Americans Against the Tea Party We Are Americans Against the Tea Party
Vladimir Putin is that ex who you just made up with, and then immediately makes you wonder why you answered the door.
On September 11th, our once and possibly future ex wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times, directly giving America his stance on our position on Syria. That is pretty rare for any political leader, so you do have to give him points for testicular fortitude. Especially on a tender day like Sept. 11th. Especially when he still owes us a Superbowl ring. Especially when he still owes us a Superbowl ring ON September 11th, and he ends his otherwise pretty well-reasoned op-ed with this comment on Barack Obama’s “American exceptionalism:”
“It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”
Oh, boy.
You just said the wrong thing.
Might as well stop unpacking your sock drawer, Putin. We’ve got some things to talk about first.
Ahem.
If there’s one thing that will unite both sides of the aisle on any issue, it’s questioning our right to consider ourselves exceptional in the world:
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez: “I was at dinner, and I almost wanted to vomit.”
Koch-friend John Boehner: “I was insulted. I’ve probably already said more than I should have said, but you’ve got the truth.”
John McCain called Putin’s entire article an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
All right. But, John…let’s take a look at who we just sent to Egypt before we start talking about insults to national intelligence. But, that’s beside the point for the moment. For now, here’s OUR open-letter, op-ed reply to Vladimir Putin’s opinion.
Dear Vlady,
First, just to get something out of the way…listen, you, and every other Russian. We didn’t want to go there, but since YOU brought it up:
Russia is a country that is so awful that literally the only reason it exists is that nobody else wants to live there. When other countries around Russia were drawing their Northern and Eastern borders, they pretty much stopped at the place that sucked the most, that nobody ever wanted to go for any reason, and the huge gap in between later became Russia. Russia is a place so Godforsaken that Ghengis Khan didn’t want to be there. GHENGIS f***ing KHAN. Quick question: Are there any notable Russians in America? They came here because they wanted to, right? Remind us of the last notable American who went to Russia, and why he went there. Because…he couldn’t be HERE without going to prison for life. Proving that no American would ever want to live in Moscow unless the only other option were life in prison.
Baby, get real…the only people psychotic enough to REALLY want to invade Russia only tried because they wanted to rule the whole world, and Russia is unfortunately a place in the world. And the only thing that stopped them was that the sheer God-awfulness of your country made them realize it wasn’t worth the trouble. Don’t pretend like you don’t know it, either; about three-quarters of Russia is covered by Siberia, which is so inherently Hellish that you’ve sent plenty of your own people there to die the most miserable deaths imaginable. And the threat of sending them there is the ONLY reason you managed to briefly hold together the rusted, self-exploding, paper tiger of an “empire” that you called the “Soviet Union.” Yeah, we BET you “former” Soviets don’t want anyone else thinking of themselves as anything but “equal,” because you sure as Hell wouldn’t come out on top of any comparison to any country, anywhere. ESPECIALLY the United States.
OK.
(Deep breath.)
Commies.
OK, sorry. For real. Done now. For real.
No, NO, NO. You put that damned puppy down, NOW, Putin. You’re not going to “cute” your way out of this conversation. We’re just getting to the point.
At the core of this issue is the belief that every American holds dear: That we ARE an exceptional nation. We have a right, even a DUTY, to consider ourselves an exception to some of the world’s traditional rules and values. Not to be a flag-waving jingoist, but there isn’t a nation on Earth that has had the history, the power, the influence or the responsibility of the United States. And, as New York resident Uncle Ben once said: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
But, why is this such an insult to Americans? Why do we consider ourselves an exception to the world’s standards? Quick quiz:
- Ask most people in anywhere in the world to name three streets in any foreign city that isn’t New York.
- Name one other country so desirable as a place to live that politicians can get elected solely on their stance about keeping people OUT.
- Name another country whose immigration policies can be based almost entirely on the color of a person’s skin. In America, we have so many people who want to move here that politicians can arbitrarily pick a skin color, and say “Yeah…YOU guys stay over there.” It’s not right, but it’s true.
- Name three Chinese fast food chains.
- Count up the number of countries that have English as a primary or secondary language, and subtract from that the number non-former-Soviet-bloc nations who use Russian as a primary or secondary language.
- Name another country (aside from England) with a street full of banks that could crash the economies of almost every other nation on Earth.
- Name another country that could kill literally every other person on Earth without incurring a single casualty within its own borders. ICBMs blowing up on launch count.
- Name three foreign television shows with subtitles at the bottom, shown on basic network television.
- Ask anyone anywhere in the world to name the equivalent of the Secretary of State of any other country but America.
- Name another nuclear power that has, for its entire history, been either a Republic or a Democracy.
BONUS QUESTION
What percentage of Russia’s gross national product comes from the black-market pawning off of poorly built military relics from its Soviet glory days? (Hint: About 15 to 20 percent)
Sorry. We know that one hurt, but it had to be said.
We could go on, and on, and on. The point is that we Americans are right to feel as though certain things that might apply to you (or the rest of the world) just don’t apply to us. Now, you’re partially right; exceptionalism in the absence of a sense of responsibility, empathy or humanity IS dangerous. Not that the former Soviet Union would know anything about that. But, sorry, Vlady…for better or worse, like it or not, America isn’t held to the standards of the rest of the world.
We’re held to a higher one.
Sometimes we meet those standards, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we’re right, sometimes we’re wrong, and sometimes we put a bunch of evil douchebags in the wrong office. Nobody’s perfect — but we do try. We TRY to live up to the standards that the world holds us to, and to which we hold ourselves. We have to — we’re held to those standards because it is our duty to never forget the consequences of our decisions, and the power of our influence.
So, that’s what it is, Vlady. That’s the understanding we’re going to have, and those are the terms of this relationship, if there’s going to be one. You’re free to have your opinion; but unless you want a repeat of what just happened, you’d do well to keep it to yourself. And if you can’t do that, we’ll call you a cab. Assuming we can find one that will go to your frozen Hellhole of a country this time of night.
You may unpack your sock drawer now, if you wish.
Sincerely,
The United States of Go F**k Yourself
Hey Guys! Here’s the feedback response for everybody!
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Any of you using cell phones, they connect to these things called ‘satellites.’ Care to guess which nation was the first to ever launch a successful satellite? Hint: It was called Sputnik.
Meanwhile, this article is pretty stupid. I guess Putin struck a nerve by pointing out the US is not really exceptional. Ranked 39th in health care but second in health expenditures, showing that US “health” care is expensive and sucks. 17th in education, the US rates 11th in happiness, 174th, repeat 174th in infant mortality (and that’s including third world piss poor nations people!), 2nd in external debt, 12th in GDP. However the US is number on in cocaine use! Woo-hoo! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
Take THAT world! You will NEVER beat the US in cocaine use!
The quiz is so stupid that any kid (not subjected to an inferior American education) would be able to take it. Name three streets out of the US? Ummm… Downing Street where the UK Prime Minister resides, Baker Street home of Sherlock Holmes and Gerry Rafferty song, and Abbey Road same name as possibly the greatest rock album or album period of all time by UK band the Beatles.
Ummm… English comes from England by the way, not from the US, but I’m guessing that is because of your poor American education you didn’t know that.
Israel likes to keep as many people, particularly brown and black people out. They are grat allies of the USA, understandably.
Fuk Yu
Yu Dum
Mo Run
The USA is practically OWNED by the Chinese and Saudis.
If the US were to become the nuclear Hitler (a second time, I suppose), Russia would turn the US into a parking lot in immediate retaliation. That’s why they never tried something with Russia, because unlike the smaller countries the US routinely picks on and kills millions in, Russia would f the USA up into vapors.
Just because Americans are too stupid, arrogant and lazy to learn other languages doesn’t mean they don’t steal other people’s culture and ideas. What Americans do is they remake shows from other countries to be more American. Homeland was an Israeli show. House of Cards a British show, Ugly Betty was from Spanish language TV, Power Rangers from Japan, and so on and so on. Across genres, Americans just copy and redo in ‘Murica!
Really, the Secretary of State equivalent? Not hard at all. Especially considering Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been in the news a lot lately.
And as far as a nuclear power that has been a republic of democracy for its entire history, well, can you be a democracy if you had slaves? If you denied a gender the right to vote? Supposing somehow you can, then Israel, who is a nuclear power, despite being an apartheid settler state, much like the US, would count.
