rod laver as a person???
- SpaceMonkey
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HackyRichard
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I'd say that this person needs to do some growing up, and not make such malformed generalisations about people and then broadcast it to all and sundry.Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 4:15 pm Post subject:
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Being an Australian he probably doesn't fully grasp the concept of footbag like the majority of people in the South Pacific region ... (not including any easily offended aussie footbaggers in that lot).
Then again it could have something to do with you americans taking something and, in his eyes, misusing it (kinda like splitting the atom, nuclear weapons etc ... but in a good way) for you own gain, without giving him credit for it or something like that. Of course this is ignoring the fact that Australians are also guilty of this taking credit for someone elses inventions/products/sports talent, happens all the time (can anyone say Russell Crowe ... although on his current form they can have him) ...
If I've offended anyone with any of this too fuckin bad, my opinion is just that ...
Wait a second ... that was me
Slightly off topic, but it does involve drinking and rod laver and footbag (all in varying degrees):
Code: Select all
Back in February of this year in Melbourne, the Aussie nats had finished and we were having the after party down on the banks of the [Jeremy insert name here please] river. There was much merriment, me trying to find things to throw at the possums in the trees forgetting they're a native animal (hey in NZ they are a pest), a big fire hack circle (singed hair for all), and various other goings on. We had at some point noticed that the Rod Laver Arena was across the river, Ales had disappeared earlier on to take happy snaps for the photo album, and later on (after some people had made their excuses to nana out and go home to bed) a brave group of souls (read as drunken idiots) made a daring charge for the said landmark hellbent on doing one thing ... I hope this is blindingly obvious ... sadly having reached the arena we discovered the moat from Jurassic park was blocking our path. A passage into our goal was uncovered, however fate was against us and we are discovered by some random delivery people, mission failed :cry:
We are then doomed to wander the streets of Melbourne for what seems like days, following our intrepid guide Jeremy (it's only 3 blocks away) in search of what I can't recall (I honestly don't think Jeremy knew either). Somehow we do end up at a railway station and I do manage to get some sleep before having to leave warm sunny Australia, to fly back into the worse flooding in the recorded history of the Manawatu region (where I live).Footbag rocks
Richard Pearce
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well firstly because Pete and Brad were dissing Richard for an anti us post he made 2 years before they responded and I was just stirring them for that. - so that's why I wrote it in this instance.
There are many reasons why the majority of the world dislikes the US - and you can probably find people in every country of the world that would say something anti american.
Apart from all the political reasons (US foreign policy in particular). American's are generally much more nationalistic then other nations. Australian's are often happy to dis our own country, our flag, our leader - infact we'll dis pretty much anything (australian or not), but Americans often seem very proud of everything American. Pretty much every time you here somebody say something along the lines of "my country is the best country in the world" they are American. Many parts of the world have seen what Nationalism can achieve (see the world wars) and are afraid of what could happen. Also it's very easy to get a rise out of Americans by dissing america. If I said I thought New Zealand was the most backwards country in the world I'd get a much smaller reaction (I might even get agreement) then dissing the US. So it's much more fun to dis the US then it is to dis other countries. (Infact before I'd found footbag, my brother and I used to go to Texas chat sites and inflame the people to the point where they were threatening to cut off my testicles and make me eat them - and this was because I (unfairly) compared the US with a particularly (in)famous Nationalist (I'm sure you can guess who))
However I think the political reasons are probably the main reason. I can (and have in the past) written long essays on the many problems with US foreign policy. Especially since the election of George Bush, the US has found its self in a smaller and smaller group of allies. Most of the nations still allied to the US are so because they are dependant on the US for aid and other reasons. That's why it's so imporant that nations like Australia and the UK are involved in the war in Iraq - because unlike many of the other nations "allied" to the US - it's out of our free will. Except it isn't - in almost all the countries "supporting" the war there is large public opposition. Tony Blair will probably lose the next election for supporting the US. That's exactly what happened in Spain, and could well happen in Australia.
Anyway, there's so much more to say but I don't want to write a book about it.
There are many reasons why the majority of the world dislikes the US - and you can probably find people in every country of the world that would say something anti american.
