Strikes me kind of uneasy...

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

And that self-righteous attitude is the reason why they "denigrate" us. Whether or not we actually are the "greatest country the face of the earth has ever seen" is inconsequential...

There is a flip side / other shoe here that no one has mentioned.

99% of the people in this country can trace their family back to two people who lived in another country (mostly Europe) and came here at some point with little more than the clothes they were wearing

and the reason they came here is they were either destitute, or they were unwanted in their own homeland.

My grandparents came to the US in 1921 from Germany with nothing but hope for a better life.

So, yeah, we do walk with a bit of a swagger in the US, because when you get down to it, we are the rejects the other countries discarded, and instead of floundering the the 'wilderness' of N. America, we prospered instead.

Prospered and surpassed the nations that had no use for us.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

There is a flip side / other shoe here that no one has mentioned.

99% of the people in this country can trace their family back to two people who lived in another country (mostly Europe) and came here at some point with little more than the clothes they were wearing

Since Secretary Gutierrez is one of those people who came from another country himself and is now the Secretary of Commerce (!), I'll cut him some slack.....

I'm impressed that he came to talk to us, and recognizes the importance of FIRST

[Pavan Dave]

I noticed most of our speakers did that too, and I think it was disrespectful expecially when they talked about America being the Greatest Country in the world infront of forenign people and all kinds of stuff. I hope the countries were not offended and I hope our speakers next year watch what they say next year.

Also I agree with the person above me. I myself am Indian and I heard someone on the team infront of us look over at me as soon as they said that. Just because there are Indian Engineers doesnt mean they dont work as hard as others and that they didn't earn their spots and jobs and that statement offended me a little. I think that that attitude is unacceptable in FIRST.

Pavan

[IrishPirate]

I was with Llama at the St Louis Regional for the "keep the Chinese and the Indians at bay" incident. (Note: Chinese and Indians not China and India) I don't think that this is a political issue because very one I talked to on my team was offended; mentors, students and parents, from all over the political spectrum. Once back home the incident would come up occasionally in conversation but most of us just felt that it was one persons misinterpretation of what FIRST is about.

Once we heard similar remarks two days in a row at nationals in front of our foreign guests we were again shocked at this misinterpretation (in our eyes) of what FIRST means.

I'm not offended by politicians being patriotic, what is offensive is the idea that FIRST is about beating others rather than improving ourselves.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by IrishPirate

I was with Llama at the St Louis Regional for the "keep the Chinese and the Indians at bay" incident. (Note: Chinese and Indians not China and India) I don't think that this is a political issue because very one I talked to on my team was offended; mentors, students and parents, from all over the political spectrum. Once back home the incident would come up occasionally in conversation but most of us just felt that it was one persons misinterpretation of what FIRST is about.

Once we heard similar remarks two days in a row at nationals in front of our foreign guests we were again shocked at this misinterpretation (in our eyes) of what FIRST means.

I'm not offended by politicians being patriotic, what is offensive is the idea that FIRST is about beating others rather than improving ourselves.

What may be coming from this discussion is the reason behind the homework assignment - to teach and to educate. FIRST isn't a given. It is a process of learning and understanding through experience - then sharing that with the school districts, the media, the leadership through communication and commitment.

[anna~marie]

You know I'm glad that I am not the only one who was a little concerned about that. I have no issues with patriotism and cooperation with the government, and what not, but frankly I thought it was rude to talk about how America is the top and best...etc, even if it is just a person's opinion
If I was from another country I might be a little annoyed

[Pat Fairbank]

I was a bit miffed upon hearing these comments, but in my experience Canadians are pretty thick-skinned, and I'm no exception. I realize that what was said doesn't in any way reflect the general opinion of Americans, and that's good enough for me to not feel insulted.

Besides, I think it was demonstrated this past Championship that Canadians know a thing or two about science and technology.

[Psychoflood]

I too was shocked when i heard multiple references during speeches to all the teams talking about how America is the best country in the world and i instantly turned to multiple members of my team and pointed out it was an international competition and the flags from many other countries were proudly flying right above his head. Of course, as a citizen everyone has the right to love their country.. but FIRST is based on a strong belief of gracious professionalism.. and bragging that your country is better than all the others, especially when there's many of them in your audience, is not very graciously professional at all. I think it's wonderful that he sees how important FIRST is, but he also needs to see how important FIRST's morals are.