Now where’s my gold star and cookie?
All you have proven is that the USA is exceptional at producing ignorant know-nothing-but-act-like-a-know-it-all jingoists. No wonder such a powerful country has f’d up the world so much and caused so many deaths and destruction and suffering. Personally, I think you owe the world a giant apology to each and every nation for being so pompous and simultaneously ignorant. Save us anymore of you slobber and spewing hatred and nonsense and just go drink some Draino or bleach or something. I’m glad I’m not your parents, because this is embarrassing for you and your entire country.
Now excuse me while I go play some Tetris…
Wow. You ‘America Haters’ are so jealous of us you can’t even think straight! Hey, since America landed on the moon six times and twelve Americans have walked on the moon that beats Russia’s Sputnik gizmo by a factor of eighteen-to-one! Oh, I know…all of America’s moon landings were staged in Hollywood studios but you take the Soviet’s word that Sputnik was real. LOL. And, as far as Russia nuking the US: I doubt it. Russia’s nukes don’t work. Nothing in Russia works. Ours do. Want us to prove it…AGAIN?
Oh, and btw, you can thank the USA for inventing the internet. Your welcome!
No gold star for you but you gotta eat the Ookie Cookie.
Ciao.
Allow me to correct myself. Russia’s nukes DO work: Chernobyl.
Rave on…
I’ll raise your Chernobyl a Three Mile Island and a Veiques, Fallujah and some depleted uranium bullets. Also, you do have my concession that the USA dropped a nuclear weapon on two entire cities empty of military targets but filled with elderly, civilian men, women and children in the greatest single day acts of terrorism in history. USA number one in that. Thanks to the Russians that was put to an end, and the world can thank Russia for that and for also killing 85% of the Nazis in the war on the Eastern Front.
The Russians also tested a nuke so large it completely vaporized an island: it was called the Tsar Bomba. Thankfully they weren’t so cold-blooded to ever use it on actual people, children etc.
You landed on the moon. Wow, that’s great. What thus far has landing on the moon meant in terms of improvements to the world? I will wait for an answer. All the US proved is it was willing to waste money and resources that could have gone to its own people to accomplish something that created no measurable benefit to our human civilization other than US bragging rights. Very typical American behavior.
The Russians did everything of significance in space travel worth doing before the Americans, and if you are only interested in bragging rights solely and not material practical advantages, then I’ll add sending the first woman and first black man into space on top of all of that.
Sputnik was very real by the way. You could see it when in launched in the sky with the naked eye and with a telescope. If that is a hoax, that’s an amazing hoax. I’d love to hear your theories as to how it was done and it is only “my word” that makes it a well-established reality. What an idiot!
Simmer down, Soviet Sonny. You remind me of the Russian character Chekov on the original Star Trek series who took Russian credit for everything good that everyone else had invented. Propaganda, bravado…or Russian humor, I suppose…or Russian vodka. First, the Sputnik remark was a joke. Not to be taken seriously (much like your comments)…well, so much for the Russian sense of humor. Do you get that the whole article above is satire? Albeit, shamefully bad and juvenile satire. Nevertheless, let me teach you something you don’t know – or more likely don’t care to know – about America. We are not perfect and we realize it. Our founding documents clearly state our goal is “to form a more perfect union.” A few other stated concepts are the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the universal truth “that all [people] are created equal.” However, it’s been a tough slog: The War of Independence from England, The Civil War in which we fought among ourselves to abolish slavery – our Original Sin. The World Wars in which we fought against evil and alongside others (the Russians for example) for the cause of freedom from totalitarianism and oppression – and we fought not for ourselves but for others. Sure, we stray from our values – even when we have strongly held values. America is an idea and an ideal. The significance of the moon landings is they exemplify the possibilities of America and of the future. The human spirit, my friend, is something that means a lot to us as Americans. We, the people, are a melting pot of other peoples all yearning to be free. Still they come here. Yet, I do not deny our government has done atrocious things in our name. To this day, I cry seeing the photograph of the screaming child Kim Phuc, napalm boiling the flesh off her naked body. That image burned like napalm into my consciousness as no other and I can never forgive those responsible for those war crimes and not punished for them. Our weapons did that but we fight our own government so that it should never happen again. Still it does, as you yourself have pointed out. I would guess that Obama remembers that photograph as well and it may have even influenced his own repugnance of war and especially of chemical warfare. Yes, we are a mess, but no nation is perfect. Russians too have deplorable things in their past: the Siberian gulag, Stalin’s pogroms and the blunders of Communism. Even today, Russia boasts its shameful intolerance of homosexuals. There are plenty of human rights violations for nations (and religions) of the world to endlessly point fingers at each other. Remember, one pointing a finger at someone else points three more back toward himself. Well, that’s my homily for today. Good night, wherever you are.
If Obama wants to hold people responsible for chemical warfare, where was his condemnation on Israel’s white phosphorus attacks on the Palestinians? He just sat by and said nothing as it happened. Where are the prosecutions of those who carried out the Fallajuah chemical attacks in the US armed services? Nowhere to be seen…
No, instead Obama uses his drones to murder more women and babies, then after a few years of killing hundreds offers nothing more than crocodile tears. That Constitution you hold up as so important is ignored as he denies the fifth amendment rights of an American citizen and his 16 year old boy he assassinated in cold blood. He continues the barbarous practice of rendition for captives to be mercilessly tortured in foreign prisons (including until recently Syria!). He signed the NDAA and curtailed civil liberties, engaged in cover ups and illegal surveillance.
But this is just the American government right? But where is the outrage from the American people? Where was the demands of resignation for Abu Grahib or the manufactured false intelligence for the Iraq War? Again, that never materialized into anything, because Americans are far more interested in having the third world remain in subservient bondage to make consumer items, rather than demand true equality and compassion. (The spirit of slavery is very much alive in the sweatshops of American companies and dictatorships which are propped up by the USA) They are quickly willing to turn a blind eye to abusive tyrannical powers than oppose them.
People come to the US because the US has ruined their nations, like in Latin America, through free trade agreements.
The United States is the world’s original fascist empire, and remains so today.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Putin extends an olive branch to the American people, asking us and our politicians to kindly consider not bombing a weaker nation for a change, and you give the most illogical and childish response possible: personal attacks on Putin and attacks on the geography of his country. (i.e.: “Russia is a country that is so awful that literally the only reason it exists is that nobody else wants to live there.”)
Who cares if most of Russia is desolate? You justify your attacks on Russia’s geography by saying “we didn’t want to go there, but since YOU brought it up.” WHEN? When did Putin attack the geography of the United States?? He denounced exceptionalism, not the US. The WORST possible translation you could get out of Putin’s letter is “America, you’re not special.” YOU brought up harsh insults to the country itself and its people. How intolerant can you possibly be? If you think “America, you’re not special” is an insult, imagine how insulting “Russia is unfortunately a place” sounded to the people of Russia!
Then you say “Name one other country so desirable as a place to live that politicians can get elected solely on their stance about keeping people OUT.” …. You’re a special kind of stupid arent you? How bout Greece, Britain, France, Turkey, Hungary… anywhere there are nationalist parties or anti-immigration politicians…?
“Name another country that could kill literally every other person on Earth without incurring a single casualty within its own borders.” Russia can.
If you dont know, we’re a country that murdered over a million Iraqis in cold blood with sanctions and warfare, murders children with drones, used napalm and the chemical agent orange indiscriminately on the innocent people of Vietnam, participated in the brutal occupation and rape of Central America for business profits in the early 20th century, and installed dictatorships all over the world to make their countries more aligned with us. On it’s quest for global ascendancy, the US has killed millions. Then you say “we TRY to live up to the standards that the world holds us to.” Really? The world holds us to the standard of bombing, invading and interfering in the world? You think the world enjoys warfare and subservience to the United States?
And do you realize that nationalism, or viewing your own nation as better, special, or exceptional, has been probably the biggest cause of wars, violence and hatred the world has ever seen? Fun fact: without nationalism, both World Wars and the Holocaust would not have happened! As Einstein said: “nationalism is a disease. It is the measles of mankind.” He’s got a point. One who thinks of their own country as special is quite the implicit purveyor of hatred between nations and peoples. To think of one’s own race as special is called racism, an obviously wrong and hate-filled belief. As einstein was trying to point out, nationalism is just as barbaric and results in just as much violence. You happy? You’re glorious patriotism is genocidal.
