To Kill An American

[WOUB1984]

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one. (Good on ya, mate!!!!)

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world.The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person the
pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country.! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless,tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2002 earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.

Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

 

[Morat]

You really should check Snopes before posting such things.

I'd like references on the "reward for killing an American" while you're at it.

 

[alonesoldier]

Just the same, I agree with what that professor said. Regardless of what country he is from.

 

[Blindfaith]

If you took out the "reward for killing an American" part, I think it's a great report.

I agree.  America, and the people that make up this society, is AWESOME!

 

 

[O'Mara]

very nice! an aussie wrote that? Odd.

 

[Michael0701]

Really, it seems most of the aussies here are quite anti-american, I hope that is not symbolic of the entire country.

 

[O'Mara]

I've met and worked with a number of aussie's in the past and they don't seem too fond of Americans. But kiwi's, as a general rule, seem to despise Americans. But I could be wrong, that's just an observation.

 

[juiblex]

Really, it seems most of the aussies here are quite anti-american, I hope that is not symbolic of the entire country.

not anti-american but we are very critical of how the US treats and views the rest of the world. it seems hell bent on replacing every single government it doesnt like. so what happens?

US: "we dont like you, you dont follow out value system, so we will give the minor parties weapons and let them overthrow you"

Small country: "yay!"

and what happens? the small country rams an aeroplane in to one of your landmarks and a symbol of your regime. surprise surprise, so then what? the loop starts again. obviously im employing massive amounts of hyperbole, but that just serves to get my point across.

and also because americans seem to possess very little knowledge of the rest of the world. i wonder how many of your high-school students could locate us on a map. hint: they have a 20% chance of hitting the right continent. Ive been asked over the internet whether we have electricity. and many americans i have met when i was in america for almost a month were genuinely surprised i didnt fit the stereotype. one utterly refused to believe i was in fact australian, i had to show him my passport.

and there was also the US soldier and one of our jounalists. i dont remember which country this took place, but our journalist was trying to get somewhere and was stopped by a US armed patrol. when asked what nationality he was and when he replied 'australian', he was informed 'thats who we're fighting'.

oh and then theres the problem of Australia being mistaken for Austria

and honestly, we get a lot of American tourists who are overly patronising as well. especially suring the olympics, that was awful.

but yes, Americans arent the most popular bunch here, or to be more accurate, your education system and government.

 

[seebs]

BTW, a side note: The australia/austria thing is, quite often, *not an accident*. It is a *running joke*. Most Kibologists will swap them without a second's thought, just to be funny.

 

[Blessed-one]

oh well, i guess people tend to put other countries into different categories. The Hong Kong custom never bother to check your bag if you started out from Australia, so you see, there're 'advantages' and 'disadvantages'.
By the way, i also wanna point out that the owner of CF is an Australian.

*mod hat on*

just a reminder of the rules:
Rule No. 1 - No "Flaming"
1) You will not post any messages that harrass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest. You may discuss another member's beliefs but there will be no personal attacks on the member himself or herself.

please express your opinion in a mild manner.

*mod hat off*

 

[juiblex]

you and your kibology seebs

 

[O'Mara]

Well, on a good note, not all Australians judge American character by a few that they met during the Olympics.

 

[WOUB1984]

i have been flooded by emails letting me know this was fake. I seriously did not know before i posted it, but even if it is the whole thing about what makes America great is real. God has blessed America and I pray he continues to!

 

[juiblex]

Well, on a good note, not all Australians judge American character by a few that they met during the Olympics.

i didnt, if you had read my post you may have realised i was basing my opinion on those i have met in this country, in America, the hundreds i know from the discussion boards i frequent, the government and their policies, the American media, popular culture, theres a lot of american culture that i see everyday that you havent taken in to account.

thankyou for underestimating me, but i like to be informed before i assert my opinion. obviously you didnt choose to do the same thing before replying to my post.