[FourPenguins]

First of all, I'm glad to hear that the few foreign posters thus far were not very offended.
Second, I would like to say that as an American citizen, it is appalling to me that anyone, especially a representative of our government, would speak so rudely to the international community.
It's true that American industry is great, but it's also true that Canada has one of the world's largest petroleum production capacities, China has one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and the European Union is a shining example of international cooperation to form a true global economy.
By putting America out there as "the best," to a room dotted with foreign students, what message does he send? If I were in the position of those students, I would be insulted and threatened.
Rather than embracing the new world economy that is rapidly becoming a reality, the Secretary only perpetuates the nation vs. nation trade scheme of the past thousand years.

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by ScoutingNerd175

Not only are there Israeli teams, Canadian teams, British teams, and Brazilian teams involved in FRC, there are also the 20+ countries represented in FLL. We have Canadian World Champions this year and have had Canadian and Brazilian Regional Chairman's Award Winners.

Guess where the three winning teams came from? (yes, they all did attend other regionals)
The largest Regional in FIRST, held in Canada.

Guess who lead the winning alliance?
A Canadian team from Quebec.

And we had a team, 1114, who made a very strong push for the Chairman's Award this year.

FIRST is an International competition. Yes, it is still dominated by American teams. But the large number of Canadian, Israeli, and Brazilian teams who proved that they know a few things about robotics . Yes, there are still many more American teams. But if FIRST truly wants more growth it should look international. I hope to see more of a focus on this in the future. The future of science and technology does not only rely on the United States, it relies on the international community working together to solve the worlds problems.

Getting back to the point of the thread, No I wasn't really offended sitting up in the stands watching the presentation. I thought to myself that it is his job to speak more to the American people, than to myself as a Canadian. Didn't offend me, just hope that in the future we could see more of a focus on growing FIRST as an international organization

My $0.02 Canadian,
Jonathan Norris

[Ian Mackenzie]

I didn't mind the speech too much (and I'm Canadian) - he might have gone over the top once or twice, but it's partially his job to be a cheerleader for the country he works for.

On a related note, I thought it was telling that the top ten list in the closing ceremonies referred to "Western culture" instead of "American culture". I might be going out on a limb here, but I suspect that FIRST might actually be succeeding at attacking the outsourcing issue in a way it probably didn't expect.

If you were an engineer and Texas and you lost your job to an engineer in Mexico, would you be most annoyed that you lost your job to someone geographically different? No - Alaska would be a lot further away, but if you lost your job to some upstart student in Alaska who worked for half your salary, I don't think it would be quite the same thing. I think you'd be most upset that you lost your job to someone who didn't share your values or your culture - someone who just seemed 'foreign'.

As well as inspiring and training American students to become excellent, more competitive engineers, in some small way FIRST is helping to build a broader, more inclusive 'Western' culture - we have international teams (1596), cross-border friendships (e.g. 48 and 1114), and all sorts of graciously professional interactions between teams (playing together on alliances, advice on Chief Delphi, sharing parts and tools in the pits, etc.)

If engineers and technicians worldwide could figure out some shared values and get used to working together in a graciously professional sort of way, we might be able to take the 'out' out of 'outsourcing' - if we all share a strong cultural set of values, who exactly is 'out'? I think FIRST is a great way to do this, and in some ways it might be an even more permanent solution.

******

I apologize in advance if any of the above comes across as insulting or arrogant or anything - it's taken me at least half an hour to edit this, but I'm still not sure it's worded right. Personally, I'm proud to be Canadian, but I have an immense amount of respect for what America has been able to accomplish over the last few hundred years. I want to work to make Canada the best it can be, but I hope that doesn't preclude me from being able to work along side some of the amazing American students and engineers I've met through FIRST.

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by anna~marie

You know I'm glad that I am not the only one who was a little concerned about that. I have no issues with patriotism and cooperation with the government, and what not, but frankly I thought it was rude to talk about how America is the top and best...etc, even if it is just a person's opinion
If I was from another country I might be a little annoyed

Definately...

I spoke to a few international teams (when I got the chance) at the party and what not and not too many of them were offended.

