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US bars friends over Twitter joke

thesun.co.uk

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Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#91

Post by rsynnott »

mseebach wrote: post #80
rsynnott wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When _was_ it the land of the free? The period between giving black people the vote and the PATRIOT act? Even then, it was hardly number one.

The US spend a very large portion of the 20th century being significantly freer than most other places on earth. Certainly not perfect (especially not if you were black, Japanese, gay or communist), that would be a silly claim, but freer.

But, for the whole of the 20th century, I think, one could make the argument that there were places freer, particularly if one happened to be a member of one of the US's more hated minority groups. From WW2 to the 60s, if you happened to be a racial minority, there was almost no-where less free in the developed world; the US was extremely late amongst developed countries to grant universal suffrage.

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#92

Post by rsynnott »

drostie wrote: post #87
math_is_life wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am always at odds with this because I find myself talking about our freedoms being taken away while I think back on my grandfather and what he went through. Gay people are even getting closer to the vast majority accepting them and possibly marriage (depending on the supreme court). This country was built with women and blacks having no true freedom. That does not mean I am not appalled at what is happening now, bu…

One of the nice facts about history is that you will never see any group trash "liberty" and "freedom." Just about every dictatorial, authoritarian, or megalomaniacal political movement thinks it's pro-freedom. Communists? "The bourgeois have enslaved the proletariat, and we lock them up in the name of liberating the people." Nazis? "The actions of the Jewish Conspiracy at the end of the Great War have enslaved the G…

This goes back a _very_ long way; politicians used similar rhetoric in the Roman Republic (which was a slavery-based state which granted a meaningful franchise only to a wealthy elite).

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#93

Post by GFischer »

drats wrote: post #26

Has anyone done a study of how much this is damaging the tourism industry in the USA? I have 1001 places I want to go, but all those in the USA shifted down a lot lower on the list after they started a lot of the airport security/TSA measures. Airport security stuff annoys me to no end in other places too because half of them, or more than half, seem to literally be standing around doing nothing and the other half do…

I've actively avoided the U.S. even though I still want to go, because of those same issues.

I even was a few meters from the U.S. (Niagara Falls) and avoided going because of all the visa complications and expenses plus the security measures (if it had been a given I'd be accepted I would have gone, but they don't like young unattached people saying they want to do "tourism", they expect we'll want to stay).

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#94

Post by GFischer »

patrickg wrote: post #51

That reminds me of a story of a relative, who was working in a local German bank (Sparkasse). They were screening the text on money transfers (Überweisung) for words like "anthrax". I couldn't believe that they had such an order.

I work for an insurance company, and we have similar stupid orders.

They're mostly to show the U.S. that we're cooperating on anti-terrorism and avoid being put on blacklists, no-one expects us to catch anything.

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#95

Post by nasmorn »

vnchr wrote: post #61
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These stories we keep seeing do the US no good at all. From the outside the you look don't look very attractive to visit or do business with.

Thank you for your honesty. As an American, this issue deeply concerns me.

I have relatives in the US since my mother is from Rhode Island and I find myself always putting off a visit because frankly the last time I was there the border patrol made my girlfriend cry. We were separated because we weren't yet married and she was quite aggressively questioned because she didn't know the exact trip details. I refuse to brief my loved ones for possible interrogation before a vacation.

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#96

Post by jeswin »

shareme wrote: post #82

Folks lets remember something, unlike some regimes the USA admits it makes mistakes and corrects them.. sometimes you have to wait along time..but in contrast to a non-democratic republic there is no equal in terms of a gov/democracy that changes to become better.

No doubt USA remains way better than many other countries. But that isn't what people are complaining about. It is the paranoia taking away a way of life that everyone seemed to like, even people (like me) who live outside the US.

The first time I visited the US (this was after 9/11), I was surprised to see the extent of security checks at airports. In my mind, I had notions of people getting into airplanes like they get into a buses or trains. Now there were lots of armed security, queues, list of things not to do. And I had no clue why elderly women were getting frisked.

I stood wondering what would have happened if they just did away with these checks. If the money and time saved could be put into health care, it would have saved way more lives than would be lost in terrorist attacks. And people could have generally had a better time.

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#97

Post by stfu »

corin_ wrote: post #4

Have no more fear, your country is safe from all terrorists who tweet about their plans. Truthfully, I wouldn't have expected this from America, they're the kind of jokes I could imagine myself making on Twitter, but will be careful not to before future trips there.. This is pretty much what I think of when going to China, and what makes me specially careful not to say anything the Chinese could take as a threat. Heh…

Wow, this is an open invitation for trolling. Just imagine imposing someone who is going to fly to the US on Twitter.

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#98

Post by matdwyer »

corin_ wrote: post #4

Have no more fear, your country is safe from all terrorists who tweet about their plans. Truthfully, I wouldn't have expected this from America, they're the kind of jokes I could imagine myself making on Twitter, but will be careful not to before future trips there.. This is pretty much what I think of when going to China, and what makes me specially careful not to say anything the Chinese could take as a threat. Heh…

It is actually pretty funny that they have a saved search for "Destroy America". Better watch what I say for the superbowl, don't want to talk about killing the patriots or anything...

Re: US bars friends over Twitter joke

#100

Post by kitsune_ »

drats wrote: post #26

Has anyone done a study of how much this is damaging the tourism industry in the USA? I have 1001 places I want to go, but all those in the USA shifted down a lot lower on the list after they started a lot of the airport security/TSA measures. Airport security stuff annoys me to no end in other places too because half of them, or more than half, seem to literally be standing around doing nothing and the other half do…

I decided not to visit America this year with my gf because of some recent horror stories from my friends. Instead we'll visit South Korea for a month.
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