[WikiEN-l] The American ego trumps all -- thank God, 'cause mine needs surrounded by other big heads

[Philip Sandifer]

Oh for God's sake. Nazis are more important than America.

There. The thread is now Godwinned. Go home.

-Phil

On May 20, 2007, at 12:42 AM, Christopher Hagar wrote:

> 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 at telus.net> wrote:
>>
>> MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
>>
>>> On 5/19/07, Ken Arromdee <arromdee at 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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