And I think after the speakers saw that the canadian+american teamwork owned, I think they were thinking a little more of what they said hopefully..

Pavn

[dangerousdave]

Now that quite a few people have discussed Secretary Gutierrez’s speech, here is what he said in Atlanta. You can form your own opinion as others already have stated here but at least you will have the facts to base them on from his speech.

I was in the GA Dome for his speech but also recorded it from the NASA channel Friday morning. I watched it today and have typed his text for you to read.

I am of course proud of my country and some of what the Secretary said was obviously pro American. He also championed inventions, creativity, innovation and First Robotics. He challenged us to “step it up” and increase our level of innovation and creativity like never before. I believe he was talking to everyone in the audience not just Americans.

Some have mentioned here the Secretary was rude, criticized and bashed other countries in his speech. What I heard didn’t cause me to have that opinion. He was stating his opinion of his adopted country as he was born in Havana, Cuba.

Another has mentioned here that the Secretary said that “America won’t let Indians keep taking their jobs.” Well whatever was said by someone regarding Indians was not said by Secretary Gutierrez.

I myself have been to many other countries, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and at least 5 Canadian provinces ( I just love Canada!). I met with teams from Israel & Brazil last weekend and they were great people. I know that there are great hard working inventive people all over the world not just here at home.

For our gathering, the Secretary may have concentrated his speech on the USA a little much but that is part of his job. He oversees a diverse Cabinet agency with some 38,000 workers focused on promoting American business at home and abroad. He also formulates telecommunications and technology policy, fosters minority business development and promotes economic growth in distressed communities.

I was glad he was able to address the First gathering but understand others if they felt that he was speaking primarily toward Americans. I would hope that others also think as I do, that their countries are the greatest in the world!

Dave


There are likely some punctuation errors and I may have left out a couple of words but this is what was said.

Friday morning, April 28th, 2006 at the Georgia Dome,
John Dudas, Undersecretary of Commerce said about the Hon. Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce:

He fled Cuba with his family as a young boy and came to the United States. He learned English from a bellhop in a hotel in Miami. Sold cereal out of the back of a van in Mexico. Worked his way up to become CEO and chairman of the board of one of America’s most successful companies Kellogg’s.

Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce said:

I want to thank Dean Kamen and Mayor Franklin and representative Bass for supporting you in what you do and for having the foresight and the vision to know that what you are doing is going to create the future of our country.

Our economy grew once again at a very fast pace just in the first quarter and it confirms once again what we have been saying. That we have the most vibrant, the greatest country, the greatest economy on the face of the earth. There is nothing, nothing like it in the world and there is no developed or industrialized economy that is performing like we are. The reason that we are performing this way and the reason that we have led the world economy for so long, is because of our innovation, it’s because of our creativity, it’s because of our ideas, it has been our ability, our ability to invent new things. If you look back at the history of the last couple of centuries, inventions that have changed the lives of people all over the world, they have been created here in our country. Think about it, the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, computer software, you can go on and on and on. This has been the country of ideas, the country of innovation, the country of creativity and the country of invention.

What’s happening now is that we have picked up three billion new competitors. Of course we have 3 billion new consumers. We also have to think about it as we have 3 billion new competitors. So whatever we have been doing for the past 20, 50, 100 or 200 years, we have to step it up. We have to grow it, we have to increase the pace, we have to step up our level of innovation, our level of invention, our level of creativity like we have never done before.

In his state of the union address the President called for a national movement to develop a national passion for innovation. A national passion for science, a national passion for math, a national passion for the creation of new things, new ideas and new inventions. A national movement, something that we can all get behind and say we are going to innovate like never before in our history because we are going to become even more than today, the most competitive economy in the world and we’re going to show the world why we are the leaders of the economy today.

So, First is very much leading the way and I can’t tell you how important it is what you are doing here today and how symbolic this is that we are having this session today in the year 2006. This is the future, this is what our future is all about and you are leading the way, you are a great example for citizens all over the country, you are role models of what we want to be as a nation in the future.

So I can’t tell you how much I thank you and on behalf of President Bush, on behalf of Americans all over the country, thank you for your leadership, thank you for what you are doing to make this the greatest country on Earth.

Thank you very much!