And why are you talking about the Soviet Union? It’s gone. The Russian Federation and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are very different governments. Stop assuming theyre the same.
To conclude, everything that could be wrong with this article is wrong with it.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
For better or for worse, America IS exceptional. America is an experiment in representative democracy defined in its founding documents: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. This country is a Theory, and like all good theories, it is subject to falsification and replacement when a better theory is developed. Until then, it is the reigning theory and thus the target of attacks. It has its supporters and its detractors. It is not perfect – no theory is – and so it is subject to adaptation. It is evolving, it is a work in progress, and it is only as good as its proponents practice it. We are human, we are fallible, but we are cognizant of that and we are therefore striving to make our world and ourselves better. We are not naïve. We are in fact world leaders. We know the world can be a wicked place and players must play rough – ourselves included. The irony of the human race is that we fight for peace. However, America does not want an American Empire because history teaches that empires always fall. Resented for our arrogance, we humbly ask ourselves, “If not us, who?” As of now, the only viable answer is “us”, the United States.
Humor or not: you have a point there. Americans are exceptional indeed! Exceptionally obese, exceptionally flamboyant, exceptionally ignorant, exceptionally STUPID! It’s nice that you exist as a nation, so the rest of the world will know the difference between what it feels like to be an utter moron, as Americans, and what it is to be a normal human being, like the rest of us. From Russia with Love :)
And indeed, you have a point as well! In defense of our weight, we are working on it. It’s just hard when you have the means to eat things that aren’t boiled meat, cabbage or potatoes, and you don’t have to flavor your meat by smothering it in jelly made of pig guts. Which in English is called “offal,” which is is pronounced “fucking AWFUL.” Yes, we are a flamboyant people…no doubt about it. Then again, we can build and drive cars that aren’t made from recycled rust, come in more than three shades of black and don’t sound like dying lawnmowers. (Lawnmowers are the things that we use to keep our lush, subtropical grass from hiding our decorative garden gnomes.)
I can’t argue with that “stupid” comment, either…many of us in the United States would like our educational system to be better than it is. And we’re working on it. But there are just so many ivy league colleges here, and not enough sports scholarships for everyone. Sadly :( I don’t doubt Russians are smarter, though; we’d probably be, too, if we’d had Stalin to round up our smartest scientists and force them to work themselves to death engineering submarines that blow up when exposed to water.
Our art isn’t as good as yours…no doubt about THAT lol. However, most of our notable artists don’t wind up killing themselves after publication, because they get what we call “royalties.” As opposed to “frozen to death.”
Indeed, America is a land of the unexceptional and mediocre. Millions of people a year come here to see how mediocre our country is first-hand. Though I bet we’d have more if we had a thriving chemical weapons black market and sex-trade industry the way Russia does. Any thoughts on that?
Quick Question: Do you guys officially tally the number of little boys kidnapped from neighboring countries and installed as sex slaves for Russian politicians and military personnel, or would that be in violation of Putin’s laws against acknowledging homosexuals as human beings? Seems like a small wrinkle worth ironing out…if you can find an iron that hasn’t rusted in half.
Maybe you can just classify them as dogs; bestiality is still legal there, right?
OH! Speaking of dogs….MAN! How BAD was the stench from the mobile incinerators you used to burn those 2,000 stray dogs you had to poison before the Olympics in Kazan?? I mean, I know nobody wanted outsiders seeing all those packs of starving dogs roaming the streets, but Jesus…that kind of stench would almost ruin the taste of your cold pig testicle jelly!
But, you’re right. I think, taken as a whole, Russia is exactly the kind of place that the civilized world should model itself after. Sounds like paradise to me ;)
Regards,
The United States of F**K YOU
(PS: Speaking as an individual, I don;t have a problem with Russia. I happen to respect Russian toughness and work ethic, and I DO want to visit there someday. Offal or not. But America’s exceptionalism rests on its responsibilities as a world power and cultural/economic leader. There’s no moral or ethical righteousness about it. Maybe we just got lucky, and wound up in the right place at the right time. Or wrong time, depending on how you look at it. But we have responsibilities to the world beyond our borders; not just as a military presence, but as a beacon of hope for people who live in poverty and misery, and who get by on eating dust and boiled cabbage. Our nation IS exceptional. And if you want to be part of that, we welcome you here. We’re a nation of immigrants, and we draw our primary strength from the many different cultures and people that make up our identity. And THAT’S the most exceptional thing of all.)
Hmmm…did I get a rise out of you or what?! Many thanks for inviting me to come and live there. Actually,I have, for quite a few years, I have an Ivy League education (full scholarship and all, my father couldn’t pay for it in cabbage and potatoes.) Quick question for a slow mind like yours: have YOU enjoyed the privileges of a higher education? Was community college your best shot? Did you have too many “dads” at home?
I hope you didn’t spend too much time googling all those sensational crap you typed as a reply.and I am genuinely glad you can breathe while typing though;)
This could go on for ever, ya know? I could spend months writing about the things I HATE about you, the “exceptional” Americans, but there is practically no point in doing that. The reasons being that 1. You can’t beat a colossal asshole like yourself through argument and 2. you just rested my case, buddy, you ARE indeed a moron.
(Quick question no 2. Trying typing this on Google – unless your servers have blocked it: “Are Americans…” What is the first suggestion you get? Is it “stupid”? Hahaha! Smile at the camera ;)
Sounds to me like someone is exceptionally jealous of America… “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Wow, and to think I don’t even have to turn on Fox News today for my daily dose of inarticulate, jingoistic, anti-intellectual, factually unsound, flag waving, racist bullshit! Goddamn, this reminded me of when I realized that I wasn’t a “liberal” but a “radical”.
Totally agree, thanks for already typing the comment I wanted to write.
We aim to please, Travis :) I’d like to think that sooner or later we’ll catch Fox’s entire viewership, that way we can sneak some “information” in here and there.
Richard Rowe, you’re an ignorant jackass. Calling this article ‘humour’ is an easy excuse to hide behind.
No, calling myself a seven-legged squid from Zar’Tan would be an easy excuse to hide behind. Clicking “Humor” actually took some work. Have you TRIED using WordPress lately?
You know what? You bear a striking resemblance to a phallic object. Not just in your physical appearance, but in your general attitude as well.
That’s what she said.
Sorry Richard but you are neither funny nor insightful. Your writing is boring beyond belief, I doubt if you would get more than a B in my advanced composition class, and certainly you would have trouble maintaining a C in my creative writing class. Oh well, keep trying, Who knows? Perhaps another 3 or 4 million words will teach you something.
Michael,
You are a teacher for ***** sake! Why would you be condescending to Richard? You should be trying to help him. Heck, at least he has the Jesus Stick enough to write with his full identity exposed, regardless of opinion, misinformation, &c. I look up to the guy because of his ambitions — his motivation(s) to convey his perception in all of his articles not because of his lack of hilarity or lack of insightfulness. The criticism you gave him is no more than superfluous and no less than . . . well . . . never mind.
I mean, if you want to get right down to it, your comment deals with complete subjectivity and has absolutely zero factual or anecdotal qualities. Actually, I look astray from people like you because your attitude is exactly what this country does NOT need.
Put down your “Clifford” book and delve within the confines of higher education so that your students do not leave your class dumber than when they entered.
When exemplifying contempt it then liberates the catharsis that is now not withheld.
Ayn Scam
Damn, Ayn! I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that wasn’t sarcasm. Assuming not…man, kudos to you. I appreciate the defense (left-handed as it was lol), but I REALLY appreciate someone who can puncture BS and go right to the core of an argument. Serious…respect.
In case your wondering, I categorized this as “humor” because there was no category for “deliberate troll.” A great man once told me that the point of any writing, in particular satire, is to expose the beliefs of the reader. To at the very least give him a rope on which to grow the vine of his true beliefs about himself, the world and his place within it. In that sense, “Putin” as described here (and I as “The United States of F**K YOU”) really only functioned as characters within a story. The point of the article wasn’t in the article itself…it was in the comments. If the good Prof. Michael glanced at the scroll bar to the right, he’d see that the article itself take up less than 1/10th of the total screen. It was people like him writing back, and people like you reacting to people like him, who wrote 9/10ths of this story. So, maybe I’m a lazy, C- student after all. There’s just no other excuse to write 1/10th of a story and call it finished.
