Freedom is like sex in a way--if you have to crow and proclaim loudly to others and to the whole world how great it is and how much you have...you probably don't have very much and it's probably not all that great either

Not much to be proud of these days in America...schools? Joke. That's why you get these ditto-heads parroting catchphrases that have been pounded into their skull through relentless, battering repetition. If it is repeated often enough, it becomes true to them, because they have only mastered rote memorization, not critical and conceptual thinking. 2 and 2 can somehow always make up 5 to them. Like monkeys, they learn to spot certain catchphrases in sentences and as soon as one triggers the alarm that's been installed in their head, they alert: 'Liberal!!! PC!!!' as if being a progressive thinker or putting things politely (and requesting that others do) instead of offensively blurting some stereotypical blather is somehow a crime. Ironically, some of the people that are the most rabid 'liberal'-bashers are actually acting against their own best interests much of the time, considering their social class (of which they are trained to be unaware), economic status (in which they have blind faith that what's good for the hyperrich people and big companies will increase theirs and be passed on to the average dolt without being forced) and social standing (i.e., the pickup-drivin, tobacco-chewin, cap-wearin, top-two-buttons-of-flannel-shirt-unbuttoned-so-you-can-see-tufts-of-chest-hair-wearin' people who will never be accepted into the upper or even middle echelons of society even if they miraculously beat the incredible odds against upward mobility). They have much more in common with the Mexican immigrant or the inner-city black than with the WASP CEO, they just don't realize it and probably won't until it's too late.
In addition, the neoconservative drum-bangers which dominate right-wing policy in government these days have nothing to do with the ideals of traditional conservatism--i.e. fiscal responsibility, an anti-interventionist, lead-by-example rather than shove so-called freedom (the honor of becoming a colony--freedom=slavery) down everyone's throat foreign policy, and 'small government' (read: would not regulate meds to the extent that the rules go beyond protecting the citizenry to the point where they are blatant tools to enrich the pharm. companies).

Hate (racism, sexism, homophobia, anything that depersonalizes) is not macho--in fact, it's rather weak and effete...a sign of desperation and lack of a strong character.

How does this have to do with the thread? Well...other than answering the posts of the not-well-spoken but nonetheless vocal minority that has to resort to ad-hominem attacks (name-calling and labeling) rather than articulate reasoning, perhaps it's no coincidence that the way Americans act, especially abroad, causes them to get into 'jams' like this? I do feel sorry for the poor old chap who tried to get meds for his sick wife (if that is indeed true); he is a victim of the medicopharmacological establishment the same as nearly everyone here is. He may have thought that it was more like the 'old days' when a wink and a fiver was all you needed to be on your way with the pills. I've also been to Mexico and in many ways and in many areas it is still like this. However, even us innocent bystanders have to pay the price for the behavior of 'Ugly Americans' who have come before us. One OP-related example is how IOPs realize America is one of their biggest customer bases (since citizens of many other countries are entrusted by their governments to be responsible with V or Cod. OTC...the ones who have more limits were influenced by USA drug policy anyway) and yet the USA also is responsible for their biggest customer service headaches in terms of chargebacks after 2 weeks, demanding everything be shipped and tracked *yesterday* despite electing (naivete is no excuse, neither is having your vote bought or coerced by these lobbies and companies) a government whose aim it is to seize and detain each of those packages (despite a somewhat ambivalent importation policy), requiring shippers to get creative and to use slower means of getting the medicine to us. The OP example is only one, and a relatively minor, example of the "Ugly American" phenomenon...
As much as I hate to agree with the Pig, what he said rings very true, even among people who consider themselves tolerant: how much latitude would you give a Mexican who visited this country and, knowingly or unknowingly, broke even a minor law? Is their race, ethnicity, or immigration status an extenuating/mitigating circumstance or an aggravating circumstance for you? Only when we begin to confront our own prejudices and stereotypes can we begin to understand and to parse stories like this by reading 'between the lines' for some underlying themes by thinking critically and not just consuming media at face value. Fortunately, it looks like a majority of DBers have shown that they can think in an advanced way--or maybe it's just the side effects of our medicines enlightening us

Or the ability to empathize as those who are suffering and who are, as health-care outcasts, a member of a minority group ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

•--J