This is propably gonna end in a flame war.
Is America the "greatest country in the world?"
I live in the United States, but our government does not give us the liberties our Constitution promises, and for all of our decadent freedoms, our excesses are distracting us from affecting real change with regards to the issues that matter.
Hamilton, Ontario
Oh, that explains it.
Most places in Canada aren't as bad as Hamilton.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the Greece and Egyptian Governents seem pretty bad.
I was talking about massacres #Arab and brainwashing.
All of this nationalist bullsh** is counterproductive to discourse. I'm returning home to Symkaria to fantasize about Silver Sable's legs.
@squares: Not attacking you, because despite my post above I actually agree with you, just looking to expand because I agree with several of your points. The US is far, far from perfect. Admitting that is the first step to fixing the problems that exist. Which is why I've always been against terms such as "best". I know your comments weren't directed at me, but if you look at my post it's why I said I prefer it here. Preference isn't deeming anywhere else worse off than any other place. I think this is where nationalism is fundamentally flawed. You can be proud of where you come from, you may consider it the best. But at the end of the day, that's all it is, best for you the individual. Saying it's just flat out the "best" is, well, ignorant.
I agree our healthcare system needs work, as does our taxation, welfare, voting, and others. But no where is perfect, nor will any place ever be.
Anyway I've digressed, there is no "best place", just your own preference. I've been around the world, and met plenty of people from plenty of places. That is one benefit of the military that I love, I get exposed to many cultures and get to see so many places. I prefer it here, but I can absolutely see why someone wouldn't and I don't begrudge them for it.
I agree entirely. It's the statement that a country is 'the best' that irritates me, and it doesn't really matter to me what country people are saying is the best, because it's unquestionably inaccurate.
@squares: Not attacking you, because despite my post above I actually agree with you, just looking to expand because I agree with several of your points. The US is far, far from perfect. Admitting that is the first step to fixing the problems that exist. Which is why I've always been against terms such as "best". I know your comments weren't directed at me, but if you look at my post it's why I said I prefer it here. Preference isn't deeming anywhere else worse off than any other place. I think this is where nationalism is fundamentally flawed. You can be proud of where you come from, you may consider it the best. But at the end of the day, that's all it is, best for you the individual. Saying it's just flat out the "best" is, well, ignorant.
I agree our healthcare system needs work, as does our taxation, welfare, voting, and others. But no where is perfect, nor will any place ever be.
Anyway I've digressed, there is no "best place", just your own preference. I've been around the world, and met plenty of people from plenty of places. That is one benefit of the military that I love, I get exposed to many cultures and get to see so many places. I prefer it here, but I can absolutely see why someone wouldn't and I don't begrudge them for it.
I agree entirely. It's the statement that a country is 'the best' that irritates me, and it doesn't really matter to me what country people are saying is the best, because it's unquestionably inaccurate.
Agreed, there's a place for everyone. It's impossible to argue opinions like this, because that's all it is. I'm glad we understand each other.
All countrys have some good things, some bad things.
Well, that's subjective.
You don't say? For a third time, let me repeat it.
North America is the most racist place I have ever been to.
Also, you haven't explained your post at all.
Before I lived in California, I had never before even heard words like wetback and nigger , I was also very frequently insulted for my effeminacy.
Also, to call an entire continent "racist" is incredibly amusing. lol
*Sigh*
I'm not calling America racist, I'm saying I've encountered more intolerance there than I have anywhere else.
Russia happens to have the largest Neo-Nazi population in the entire world right now, and discrimination against Asians, Blacks, Jews, Muslims and Homosexuals is quite strong there.
I wouldn't know.
Are you going to say that Russia is a very tolerant nation, too?
Doesn't sound like it.
Diverse as in having many different cultures?
How so?
Immigrants from many different countries around the world coming together?
"They're taking our jobs!"
Well, not yet. Otherwise, I wouldn't be typing right now.
Kinda the point.
I guess I need to put my glasses on.
Evidently.
