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When do we get the original text? I´m so curious to read the whole thing :wink2:

 

Apparently there have been technical difficulties. So hopefully soon.

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YAY! Although we had a summary, it's still nice to see the words in whole as he wrote them! And great accompanying artwork as always. :thumb_yello:

 

Yes, really great article - with artwork by MIKAs sister!:thumb_yello::wub2:

 

Love,love

me

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It was really interesting to read another point of view about America (especially from Mika!)

After the end of Soviet Union America considered to be a Heaven on Earth, and common people's dream was to visit this magnificent country. It was like an obsession. It was so intense among the mob and the media, that I became fed up with it, and it's hard to break these feelings now. So, for me Mika's article is very positive and beneficial.

And, of course, I enjoy his funny or provocative articles the same way as I enjoy his thought-out and serious works.

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I haven't lived in Europe since prior to 9/11 so I can't really say whether attitudes are changing there or not but I am not so sure that anything he's mentioned here is due to humility of the Americans. Call me cynical but I suspect it's all about self interest - on the part of his friends who are now struggling to see a bright future for themselves because the European economy is in the toilet and on the part of Americans who don't want to foot the bill for these wars due to their own economic woes.

 

Having a black or Latino president gives an appearance of social change but Obama's policies are just as conservative as Ronald Reagan's. The US has shifted so far to the right that to be a liberal now is really not liberal at all. The compromises the Democrats have made on issues like healthcare and gun control would be viewed as extremely right wing in Canada, the UK and I'm sure many European countries.

 

I don't think Team America is a good example of changing attitudes because it was quite subversive and I'm sure many found it offensive (or they would have had they actually seen it). It was made quite a few years ago and yet last year's Oscar winner Argo was an overt piece of propaganda that totally downplayed (well denied) Canadian involvement in the freeing of the Iran hostages and painted all Iranians as savage radicals.

 

From my point of view I do see that liberals are becoming more of a majority and more vocal in the US but I don't think the causes of negative American stereotypes were swept away with the election of a black president and the creation of Family Guy.

 

Perhaps it is the Europeans who have been humbled in realizing that they are not so superior to Americans even with their faults. Every country has its problems but people are going to be drawn to wherever they think they can thrive economically. It was easy for rich Brits to look down their noses at Americans in the Cool Britannia heydey of the 1990s but perhaps not so much now.

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MIKA i like all you write so much... specilly this ....

It’s hard to view America in definitive terms anymore. In the past it was portrayed as good in a fight against an evil Soviet Union and even post 9/11 George Bush labelled America’s opponents as an “Axis of Evil”. Such characterisations appear far too simplistic to most people, and those who speak in blindingly positive terms about America are viewed as ignorant cow-boys. An equal measure of pride and being self-defacing are what is most fashionable now. Looking at film and TV, from Team America to Family Guy, the US seems to be OK with making fun of itself. It’s hard to think of any American TV shows in the 80s that ever did that. A new “Brand America” is being sold to us, whether it’s in speeches by Obama or in episodes of Homeland, as a country that can admit its blunders and is striving to make good on them. This humbled, but as a result wiser, America like a prodigal son, is being accepted by the rest of world once more. In many ways this re-branding is actually just a return to older values – the ability to adapt and improve oneself is at the core of the “American Dream”. It’s clear to me that America will look very different over the next couple of decades – for example I expect to see a Latino president within my lifetime – but if its central beliefs manage not to be clouded by arrogance again then it will continue to attract people to its shores in the same way it drew my grandfather from Syria in the 1930s.

 

It's hard to understand how Americans show their hand just fantastic and attractive. As your mind a bit childish, or someone ... thinking Aries horoscope afford to live in luxury.

But this is not only not true, sometimes we disappoint the reality of USA, but emigration is pretty it is very hard.

MIKA's why I'd like more sincerity and more than somebody who traveled as much as you. I hope you do not mind the terrorist attacks Chicago Marathon. and that's what I'm talking about your personal and family anecdotes. No matter if you are Lebanese or American or live in East MEDLEY.

 

 

For the last this video in spanish of other Miguel for to Relax my conversation-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7hQla9kcdw from a Sevilla no like me.

i prefer i´m Air without you Sire soy mix.vid

How tragic or attack ..

in http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144928n

or forced emigration of Syrians to much poorer sites by War.

Edited by mer
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I haven't lived in Europe since prior to 9/11 so I can't really say whether attitudes are changing there or not but I am not so sure that anything he's mentioned here is due to humility of the Americans. Call me cynical but I suspect it's all about self interest - on the part of his friends who are now struggling to see a bright future for themselves because the European economy is in the toilet and on the part of Americans who don't want to foot the bill for these wars due to their own economic woes.

 

 

agree esp with the bolded part...it's interesting really, in some ways I think the opposite of what he said - growing up- the US and esp LA- was a place i couldn't wait to visit! Having seen countless movies and read books indirectly espousing american liberalness, i thought it would be a fantastic place, but the Bush era severely disillusioned me (or maybe i just came out of my bubble :aah:) and it's only now the US is staring to regain some of its shine for me - largely because of new york...

 

i waited to comment on this article because i wanted to read it in English before i formed an opinion...it's not one of my favorite columns, not necessarily because of the content (though that contributes) but I think his writing here is a bit uninspired and lacklustre..sorry mika! :teehee: but it's good i guess that he doesn't put out magnificent pieces every time - gives me hope for me :aah:

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agree esp with the bolded part...it's interesting really, in some ways I think the opposite of what he said - growing up- the US and esp LA- was a place i couldn't wait to visit! Having seen countless movies and read books indirectly espousing american liberalness, i thought it would be a fantastic place, but the Bush era severely disillusioned me (or maybe i just came out of my bubble :aah:) and it's only now the US is staring to regain some of its shine for me - largely because of new york...

 

i waited to comment on this article because i wanted to read it in English before i formed an opinion...it's not one of my favorite columns, not necessarily because of the content (though that contributes) but I think his writing here is a bit uninspired and lacklustre..sorry mika! :teehee: but it's good i guess that he doesn't put out magnificent pieces every time - gives me hope for me :aah:

 

 

i didn't wanna be the first to say it :teehee: knowing him, he was rushed to finish but that's not really anything new :aah: so maybe he wasn't rushed this time & that's what's different :naughty:

 

EDIT: i should add that it's still much better than anything i could write phahahaha

Edited by kreacher
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I guess no one edits the English version which is unfortunate. I'm sure an editor would have corrected things like "self-defacing". :teehee:

 

I do find it interesting to hear his thoughts on the US though. He has always distanced himself from it and I never understood it. I guess he was dealing with that prejudice from his peers in the UK but obviously it could have only helped him in the US to embrace his American roots. Especially when the alternative is identifying as someone from the Middle East.

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I guess no one edits the English version which is unfortunate. I'm sure an editor would have corrected things like "self-defacing". :teehee:

 

I do find it interesting to hear his thoughts on the US though. He has always distanced himself from it and I never understood it. I guess he was dealing with that prejudice from his peers in the UK but obviously it could have only helped him in the US to embrace his American roots. Especially when the alternative is identifying as someone from the Middle East.

 

I was confused translating this freaky term into Russian. :teehee:

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I guess no one edits the English version which is unfortunate. I'm sure an editor would have corrected things like "self-defacing". :teehee:

 

Not to mention "finical" instead of "financial", "loosing" instead of "losing", and commas scattered with gay abandon.:naughty:

 

:mf_rosetinted:That's "gay" in its original sense

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