You are what’s wrong not only with the U.S. but with the entire world with your own ridiculous rhetoric. Clearly a victim of linear thought, you just espouse what the guy before you did and the guy after you is about to do. There is nothing new, independent or interesting here. Just some dressed up nationalism. How did you get a job writing????
You’d be surprised. The Monica Lewinsky School of Professional Advancement offers many avenues to career success for the open-minded.
The point isn’t that America doesn’t have an exceptional history and position on the world stage.
The point is that Americans aren’t exceptional as human beings. We’re all part of the one human community, the one species. Our expressions and values, and those of the cultures we form, come from that foundation of essential equality.
If the US continues to override the values and the perspectives of the other cultures with which it shares the globe, based on its perceived exceptional position, it will lose that position completely and be excepted only in the way that North Korea, Zimbabwe, and Burma are. It will be exceptional in the way the USSR and nazi Germany were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_Americans
The only thing I hate more than living in the jobless strictly enforced poverty that is the United States, is Russia and fucking Putin.
Worst. Classification. Of. HUMOR. EVER.
This entire article was a cacophony of patriotism.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
2 – Australia. 3 – Australia. 10 – India.
LOL…touche, sir. But…they show Indian shows on basic network TV here? Not arguing, just saying I’ve never seen them.
Good article until you got to your questions. They were bullshit and you know it. Russia isn’t good at all but the US really should get over its self. Considering the poverty rates, wage disparities, food insecurity etc that is plaguing the US? How’re your education, health, mass transit, road & bridge systems going compared to the rest of the world? Not so good.
New Yorks streets are well known because of how ridiculously infantile their names are.
Name one country where politicians get elected on their stance about keeping people out? There’s plenty. Australia is the most recent example.
Rampant racism in immigration policy is something to be proud of? That’s the sort of exceptionalism the USA needs to get over for sure.
Panda Express, Noodle Box & Happy little dumplings. Also Harajuku gyoza, Mos burger, Sukiya just to cover another country too. I bet most if not all people could name three Chinese places near them that aren’t chains.
Yeah because forcing your language onto other countries shows how great you are? Imperialism isn’t something to be proud of and for the most part was done by the British not the US.
How exceptional the US must be to have a full street of banks they can’t manage to regulate in a way to protect their own country let alone the global economy?
Russia could probably achieve that, especially considering the fact it has more nuclear weaponry and bigger war heads than the
US. Inspector Rex, Takeshi’s Castle, a whole lot of Anime and that’s just free-to-air.
William Hague, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Bob Carr (for now) and Tara Aso.
In relation to nuclear powers that have for their entire history been Republics or Democracies that is a completely moot point because all the other nuclear powers are old countries with long histories. But, Isreal could be considered to fulfil this question, in a way.
Putin should not have released that article on Sept. 11th, that was a low blow. But he was 100% correct in what he said about exceptionalism. If there were another country that behaved how the US does, the USA would go to war with them.
What’s so special about September 11th, apart from being the 40th anniversary of the CIA sponsored removal of Chile’s democratically elected government by a Fascist lunatic? Oh, that! Shocking, but only because it was globally televised at the time and because war came to American soil for the first time since America went to war with America, that is all. Meanwhile, in the real world, every city in Europe still bears the scars of what one Fascist lunatic, sponsored by Corporate America, did to them. any day, even 11/9, is as good a day as any other to remind the world where America’s greed and arrogance leads.
Absolutely. Because everybody remembers where they were at 9:05 A.M. on November 11th of 12 years ago.
@ Jacob: Fair enough. I figured that there would be a few other countries who met some of those criteria, and a few others did cross my mind while I was writing it. I thought about saying “name five countries,” “name three” ect,, but that seemed like splitting hairs. The main point of the questions was to illustrate that no other country (at least none I’m aware of, presently or through history) meets ALL of them. It’s kind of like asking whether a platypus is an exceptional animal. Yes, there probably are other animals with beaver bodies, some with duck bills, some mammals that lay eggs, and probably one or two with poisonous spines on their legs. But only one animal has ALL of them at the same time. And that’s what makes it exceptional. Whether it’s objectively “better” than a duck, beaver, fish or Gila Monster is beside the point. The point is that you can’t call the platypus anything other than “different” from any of them. Same thing here.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Putin is right. Americans really think they’re above the rest like the Nazis, that’s why they’re so mad when Putin just reminds them that God Created Us Equal!
Americans are mad because they think they’re gods! :)
No, I am mad because Putin is a fucking gay hating dictator FASCIST!
The problem is even that ‘f*****g gay hating dictator FASCIST’ sounds much more reasonable than Americans in international affairs! That ‘f*****g gay hating dictator FASCIST’ knows his limit while american fascists don’t!
Do you live here in the US? If so why and if not…who cares what you think?
The gay hating fascist dictator part is what so many Americans (and other Westerner’s) keep forgetting about Putin. I think it would be smart if some Westerner’s would look past the propaganda ridden RT and delve into Russia’s history since Putin has taken power.
Putin is POS, simply put.
Putin telling us that God created all men equal……lol, that is funny in so many ways. Can you name two of those ways?
Well yes, it’s really funny and stupid when Putin has to remind you that you’re also just human, not gods, not exceptional, isn’t it? That means even Putin know his place in the world but you don’t! You think you’re gods. You kill people OUTSIDE of the US as you please!
He was talking about ‘international law’. Do you know what that is? Whatever Putin does, it’s inside his country. He doesn’t go around the world making up stories to justify Russian invasions! Yes the US is 100 times worse when it comes to that, don’t change the subject.
I think Mr. Putin was reminding us that their are downsides of pumping up ones people to believe that they are “exceptional”. Russia lost one out of every six Russian when they were invaded by the very exceptional race of supermen from Germany. If we lost a similar proportion of our population today we would lose 50 million people. I did not find his remark offensive at all. I found the remark a sober one from the leader of a country that knows what a super country of exceptional people is capable of. We should listen and contemplate about where our militarism is leading us.
A fine point. Russia has been burned by that kind of thing before. So it’s understandable Russians would have that perspective, especially (and I don’t mean this to be a jerk) when you consider their decades of indoctrination to the concept of absolute equality. Even enforced “equality.” But there’s a time and a place for everything, and exceptions to every rule. I once had a brown-haired ex who stole my dog; does that mean that from now on, I should think of all brunettes as evil, vindictive dog-stealers?
Name another country that has saved the world from megalomaniacal statist twice in any century.
Another country that dives deeper into debt proping up third world dictators in the name of regional stability. Another country that is lampooned because the biggest problem of our poorest people is obesity.
The problem with Hitler had nothing to do with his “statism.” In fact, it was “statism” that defeated Hitler, and the Soviet Union did more to defeat Hitler than the United States and the United Kingdom combined.
@spartan. Your comment is a little shortsighted. While the Soviet did suffer a horrendous amount of casualties, and inflicted roughly 80 percent of the casualties that the Whermacht incurred, the USA provided a ridiculous amount of material support to the Soviets.
We sent them a quarter million trucks, alone. Along with countless numbers or locomotives, rolling stock, food, radios, boots, raw materials and on and on. The Soviets were able to engage in offensive warfare thanks in large part to the Lend-Lease we sent them. The Soviets, though, did make better tanks.
Secondly, the large bulk of the Luftwaffe was destroyed by the constant efforts of the Anglo-American air offensive. I’ve read upwards of 70% of the Luftwaffe was destroyed by the Western Powers, not to mention the massive amount of anti-aircraft weapons, including the famed 88mm that served a dual-purpose as an anti-aircraft/anti-tank weapon, that were used to defend German cities. What do you think the effects of say, another 2,000 aircraft, along with thousands of more anti-tank weapons would have on the Eastern Front.
Third, it was an Allied effort. Without the United States and Britain, the Soviets would have lost, without the Soviets, the United States and Britain would have never been able to invade Western Europe, let alone Southern Europe or Africa. Remember, for a full year, the British stood practically alone against Hitler. Try not to denigrate the memory of all those who fought by belittling their contributions.
