Dwight Stewart wrote:

"Dan/W4NTI" wrote:

Well put and accurate. Another thank you to the
1960s radicals that are now tenured in our
institutions of higher learning. Where the students
can't read and need a roadmap to find a history class.

Sadly, since so many flunked geography (or didn't even take it because so
few schools offer it anymore), a road map probably wouldn't help much
either.

Actually, John has an excellent point about the impression presented by
the media to those outside the United States. Because of crime and violence
on television, surely criminals outside the country are convinced America is
a criminal's dream come true - a place where false ID is easy to obtain,
where criminals can easily set up shop using fake business names, where
illegal guns are openly sold on the street, where drugs are sold on just
about every street corner, where few people report the criminal activities
they see, and where police are perhaps even criminals also.

The US has pockets of problems (mostly in cities that are managed by our
left wing -- which isn't really directly related to party per-se), but the
vast majority of America is quite tame. There is also a problem with
repeated, self-fulfilling victimhood that is damaging industriousness
and personal responsibility.

The pockets of problems in the US are quite different in many ways than
the problems in Europe (and elsewhere.) Interpreting the US with the
disinformation that is spewed by various ersatz-information sources, and
based upon the realities in Europe would lead to insanely incorrect
conclusions.

All too often, even in the US, with US news sources, the information is
overly sensationalized, and the size of various minor disasters and/or
difficulties are too often overblown. When true disasters or horrible
circumstances occur, then there is even a movement to 'manage' public
outrage or response. This tends to compress the public view of the
magnitude of 'news' items. Laci Peterson (for example) seems to get
as much news as the WTC attacks, even though the magnitude of the
individual acts aren't comparable.

John

"John Dyson" wrote:

The US has pockets of problems (mostly in cities
that are managed by our left wing -- which isn't
really directly related to party per-se), but the
vast majority of America is quite tame. (snip)


I don't know if I can agree with that, especially when looking at this
from a foreigner's perspective. While it is certainly true crime is far
lower outside the larger cities, the rest of America is hardly tame. For
example, I live in a small town (population about 15,000). There have been
41 murders in the last ten years, which is more than ten times the number of
murders in Heidelberg Germany during that same period - Heidelberg is a town
about ten times larger than this town.

I couldn't find a European town that even came close to matching the
number of murders in this town during that period (Heidelberg was picked as
an example above simply because I once lived there). Sadly, I found plenty
of small towns across America that far exceeded the crime numbers of similar
size towns in Europe.

With that in mind, while we may look tame compared to those living in some
very violent countries in the Middle East, Africa, and so on, America
probably looks totally out of control to those from much more tame countries
(and that includes America's smaller towns).

However, I do agree with your overall comments about the media's role in
hyping the problems here.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/

Regarding your portrayal by the media. You should note that we actually get
our impression not just from our own media, but from the US media too.

Our country's cable news channels carry programs such as "60 minutes" and
similar, and CNN is as inescapable as a cold virus in winter. I think every
European country carries a 24-7 CNN channel on cable.

Time for you, the US citizens to sort out your own media, or at least get
them to export something that portrays your country (and especially its
officialdom) as a little less xenophobic and a little less violent.

--
Alec Wood M1BNK
Teesside UK

Interested in Ham Radio....have a look at www.ukradioamateur.org

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
...
"John Dyson" wrote:

The US has pockets of problems (mostly in cities
that are managed by our left wing -- which isn't
really directly related to party per-se), but the
vast majority of America is quite tame. (snip)


I don't know if I can agree with that, especially when looking at this
from a foreigner's perspective. While it is certainly true crime is far
lower outside the larger cities, the rest of America is hardly tame. For
example, I live in a small town (population about 15,000). There have been
41 murders in the last ten years, which is more than ten times the number
of
murders in Heidelberg Germany during that same period - Heidelberg is a
town
about ten times larger than this town.

I couldn't find a European town that even came close to matching the
number of murders in this town during that period (Heidelberg was picked
as
an example above simply because I once lived there). Sadly, I found plenty
of small towns across America that far exceeded the crime numbers of
similar
size towns in Europe.

With that in mind, while we may look tame compared to those living in
some
very violent countries in the Middle East, Africa, and so on, America
probably looks totally out of control to those from much more tame
countries
(and that includes America's smaller towns).

However, I do agree with your overall comments about the media's role in
hyping the problems here.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/