I'm coming out as an atheist.

[Amicale]

Great point, Tank. I've had a lot of experience getting to know/teaching people in Saudi Arabia, and they made it very clear to me that not only are they required to worship Allah, they're required to venerate/nearly worship their King, their head of state. Under no circumstances would they speak out against him or the rest of their government, even though I wasn't recording anything they were saying. They went under the assumption that anything they said and did online could and would be used against them by their own government. As far as they were concerned, atheists do not exist in that country, and neither do gay people. And if they do, they must keep their mouths shut if they'd like to continue living with their families in relative peace.

Once I heard that, I was profoundly reminded of how damned lucky I am to live in the culture I do.

[Hector Valdez]

Shit. That's crazy. 

[Ali]

Agreed Tank.  Whenever I hear Americans seriously bagging on the US, I always think "If things are so shitty here, isn't that our own fault and shouldn't we be doing something to fix it?"  Certainly the US isn't perfect, but the "downside" of living in a democracy is that sometimes you're in the minority, and that sucks.  But it's better than having no say at all. 

[Firebird]

If you think the states are behind the middle east try living there. You really don't seem to appreciate how much better off you are for living in an technologically advanced 1st world country. Answer this question. How many Americans would rather live in Iraq than America and how many Iraqis would rather live in America than Iraq? I think it's fairly obvious who has the better life style and life opportunities. These differences are founded on the political systems of the two countries. In the states you have idiots standing for office and people are allowed to call them idiots without a real risk of being beaten up or killed. Try doing that in the middle east and see how long you stay free or alive.

Winston Churchill once said that democracy was the worst type of government, until you looked at the alternatives. If the system in the states is poor it's your fault because you are free, emancipated and are allowed to try to make a difference. Stop winging about how shit things are and do something about it.

[/rant]

((SD))

So true. We can even post on this website without worrying about the authorities taking us away for subversion or some such nonsense. SD, I respectfully disagree with you; while I certainly have issues with a lot of what goes on in this country, I think you're generalizing too much.

[Sandra Craft]

Certainly the US isn't perfect, but the "downside" of living in a democracy is that sometimes you're in the minority, and that sucks.  But it's better than having no say at all. 

And it doesn't suck nearly as hard as being in the minority in many other places.  Which isn't to say there's no room for improvement but we're starting from a much better spot than a lot of other poor slobs.