Also, the Soviets had one enemy to fight. The United States, along with Britain, also had to contend with the Japanese.
@ Eric: Very true. You’re both right, though. Stalin’s bastard statism defeated Hitler with support from the U.S. Either one alone might or might not have done it, but history says that together, they did. So, you’re both right.
The US impact on defeationg Hitler was laughable. By the time we got to the European front, Stalin had already made half of Germany his bitch and Adolf was prepping his cyanide pills. This entire article reaks of American pretense and willful stupidity. What does the notoriety of people wanting to move to Russia have to do with whether or not a country is desirable to live in? More over, what is this “right to exceptionalism”? American Exceptionalism as a concept is just a thought-terminating device used to keep people from honestly examining America’s faults and to allow Americans to hold a double standard for us and the rest of the world in all areas.
There isn’t a nation that has had the power, influence or responsibility that America has had? PFFFT. Have you heard of Great Britain?
name any other country where politicians get elected solely on their stance to keep people out? I don’t think i know of many countries i would call desirable to move to that will elect politicians soley on one issue but i do believe North Koreans get promotions on how well they keep unauthorized entry ddown to a minimum, so you know, we get to be in the same club as them on that note…
“Name another country whose immigration policies can be based almost entirely on the color of a person’s skin. In America, we have so many people who want to move here that politicians can arbitrarily pick a skin color, and say “Yeah…YOU guys stay over there.” It’s not right, but it’s true.”
Every country can do this. Most choose not to. That said, it is harder to get residency in any European country and any former British Commonwealth than it is to get in America and more people would go there rather than here if they could. America is the expatriot’s consolation prize for those who couldnt move to Norway or Switzerland.
“Name another country that could kill literally every other person on Earth without incurring a single casualty within its own borders. ICBMs blowing up on launch count”
Russia. That is kind of the fucking point, you verbose twit.
“Name another country (aside from England) with a street full of banks that could crash the economies of almost every other nation on Earth.”
Switzerland.
In conclusion, I think the best that could be said in response to this sad testament to nationalist stupidity is a quote from Billy Madison:
“What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
All right, then. Now, name another country that meets ALL of those criteria. A platypus is considered “exceptional” because of the sum of its parts, not any single one. So, name another platypus like the U.S. in the history of the world, given the criteria above.
Did the world give you the title ‘exceptional’ country or did you just shamelessly give it to yourselves? Americans thinks like Nazis! You just give yourselves the right to trample on the rest of the world at will!
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
You seem to be taking credit for English being spoken as a primary or secondary language in so many countries. If you take even a cursory look at history you’ll find the lion’s share of these countries were colonies of the British Empire and it has nothing to do with the US. A few exceptions would be the Philippines and Guam.
Name another country in the world which has dropped a nuke – not once, but twice. Nothing to be proud of.
Your arrogance is somewhat mind-boggling and hopefully not indicative of the average American mentality. You appear to view everyone who is not American as ignorant of general knowledge on any level. I would suggest you ask the average American to name three streets anywhere else in the world and I would further suggest few would be able to do so – let alone name foreign banks, foreign Secretaries of State etc etc.
Those 2 nukes ended a World War and saved millions of lives in that the invasion of Japan never took place.
That’s the lie of the century. The Japanese stopped fighting in between the two nuclear bombs. What happened between the bombs? The Soviets invaded Manchuria, and Truman admitted that is what ended the war. Judge Jackson, the chief US prosecutor at Nuremberg and Supreme Court Justice said is was debatable whether the first nuclear bomb was a war crime, but he said it was without question that the second bomb was a war crime. The US nuclear bombing was an atrocity meant to terrorize the world, especially Moscow. In a way the nuclear bombing were worse than Hitler Holocaust, because the Holocaust was final, it ended, but nuclear warfare was and is open-ended and may exterminate the entire species.
Japan was finished before the bombs dropped. High level military and political leaders in the U.S. knew this but needed to show the Soviets that the U.S. system of exploitation was better than the Russian system of exploitation.
So the Japanese had to die.
Your version of history was obviously taught to you in the U.S. sanctioned school system.
That conspiracy crap is old, and totally without validity. Truman and his people had very little information to go on re the Japanese. Tell the Chinese and the British forces fighting in China and Burma that the Japanese had “quit fighting” by that date or between the two bombs. There was never a specific order or threat given, that a second bomb would be dropped, so the policy of “surrender or face prompt and utter destruction” took on a life of it’s own. There is not one shred of evidence that high level military and political leaders knew that Japan was “finished” at that time. Certainly, in all the time that has passed since then, at least one of them, or someone connected with them (and younger) would have revealed this, and it would have resulted in a fierce national debate. The Japanese government was put into a state of fear by the war radicals who wanted to continue the war, and they kept their hold on the government by assassinating anyone who even spoke out against them. The bombings, plus the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, gave the moderates a chance to appeal to the Allies to allow the Emperor to remain on the throne in exchange for their surrender. The Allies agreed to this, to achieve their goal of ending the war. This gave the moderates enough political clout to help Hirohito lead the country to an honorable capitulation.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Really everybody, you are all reading way too much seriousness into this writer’s ‘letter’! If you want a nitty gritty serious conversation about this subject there are plenty of places to go for that. But this is ‘humor’ so lighten up. If you couldn’t tell by the first paragraph that this was a light-hearted ‘ribbing’ of Putin then go back and read the article again. It’s 5:00 in the morning here and I just woke my husband up laughing when I got to the ‘puppy’ part. While what is happening with the Syria issue is serious and we are all praying for a peaceful solution, it is OKAY to have a little ‘fun’ with Russia’s narcissistic, ego driven, Chippendale-wanna-be leader. This article was aimed at him. Bringing up his country, which is not a Spring Break Hot Spot was just another ‘jab’ at him. I doubt this writer even feels that way about Russia…….remember this is Humor folks. Humor, by it’s nature is exaggerated, overkill, over the limit and pushing the boundaries! I thought it was funny and I have friends from Russia and find Russian history fascinating! But seriously, America has a double-edged sword when it comes to how the rest of the world views us. They see us as arrogant and pushy (which we are sometimes), but when it comes to stepping up to the plate when needed (disasters, atrocities of humanity) they expect us to be the first (and sometimes only) country to show up and help. America definitely has it’s own problems that need to be taken care of (healthcare, racism, pay inequality, hunger, homelessness and on and on) and we are far from perfect. The words that Putin spoke may be true but I think it is the fact that HE was reprimanding US that really ticks off so many (including this writer Richard Rowe). It is like “Who the hell is THIS guy to tell America how to behave when he and his country are so intolerant?” I will be anxious to see how well Putin lives by his own words in Russia in the coming years! I really doubt this guy got involved out of the goodness of his heart. There is something in it for him even if we don’t know what it is now. For one, I think he did this to embarrass President Obama in retaliation for the snub by Obama last week. I certainly hope we can avoid any intervention in Syria, and if it is because Putin has gotten involved, I am totally fine with that! He could have done without the ‘scolding’ though. I am NOT with the group of Americans that think the United States can do NO wrong, that think they can do anything they want to because they think we are better at everything than any other country in the world, because we are NOT. And I don’t think Richard Rowe thinks this way either. If there is any point in his letter that he was being serious, I believe it was the last five paragraphs. America has put itself, for right or wrong, in a position where we are looked to help out, get involved, right wrongs. This, unfortunately is viewed by some as ‘arrogance or bullying’ on our part, but to others that we have helped we are viewed as ‘heroes’ and ‘rescuers’. We try to do the best we can because America is held to a higher standard than the rest of the world. Like it or not, we have put ourselves in a position of being responsible for the world! Maybe the word ‘Exceptionalism’ is the problem. Some people might view it as meaning we think we are better than other people and arrogant. But to many, it means we, as a country take on the responsibility to try to make the world better place, to step in when needed, and we try to keep the people on this planet from blowing us all up. By that defination, I guess we are Exceptional. I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just who we are. Richard Rowe, forgive me for putting words in your mouth and trying to interpret what YOU were thinking and trying to get across with this letter. This may absolutely be NOTHING like what you were trying to say!! In that case, excuse me, I’m VERY sorry and, everbody, just disregard my entire post!! I’m new at mind-reading. But Richard, if you really did seriously mean all those things you said and bashing Russia for real……shame on you! Your article is grossly offensive and arrogant!
