if u... notice..

It's nice to know we rank with Best Korea on the fanaticism scale.

With all due respect, you're "at war" "fighting terror" since 1776.

Terrorism, as it is right now, is a minor threat. Calm down. Lighting strikes kill more Americans than foreign terrorism. Heck, there's way, way more shootings done by locals. If fear mongering is indeed the cause of it, that's sad.

I'm more concerned of the US doing wrecks in the Middle East for the sake of fossil energy. Because yes, it would seem to me that they disguised their #1 threat, the lack of energy of their grand economical empire, in the terrorism. And fueling it, deliberately or not, at the same time.

*lightning (￣∇￣")

It depends. We can be a weird multicultural salad, and that effects religion too. The state is secular, but the culture is predominantly Christian, and some have a very strong influence, depending on where you live and who raised you. Where I grew up, church was part of culture and identity, but there were some people for whom it might be a habit. My best friend in high school was "Irish-Catholic" (3rd generation US) and while she said that if she had any religion, it would be Catholic, her identity was 'Irish-Catholic American" as a culture--it's kind of hard to explain. For people who just go with the flow,it's probably no big thing, but it matters to the people who are active in such communities--and socially people may be identified by their church, especially in small towns or rural areas.

In some communities "Sunday Christians" are considered "lost" and there is an effort to bring them back into the fold. Choosing to leave can be seen as worse. Believe me, unless you have been passive-aggressively prayed at, er, I mean for, you don't know how serious it can be. It's not apparent from the outside, but in US Lutheran churches there can be sharp divisions between Missouri synod and Wisconsin or American synod (and all can have churches in the same town). It probably won't come to violence, but people will be very upset over things such as a new hymnal. There will be discontented rumblings over coffee and danish, let me tell you.

For those Americans for whom religion is just a habit, they probably don't see anyone of that. They may hear some of the talk, but it means nothing to them. It's sort of how I feel about football. To people who care about football, it's a big deal in the US. For me, it's something I flip past.

They also tortured and killed jews. US witch hunts usually just killed women who had property and no men.

In 1976, we were the terrorist (from an English point of view)--and French Canadians supported us (when we weren't fighting with them).(〜￣△￣)〜

What are you talking about exactly? Not denying it, I'm just failing to see what xD.

Yes. Just in this moment I remembered all that 'marrano's' persecutions and even came in my mind all that matter about the 'witches of Salem' that afterwards A. Miller used for his own work. I consider myself as an agnostic and now I live in a big city of the Us, I don't think there would be any problem with that (is my personal view, you know). It's against my principles to tell people I believe in god when all my personal ethics come from a secular education. ╮(￣▽￣)╭

Well, we have freedom of religion and an official stance of tolerance. It's more of a social pressure, especially if you were raised to "belong" to a certain group. But it's also not unheard of to leave the church you were raised in. Still, you'll notice that politicians usually at least show up for a dominant Christian church, no matter how their political stands may conflict with doctrine as I understand it.

So ?_?
My curiosity is piqued, and you've given no context whatsoever xD. Been asking some people and they have no clue either. You can't just claim stuff out of the blue like that (￣∇￣")

Oh, it's my strange sense of humor picking on your "fighting terrorists since 1776" line. My point is technically, we were not fighting terrorists--we were considered the terrorists (or at least the rebels--often with unconventional styles). I'd say it's only after we became a power in our own right that we worried about weaker groups sneak attacking us, since we switched from offense to defense, so to speak. The recent obsession with terrorism started after 9/11. Before that, we were all scared of commies (or we were supposed to be--back when Republicans demanded we tear down walls instead of suggesting we build some). I'm just saying it's a matter of perspective.

If it makes no sense, please ignore it. Sometimes my sense of humor is hard to explain.

All of that fearful atmosphere of senator McCarthy and the cold war.

OMG, I am laughing so hard right now - has anyone noticed how off topic the conversation has gotten? The poor OP is going to see more than 70 replies to their post - which was about Asami/Aki age gap, and the discussion is now about violence and terrorism. It is so bloody hilarious, thanks for the fun read!

Ah, I get it. 1776. 1976. :P
Just not sure what French Canadians have to do with the joke xD.

Honestly though, what became the Americans, the self-proclaimed republican liberators, turned out to be the same. Stabling horses in catholic churches, seized supplies from farmers etc.

There's not much love for either, historically. Though the British rule gave us special rights that the Americans would not have guaranteed us, so we came to believe we'd be better off with Canada and didn't go along with the revolution.

If they didn't, I wonder where we'd be...

Then again, let's not forget, the poor Native Americans ;_;. Everyone just stepped on them, French included.

Nnene you have no clue what you are posting abt. that is clear to a blind man. your mis education is showing. WE have oil reserves in Alaska Texas and other states. We don't need to invade some country for oil. We can out produce OPEC.(OPEC's own report) They fear that the most. bush went to war bec. of the twin towers attack, nothing to do with oil. I;m glad it;s quiet in your country. In Germany and Sweden It has not been quiet. It does not get reported on. It's more fun to blame it all on the US and their need for oil. by the way how do you keep the lights on? Don't tell me wind and solar what do you think run those wind and solar plants. Little green men? there is oil someplace. The US was not est. by terror in 1776. It was actually the fight for freedom.The story is to long to go into and you would not get it.

Oh, did you mean the context for the French Canadian crack? I threw that in there because Quebec wasn't always peaceful either, though I kind of exaggerated to be funny (in my head--sometimes my humor is a bit off).

As you know, France gave Quebec to England around 1760 or so (I'm lazy) and the rebels who would later form the US started reaching out to what it called French Canadians in the mid-1770's. Honestly, some FCs supported them, some supported England, and some were neutral, but we (as if I were identified with the rebels since I am from the US) did have a little battle up in Fort Ticonderoga in an attempt to get rid of England and win FC support for our side. Clearly, we failed to annex Canada at that time, but we had some French Canadain support, which in my mind kind of makes you closer to us in the fighting throughout our history rankings. Of course, I can see why some Canadians would see it as series of invasions by the US, particularly once we get to the war of 1812.

I was kind of teasing since I thought tying French Canada to the US might somewhat annoy you (I didn't mean it in a mean way though). Like it or not, your country (and area) is usually our ally (when we are not fighting each other). It's all a bit off the original comment--but my brain can make odd connections and I tend to go with it.

Good point--but when you average the entire United States, you treat the population as if it were evenly distributed in Alaska and Wyoming the same as New York City or LA. It paints an inaccurate picture. In NYC, for example, there are people 27,000 per square mile. In Alaska, its 1.3 (I'm sure it's higher in anchorage). Crime rates also vary from place to place within the US.

I was joking about 1776, no worries :P. Been at war ever since then, though.

But I wonder who's blinded.

I realize that you're probably fed pure lies in the so called 'news media', but U.S. government documents from 2012 have been released by Judicial Watch detailing the support of ISIS, training and arming of ISIS and it's been front page news worldwide.

Funds "moderate rebels", whine when it backlashes.

Yep, too funny, but great discussion.

Bites - you are deluded if you think the US does not import oil - http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6 - even oil rich Canada does this - from the Dovernment of Canada's Natural Resources page "Canada’s Eastern refineries import oil from a variety of oil-producing countries. The United States recently became the largest source for imported oil. Apart from the United Sates, most of Eastern Canada’s oil imports come from the countries that are part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), specifically from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Angola and Iraq. Some of Eastern Canada’s oil was also imported from North Sea countries, including Norway and the United Kingdom."