Jetée

First off, I'm not sure, exactly, when it was that I suddenly became enemy #1 to certain individuals here, but my initial post, directed towards gd, was in the hopes that she may elaborate on what, specifically, she was looking to extract from us, in terms of a response. I'd have hated this to just become another word association, in which members state a country, just for the sake of fulfilling your request, and without any elaboration as to why. That's not a discussion. It's something akin to 'simon asking'.

I don't believe I am at fault in the way it seemed patronizing, (1st and 3rd defintions, American English Heritage) at least when I first encountered the question, as to it promoting another nation, whether you know loads of history about it or not, and on the negative side, one would perhaps disparage their own resident country in the process, if only incidentally, by stating "I'd much rather live there for state reasons here". Is that not a fair question?

This is a double-edged sword in terms of bringing positive awareness to other nations, yet also sometimes brings about the negatives, on why where we are now living does not seem to satisfy us anymore. From what I read, and perhaps interpreted from the "wish" part, (keyword) it set my mind's example to something that was not so pleasant.

Keen example: it's not unlike the scene from The Last King of Scotland, where General Amin encounters McAvoy's character, and upon realizing his nationality states something to the effect that if he were not a proud Uguandan, and were able to freely choose where he could have born, he would most certainly have chosen Scotland (as he admired Scotland for its long resilience and resistance towards total English rule). Perhaps I was wrong to assume that was the go of it, and others' might follow suit to it, but that is precisely the reason I took the time, and general conscientious effort, to make sure you did not misunderstand my follow-up reply to please, shed some light on your initial meaning. It seems I failed at that, as once again, you have miscontrued a genuine attempt by my person to more fully understand what you'd ideally like as a member's response here. I had no idea I had to account for such sensitivity when I thought out and submitted my nonplussed, but honest, inquiry.



Next, and I'm still at loss on how I've gotten on your bad side, warreagl, other than an off-handed commentary I made recently in your game thread about "stating the #1 pop hits from the date you were born". Now, I won't apologize, as I did nothing to disparage you, nor intentionally did I mean to discredit your topic, or do anything other than post a follow-up link of a thread that was only "similar" (as stated). Is that anything to get so bent out of shape for, though, I ask? The one I am sorry for is that I left my reply terse enough for you to infer and exract a meaning from within it that I did not intend for whasoever. I merely should have stated that within that other particular thread's discussion, there were accompanying websites that showed varying musical genres for specific dates, and in other specific geographic countries. More charts for those who had stated they wanted to see what they may have contained.



To elaborate: In most countries, your citizenship is a lifetime guarantee and certification that you are a member of this country's boundaries, communities, and institution of being. There are exceptions to that rule, though, and also some countries that actually go out of their way to not even really recognize some of their inhabitants, and their rights.

I also hopefully agree with the senitments of genuinegirly, in that, perhaps one day, there will no longer be a need for such relatively resticting national lines of demarcation amongst us all. I have always been a hopping and wandering sort of soul, initially not by choice, from whence I was younger, to when I had to travel for business relations and agreements; but, now, I do it just for the sheer thrill of getting to know my own world history, firsthand, and also increasing my awaresness to this greatly expansive habitation of ours. It's just there for us, but as it is, most are simply content to know it is there, what it serves, in rudimentary knowledge, and let it be, without any further thoughts. A textbook or 44-minute TV special can only get you so far.

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi