Has anyone heard of this? May be offensive to some
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From: Sugar Land
First, this story was written in the US, by an American thus the use of US as an example... let's not get carried away, this story was never about which country is popular which isn't.
Secondly, since when did being Jewish mean you are a different race? Being Jewish is like being Buddist, it's a religion, not a race.
You can be of any racial background and still be Jewish.
-Shing
Secondly, since when did being Jewish mean you are a different race? Being Jewish is like being Buddist, it's a religion, not a race.
You can be of any racial background and still be Jewish.
-Shing
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Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Chicago
Originally posted by mingster
The premise of the story evolves around the United States in a not too distant future, where natural resources are all but depleted, and unprecendented pollution or some crisis or another faces the entire population. Suddenly, a race of aliens (I was pretty surprised too, Harvard law professor and aliens don't usually come in the same subject matter) showed up and basically told the US government that everything can be resolved by their technology: all the resources restored, unlimited clean energy, and technological advances to clean the USA up, etc, etc. In return for their technology, however, the aliens demanded that the US government hand over all black people to the alien race to be used as slaves.
The premise of the story evolves around the United States in a not too distant future, where natural resources are all but depleted, and unprecendented pollution or some crisis or another faces the entire population. Suddenly, a race of aliens (I was pretty surprised too, Harvard law professor and aliens don't usually come in the same subject matter) showed up and basically told the US government that everything can be resolved by their technology: all the resources restored, unlimited clean energy, and technological advances to clean the USA up, etc, etc. In return for their technology, however, the aliens demanded that the US government hand over all black people to the alien race to be used as slaves.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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From: San Diego
Who cares what Europeans think about America? The fictional story took place in America and pointed out the huge contradictions about its society and the equivocal feelings that blacks have about being American. On the one hand, we have a black Harvard professor (a great achievement) writing a fictional story. This achievement is juxtaposed against the story, which is a reflection of his feelings about America's historical treatment of blacks.
If expanded, this simple example serves to demonstrate the inherent contradictions in American society...a society that nonetheless remains together. Of course we don't have our sh!t together on all fronts (no country does), but still we progress. We don't need anyone else to point out our problems--we are very much aware of them (just as Europeans are aware of their issues). Like I said before, America is in continual turmoil, always looking for the right answer, but sometimes arriving on the wrong answer. Yet what keeps this country together is the pursuit of an ideal that most Americans hope will come to pass...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Will we ever arrive at this ideal? Dunno. But there is so much that indicates so...just as there is much to indicate that we won't. But still we try...and for better or for worse, we try together. In my mind, in spite of all the crap we have to deal with in this country, this makes me proud to be an American.
If expanded, this simple example serves to demonstrate the inherent contradictions in American society...a society that nonetheless remains together. Of course we don't have our sh!t together on all fronts (no country does), but still we progress. We don't need anyone else to point out our problems--we are very much aware of them (just as Europeans are aware of their issues). Like I said before, America is in continual turmoil, always looking for the right answer, but sometimes arriving on the wrong answer. Yet what keeps this country together is the pursuit of an ideal that most Americans hope will come to pass...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Will we ever arrive at this ideal? Dunno. But there is so much that indicates so...just as there is much to indicate that we won't. But still we try...and for better or for worse, we try together. In my mind, in spite of all the crap we have to deal with in this country, this makes me proud to be an American.
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