions, brooster's millions? Something like that... When he runs for Mayor and forces everyone with money and drink to vote none of the above...


Buster?: excuse me can I ask a question?
Buster?: Who's paying for the booze?
Crowd : YOU ARE!!!!! *cheers*
Buster?: And who is trying to buy your votes?!
Crowd : YOU ARE!!! *cheers*
Buster?: And who you gonna vote for?!
Crowd : NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!! *crowd goes wild*


lol that film tickles me, tickles me in such a way if someone was to tickle me like that, i'd say ooooh yeah, thats the spot.

LOL, Brewster's Millions. Richard Pryor stars in this un-American American dream. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're a bunch of idiots...

v/r

Q

[Awaiting_the_fifth]

Originally Posted by brucegdc

Allow a "none of the above" on the ballot

I was once helping my friend get elected to Vise President of our Students Association, on election day I canvassed hundreds of people and many agreed to go inside and vote for my guy. Unfortunately, on leaving, when we asked people who they voted for, they pointed at me and said,

"I voted for him"

"But I wastn't on the ballot paper" I said, so many times,

"Yes you were Ron," they would say,

"Ron?" I would think, "Who the hell is Ron?"

Unfortunately these people who had tried to vote for me had actually voted for RON, meaning Re Open Nominations.