[MacDV] Re: #s 2112, 2113, 2114

[Gerhard Kuhn]

You are receiving a standing ovation from here!


Gerhard Kuhn
suspice at hay.net


On Saturday, April 19, 2003, at 07:26  AM, RRSounds at aol.com wrote:

> Interesting how my favorite Mac Digital Video forum has turned into 
> some kind of chaotic discussion of War, Freedom, Rights and Ethnic 
> history.
>
> It is a fair question to ask whether our wonderful, beautiful precious 
> America is becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the world. 
> And while many among us feel that this a positive development, I ask, 
> is this really a good thing?
>
> Most of us Americans are already isolated to the point they rarely see 
> world news, and have little knowledge of anything outside the USA. Our 
> own President had never been anywhere outside North America, and had 
> trouble even naming world leaders (never mind understanding their 
> agendas) before his inauguration.
>
> I would guess that most Americans know France is led by Chirac only 
> because he is our latest Fox News enemy. The media is quick to remind 
> us that we gave ungrateful France its freedom after WWII, but somehow 
> the same media always seems to forget that without France's help 
> securing our own freedom in the Revolutionary War, Tony Blair would be 
> *our* Prime Minister, and that upon the Centennial of our Independence 
> France presented us with a beautiful gift which is now our very symbol 
> of Freedom, the Statue of Liberty. But here in America, "you're only 
> as good as your last hit record." So France is the bad guy du jour.
>
> Mention Rwanda, and our eyes glaze over.
>
> As a traveler who has been to more than just my home state, I can tell 
> you that our ego-driven view that 'the USA knows all the answers; my 
> way or the highway' is not shared by quite a few people. And for good 
> reason. It is one thing to be a home of wonderful freedoms and quite 
> another to claim that the only way to get there is through our good 
> graces, thank you very much.
>
> Worldwide resentment grows daily. And many among us are not only *not* 
> bothered by this development, we are further empowered by it. It is 
> into this somewhat scary environment the Goering quote comes in.
>
> What Goering said is an ironic warning that could at least be 
> considered by fair-minded individuals, even if it should (hopefully) 
> turn out to be false in our present case. Just because he was a 
> despicable murderous Son-of-a-Bitch doesn't automatically mean his 
> statement can't in some way be a useful warning against the possiblity 
> of it hitting closer to home. They say a frog put into a hot pan jumps 
> out, but a frog in a pot of water slowly brought to boil is cooked. 
> Those bubbles we're swimming in may not be a jacuzzi after all.
>
>
> Personally, I think that belligerent threats, intimidation, violence 
> and War are perverse, antiquated ways to deal with problems between 
> disagreeing societies (no matter whose 'side' one is on), an approach 
> that is better suited to insects than humans, and that if all the 
> money, effort and lives devoted to battle were instead spent on 
> enforced promotion of goodwill (which is not an oxymoron) and free 
> discussion of how to alleviate tensions through discourse, the world 
> would be a better place.
>
> The optimist in me quotes from a Brit, John Lennon:
> "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
>
> The cynic in me quotes from another German, Albert Einstein:
> "There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and stupidity. 
> And I am not sure about the universe."
>
>
> I, for one am open to further thoughtful discussion, though admittedly 
> this Forum is not really the appropriate place for it.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
>
> David P. Reaves, III
> TransLanTech Sound, LLC
> New York City USA/Recklinghausen, Germany
>
>
>