LOL…I’m glad you liked it, Cheryl. And no, I really didn’t mean about 80% of the crap that I directed at the Russians. I like Russian culture, and I respect their toughness, work ethic and fatalistic sense of humor. Hell, I was RAISED by Russian Jews from Southeast of Kiev, so I’m hardly in a position to hate them. And no, I don;t mind your putting words in my mouth, since it’s exactly what I’d have said ;)
Yes, you’re right on…the whole thing was just screwing around, mostly to see what would come up in the comments section. Get people talking about it, arguing about what our “exceptionalism” means. In my experience, there are three different kinds of people. Some people, when they smell a gas leak in a room, run away screaming. Other people turn off the breakers and open a window, And the rest say “screw it,” strike a match and light their last cigar. You can probably guess which way I lean.
In a way, I kind of wish your comment were at the top, since your sentiments on it echo my own. And because you actually recognized it as a joke…which not many here seem to have. Then again, I’m kind of glad it isn’t. No sense hanging a fire extinguisher over a perfectly burning cigar ;)
Ha! Richard, I’m pretty sure I know which kind of person you would be if you smelled a gas leak. But please don’t light that cigar. I really like your writing and look forward to reading more of your articles in the future!
Awww…You’re too nice :) Here’s a little follow-up to this one, if you’d like to read it:
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
This is a really funny article! Keep on trolling.
P.S. Check up on your Russian history. Batu Kahn was in control of Russia in the 1200′s. He is a direct descendent of Genghis Khan. Yes Russia has had a hard history, but i don’t think they really owned any slaves. Well, except for indentured servants, and the revolution cured that,
Name another country (aside from England) with a street full of banks that could crash the economies of almost every other nation on Earth: It’s called Japan.
Btw- when russia rolled up on Georgia we didn’t do squat so quit acting so damn arrogant
All right…fair enough :) I KNEW I should have said “two other countries,” but changed my mind at the last minute. But, even so, the point in the rest of it still stands. Even if you could answer any one of those with any other answer but “United States,” you couldn’t answer ALL of them by naming any other country. This is the only country that I’m aware of that meets ALL of those criteria, all of which speak to our unique position and responsibility in the world.
As far as Russia and Georgia goes: As I said later in the article, we don’t always live up to our own standards. Nobody would argue that, and we certainly have made mistakes, missed opportunities we shouldn’t have. But that goes right back to the point…how many other nations in the world are you angry at for not interceding in Georgia? Are you upset with Turkey for not interceding? India? China? Australia? Japan? The very fact that you’d say to a fellow American “Don’t be so arrogant, because we didn’t intervene in Georgia” on proves the point that we do (and HAVE to) hold ourselves to a standard that the rest of the world doesn’t.
What a load of frog s**t richard. As if YOUR country EVER had any standards
. In the 237 years of your cowardly nation has existed, you have been at war for 214 years.
True. Can’t argue that one. But nations born in violence tend to live that way for a while afterward…that’s been the case for more than one new nation in history.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Georgia invaded South Ossetia. The Russians responded. Who don’t know that?
Who DOESN’T know that.
I sure the hell wouldn’t want to live in Russia. But I’m starting to wonder why I haven’t moved to Canada the way this place is being run!
Lol…I’ve been wondering that myself, lately.
All you people who say Putin is right, can get on a plane and move there then. I also suspect you haven’t traveled, much/at all or are foreign. He is trying to manipulate you to lower popular opinion so that he can keep his pro-Russian regime in Syria. You people are falling for it hook line and sinker. I didn’t serve overseas for idiots like you to sell out my country from out and under me. Get on a plane and go if you don’t like this country.
Your arrogant and immature insults of Russia have not one thing to do with the matter that Putin wrote about. Nothing. Nada. You sound as if Russia is a 7th grader that made you mad on the school bus. The truth is that he made some good points, and yes it IS a bad idea to consider oneself exceptional in comparison with the rest of the world. What Uncle Ben said was in reference to the power of government over its own people, not over the rest of the world. The U.S. IS still expected to adhere to international law, and to also show the responsibility that good ol’ Uncle Ben was referring to. If there is any question whatsoever as to who was responsible for the chemical attacks in Damascus, then the U.S. needs to hold back. But I am sure that all of this eludes you, the author here, as what Putin actually had to say and the situation in Syria was not your concern…your concern was just shoving Russia around on the playground and crying because you don’t want to share the swingset. I truly hope that any other Americans who disagree with Putin can find a way to do so intelligently and not follow this truly horrid example….
As I said in reply to someone before, did you really expect a reasoned dissection of Putin’s position on Syria in a post title that includes the words “The United States of F**K YOU?” I said in the article that Putin’s overall message was fairly well-reasoned, and it is worth discussing. In point of fact, I happen to agree with him on most points. And if AATTP would let me, I’d happily write a 4,000-word dissertation on the subject. But that’s been done elsewhere by people more educated on the subject than I…people I by and large agree with. I never once advocated for launching nuclear missiles up Assad’s ass. This article was about one statement, one line in the whole letter. That was the focus of the article, not the entirety of Putin’s position or the plan he’s back. Which is the most reasonable one I;ve heard yet.
The issue that I and many others took was with Putin’s apparent attempt to shame us into regretting our position in the world. I suspect you’re familiar with the language of diplomacy; that being the case, you have to recognize that that wasn’t anywhere near as much a “suggestion” or “observation” as it was an attack. I responded in kind, minus the pretense of diplomacy. Putin’s entitled to his opinion of us, and he put it out there — fine. But like any Teabagger on an overpass, he’s making himself a target for criticism of his obviously biased assertions.
I never said that America shouldn’t act within the will of the national community — I said that we’re held to a different standard than anyone else in it. We have different responsibilities. Sometimes those include being the douchebag with an itchy trigger finger that gets guys like Assad to agree to things. We’re responsible for that; not Russia, Turkey, Japan or the UN. We’re the only ones with both the power and the reputation to get certain things done, and it’s our responsibility to act within the power we have. If Putin doesn’t like it, or can;t see why we’d feel the way we do…well, nobody blames Russia for not interceding in half the problems in the world. People bitch about the US not getting involved to any real extent in Rwanda, Syria or anywhere else atrocities are committed. That blame ALWAYS falls on us. “Why didn’t the US do something??”
When a genocide happens in Africa and Russia’s citizens start holding protests in Moscow on why HE didn’t do something about it, he’ll have a right to judge us. When China’s leaders start getting hate mail and petitions on why THEY’RE not fixing Syria, Putin will have a right to call us unexceptional. Until then…yeah. He can fuck off.
“did you really expect a reasoned dissection of Putin’s position on Syria in a post title that includes the words “The United States of F**K YOU?””
I expected a group called “Americans against the Tea Party” to be less ignorant, less racist, less xenophobic, less ignorant, and less arrogant than the Tea Party. You’re worse than a Tea Partier, because at least they don’t put up pretenses.
If I sent you five dollars would you please buy a sense of humor? If I sent ten you could include a sense of perspective, okay?
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Aww a liberal war hawk how cute.
this article is good for a smirk, not much else.
Well, mission accomplished then ;)
Oh yeah, and F*ck humans with their superiority! We bees are the master race!
I actually support Putin’s statement. America is not exceptional. They are deluding themselves. In healthcare in the world they are ranked38th in the world in education 17th in the developed world, in infant mortality they are ranked 30. So what are they bragging that they are exceptional??
Because when people we never met are being tortured or killed, people will leave their families to go half way around the world to stop it. That’s why.
There are many other countries that also are prepared to do the same, the UK being one in particular!
“Because when people we never met are being tortured or killed, people will leave their families to go half way around the world to stop it. That’s why”
Wow, someone who has literally never heard of Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Force Base, Abu Gharib, ect etc etc etc. Seriously, this whole “knight in shining armor” trope is a big reason why the rest of the world hates us. Actually, if I may fix your comment for you:
“Because when people we have never met are providing the corporate, for-profit war industry with a chance to make billions of dollars by dragging a supposed democracy into an unnecessary and most likely illegal war, the executive branch sends a bunch of teenagers and twenty somethings who need a way to pay for college half way around the world to blow those people the hell up until Raytheon’s stock value goes up.”