By the way, there are people out there who think that America is a Fascist country. Any thoughts on that? Just curious.
Eh. Getting there.
I'll have to look into a few of them like Sweden. Switzerland is up there with Germany, and they are close to being as good as the U.S. England got defeated by the U.S. a couple hundred years ago, and I heard their economy is worse than America's.
And really, Canada? You think that's better than the U.S. I lived in Germany, Canada, and I currently live in the U.S. I have to say Canada was by far the worst.
Listen Giesty, Im not sure where the hell you lived, but it wasn't Canada if you are saying it's the worst. We might not have the best PM in the world but we definitely trump the US in quality of life and social benefits from our government.
Let's take a look at some lists! =O
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkl45ljgk/1-canada/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertypicturegalleries/9477990/The-worlds-10-best-cities-to-live-in.html?frame=2311071
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_most_livable_cities#Mercer_Quality_of_Living_Survey
Where exactly did the US rank there? hmm?
Pretty sure Canada ranks higher than the US in many polls. We will always be better than the US.
Wakanda is better.
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
lol.
Okay seriously. I can't pinpoint any one country as the "greatest" and even so, I wouldn't say the U.S. is. There are a ton of flaws in this nation and some nations are doing certain things simply better than us.
That being said, I am still grateful to be living where I am today (California, U.S.). Am I patriotic? No. Patriotic is defined as vigorous support and devotion to one's country. I wouldn't say I have that and I'm not a die-hard America. BUT, I'm still happy for the situation I am in. Living in the States, I am more fortunate than most of the world (not an arrogant statement. it is an obvious fact that the U.S. is faaaar from being a 3rd world country).
To answer your question, no. No, America isn't the "greatest country in the world." I can't claim anywhere as the greatest in the world.
But I can still say that you are fortunate to be in this country.
As a Canadian, CitizenBane just hit my right in the gut.... He's just jealous he isn't from Canada :D
@batmannflash: Well said homie.
Name a country that's better. America may not be that good, but it's better than all the others.
Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland, UAE
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
So do contributions to the world as a whole factor as the only thing that matters? Cause if so the US has contributed death, famine, war and strained political ties.
And not for anything, quite a substantial amount of the US's natural resources come from Canada; oil, electricity, uranium... #1 supplier of American Energy sources **points to Canada**. The US heavily relies on support from Canada economically. We also export a substantial amount of minerals worldwide from our mines.
Just because Canada doesn't end up in headlines for crap like spying on their population like US, doesn't make us any less relevant on an International playing field and really... how long has it been that we haven't been a 'significant factor' as you've so eloquently put it?
You also can't ignore past contributions, regardless of how long ago some may have been. Like hello, we gave the world telephones.
@citizenbane: Sorry Canada isn't a drama queen. We're the younger sister who is actually more stable and does well but isn't noticed because of that.
@raiiyn said:
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
So do contributions to the world as a whole factor as the only thing that matters? Cause if so the US has contributed death, famine, war and strained political ties.
And not for anything, quite a substantial amount of the US's natural resources come from Canada; oil, electricity, uranium... #1 supplier of American Energy sources **points to Canada**. The US heavily relies on support from Canada economically. We also export a substantial amount of minerals worldwide from our mines.
Just because Canada doesn't end up in headlines for crap like spying on their population like US, doesn't make us any less relevant on an International playing field and really... how long has it been that we haven't been a 'significant factor' as you've so eloquently put it?
You also can't ignore past contributions, regardless of how long ago some may have been. Like hello, we gave the world telephones.
The United States has also contributed the very medium of communication you're currently using to lambaste it. Air travel? Personal computers? Television? Medical advances? Accepted tenets of modern liberal democracy? The three waves of contemporary feminism? The assembly line system of mechanical production, without which the world would literally come grinding to a halt? You can thank the US for all of that.
Additionally, you might just be mixing up a few of the roles involved in Canada's trading relationship with the United States. Historically, Canadian governments have been reluctant to get so involved with the United States. They used to prefer dealing with the United Kingdom. After the UK joined the EEC in the 70's and became legally tied to the European trading bloc, that alternative went flying out the window, leaving Canada with no choice but to focus the brunt of their export activities with the US or perish. Hence why they signed the FTA in the 80's, and why nearly 75% of all Canadian exports are to the United States. By contrast, the United States' trade relations with Canada comprise about 20% each for imports as well as exports. As much as the United States "heavily relies" on Canadian support, the Canadian economy would literally curl up in a corner and quietly die without the United States.
Canada has little choice but to be so heavily reliant on the American economy for exporting. The main consideration of the United States is that Canada's non-relevance in the political sphere makes them more willing trading partners than certain other less charitable nations. Canada isn't the #1 supplier of oil to the United States, for instance. They're the biggest single nation supplier, not the biggest supplier. That's the OPEC oligarchy, which contributes an exponentially greater amount of oil to the US. The downside is that OPEC is made of countries like Venezuela that aren't especially fond of Washington. Canada is the back-up plan.
And really, Canada gave the world telephones? Thomas Alva Edison, an American born in Ohio and brought up in Michigan, invented a telephonic device of his own, independently, the same year that Alexander Graham Bell invented his telephone. The only difference was that Edison didn't register his device for a commercial patent, while Bell did, and so Bell is called the father of the telephone. Ultimately, though, when the two devices competed in the market, Edison's device was so far ahead of Bell's that the Bell Company was driven to bankruptcy and near-extinction because they couldn't keep up technologically. The only reason AT&T even exists today is because Francis Blake and Emile Berliner, both Americans (one born in Massachusetts and the other a German immigrant) found a way to replicate Edison's carbon microphone for Bell's device so that the Canadian-invented telephone wasn't pushed into obsolescence. Another Massachusetts native, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, was the one who saved the company from certain doom by uniting Blake with Berliner and incorporating the National Bell Telephone Company and the International Bell Telephone Company at Brussels.
So it would be more accurate to say that Canada gave the world a telephone that failed miserably in the market when pitted against the American telephone that was invented at the same time, but thankfully, the intervention of a host of Americans saved the Canadian model from fading into obscurity. Which is typical, really.
@citizenbane: Sorry Canada isn't a drama queen. We're the younger sister who is actually more stable and does well but isn't noticed because of that.
Sure.
America has a lot to offer. But it's in decline. It's far from the greatest country. I prefer France and UK to America. It's the fattest country in the world, it has the most powerful army based on equipment but arguably one of the poorest trained armies. It's whole system is shi!t, they have the highest friendly fire rate killing more allies than every other country, only got involved in wars when it suited them ( when Japan tore them a new asshole), lost to farmers with pitchforks ( Vietnam) , guns are legal, and they wonder why there's so many shootings and turn to the UK now for filming and actors cause no one wants to hear the American accent anymore.
What pisses me off though is how America thinks it's like the world police, like they're the most important thing on this planet. Despite this I do like America, it's a beautiful place, but its culture is embarrassing. They're fat. They're stupid. There's more Hispanics than ever before. They're a joke.
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
There isn't anything worth hating.
America has a lot to offer. But it's in decline. It's far from the greatest country. I prefer France and UK to America. It's the fattest country in the world, it has the most powerful army based on equipment but arguably one of the poorest trained armies. It's whole system is shi!t, they have the highest friendly fire rate killing more allies than every other country, only got involved in wars when it suited them ( when Japan tore them a new asshole), lost to farmers with pitchforks ( Vietnam) , guns are legal, and they wonder why there's so many shootings and turn to the UK now for filming and actors cause no one wants to hear the American accent anymore.
What pisses me off though is how America thinks it's like the world police, like they're the most important thing on this planet. Despite this I do like America, it's a beautiful place, but its culture is embarrassing. They're fat. They're stupid. There's more Hispanics than ever before. They're a joke.
