Thread: "Are we becoming a backwoods nation?" Globalist Bl

More accusations of xenophobia. This blog allows comments if you register for an account.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-sl ... 41765.html

Are We Becoming a Backwoods Nation? (1 comments )

A Spanish pilot last week foiled a hijacker by giving the Arabic and Spanish-speaking passengers instructions in French. It's lucky the passengers weren't Americans. They probably wouldn't have had a clue what he was saying. Americans may be the most linguistically deficient people in the world. Even poor people in Third World countries often speak two or three languages, while we have 'English only' laws to protect us from being confronted with our own ignorance.


Suspicion of anything outside our borders is contributing to our economic and cultural decline. We used to be number one in education, technology, and science. But in just a few years, thanks to the xenophobia of the Bush administration and its supporters, we've fallen behind much of Europe and Asia. Twenty years ago the U.S. ranked first in the world in percentage of both college degrees and high school diplomas. Today we've slipped to 7th and 9th respectively. In 1970 more than half of the world's science and engineering doctorates came from U.S. universities. By 2001 the European Union granted 40% more than the United States.

China now has four times as many engineers as the United States--it used to have one-sixth. The United States is down to 14th in science graduates--partly because fundamentalism has made the American South abysmally ignorant in geology, biology, and astronomy. Foreign student applications to study in the U.S. are half what they were, with the UK and Germany picking up the slack. We're far behind Asians in math literacy. In 2000 we were number one in broadband Internet access. Now we're 16th. In 2000 we produced 40% of the world's telecom equipment, now only 21%. We now rank 42nd in the percentage of the population with cell phones. Once the world's technological and educational leader, we're becoming an also-ran.

As Benjamin Barber once pointed out, no democratic legislature in the civilized world has as many members without passports as ours, no other democratic nation pays a smaller percentage of its GNP for foreign aid, and no other democratic nation is so ignorant of other cultures.

Republican leaders have opted out of almost every international effort to make the world a safer and more civilized place, citing 'national' (i.e., short-term Republican political) interests. As a nation, we're cowering behind our borders--afraid to go out, afraid to let anyone in. Meanwhile the civilized world is moving on without us.

Xenophobia in America has reached such a peak that our nation is investing billions of dollars keeping out or throwing out the millions of illegal immigrants who do all the dirty and backbreaking work that Americans are too lazy or privileged to do. Yet who's making a bigger contribution to American society? Hard-working, enterprising undocumented workers, or the "Minute (as in tiny) Men'--gun-toting losers who have nothing better to do than lounge around bars at the border and shoot at aliens who only want to work?

Personally, I would love to see a swap: Let the undocumented workers come in, but only if Mexico will take in exchange all the ignorant yahoos who would never in a million years have the guts or the ambition to take the risks, or work as hard as, undocumented aliens do.

What does the author know about hard work?
When has a minute man shot at an allegal alien?

This clown should keep on writing for MS Magazine and selling cookies
and leave keep his opinions in the classroom.

Bio: Philip Slater
Philip Slater has an A.B. and Ph. D. from Harvard and taught sociology at Harvard, Brandeis, and UCSC. He was Professor and Chairperson of the Brandeis Sociology Department in 1971 when he resigned to found--with Jacqueline Doyle and Morrie Schwartz-- Greenhouse, a non-profit growth center, where he led encounter groups and personal growth workshops. He has been a merchant seaman, actor, business consultant, cookie salesman, marriage officiant, and president of a theatre. He co-wrote and narrated PARADOX ON 72nd STREET, a one-hour TV documentary aired nationally by PBS, and has acted in over 30 plays and films. In 1982 he was chosen by MS. Magazine as one of its "male heroes". He has written twenty plays, and has taught writing and playwriting at UCSC and in private workshops since 1989.

PMS magazine!!




This guy just sounds like another Anti-American idiot!




Neils
2:32 pm
02/21/2007

A Spanish pilot last week foiled a hijacker by giving the Arabic and Spanish-speaking passengers instructions in French. It's lucky the passengers weren't Americans. They probably wouldn't have had a clue what he was saying. Americans may be the most linguistically deficient people in the world. Even poor people in Third World countries often speak two or three languages, while we have 'English only' laws to protect us from being confronted with our own ignorance.

The reason that Americans speak less languages than people elsewhere is because we don't need to. Under the Greek Empire, every dominated nation had to speak Greek. So pervasive did the language become that it was still the dominant tongue under the rule of Rome. In Europe, an continent with a land mass of 10.35 million sq. mi. ( a little less than 3X the land mass of the US), there are 35 main languages. Of course Europeans are going to be more multilingual than the US. In the Third World, it is generally necessary for villagers and citizens to speak the languages of former colonial powers in order to engage in commerce.

Suspicion of anything outside our borders is contributing to our economic and cultural decline. We used to be number one in education, technology, and science. But in just a few years, thanks to the xenophobia of the Bush administration and its supporters, we've fallen behind much of Europe and Asia. Twenty years ago the U.S. ranked first in the world in percentage of both college degrees and high school diplomas. Today we've slipped to 7th and 9th respectively. In 1970 more than half of the world's science and engineering doctorates came from U.S. universities. By 2001 the European Union granted 40% more than the United States.