Like Rwanda? Nope, we didn’t go there. Nicaragua? Nope, we were sponsoring the terrorism there. Vietnam? Cambodia? Laos? Nope, we were the war criminals there. You’re assertion is correct except for those occasions when we were the torturers, killers, terrorists, aggressors, war criminals.
“Because when people we never met are being tortured or killed, people will leave their families to go half way around the world to stop it. That’s why”
Heee…usually when the CIA plots against our democratic governments because Washington doesn’t like them or get military interventions of the US our people gets tortured or killed, if you still believe in the story “America saves the world” (and plus very Imperialist that the US citizens call your country America, ’cause America is a continent with a lot of countries) ask us in Chile how the CIA returned freedom! Your country with lovely Nixon and Nobel Prize winner Kissinger gave us 17 years of dictatorship with killings and tortures…Why do you think your country goes to other countries in the world and the population hates them? why do you think that terrorist appear?
About Putin…well…yeah…the US is not special, they have power (and they have power because they have always exploited countries, take down the governments that doesn’t support the US interest, etc) but that doesn’t give them the power to take a shit in the International Laws…good thing that a country (and a very fuck up Government) tells you some truths
Due to your use of the word “they” when referring to Americans, I am assuming you are from somewhere else. Where are you from? Let’s have a conversation……..
Your article is grossly offensive and ignorant. You can perform a thorough character assassination of Vladimir Putin easily enough; however, you go one step further to smear the reputation and cultural / historical legacy of the Russian peoples. Your claims are absolutely ridiculous in terms of how off they are, such as in the Mongol occupation of the Russias or reducing a history stretching back to Kievan Rus to that of a relatively contemporary Communist period.
Whether you intend to do so or not, this article is what makes America seem so incredibly arrogant and pompous. The assumption that America holds the moral high ground in international diplomacy is based upon ideological underpinnings that crumble upon introspection. The truth is that there is no such thing as American exceptionalism; rather, it is a modern day extension of manifest destiny and the idea that we know better than other countries how to settle their internal affairs. It is remarkably ethnocentric and does little to engender love of America abroad. Rather, the idea has resulted in rampant intervention over the world and caused untold suffering to millions whether it is through the war on terror or propping up dictators in less stable countries through clandestine means.
Absolutely, utterly disgusting article.
I’m terribly offended by your offense, and will commit hari-kari the moment I’m finish writing this. I have dishonored my family :(
As far as my intending to sound pompous or arrogant…you mean any more pompous or arrogant than Putin? OK, maybe a little bit. But he opened that can of worms, and he got exactly the reply that was coming to him. I hope he reads it and doesn’t forget that he’s not the only person the world who can cop that attitude. And he’s hardly in a position to do so.
I’m familiar with Russia’s history. Half of my family is from southeast of Kiev. Pardon me for simplifying it a little for the sake of brevity and effect. Point still stands: Russia itself acknowledges that its greatest defense is its inhospitable landscape, Godawful weather, and relative paucity of resources that give few people any real incentive to deal with the crappiness of the country itself. Some people come to America just for our cable television…most people wouldn’t step foot in half of Russia if it were made of diamond-encrusted golden polar bears. The reason I mentioned Russia’s history at all is to make the point that Russia only exists because nobody else really wants to be there.
That being said, I think you might have been reading me wrong if you thought I was suggesting that America holds any kind of moral high ground. at no point in our history have we EVER held the moral high ground. Maybe compared to the Nazis, but that’s about it. Our exceptionialism doesn’t rest on our history, Manifest Destiny, morality or any of that bullshit — it’s solely a function of our position in the world, and the power that we have to affect it.
I’m sorry, but there’s no way that you can make a case that a guy with a missile-launching tank bears no more responsibility for others than a guy with a BB gun. The guy with the tank can DO things, that the BB gun guy can’t. The guy with the BB can afford to be a little psychotic, reckless, selfish, isolationist; the one with the tank has to think more about how his actions (or lack thereof) affect others. And if you’re the one Tank Guy in a world of BB guns, you have no choice other than consider yourself “exceptional.” It’s your DUTY not to forget that, and to use your power…but use it wisely.
Frankly, it’s not our job to make the rest of the world like us. We have found ourselves in the position that we are in the world, and that’s the reality as it stands. Nobody has to like it, but that’s the way it is. America is the world’s cultural and economic funnel…we’re going to have entanglements that we’d rather not.
If you want to crawl in a cultural hole and pretend like we can just get along with the rest of the world without getting involved in anything, then you’re free to do so. But the reality is that America is the only nation in the world that people get pissed at when it DOESN’T prevent a genocide in a foreign country. We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t, just because we are what we are.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
As the Rabbi says in Fiddler on the Roof, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”
As much as I hate it, I have to agree with Putin. American arrogance is why we are extremely hated across the globe, and we definitely are. We have zero respect of other nations. We are NOT exceptional, we rarely to never meet these so called “higher expectations” and lately (like the past several decades) we are nothing to admire or envy or praise. Siberia may be a shithole due to its inclimate weather patterns and virtual in-habitability, but America sucks more and more each day, and not the sunniest day on the beach can change that. American arrogance is shameful.
Tell you what…we can stop feeling superior when every genocide in the world isn’t blamed on us because we “didn’t do enough to stop it.” We can knock our arrogant crap off when we’re not the ones spending billions on foreign aid to other countries while we’ve got people of our own starving in the streets. The next time north Korea threatens to nuke Japan, we can stop feeling in any way superior to anyone when we bring our carriers home to save gas. We can stop feeling good about ourselves when people stop crashing our gates to get in, and when we stop discussing letting them stay here because the shithole they came from is so much worse.
I’d be the first to agree that this nation isn’t exactly the place we want it to be…it never has been. We’ve NEVER met the expectations we’ve set for ourselves, because they’re about as easy to attain as a unicorn is to catch. From the day we said “bring us your poor, your huddles masses,” this place was destined to remain in constant internal conflict, and live in failed expectations. The fact that we hold it together at all is half a miracle. But we’ve done it so far, and we’re STILL sending billions overseas to feed other people. We have a lot of bastards to get out of office, and a lot to fix before we can call ourselves the envy of the world again. It’s true. And doing it would be damned near impossible anywhere else. But we’re not anywhere else. If you felt good about your home, you’d be right to feel good about everything it stood for, and proud to fight to make it what you think it should be. That’s the only way it ever will be.
Every Genocide ISN’T blamed on us because we didn’t do enough to stop it, you imbecile. We are far more often blamed for getting involved in situations we had no business in to begin with and making them worse. The only reason people bitch about our lack of involvement in world affairs is because we pick and choose where to jump in and tend to be the ones to CAUSE much of the horrors of the world. Just about every right wing dictator the world over that came to power after the Fall of Hitler was backed by the USA, with murderous results. We backed coups all over Latin America that deposed popularly elected governments because it was in the interest of big corporations like the United Fruit Company, resulting in horrible human rights violations that we not only knew about but backed. We claim “humanitarian grounds” to intervene in other countries’ internal affairs when it suits us but when there are legitimate abuses going on (like in Rwanda or Darfur) we do not lift a finger. Oh we are totally up in arms about Syria but we don’t give a flying fuck about Gaza or Burma or Western Papua, right? THATS what we are always at fault for – we selectively choose when to be the world police and 9 times out of ten, we make it worse and then excuse it all with American Exceptionalism and claim the normal rules dont apply to us. You, sir, are an idiot. Perhaps you should go be with others of your ilk, like Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin. You can come back to the rest of intelligent society when your reasoning exceeds theirs.
Typical, when you want to insult someone by suggesting they are right wing, the only names you can think of are two WOMEN with relatively little power. ….nah, the left is not sexist in the least. All we womens need to do is keep voting for men on the left, and you all will keep those terrible republicans with their war on women away from us.
If in the US people started to think like this definetely the world would be able to stop hating the US….but sadly that would need that a lot of US citizens read and study (and watching FOX news doesn’t count)
About the US feeling superior…it’s kind of obvious, to call the country “America” and claim the whole continent forgetting about the other countries of the continent is quite Imperialistic
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Do we have to defend Obama even when he’s wrong just because we’re democrats?
Putin is spot on. Let’s have the testicular fortitude to admit it.