Really, France? With the frequent race riots and blatantly anti-immigrant policies? Strange choice.
And why exactly would "more Hispanics" be embarrassing? O_o
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
There isn't anything worth hating.
Also America didn't invent TV, where did you pull that from?
And on the subject of the UK, China's state-run media recently told David Cameron and the British government to "stop pretending that it (the UK) is a big power" and recognize that Britain is now "apt only for travel and study", after the Brits tried criticizing some piece of Beijing's policy or the other. There are very few First World countries whose political stock has plummeted as badly as the United Kingdom.
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
There isn't anything worth hating.
Also America didn't invent TV, where did you pull that from?
I never said America invented television; I said television is what it is today because of America, which is true. John Logie Baird invented the mechanism by which moving images could be transferred across distances, but it was Philo Farnsworth who invented the world's first functional television set. Baird's design alone would have been meaningless to anyone other than academics in the field. The Radio Corporation of America used Farnsworth's design to mass-market television sets, and it was Farnsworth Television's deal with Ferseh in Germany that first began to spread the influence of television in Europe.
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
There isn't anything worth hating.
Also America didn't invent TV, where did you pull that from?
I never said America invented television; I said television is what it is today because of America, which is true. John Logie Baird invented the mechanism by which moving images could be transferred across distances, but it was Philo Farnsworth who invented the world's first functional television set. Baird's design alone would have been meaningless to anyone other than academics in the field. The Radio Corporation of America used Farnsworth's design to mass-market television sets, and it was Farnsworth Television's deal with Ferseh in Germany that first began to spread the influence of television in Europe.
And he wouldn't have had sh*t if it wasn't for all the pepole that had did the work before him
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Of course we are biased... But it's not bad here in America. I want to see Canada again though... probably will visit the family I have in Vancouver again. Canada aint bad.
No country is the greatest in the world; the United States is just a better place than most. The Canada apologism will always crop up in discussions like this, but, even though it's probably silly, you can always balance that out with the fact that no one outside of Canadians actually care about what Canada does. Canada hasn't been a significant factor in......basically any major international development for a long time now. It's easily one of the most unimportant of the First World nations. America's Hat, as they call it.
And if you think the US is racist, visit Italy sometime. You would not believe the kind of hatred that's endemic to that country.
Well at least the world at larges doesn't hate the Canadians
There isn't anything worth hating.
Also America didn't invent TV, where did you pull that from?
I never said America invented television; I said television is what it is today because of America, which is true. John Logie Baird invented the mechanism by which moving images could be transferred across distances, but it was Philo Farnsworth who invented the world's first functional television set. Baird's design alone would have been meaningless to anyone other than academics in the field. The Radio Corporation of America used Farnsworth's design to mass-market television sets, and it was Farnsworth Television's deal with Ferseh in Germany that first began to spread the influence of television in Europe.
And he wouldn't have had sh*t if it wasn't for all the pepole that had did the work before him
You realize that's how science works, right? Someone sets a foundation, others build on it, and on and on until someone perfects the product? No one who has ever been called the father/inventor/creator of a particular scientific advance would "have sh*t" if it weren't for the people that came before them.
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Because instead of saying what makes America the "best country in the world" your saying what makes every other country bad. It doesn't surprises me that pepole think Americans are stupid when they swan around like pompous asshats telling everybody there country is better than theres.
Personally, I like Australia the best. But I come from there, so I'm quite biased obviously. XD
The US is cool, though.
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Because instead of saying what makes America the "best country in the world" your saying what makes every other country bad. It doesn't surprises me that pepole think Americans are stupid when they swan around like pompous asshats telling everybody there country is better than theres.
My first comment in this thread flat out stated that I didn't think America was "the best country in the world" because that label isn't so specifically defined as to be applicable to any country in the world. There are plenty of things about America that I don't like, and which are done better in other countries. I most definitely think that there are other countries whose policies in a variety of fields are better than the American equivalent. The Scandinavian school system is undoubtedly superior to the American public school system, for instance. I just don't believe in saying any single country is superior in every single field to any other, both because that's ludicrous (unless one country is Somalia or something like that), and also because in the case of America, it's practically guaranteed to be false and beyond the ability of any set of facts to prove.