 

[Kiwi]

It is wrong to say that kiwi's depise americans (I'm married to one, so it can't be all bad, well he's puerto rican so has an american passport, but that's a whole other topic). As pointed out by the aussie above though, most kiwis are weary of SOME of the imperialistic attitudes of the american government (The 'if you are not for us, you are against us' speech for example). It is possible to seperate the two (americans in general and the government). I also think the sense of humour of british, aussies and kiwis is quite different from americans. When joking we are sarcastic and use alot of black humour. This can be misinterpreted by some americans, who take it seriously. For example I worked for an international christian organization in europe, hosting short term missions teams. One easter we had a large british group and a large american group. Some of the americans got really offended by some of the british teams remarks, but the brits where joking, so we had to have a big meeting to explain this and reconcile them. Ahh the joys of cross-cultural communication (one of the biggest factors in international conflicts). Anyway I have met lots of nice americans, yes the geograpy is not the best (nooo, you cannot walk to australia from new zealand, true someone asked me that), yes the knowledge of world affairs is not always the best, but they are still, overall, a generous and kind people.

 

[O'Mara]

Originally posted by juiblex
i didnt, if you had read my post you may have realised i was basing my opinion on those i have met in this country, in America, the hundreds i know from the discussion boards i frequent, the government and their policies, the American media, popular culture, theres a lot of american culture that i see everyday that you havent taken in to account.

thankyou for underestimating me, but i like to be informed before i assert my opinion. obviously you didnt choose to do the same thing before replying to my post.

You're welcome

You have a short fuse. I liked the part where you said that an American soldier thuoght that he was fighting Australia. I'm pretty sure Australia is an American allie. Any soldier who doesn't know that, probably shouldn't be given a gun.

 

[juiblex]

originally posted by O'Mara:

You have a short fuse.

oh goodness no! if i were actually annoyed, trust me, you would know about it. i just feel that an answer which seemed only to have been based on one sentence deserves a slightly harsher response, than say... a proper substantiated criticism?

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by juiblex
you and your kibology seebs

It would have been funnier if you'd said "GIF! GIF!"

 

[coastie]

Originally posted by Kiwi
It is wrong to say that kiwi's depise americans (I'm married to one, so it can't be all bad, well he's puerto rican so has an american passport, but that's a whole other topic). As pointed out by the aussie above though, most kiwis are weary of SOME of the imperialistic attitudes of the american government (The 'if you are not for us, you are against us' speech for example). It is possible to seperate the two (americans in general and the government). I also think the sense of humour of british, aussies and kiwis is quite different from americans. When joking we are sarcastic and use alot of black humour. This can be misinterpreted by some americans, who take it seriously. For example I worked for an international christian organization in europe, hosting short term missions teams. One easter we had a large british group and a large american group. Some of the americans got really offended by some of the british teams remarks, but the brits where joking, so we had to have a big meeting to explain this and reconcile them. Ahh the joys of cross-cultural communication (one of the biggest factors in international conflicts). Anyway I have met lots of nice americans, yes the geograpy is not the best (nooo, you cannot walk to australia from new zealand, true someone asked me that), yes the knowledge of world affairs is not always the best, but they are still, overall, a generous and kind people.

I'm sure it wasn't your intention... but you made me smile.

I worked with some kiwi's when I was a rafting guide for a little while. They were so much fun. They moved to the states for the (New Zealand) winter so that they could guide year round. We have these nasty little burrs that look like miniature sea mines in California that are all over the ground in the drier areas in the summer. They make walking barefoot a painful experience, so most of the guides wore sandals.

Well not the kiwi's. They refused to wear shoes or sandals and were constantly stepping on the burrs and burning there feet on the rocks and pavement which routinely reaches 120+ degrees F*. Everytime they did it would draw blood and they'd swear at the stupid weeds. But by the end of the summer their feet were so tough that they didn't even feel them anymore. What a determined and tough bunch they were!

And man were they a lot of fun to raft with, not to mention fearless!

Cheers Kiwis!