Kudos Clark! Your are spot on!
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Take your ass to Russia then.
The beauty about being an intelligent person is that you don’t have to like someone to agree with them. Sometimes the bad guy has a point, that doesn’t mean we suddenly become Putin loyalists and need to move to Russia. Grow UP.
And if you agree with a Communist dictator who’s ultimate goal is to destroy the America way of life, then I say to you WISE UP.
I personally think a restoration of the monarchy in Russia might be what is needed. as for the person who said Russia NEVER had slavery; ROTFLMAO. What exactly do you call serfdom? Which btw Putinphiles was not abolished until 1861 by the Tsar Liberator, Alexander II
sadly you are proving he was right to say so.
Rome thought they were exceptional as well and they very nearly took over the whole world in their time… where are they now, known for pizza, the mafia and the Catholic church and that’s it.
and really? cold weather is your best argument? ever been to Maine in the winter time? People live in any land that is actual land, horrible or not… want proof? look in New Orleans… or Las Vegas which would be a blowing dune of sand if we didn’t irrigate it constantly.
The truth hurts but we’re just people like everyone else, ‘Murican or not. You really love this country beyond having a flag for underwear? Criticize our leaders when they fuck up!! Going into another war while we can’t even get our own people off the streets is unacceptable!!
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
“Commies,” really? The Cold War is over believe it or not. You’re ridiculous.
Maybe you missed the entire tone of the article… It’s humor. That being established, the “commies” comment was just going along with the childlike humorous tone. Reading comprehension matters.
What is the PC way to address members of the communist party? I am wondering if there is a more PC way to address members of the republican/tea party, than say, tea-baggers? God forbid anyone use a rude nic-name for members of a political party one doesn’t happen to agree with.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Putin is exactly correct! Keep in mind that these “so called” Americans are only transplants from somewhere else; mainly Europe. The Europeans hated and fought one another so much that they fled to places around the globe, conquering other peoples, stealing their lands and taking their hatred, weapon making, and lust for war with them. Yes, this is your “American Exceptionalism.” Only thing is; YOU PEOPLE AIN”T AMERICAN, AFRICAN, ASIAN, OR MIDDLE EASTERN. YOUR HERITAGE IS FROM THAT GLOBAL CANCER CALLED EUROPE! That includes Putin and the Russians to a lesser extent.
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Putin is no saint (and something of a hypocrite besides), however, let’s address the message and not the messenger. In this case, he’s bang on: people seeing others as less than themselves, ie: exceptionalism, has been the cause of most of the world’s greatest man-made tragedies. I’ve come to expect far more from this website.
Putin is a self loathing homophobic closet case who is suddenly religious because it suits his agenda. Putin should take the plank out of his own eye. Have you seen what is happening to Gay people in Russia lately? Just when the whole world is trying to move forward on gay rights, Putin decides he wants to follow the lead of nations like Iran. What’s next, public hangings in Moscow?
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
I am not a fan of Putin. I do not think he is a “good” man. His talking about all being created “equal in the eyes of God” is hypocritical. All that being said I think this is a fairly accurate summary of America and the American attitude. I think when Americans start believing we are all humans and all equal, no matter which country we live in, the world will be a better place.
too bad putin is completely right. the temper tantrums by Americans is almost as big a joke as is their delusions of military and moral right. sphincters.
I wish it were just a matter of moral, military or economic sense of entitlement. If that were the case, we could afford to go back into a state of isolationism and worry about nothing but ourselves like most of the rest of the world does. That would be nice. But unfortunately, BECAUSE of our broad reach and influence of the world, because our culture comes from all over the world, we don’t have a “right.” We have a RESPONSIBILITY that other nations just don’t have. For better or worse, that’s just the way it is. The point to the entire letter is that there are some lines that other countries can afford to draw or cross that we can’t. If a sense of exceptionionalism keeps us going, and helps us to remember that responsibility at all times, then it’s something that is better for having existed.
“written over 3 million words in the last four years alone”, wow, if only quantity were quality! This terrible piece exposes all that is wrong with America today.
Well, to be fair, a lot of it was on cars. You should have seen the hate mail I’ve gotten from GM ;)
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103
Sometimes we meet those standards, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we’re right, sometimes we’re wrong, and sometimes we put a bunch of evil douchebags in the wrong office. Nobody’s perfect — but we do try. We TRY to live up to the standards that the world holds us to, and to which we hold ourselves. We have to — we’re held to those standards because it is our duty to never forget the consequences of our decisions, and the power of our influence.
I hear you bro!
We don’t have the right, but we do have the Responsibilty. I am totally appalled by the reaction of some “Americans” being anti-Americans. with more people like them from within we don’t need a foreign president insulting us, just as this assh… did it. These so call americans might not want to be exceptional because they might want to be like Russians or some other countries fill with violence and corruption.
Regards.
I would have hoped for a more intelligent response. You do sound like a batshit insane ex-girlfriend who was told she was not as special as she thought.
Perfect reply.
Couldn’t have agreed more with you, Anna.
Absolutely right Anna. This article reeks of bruised ego and arrogant self-righteousness.
The top of the page lists this article in the “Humor” category. So…
Yeah, except it wasn’t funny.
Perfect.
Lol…OK. Fair enough. But, given the title, were you really expecting a socio-political dissection of cultural differences and how they affect foreign policy? Sure, I could have gone there, and might still. The rest of the letter is fairly well-reasoned, and worth discussing. But this wasn’t about the rest of the letter…it was about one line, and one perspective. Besides, America IS the world’s batshit crazy ex. Sure, she might listen in on your phone calls, check your text messages, stalk your Facebook, get drunk, break up with you for 9 hours and sleep with your best friends, and periodically blow up your house. But, DAMN…for the three days of the year when her medication is working, the sex is f***ing AMAZING.
But I wasn’t talking about America, I was talking about YOU. I am not going to blame and point fingers at America because I disagree with your article, just as you shouldn’t have called the whole country of Russia a Hellhole because you got ticked off by what some jerk said. It’s just not very nice, maybe I just didn’t catch you on one of your good days of the year.
It is a shit-hole, it’s the the worst place on the planet (been there for work 4 times) couldn’t wait to leave ! filthy disgusting people, worst drivers on the planet they average 35,000 deaths a year on the roads, they have to (required by insurance laws have a camera mounted on the dash board) they will kill your mother with their car and keep going, biggest business ??,,male and female prostitution ! so yes we are exceptional , so put that in your pipe an smoke it !!!!
Ha…indeed. Last one was two days before I wrote the article, so I’m not due for another till January. Between you and me, I don’t really mean a certain amount of the shit that I say. While I stand by my basic assertions on our responsibility to remember our standing in the world, and responsibility to it (and that Russia is an awful place to live), the fact is, I say a lot of the things I do just to piss people off. Some people smell gas and run out of the room…some people light a match.
I happen to agree with Putin about a lot of things, and so much of this is just political interplay calculated for effect to get things moving elsewhere. I don’t doubt that Putin calculated every word of what he said, as did Obama.
Honestly, Anna, I’m not really “ticked off” by anything Putin said. Maybe a little annoyed, but nowhere near the scale of what you read in the article. I understand his perspective, and why the perspective of the Russian culture clashes so much with ours. TRUST me…I was raised by Russian Jews. I know the deal. But not everybody does, at either extreme. Read these comments, you’ll see what I mean. That polarization, misunderstanding of the other party AND ones’ own, is the gas filling the room. As is usually the case in America. I don’t mind striking the match and keeping the burn going…I got no hair left to burn off anyway.
And these guys say I’ve got no sense of humor ;)
The major thing I disagree with is calling Russia a hellhole. America has worked it’s way up there for years. What number in education are we? What number in war budgets are we? How many millions of people are bankrupt because we refuse to hold banks accountable, or because we allow them loopholes so they don’t have to go to prison for things that other countries would have put them away for life for? Basically what I’m saying is, Vladimir Putin is exactly right. This country is awful, and whereas some things are slowly getting better, this is by far one of the worst countries in existance.
The US is one of the worst countries in existence? Wow Eeyore! I agree that we should be better in all the areas you noted, but seriously, we are by far one of the worst countries in existence? How have you not moved to Canada yet?
http://aattp.org/open-letter-putin-maoistrebel-united-states-fk/#comment-128103