America might be unpopular, but the fact remains that a sizable majority of the conveniences that we take for granted today are the product of American ingenuity, and life as we know it would be very different without that. It's not just technology, either; various political, social and cultural developments for the better all had their basis in American society. For instance, there wouldn't be as many or as strict protections for women against sexual harassment in the workplace if the likes of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem hadn't taken up the matter in the 80's. But they did, and as a consequence, dozens of countries across the world followed suit in the decades to come. A lot of the most commonly used film-making techniques used across the planet today have their origin in Citizen Kane. Although to be completely fair, some of them were used earlier by Leni Riefenstahl, but she usually gets overlooked because she was a Nazi propagandist.
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Because instead of saying what makes America the "best country in the world" your saying what makes every other country bad. It doesn't surprises me that pepole think Americans are stupid when they swan around like pompous asshats telling everybody there country is better than theres.
My first comment in this thread flat out stated that I didn't think America was "the best country in the world" because that label isn't so specifically defined as to be applicable to any country in the world. There are plenty of things about America that I don't like, and which are done better in other countries. I most definitely think that there are other countries whose policies in a variety of fields are better than the American equivalent. The Scandinavian school system is undoubtedly superior to the American public school system, for instance. I just don't believe in saying any single country is superior in every single field to any other, both because that's ludicrous (unless one country is Somalia or something like that), and also because in the case of America, it's practically guaranteed to be false and beyond the ability of any set of facts to prove.
America might be unpopular, but the fact remains that a sizable majority of the conveniences that we take for granted today are the product of American ingenuity, and life as we know it would be very different without that. It's not just technology, either; various political, social and cultural developments for the better all had their basis in American society. For instance, there wouldn't be as many or as strict protections for women against sexual harassment in the workplace if the likes of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem hadn't taken up the matter in the 80's. But they did, and as a consequence, dozens of countries across the world followed suit in the decades to come. A lot of the most commonly used film-making techniques used across the planet today have their origin in Citizen Kane. Although to be completely fair, some of them were used earlier by Leni Riefenstahl, but she usually gets overlooked because she was a Nazi propagandist.
Sure, America has contributed a lot to the world and as thats what this thread is about it's fine to state them, just like it would be if I made a thread about Scotland and crap we invented, thats not my problem, what I don't like is saying stuff like "oh you think America is racist? Well Italy is even worse. You think Canada is better? There not important like us. The UK? bah there politically redundant"
@raiiyn: Actualy I did live in Canada and compared to the U.S. and Germany it was bad. I lived in Hamilton, Ontario.
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Because instead of saying what makes America the "best country in the world" your saying what makes every other country bad. It doesn't surprises me that pepole think Americans are stupid when they swan around like pompous asshats telling everybody there country is better than theres.
My first comment in this thread flat out stated that I didn't think America was "the best country in the world" because that label isn't so specifically defined as to be applicable to any country in the world. There are plenty of things about America that I don't like, and which are done better in other countries. I most definitely think that there are other countries whose policies in a variety of fields are better than the American equivalent. The Scandinavian school system is undoubtedly superior to the American public school system, for instance. I just don't believe in saying any single country is superior in every single field to any other, both because that's ludicrous (unless one country is Somalia or something like that), and also because in the case of America, it's practically guaranteed to be false and beyond the ability of any set of facts to prove.
America might be unpopular, but the fact remains that a sizable majority of the conveniences that we take for granted today are the product of American ingenuity, and life as we know it would be very different without that. It's not just technology, either; various political, social and cultural developments for the better all had their basis in American society. For instance, there wouldn't be as many or as strict protections for women against sexual harassment in the workplace if the likes of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem hadn't taken up the matter in the 80's. But they did, and as a consequence, dozens of countries across the world followed suit in the decades to come. A lot of the most commonly used film-making techniques used across the planet today have their origin in Citizen Kane. Although to be completely fair, some of them were used earlier by Leni Riefenstahl, but she usually gets overlooked because she was a Nazi propagandist.
