As opposed to many Americans, who just seem to lack sense.
We lack sense… I was listening to NPR all day rallying the left to invasion of Syria via encouraging Omama to organize Turkish no fly zones and border blockades… this shit happened in Libya, happened in Serbia… we lack sense in the sense of always having to cover up everyones mess. Just once I want to hear about the Canadian Navy doing something for someone. All Canada ever did was have one man shows in the Centaur theater about its patriotism and its fake ass war history.
Everyone knows shit has to be done… and then everyone blames and curses America for doing it. We honorably and most liverally dragged ass in Libya… and the results was a sick civil war and the sub sahara flooded with seasoned mercanaries from Qaddafis army. Were not touching Syria… and now everyone is maneuvering us into position. Everyone can go fuck themselves. Why is it always us? Why is it only the US who cares if we continue on or not. The entire world save for russia and china lost the self interest for self preservation and alliance building… everyone else is in a fucking daze. Three countries… fuck. Its not because of the American war machine or our technology… thats a side effect… the modern tactical synthesis is flexible enough to allow land based mech armies like in europe with targeted air support to triumph… and cheaply at that… just takes risk and effort. Honestly, the Spartans were more willing to project force farther a field independently than europeans or canadians, and history never knew a more defense minded superpower in history than they. But no one can do anything without America… its fucking sick.
Stoic… the medals are meant to be psychological ornaments that result in pride and productive tension and as a status symbol. Medals are stolen, bought with rank, and demanded for showing up. They have quotas in advance before deployment as to who and howmany. They are meaningless things now, as some of our best guys have been denied them while some of our worst are rewarded them to cover things up. I have no sense of honor anymore. Its a shiny boot and a dry clean suit. I keep my boots scuffed up now. My dress uniform stiff has bootsprints on them from when I was asked to present mine for inspection a few months before getting out. Shirt all wrinkled up… just didnt give a fuck.
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Sparta was in Europe you doofus
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Europe projected its military might all over the world for several centuries. America is bankrupt and couldn’t even win in Vietnam.
Today I’m jumping right back into it, but first a couple of things:
Anytime you say: “yeah, the US was fucking there,” you are saying the same about Canada. In fact, it’s funny you should say “what have they ever done for anybody” because they are, as an army, trained in giving aid more intensely than in fighting. That’s wat they do, they drop food and water where other ppl (I’m lookin’ at you, gringo) don’t have the balls, ability or technology.
Buffalo, tienes toda la pinta de ser un tipico gringo racista que, o se casó con una exPDVSA o alguien en su familia lo hizo. Ahora te crees el gran conocedor de Venezuela! fuck off…
Part 3
So Chavez won and started his tyranny. The disappearances, wide-spread political violence, military rule, curfews, prohibitions and close-down of the media should follow right?
You guessed it, too fucking lazy.
Instead, he did some half-assed reforms, disappeared and killed only a few people (not enough to keep the rest quiet), didn’t close down the media… It took a Portuguese guy to finally get the violence started. But even when the violence got “serious,” it was sporadic and half assed. The ruffians in the shantytowns where then and still are much scarier than anything the gvt could throw at anybody.
But wait, at this point, why even still call it a tyrannical dictatorship?
- The guy has been in power for over a decade,
- He has stripped the judicial, legislative and electoral branches of government, theoretically independent, and fired anybody that didn’t suck his dick (I suspect this is literaly true)
- Transparancy is a foreign concept since chavez came in. Budgetary commity shmumetary shmushmismeh, this motherfucker allocates money by word of mouth, but mostly
- The second thing on the list.
Now, the reason I made this thread is that all of these things have meant, in seperate moments of different countries’ histories, large-scale murder, even genocide, and some serios 1984 shit. Why not us? More importantly, how has the motherfucker stayed in power without those tools?
That, my friend, is Venezuelan Tyranny… To be drank con soda.
No entiendo. Como soy racista? I am defending the working-class Venezuelans that I knew (and all of them would be mestizos). They’re anything but lazy. I am not ex-PVDSA, but I worked indirectly for PDVSA and yes, there are ex-PDVSA in my extended family. But I’m not defending them. The problem with the middle class in Venezuela is that they absolutely refuse to see that until the opposition brings something to the table for the poor disaffected masses (and they are the majority) Chavez will retain power, democratically.
And yes, I’m a gringo. What of it? Y tu puedes chupar mi juevon, cabrón! But I mean that in a friendly way. 
Yes. I am being truthful here.
And the point is I left Venezuela after seven years with a profound respect for Venezuelans and latinos in general.
But you are racist by default. It takes direct evidence to get you off of the racism.
The point is you were wrong. Admit it and we can move on.
Wrong about what? If you want me to say that I was a racist when I went to Venezuela, I suppose that is correct in the sense that I held certain racist sterotypes in my mind. Guilty as charged. The point would be that I no longer feel that way. And I certainly don’t call Venezuelans “lazy” because they were duped by Chavez.
And to me, no one, but no one, is free of bias or prejudice. The best a person can do it is to try to realize that he/she is biased and, most importantly, endeavour not to act in any way based on those prejudices; i.e. treat everyone equally.
So… at no point in this thread have you been absolutely full of shit?
Nope. (Unlike a few other posters).
Was that so hard?
Now read back and see if there is nothing else you would like to correct.
Not “equally”, but assess “individually”.
Racism and prejudice are issues of generalized presumption, whether for or against.
Equality is just another generalized presumption. No one is equal to anyone.
Excuse me. You correct. As I wrote that I realized that perhaps I should have clarified. The principle would be to presume that all are equal; but you are correct, we must be as fair as we can be when dealing with each individual.
And here’s my take on your observations, which are crude and insulting, but essentially factual.
The reasons Venezuelans don’t rise up against Chavez:
- The majority (+/-) are poor and disaffected and Chavez has given them more (respect and materially) than the middle/upper classes ever offered (and they still refuse to acknowledge the poor).
- In the one South American country where there really was a middle class, Chavez (wisely) still allows the middle class some hope of prosperity; they are too busy trying to keep up with the Joneses to actually contemplate a real fight. They just aren’t desperate enough.
- Chavez works around the real economic masters in Venezuela, the upper class. They still get away with what is essentially highway robbery, and he lets them.
As you can see, Chavez is a bit of an evil genius (like most successful dictators).
That’s all true. Hrdly traditional though, there is something… easy about this whole thing. Nobody organizing armed resistance, Chavez himself not simply putting a little more effort in being coherent…
Lazy. Take it from a vaqueano.
I’m no expert, but sometimes I think Chavez’s secret weapon is incoherency; it makes him totally unpredictable. And I think prosperity makes people loath to take up arms. You don’t have to be rich country (take Iran for example - why no armed resistance there? A similar situation).
Trust me, Chavez might be inconsistent in his rhetoric, but EVERYBODY know EXACTLY what to expect from that guy. There are no secrets in Venezuelan politics.
EDIT
Which further reenforces my lazynes point. Chavez could be hiring hoards of teams of crack brainwahsers…
Instead, we have VTV.
Well I never cared much for medals anyhow for specifically those reasons, I care more about personal honour then some shiny piece of medal.
I don’t need a medal to validate my actions, and getting medals has never been a motivation for me.