USA-Eindrücke

[20-1-05 / hw] Auf der Website („Ceci n’est pas un bloc“) von Volker Weber, ausgewiesener Notes-Spezialist und Mitarbeiter u.a. von c’t und Computerwoche, haben wir gestern gelesen:

„Year over year

I have been visiting the US for 24 years, with a short interruption in 1991/92 at least once a year and as many as four times a year. With that many data points you see things improving (more healthy food) and other things getting worse. TV news have become worse each visit. I first noticed this when the bomb went off in Oklahoma City during my vacation in the US. There was nothing else in the news for 2 weeks. Today nobody seems to even notice the irony in these two messages:

1) "The invasion of Iraq, which ousted Saddam Hussein and has cost the lives of some 1,300 U.S. military personnel and billions of dollars, was 'absolutely' worth it, despite the absence of any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, President Bush told ABC News' Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview."

2) "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank."

One of the things that you cannot grasp as visitor is the daily life of regular people. Is the country really divided between Republicans and Democrats? I honestly don't know. Some people have argued that this is overblown by the media, but I have also talked to people who are really uncomfortable working with or living in a neighborhood of people "who buy into the B/S".

But what is definitely on the rise is paranoia. We even had an argument with the gate agent because Ute photographed the gate in Atlanta." >>> more of vowe (Volker Weber)