[UA] Greetings

[Patrick O'Duffy]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Epoch" <msulliva at wso.williams.edu>


> I'm going to go out on a limb, based on what gets media attention here in
> the States, and suggest that you probably have the black-white tensions
> overemphasized to you, and then get the latinos either totally ignored or
> wrapped up into the blacks, which, in my view at least, very much misses
> the point.

Actually, most news coverage I see is more in line with what you're
suggesting in the truth - That black-white relations are fairly smooth right
now, but that white-latino tensions are much more volatile.

Then again, I watch a _lot_ of news - usually about two hours per day, plus
websites and newspapers.

> I'm not suggesting that we know more of Australia than you think -- I'm
> suggesting that you probably know less of the U.S. than you think.

Another point, though, is the 'net. It's dominated by the US, at least when
compared to Australian output. I spend a couple of hours on here every day,
and 90%+ of what I see is American; 90%+ of the people I talk to are
American.

With the rise of US-dominated discussion groups and online forums, I think
it's much easier to come into contact with a broad sub-section of American
culture and begin to develop a fairly accurate grasp of the country and its
culture.

> (Deirdre Brooks, a freelancer who works primarily on White Wolf products,
> suggested a corrolary to Godwin's law, suggesting that "As a thread
> lengthens, the probability of a European randomly bashing the
> U.S. approaches unity.")

Yeah, but we're Australians. It's entirely different when we do it.
Europeans are trying to puff themselves up to be better than the US; we're
just trying to belittle you as much as we belittle our own country.

--
Patrick O'Duffy, Brisbane, Australia

Brothers and sisters, I have a dream. Journalism is a ticket to ride, to
travel deep into the dark heart of the pictures you see on your TV and
feeds. And I'm going to take you on a ride with me. A short weird ride into
the heart of darkness.

 - Spider Jerusalem, TRANSMETROPOLITAN #35


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