"Dumb and Dumber"- Are Americans hostile to knowledge?

[Don]

Don....Why did you ask that? I will go get the high pressure water hose ready.

Just thought that Paulb's notions on the subject might be interesting.

[knight66]

Just thought that Paulb's notions on the subject might be interesting.

LOL

Mike

[paulb]

What are those ideas?

I cannot reveal the specific questions that were asked.
My comments included ideas about excercise, diet, certain herbs and amino acids.

I posted a  link to GABA.
This may have ticked the mods off.
But mostly what made them upset is the fact that I showed these women their problem and how to deal with it aside from the medical industry's offerings.
Pills, the majority at least,  do not work due to the numerous side affects.
The body/mind is not so stupid as to be "tricked"
One woman asked the question as to why her sexual libido has lower after taking a  anti-depressant for 4 yrs.
She wants her sexual libido back to health.
I gave her a  few of my ideas, which included the suggestion that another poster made about how anti-depressants interfer with sexual function.
There are certain herbs(high quality extracts) and free form amino acids + other supplements  that can work together to assist almost any health issue. Provided the case is not too far gone.
But even late stage cancer can be treated with my ideas with successful results.
I include acupuncture treatments as part of the naturapathic therapy.

now if you will excuse me I havea   cold to take care of

[bwv 1080]

I cannot reveal the specific questions that were asked.
My comments included ideas about excercise, diet, certain herbs and amino acids.

I posted a  link to GABA.
This may have ticked the mods off.
But mostly what made them upset is the fact that I showed these women their problem and how to deal with it aside from the medical industry's offerings.
Pills, the majority at least,  do not work due to the numerous side affects.
The body/mind is not so stupid as to be "tricked"
One woman asked the question as to why her sexual libido has lower after taking a  anti-depressant for 4 yrs.
She wants her sexual libido back to health.
I gave her a  few of my ideas, which included the suggestion that another poster made about how anti-depressants interfer with sexual function.
There are certain herbs(high quality extracts) and free form amino acids + other supplements  that can work together to assist almost any health issue. Provided the case is not too far gone.
But even late stage cancer can be treated with my ideas with successful results.
I include acupuncture treatments as part of the naturapathic therapy.

now if you will excuse me I havea   cold to take care of

Reading Paul's other postings here inspires nothing but confidence in accepting his medical advice on treating potentially life-threating conditions

[paulb]

I'm par for the course

Booted off , *rejected by the elders* the following chat forums
Jungian, lasted 2 weeks. made mention of christianity, once too often.
Christian, have had several warnings and one more may result in suspension. (and i hardly said anything offensive)
Healthboards.com, lasted less than 12 hours. They do not want the truth to be known.
Classical music, I may have been, yes in fact i think I have been booted from GMG. Hopefully I'll be a  *good boy* and stay out of trouble here.
This is the last public forum I get the chance to open my big fat mouth.

[Lethevich]

Paul, about your sig: didn't Wagner write 7 great operas, even from a conservative POV?

[paulb]

Paul, about your sig: didn't Wagner write 7 great operas, even from a conservative POV?

Very well could be.
i only heard clips  of Miestersinger, Lohengrin, Tannhauser, Hollander. that was quite some time ago.
Can you tell me which os these offer similar modern style phrasing, chromatic beauty as Tristan and Parsifal.
I'm open minded , but don't care for that heavy early style. And the libretto has to be interesting.

[Lethevich]

Meistersinger is a fully mature work, although obviously dramatically different as it's a comedy. The earlier three are all very good, but not on the same inspired level of the last seven.

[M forever]

      I don't subscribe to collective guilt ideas. If Europeans don't want to joke about the war, I can think of reasons why that don't involve me thinking they're guilty of something. It's more a matter of attitudes Europeans have about the past than my ideas about them. They have no reason to care much about what Americans think. It's far more important what they think of each other.

      If you want to castigate a country in your "collective guilt" manner for an obsession with NAZIs and WWII pick on the British. They're the world champions at that sort of thing.

I am not interested in that sort of "castigating a country". That is all you. Like I sad above. And like here:

M has opened the door to all kinds of generalizations on this thread and it's a bit late to be pointing fingers now.

We Americans have been taking it on the chin from him all through this thread.

"We Americans"? I thought we are individuals here discussing individual view points. I don't think you can speak for "all Americans". Especially since I happen to live in the US presently, and I know a lot of Americans who have a very critical attitude towards their country's history and who don't feel themselves collectiely attacked - like you and some other people here - when these topics come up.

Besides, I never had the impression "the British" were nearly as obsessed about WWII as many Americans (like you guys here) still are. The wound of Pearl Harbor still is very deep and one can tell that from many tearful documentaries about that event. It is obvious it simply is too much for many Americans even today to process the fact that they were totally caught with their pants down by the evil Japanese. Which is easy to understand about a nation which still glorifies military subjects as much as the US does to this very day. And which still wants to define itself by military glory and power while most other Western nations have long moved on to a more complex understanding of the relationships of nations and how to solve the problems between them. Especially since after WWII, the US military has delivered mostly spectacular failures. But since it is such a large economical and internal power factor, its mythological justification has to be upheld.
And we all know that the real reason for dropping the atomic bombs was not strategical, but emotional. They just had to "get back" spectacularly for Pearl Harbor somehow.

[M forever]

As an aside; M makes provocative generalisations and has a method of mixing fact with his opinion and putting it all across as fact. I have assumed it is part of his method of getting people to challenge him....he enjoys a good scrap.

Right, while what everyone else says is all facts with no element of personal opinions.

[paulb]

Meistersinger is a fully mature work, although obviously dramatically different as it's a comedy. The earlier three are all very good, but not on the same inspired level of the last seven.

