Why the pessimism?

[debeest]

Oerdin, you seem to be a thoughtful and reasonable person. My pessimism about Iraq is unbounded, but you are there and I'm not. I don't need to go into all the reasons for my pessimism, but I am very curious about your reasons for optimism. What do you foresee as a reasonably likely positive outcome?

[notyoueither]

IOW, Apolytoners are a bunch of nutters, by and large.

[Patroklos]

But your chance of being killed in a war are orders of magnitude greater than your chance of being affected by a car accident.

Actually no, your chance of bieng killed in Iraq by the enemy is LESS than that average American's chance of bieng killed in a car accident. That is how insane casualty reporting has become these days.

Of course soldiers in Iraq have to deal with chances of car accidents too. You would be amazed at how many accidents military vehicles have.

[Whaleboy]

I thik we should take Oerdins views on Iraq seriously because he is there. We get our info via media middlemen, he can provide an extra perspective .

Stay safe!!

[PLATO]

Pessimism makes good TV

[Harry Tuttle]

Re: Why the pessimism?

Because, by and large, the most voiceferous and computer adled of the Apolytoners are left leaning teenagers and liberal arts college students?

Nice to see someone say it for once. The vast majority of threads in the OT are, to quote DinoDoc "a circle jerk". The Commies chime in, blame Bush for killing puppies, and then spin off into some obscure discussion.

Help the good people of Iraq out and kick those Weekend Infitadah bastards back to Syria! Stay safe.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Media Bias against Bush and for Kerry

[Verto]

Media bias against any good news.

[Ted Striker]

This reminds me of one of my asian friends.

She said there was this white chick that INSISTED that she get offended because someone referred to her race as "oriental." She really didn't even notice until the white chick pointed it out. The white chick even had an argument with her about why she should be offended. She kept getting mad because the asian girl wasn't offended by it.

Hence, Eurocoms with chips on their shoulders in this case is the annoying pretentious white chick.

[GePap]

HIstory.

I wonder how much pessimistic news was coming from the republic of vietnam in 1967? After all, we had won the war then-body counts were high, the hearts and mind campaing was going peachy- I am sure many service men serving there in 1967 felt things were going well.

Nice to see someone say it for once. The vast majority of threads in the OT are, to quote DinoDoc "a circle jerk". The Commies chime in, blame Bush for killing puppies, and then spin off into some obscure discussion.

Except in the conservative circlejerks (like this is turning out to be), where only the truth is told? Give me a ****ing break. If all the conservatives think this place so nutty, I am sure you can all find a sane space of your own..oh wait, you guys are here...what does that make you?

Sorry to break it to you guyg, but Apolyton is an INTERNATIONAL site-and thus it includes a wide range of non-American voices..I know, terrible how you guys are forced to listen to viewpoints of someone outside of Fox news, the editorials of the Wall Street journal, and the National Review...just terrible



Next they will let the brown people in ..AND WOMEN!

Oh, sorry for breaking up the conservative circle jerk- you guys can get back to your regular programing.

[GePap]

Oh, and the truth about our makeup:

Yes, the makeup of Poly is completely non-representational:
1. The vast mayority of people in this international site are Americans, Europeans, from the white members of the commonwealth with a smatering of peoples form other "western" states and a few from latin America. All in all, most peoples of the world are completely unrepresented.

2. The sex ration is utterly skewed-we are what? 95% male?

3. IN short, "white" males make up I would say 85% of Poly. You could say this of the US contingent as well. Interestingly, all polls in the US show white males to be the most conservative group in the country.

4. People in poly are also much better educated than the general populace: about 35% of all Americans get a 4 year degree, and I would say that level is similar in all western countries, if not actually lower. The mayority of posters here old enough have gotten or a currently getting a 4 year degree, an most are planning to.

Interestingly, people with university degrees tend to be more liberal- so maybe our overeducation is morte than balacning out the massive male whiteness of the board?

[yavoon]

I'm not optimistic at all. but I got hope!

[yavoon]

Originally posted by GePap


Interestingly, people with university degrees tend to be more liberal- so maybe our overeducation is morte than balacning out the massive male whiteness of the board?

possibly true. but it'd be much more true to say ppl in universities are more liberal. that tends to flip flop once u've paid taxes for ~10 years.

[Kidlicious]

Largely, the pessimism is a result of lefty bias, but I think also it is the result of the neocons being idiots.

[Zevico]

edit: Good god that was a horrible paragraph. To rephrase:

I am pessimistic about Iraq's future because of the overt racism present in all of the levels of its society, by a majority of its members. This is perhaps best evidenced by Iraqi's support for, or indifference towards, Palestinian terrorist groups and their operations. Furthermore, I think that there is still the chance for a civil war or widespread anarchy to begin if Coalition troops leave the country even once the government is well set up.
Lastly, I am worried by the amount of propaganda that is being funneled into the country by the countries that neighbour it, which may serve to increase the hatred of the West by Iraqis despite the fall of Saddam's regime.
This is not to say that I do not hope that democracy and tolerance cannot be instilled into Iraq...it is just that I highly doubt it. Perhaps if the USA stayed longer-for a long period of time, such as it did in Germany-then the problem might be allayed to a point. On the other hand the situations are vastly different, because outside of Iraq there lie countries that spew the same type of propaganda that Iraq formerly used against its people. Considering there is freedom of movement and information in Iraq, there is a chance that future generations may also be convinced by this drivel.