if_something_horrific_happened_in_canada afrika crumples Would anyone care? That's a genuine question. 050831 ... andru235 i'd care! i'm not a big fan of political entities, but canada is a definite exception. i suppose being a minnesotan doesn't hurt...but even that aside, i love canada. but the fact that i would care doesn't mean i would be able to do much to help...canada won't let me in! and that, in and of itself, *is* something horrific happening to canada! kidding, of course! hooray! more exclamations! congratulation! but i really do like canada and hope nothing horrific happens to it! although eventually the sun will consume it along with everything else! or so we are told! and that's only if we don't blow earth to smithereens first! long live canada! long live Nunavut! 050831 ... anne-girl thirty million-odd of us canadians would care, eh? 050831 ... Arwyn hate to sound like an asshole, but I honestly don't think the U.S. would care. We'd send a few million to ease the pain, maybe a few national guard troops for show, but Canada doesn't interest the U.S. Many call it Montana's gay neighbor... I personally have nothing against that (the gay.. thing). The only thing the U.S. would be interested in Canada for would be its fossil fuels or possible money donations in the case of a U.S. terrorist attack or natural disaster. Believe me. The U.S. wouldn't care. 050831 ... p2 oh please like the sudanese or the mexicans give 2 shits about canada why make it about the u.s.? plus, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're speaking of u.s., the government not u.s., the people in which case i will not bother defending the current administration 050831 ... chuckles talking to my friend the other day and he said "canada is america for people with brains" it wasn't out of the blue - we were on the subject. and i had to agree 050831 ... p2 yuh-huh been watching the tory party lately? 050831 ... chuckles i have trouble concentrating on them. just so much boredom. party politics has ben proven to not work. fuck it all up and burn the fucker down 050831 ... chuckles ps. how do i start a new thread on here? 050831 ... p2 see: blather_for_dummies 050831 ... chuckles i'm trying p2, i'm trying, but it ain't working. what is it i'm doing wrong? 050831 ... pete to start a new blathe just click the box with the title of the current blathe, delete it, and write whatever you like in it... as long as its one word, use underscores for phrases ect... i would very much so care if something happened to canada, being canadian and all... 050831 ... stork daddy i think really this just speaks to the more general proposition that humans tend to not find much emotional weight in the abstract premise of other humans living somewhere else. they really only empathize with humanity through the usual channels of seeing the lives of others and partaking in those lives. not to say that one can't develop a more refined sense of empathy, but i will say that this seems to be the exception rather than the rule and that this holds true of any nation. most nations are caught up in their own problems, as are most states as are most people. now perhaps there is an argument that the fast paced consumer culture of the united states has in some ways desensitized our sense of empathy even beyond the average. 050831 ... chuckles just watched the headline tv news (in britain). nearly 1000 dead in baghdad due to a massive crush at a religeous ceremony huge floods in new orleans ethnic cleansing in northern ireland - police din't notice it was happening now i'm having a beer and talking to you lot. what was that about desensatization? 050831 ... TK You guys in Britain seem to know a heck of a lot more than I (a U.S. Citizen) does, I usually find my news sources from some what obscure Non-big media places like http://planet-save.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 (Although it helps that that’s also wear I check my e-mail as well) but hell if I left it up to Big Media to tell me what the heck was going on I'd know more about Pop Singers and Movie Stars than I would about what the heck was happening in Ireland or for that matter any wear else in the world! Pffft! Like hell if my news isn’t being censored!! 050831 ... TK HA! I just searched Ireland in google News and -nothing- even came up about ethnic cleansing w/n the first 3 pages! I have to blatently Type in "ethnic cleansing Ireland" to even get anything! and and if you look at the news sorces you see nothing in the Big Media or for that matter hardly any one in the U.S. (except Irish Voice in NY) covering this story. and even than you only find 2 and a half pages of news links. 050831 ... andru235 in minnesota, as with many northern states, there is a small secessionist movement to join canada. won't happen, i doubt. and would canada even want minnesota? how odd the map would look! 050901 ... sighing loudly if? 050902 ... Doar it's already happening.......... 050907 what's it to you? who go blather from