Pardon me, your ignorance is showing

[dampscribbler]

My bible-belt aunt polluted my inbox with this message this morning.

I don't have a problem with people voicing their opinions about the world theater, as long as they are educated, meaningful opinions. This, however, is meaningless garbage. No context, no explanations, just a conclusion -- because these nations vote "against" us, they hate us.

It's infuriating.


How they vote in UN
> >>
> >>(or How they really feel about US)
> >>
> >>Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic
>States
> >>which are recorded in both the US State Department and United
> >Nations' records:
> >>
> >>Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time.
> >>
> >>Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time.
> >>
> >>Morocco votes against t he United States 70% of the time.
> >>
> >>United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.
> >>
> >>Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.
> >>
> >>Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.
> >>
> >>Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.
> >>
> >>Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.
> >>
> >>Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.
> >>
> >>Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.
> >>
> >>Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
> >>
> >>Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
> >>
> >>Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.
> >>
> >>Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.
> >>
> >>Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.
> >>
> >>India votes against the United States 81% of the time.
> >>
> >>Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.
> >>
> >>Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.
> >>
> >>
> >>US Foreign Aid to those that hate us:
> >>
> >>Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the
>United
> >>States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.
> >>
> >>Jordan votes 71% against the United States and receives
>$192,814,000
> >
> >>annually in US Foreign Aid.
> >>
> >>Pakistan votes 75% against the United States and receives
>$6,721,000
> >
> >>annually in US Foreign Aid.
> >>
> >>India votes 81% against the United States receives $143,699,000
> >>annually in US Aid.
> >>
> >>Perhaps it is time to get out of the UN and give the tax savings
>back
> >
> >>to the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to
>pay the taxes.
> >>
> >>Pass this along......PLEASE!!!
> >>
> >>Everyone needs to know.
> >>Might even mention it to your congressman, who knows...anyway
> >>what a disgrace... no wonder the world has no respect for us!




Yes, no wonder the rest of the world has no respect for us, when we wear our ignorance and our arrogance on our sleeves. When we expect to be "agreed" with because we are big and powerful, and therefore we must be right. When, it is perfectly safe to say, we vote against all of these other countries equally often as they vote against us.

For a little more in-depth consideration of this message, visit
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/unvote.asp

rrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!

Comments

[zoe-trope.livejournal.com]

Breathe, Kristi, breathe. Stress blocks your pores.

The stupid people seem to be running rampant today... Someone on my LJ was very upset because I had insinuated that all Christians don't like Harry Potter. So I had to get the "Not all Christians are bad" lecture, 'cause, you know, I'm such a bigoted and insensitive person and obviously didn't know that myself. Dargh.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Zit! On my chin! Aaack!

Sorry you got lectured. :-( I suppose someone was just feeling sensitive about all the wide paintbrushes being brandished these days.

The world would be a better place without pundits, I've decided. They're worse than lawyers. First, kill all the pundits. Then the rest of us can learn to get along.

[snakker.livejournal.com]

Give me context or give me death! I second your rrrrrgggghhh.

[chgriffen.livejournal.com]

There was a billboard up around here that said,

"Want to help fight terrorism?
Ge the US out of the UN!"

As a Poli Sci graduate, those simplistic and misguided views really upset me. What does "vote against the US" mean, anyway? On what issues? And how can one compare "the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to pay the taxes" with the hungering people in the Third World, some of which provide services and dirt-cheap labor that make our blown up lifestyle possible in the first place?

Alright, let's stop giving aid. And let's simultaneously start paying coffee bean pickers and leather dyers American-level wages, along with health insurance and benefits, and we'll see how much luxury we can still afford. There's a reason more and more jobs are being shipped overseas - it's that luxury can only be built upon exploitation.

So, in conclusion, I feel your frustration :/

[tamyranev.livejournal.com]

Hm... as usual, you expressed the exact points I was going to make. :-)

What are the odds of that?

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

I went to college in the midwest a good, oh, 15+ years ago, and I remember one of those "Get US out" signs a few miles away and across the highway from campus. It was old and faded and full of bullet holes, and my buddy Mimi and I found it so amusing, a relic of the 50's or something, that we stopped once to photograph it. We then noticed a woman peeking out the curtains of her house behind the sign, looking suspicious and fearful, which made us feel suspicious and fearful, so we left.

I started seeing signs like that again in the past 3-4 years. They still strike me as a relic from the 50's, a throwback to McCarthyism and fear of red. I need to get my mind around the reality that this kind of thinking is deeply ingrained in some people's minds, and it's exactly what they want. Some seem to be more comfortable with a war of some sort than no war at all.

I don't think one needs a degree in PoliSci, or even a college degree at all, to think critically about the things that they read. They do, however, need an education in critical thinking -- which everyone should be getting in middle school and high school. Unfortunately, that kind of teaching seems to be the exception rather than the rule, and too many people are ruled by rhetoric and emotional appeals, too few are questioning the real meaning of "statistics" like those sent by my aunt.

Good grief, ranting before breakfast! I must move on!