Part of the issue is a tendency to consider recent things more important in
general, not directly linked to American importance. Although, nuclear
weapons and worldwide military power and communication do skew traditional
notions of importance. The United States is, after all, more important to
the Chinese than the Roman Empire ever was.
On 5/19/07, Ray Saintonge <saintonge(a)telus.net> wrote:
MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
On 5/19/07, Ken Arromdee
<arromdee(a)rahul.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 18 May 2007, K P wrote:
>
>
>>>>>Charlotte, in my view you'd be wrong. Paderewski was hugely and
>>>>>internationally famous as a pianist, whereas his fame as a Prime
>>>>>Minister of Poland is largely limited to Poland ...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>'''Ronald Wilson Reagan''' ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>The United States is bigger and much more important in international
>>>politics than Poland, and being president of it is much more
notable.
President of
>>>
>>>
>>>the US and Prime Minister of Poland just don't produce equal amounts
of fame.
>>>
>>>If you look at the article for Grace Kelly, being an academy award
winning
>>>
>>>
>>>actress is mentioned before being princess of Monaco.
>>>
>>>
>>Right on. After all, size is all that matters,
>>
>>
>Size isn't all that matters, but it's one thing that matters. (Or more
>precisely, importance, which is often related to size.)
>
>
>>and only the last few hundred years of history have any meaning.
>>
>>
>I believe that Paderewski was a pianist and a Prime Minister during the
>same historical time period. The same for Grace Kelly being an actress
and
princess
of Monaco.
I know a little bit about grammar and sometimes putting something at the
end
of a sentence is supposed to draw attention to it,
so mentioning
something
first doesn't neccesarily mean it's more
important. I don't deny the US
is
important in world politics today, but that fails
to take into account
anything that happened before the US even existed or any nationally
important stuff from other countries. Their influence doesn't matter. All
countries are notable and should be treated equally independantly of size
or
influence.
It's difficult for me to resist someone's fatuous comments about the
last few hundred years of history. Perhaps he has never heard that
those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. The
lessons have been there for a long time as evidenced by the [[Classic of
History]]. Over the years others too havemade keen observations about
issues, and it is amazing how much influence Aristotle and Plato still
retain over modern political thought. Perhaps the less said about the
role of the US in today's world the better. It suffices to say that
there is a sharp contrast between such attitudes within and without the
United States about the importance of the United States. Most
experienced Wikipedians from both camps are acutely aware of the
distinction, and are willing to moderate their views in the intrest of
NPOV.
Ec
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