This is more a function of Liberal control of the classroom, in which indoctrination and political correctness have taken precedence over actual education. Also, the flood of illegal immigrants has absolutely ruined the educational systems of numerous states. In our universities, free thought is suppressed rather than rewarded as dogma is frequently taught in lieu of actual fact.

China now has four times as many engineers as the United States--it used to have one-sixth.

This is a bogus statistic, because in China every technician of any sort is classified as an engineer. An air conditioner repairman is an engineer.

The United States is down to 14th in science graduates--partly because fundamentalism has made the American South abysmally ignorant in geology, biology, and astronomy.

Oh good grief! The REAL problem is that science in the US has become a natter of dogma of its own. So intent are idiots like this author on pressing the orthodoxy of flawed theories like evolutionism that real science is not being taught.

Foreign student applications to study in the U.S. are half what they were, with the UK and Germany picking up the slack. We're far behind Asians in math literacy. In 2000 we were number one in broadband Internet access. Now we're 16th. In 2000 we produced 40% of the world's telecom equipment, now only 21%. We now rank 42nd in the percentage of the population with cell phones. Once the world's technological and educational leader, we're becoming an also-ran.

Thank free trade outsourcing for most of those stats.

As Benjamin Barber once pointed out, no democratic legislature in the civilized world has as many members without passports as ours, no other democratic nation pays a smaller percentage of its GNP for foreign aid, and no other democratic nation is so ignorant of other cultures.

Another false statistic. "Foreign aid" statistics include only governmental aid. In the US, private charities account for a vast percentage of our generosity, much more so than in any other nation.

Republican leaders have opted out of almost every international effort to make the world a safer and more civilized place, citing 'national' (i.e., short-term Republican political) interests. As a nation, we're cowering behind our borders--afraid to go out, afraid to let anyone in. Meanwhile the civilized world is moving on without us.

This is just Leftist/internationalist pap.

Xenophobia in America has reached such a peak that our nation is investing billions of dollars keeping out or throwing out the millions of illegal immigrants who do all the dirty and backbreaking work that Americans are too lazy or privileged to do. Yet who's making a bigger contribution to American society? Hard-working, enterprising undocumented workers, or the "Minute (as in tiny) Men'--gun-toting losers who have nothing better to do than lounge around bars at the border and shoot at aliens who only want to work?

Xenophobia? No, I would attribute the desire to toss illegal aliens out on their arses to our good old fashioned aversion to criminal enterprise.

Personally, I would love to see a swap: Let the undocumented workers come in, but only if Mexico will take in exchange all the ignorant yahoos who would never in a million years have the guts or the ambition to take the risks, or work as hard as, undocumented aliens do.

Better yet, dingus, why don't you simply take your whining to one of those allegedly superior countries?

Ah, shucks, Crocket has it covered, but let me add one small rant:

China now has four times as many engineers as the United States--it used to have one-sixth.

Ok, Mr. University PhD educator, class is about to begin:

Background/Presuppositions:

China: 4x number of engineers
US: x number engineers, population - 300 million

Gee, what has gone unmentioned is that China has 4 TIMES THE POPULATION AS THE US!!!! - HEEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!
(1.3 billion+ - more than 4x the US population)


Can people with that much education, really be that stupid???
Yeah, I guess so.
(I'm saying that because I'm still one degree away from that 'level'...)

What a disgusting article.

Xenophobia in America has reached such a peak that our nation is investing billions of dollars keeping out or throwing out the millions of illegal immigrants who do all the dirty and backbreaking work that Americans are too lazy or privileged to do. Yet who's making a bigger contribution to American society? Hard-working, enterprising undocumented workers, or the "Minute (as in tiny) Men'--gun-toting losers who have nothing better to do than lounge around bars at the border and shoot at aliens who only want to work?

And who is dragging down our schools? Who is costing Americans millions of dollars so that they can't afford to pay their own bills? Who is causing Americans to stay home because they are afraid of crime in the streets? Aren't colleges, universities and high schools graduating students with low proficiency in all areas? Who can afford to travel to other countries anymore? Why would we want to amidst all the violence and change in foreign countries? Aren't our businesses moving to other countries? And most serious of all, hasn't America lost its strength in its national identity to millions of immigrants so that it can no longer offer national excellence?

My advice to all: get a cell phone and a computer with language translation features and watch how the rest of the planet is disintegrating. If you go to college, make sure it is not an institution taught by ranting liberal academicians.

I've always been amazed at the numeric comparisons between our graduates or engineers and how many 'they' are turning out. As long as we produce enough quality and quantity for our needs, who cares what the other countries do? It only becomes important if a) our quality falls or b) our borders fail and we are innundated with cheaper workers. A has not happened, only B to the extent that many of our people educated in these fields have trouble finding work. Why the heck should a country of 300 million produce more engineers than a country of 1 billion???? Only in a flat global world would that be a threat to us ... oh, wait...

I say more propaganda!!!seems to be flooding the internet, good thing we know the difference and have such great people like the ones above to point out the facts to the ones that don't get it!!!

If their engineers are so great then how come when you buy something at WalMart, whatever it is, a toy, an umbrella, a barbeque, whatever..the darn thing falls apart or breaks in a matter of months?

Excellent breakdown, Crockett'sGhost!




(Hands clapping emoticon here)











Neils
8:17 am
02/22/2007