Sure, America has contributed a lot to the world and as thats what this thread is about it's fine to state them, just like it would be if I made a thread about Scotland and crap we invented, thats not my problem, what I don't like is saying stuff like "oh you think America is racist? Well Italy is even worse. You think Canada is better? There not important like us. The UK? bah there politically redundant"
Well, I'm not really fond of the "durr americans are fat stupid gun-toting racists" school of internet commentary, but that's not going to stop anyone. What's the issue with comparisons?
@citizenbane: you know as a mod your doing a piss poor job at preventing flaming instead of instigating it
I don't see how any part of this is flaming. In some cases, like the China example above, I'm literally quoting directly from the newspapers. In other cases, like the telephone and television, I'm pointing out actual historical fact. What I'm not doing is making ugly generalizations of the "durr americans are fat and stupid" kind that are trademarks of threads like this because bashing America is suddenly the popular thing to do. It doesn't really matter to me if the facts disagree with anyone else's understanding of history.
Because instead of saying what makes America the "best country in the world" your saying what makes every other country bad. It doesn't surprises me that pepole think Americans are stupid when they swan around like pompous asshats telling everybody there country is better than theres.
My first comment in this thread flat out stated that I didn't think America was "the best country in the world" because that label isn't so specifically defined as to be applicable to any country in the world. There are plenty of things about America that I don't like, and which are done better in other countries. I most definitely think that there are other countries whose policies in a variety of fields are better than the American equivalent. The Scandinavian school system is undoubtedly superior to the American public school system, for instance. I just don't believe in saying any single country is superior in every single field to any other, both because that's ludicrous (unless one country is Somalia or something like that), and also because in the case of America, it's practically guaranteed to be false and beyond the ability of any set of facts to prove.
America might be unpopular, but the fact remains that a sizable majority of the conveniences that we take for granted today are the product of American ingenuity, and life as we know it would be very different without that. It's not just technology, either; various political, social and cultural developments for the better all had their basis in American society. For instance, there wouldn't be as many or as strict protections for women against sexual harassment in the workplace if the likes of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem hadn't taken up the matter in the 80's. But they did, and as a consequence, dozens of countries across the world followed suit in the decades to come. A lot of the most commonly used film-making techniques used across the planet today have their origin in Citizen Kane. Although to be completely fair, some of them were used earlier by Leni Riefenstahl, but she usually gets overlooked because she was a Nazi propagandist.
Sure, America has contributed a lot to the world and as thats what this thread is about it's fine to state them, just like it would be if I made a thread about Scotland and crap we invented, thats not my problem, what I don't like is saying stuff like "oh you think America is racist? Well Italy is even worse. You think Canada is better? There not important like us. The UK? bah there politically redundant"
Well, I'm not really fond of the "durr americans are fat stupid gun-toting racists" school of internet commentary, but that's not going to stop anyone. What's the issue with comparisons?
Since when did two wrongs make a right? Not to mention I didn't see anybody say that in this thread.
The countries lack of healthcare, lack of democracy (two party system), insecure (high killing rates, capital punishment , the highest percentage of the population in jail for any country, way to many guns flowing around, high jail time for basically minding your own business for instance doing drugs) dose that is a land I would never live in. Nice place to visit and for the most parts friendly people but I prefer to live a place where I don't have to worry about a big hospital bill or worry about if my insurance cover me or not. Like wise have political system where I can choose between several parties and not just pick the one a dislike the least. And even though America is seen as the land of the free it is very often socially control by strong christian beliefs which I don't necessary agrees with and you should have the freedom not to have. If America is so free why is it then so wrong to be a socialist and atheist/agnostic? Shouldn't you have the freedom to think what you will?
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment