I like most of your message. But how's that Muslim assimilation going?


>>I have never met (by this I mean face-to-face and generally engaged in conversation for at least a few minutes) an American who was anything but kind and thoughtful and generous and helpful and generally a nice person.
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>>But I have "met" people in forums who, at least on certain topics, are mis-informed, biased in the extreme and overly bragadocious. And when it comes to "freedoms" I do find that many Americans go way overboard as regards the greatness of their country in that respect - as if they have nothing to learn from other societies.
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>People make investments and commitments, to a partner, to a group of friends, to unions, to their country. To the partner they say: "I love you, you're the one and only, you're the most beautiful man/woman of the world". To their friends they say "you're the best friends one can have". The unions they choose are the best, their country is the best, at least on aspects. The Italian are proud of their ice, spaghetti and women. The Dutch have their national pride also. Same is true for the Norwegians. And... same is true for the Americans. It's all in the game. It's all psychology, antropology and sociology. It's all normal behavior and selfperception. And they all know that others too have their ideas about best this-or-that.
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>If some (here) are overly enthousiastic about their own qualities, then 1) do not generalize, and 2) use fact and arguments to make them realize that their pov may be somewhat biased. That's how I see it.
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>>I believe they will correct things. I believe they will come to realize that declaring a literal "war" to combat terror is not the way to go. [snip]
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>And if they decide otherwise? By free will? In the Netherlands a majority of the population is aware these days that certain restrictions in daily life are "necessary". For instance, cameras in the streets are perceived as acceptible. Moreover, most people feel more safe with cameras, rather then less free. What counts is whether or not the government is perceived as trustworthy or not. The Dutch community is small, in population (although it would be the 5th largest of the US) and in square kilometers. Our politicians are extensively in the media and we think we know them better than we know our neighboors. It all feels like we're one family, disregarding the eventual opposite povs. Close ties. Many of us know someone who knows someone who knows a famous politician personally. It is an open society and although many of us complain a lot about the politicians, in the end we regard our politicians and our political system as trustworthy. That's why the cameras are accepted and not
>regarded as infringing on our freedom. However, in certain other societies those cameras would be regarded as one more sign of lack of freedom.
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>The perception of the degree of freedom depends on whether or not the government and the policital system are perceived as correct and trustworthy.