I think it'd be
really good if Brendon or Mike could make this entire thread go poof and disappear. Eh?
A quick summary of what happened here, if you're joining this late.
1- Someone in a foul mood posted a winded rant about various grievances, both percieved and real, he had, especially about a bias FIRST may or may not have towards international teams.
2- Several patriotic Americans stood up and defended their country.
3- FLAME WAR!! oi.
As both an American citizen and a Canadian by heritage, please, just stop arguing over this. It's like debating which side of the Mississippi is better; there's very little difference between the two countries at all. Were we debating the merits of fascism or communism, you could say there was a great chasm, but at this point the debate comes down a contest between the Sacajawea and the Twoonie.
Chill out. Do I happen to agree with America's current foreign policy? No. Would it matter if I did? Not really, seeing as how this is a message board about a high school robotics competition.
Yes, FIRST used to have the "US" prefix, yes, a lot of veteran teams and people still refer to it as that. Just like we still refer to the Championship as "Nationals" and most likely forever will.
Yes, having things go through Customs and such is difficult, especially after the 9-11 crisis, but just imagine what the Brazilian team has to go through, I'm sure its quite worse. What exactly can be done about the matter, anyway?
I'm sorry if anyone has a problem with Americana - and don't worry, I occasionally do as well - but here is the least appropriate place to vent such frustrations that I can imagine.
Can't we all just get along?