Apart from all the political reasons (US foreign policy in particular). American's are generally much more nationalistic then other nations. Australian's are often happy to dis our own country, our flag, our leader - infact we'll dis pretty much anything (australian or not), but Americans often seem very proud of everything American. Pretty much every time you here somebody say something along the lines of "my country is the best country in the world" they are American. Many parts of the world have seen what Nationalism can achieve (see the world wars) and are afraid of what could happen. Also it's very easy to get a rise out of Americans by dissing america. If I said I thought New Zealand was the most backwards country in the world I'd get a much smaller reaction (I might even get agreement) then dissing the US. So it's much more fun to dis the US then it is to dis other countries. (Infact before I'd found footbag, my brother and I used to go to Texas chat sites and inflame the people to the point where they were threatening to cut off my testicles and make me eat them - and this was because I (unfairly) compared the US with a particularly (in)famous Nationalist (I'm sure you can guess who))
However I think the political reasons are probably the main reason. I can (and have in the past) written long essays on the many problems with US foreign policy. Especially since the election of George Bush, the US has found its self in a smaller and smaller group of allies. Most of the nations still allied to the US are so because they are dependant on the US for aid and other reasons. That's why it's so imporant that nations like Australia and the UK are involved in the war in Iraq - because unlike many of the other nations "allied" to the US - it's out of our free will. Except it isn't - in almost all the countries "supporting" the war there is large public opposition. Tony Blair will probably lose the next election for supporting the US. That's exactly what happened in Spain, and could well happen in Australia.
Anyway, there's so much more to say but I don't want to write a book about it.
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the Executioner
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well i didnt know that hacky richard posted that 2 years ago or for sure i wouldnt have responded.
i didnt respond out of patriotism or the fact that it was an anti-u.s. post;
i just thought it was ridiculous, linking the fact that rod laver doesnt like footbag to the fact that americans take things and use them for their own gain. either way, richard cleared the issue up quite nicely. anyhow, it's not difficult to see why everyone else in the world dislikes americans nowadays, i think we all know who to thank for that one. what's annoying about being dissed as an american is the fact that:
#1. I didnt vote for this administration #2. it's bad enough i have to live with it, and #3. I get dissed because of it!
i didnt respond out of patriotism or the fact that it was an anti-u.s. post;
i just thought it was ridiculous, linking the fact that rod laver doesnt like footbag to the fact that americans take things and use them for their own gain. either way, richard cleared the issue up quite nicely. anyhow, it's not difficult to see why everyone else in the world dislikes americans nowadays, i think we all know who to thank for that one. what's annoying about being dissed as an american is the fact that:
#1. I didnt vote for this administration #2. it's bad enough i have to live with it, and #3. I get dissed because of it!
Peter Irish
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- SpaceMonkey
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I find it interesting that you feel that way. I hate Australia's government passionatly. I like it when people criticise our government and I would encourage everyone to do so now! I tend to think Australia is about as bad as the US - just we are smaller so have less power. I also like to think that if enough people (from anywhere) complain about our government then eventually something will change.the Executioner wrote:what's annoying about being dissed as an american is the fact that:
#1. I didnt vote for this administration #2. it's bad enough i have to live with it, and #3. I get dissed because of it!
Reason's you too should hate the Australian Government.
They lock up asylum seekers in detention centers in order to deter more people from trying to come to Australia. This includes children, some are locked up for over five years because it is unsafe to send them home. We have been condemned by many human rights groups including The Red Cross, Amnesty International and the relevant UN organisations.
We ignored East Timor while it's people were massacred, continued to support the Indonesian Government. Finally, when the result seemed inevitable anyway, we lead a UN peace keeping force over there and "helped" them reach independance. We are now taking 80% of the oil and natural gas from inside their waters - oil that we have no legal right to, and they are taking us to court because of it. (East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world). Again we have been condemned by many international groups - including the UN.
Previous Australian governments had a policy of taking Indigenous Australians away from their parents and putting them in orphanages and in foster homes where they were regularly abused or made to work as servants/slaves. While we ended this policy sometime ago, our government refuses to apologise for this policy. Meanwhile Aborigines have the lowest life expectancy of any indigenous group in the developed world (59 I think - which is 20 years younger than a non aboriginal australian) and in some parts of Australia make up 80% of people in prison, despite only representing 2% of the population. We have recieved much comdemnation for this - including a report that suggest that Australian Aborigines are the second worst off group in the world according to a United Nations index that measures human development (the Australian general population was ranked fourth best).
If any of this bothers you, you can write to our leader
The Hon John Howard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
or email him here
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Guest
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very agreeable.ovetin wrote:I don't care if someone disses our government. I don't like our government. But what gets to me is when someone says: "America Sucks" or "Americans suck" becuase then they seem to be including US citizens, not just the government.
although as a side note i dont entirely dissagree with the government right now.
There is always a bigger trick.
Go watch a vid. of Dylan Fry.
-Mark "The Force" Schwartz
Go watch a vid. of Dylan Fry.
-Mark "The Force" Schwartz