As I intuited.
I'm really not after anything humorous at this point in Wagner. I'm sure Miester is a  very fine opera.
But I have yrs of study ahead on the 4 Ring and Tristan and Parsifal.
"not on the same inspired level".
I had a  hunch this was so.
i love immensely Wagner for his chromatic modern style phrasing. Anything that has that *heavy element* I find dull.
I have a  few historic Tristan's on wish list, + one or 2 Parsifal historic. can't wait til I have some $'s

[M forever]

Really what I was taking issue with was the suggestion of a world war II preoccupation in the UK. A World Cup 66 obsession in parts of the community, yes unfortunately. But WWII is in more perspective.

A good comparison, since the British obsession with football ("soccer") is just as tragic as the American obsession with military power and glory. After all, its been a long time for either obsession to be actually supported by reality.

BTW, the ball was NOT in.

[M forever]

Paul,

What are you going on about? It is long past time where Germans and Germany should be discussed and referred to without dragging the second world war into it; as some kind of below the belt debating point. M is very robust; but just about anyone else would have made complaints by now. This harking on M's home country and what some people did or did not do and relating it in a slightly indirect way to traits you perceive in him is nothing short of UNACCEPTABLE.

Now, try some proper debating points would you.

I don't really mind. I know how feeble many people's individual and collective self-confidence is, and how easily they are deeply offended when their "nation" is criticized in any way. Since I come from a background in which extremely critical reflection of our own history is seen as a good thing, and since most of the rest of this very forum is filled with discussions about products of our culture - usually with very little understanding of that culture attached to it though - I can only laugh about how provincial a lot of people are in their primitive tribal thinking and glaring envy of other nations' cultural density and products.

[paulb]

Especially since after WWII, the US military has delivered mostly spectacular failures.

Viet nam was an absolute disaster on every level.
The first Iraqi war had some good, as it  kept Sadamm and his 2 henchmen sons from totally dominating much of the mideast with terror.
But this 2nd current war may have opened up a  Pandora's Box.
I have to say the offensive was spectatular, the grinding of the iraqi military and the fact the US tracked down Sadamm.
but now its time to pull out and leave the iraqi's to make of their country as they will.
Another positive thing about this 2nd Iraqi war is that the Pentagon has been stretched to the limits and now have no reserves to go into Pakistan.
That would be a  blunder worse than  our fiasco in Viet Nam.

[paulb]

Since I come from a background in which extremely critical reflection of our own history is seen as a good thing

This might be true, if so then i apologize.
obviously neither you nor I can speak for all of germany.
That shadow germany created in WW2 does not just go *pooff*. That shadow remains for generations.
What M is saying *critical self reflection* and the fact that he projects the shadow more often than NOT,  makes dubious his postulate.

you do realize there are still nazi's in this world. I knew 2 who ran a   bakery here in New Orleans.

[Sergeant Rock]

Especially since after WWII, the US military has delivered mostly spectacular failures.

Mostly? Really? Let's see:

WON                                                                                   
Grenada                                                                                 
Panama
The Gulf War, leading to the liberation of Kuwait
Serbia, leading to the independence of Kosovo
Afghanistan, Taliban defeated, leading to the creation of a new Afghan government
The Iraq War, leading to the the creation of a democratic Iraq

LOST
Vietnam*

TIED
Korea**

AS YET UNDECIDED
Iraq insurgency
Afghan insurgency
War on Terror


*There was no political or national will to win at any price (unlike WWII) but there were no "spectacular military failures" in Vietnam either. We won every battle and finally forced North Vietnam to sign the Paris Peace Accords, in which they promised to end hostilities and allow for a peaceful reunification process. The last of the American troops went home with South Vietnam intact and independent. Two years later North Vietnam violated the peace accords and invaded the south with an armored bliztkrieg. The American government did absolutely nothing at that point to help South Vietnam (beyond evacuating a few people)...and it ceased to exist. Not an American military failure...an American political failure.

** Since America fought the Chinese, Russians, and North Koreans to a stalemate that preserved the independence of South Korea and the prewar status quo; and since South Korea has flourished while the North has been reduced to one of the poorest nations on earth, one could say the Korean War actually ended in a victory...certainly a victory for the South Korean people.

Sarge

[Dancing Divertimentian]

"We Americans"? I thought we are individuals here discussing individual view points. I don't think you can speak for "all Americans". Especially since I happen to live in the US presently, and I know a lot of Americans who have a very critical attitude towards their country's history and who don't feel themselves collectiely attacked - like you and some other people here - when these topics come up.

Thanks for assuring me other Americans aren't so touchy. I feel better now.

Now go back and reread my remarks on Custer. And find yourself a good reading tutor...

[Florestan]

WON                                                                                   
Grenada                                                                                 
Panama

You'd count as US wars deserving to be recorded the invasion of two countries that, taken together, are to USA what a fly is to an elephant? 

The Iraq War, leading to the the creation of a democratic Iraq

You're kidding, aren't you?

[knight66]

Right, while what everyone else says is all facts with no element of personal opinions.

Show me where I said that.

I am not too sure whether others deliberately try to get a rise out of people; you have said you do. But I am not surprised at all that people get angry with you.

Nor am I concerned whether or not the racial slurs upset you. The point is; they should not be there and may upset others on the board who stay silent; or deter new posters from staying. Some posters feel your remarks also tend towards racial stereotyping and insult.

So folks..please be careful what you say to one another.

Mike

[Hector]

Meistersinger is a fully mature work, although obviously dramatically different as it's a comedy. The earlier three are all very good, but not on the same inspired level of the last seven.

Comedy is it? Yeah, right! Show us one joke from it and the overture doesn't count