America Isn’t the Greatest Country on Earth — And That’s Just Fine

Leonthecat said:
It's the all or nothing childish mentality of the rabidly jingoistic right.
Trump has figured out how easy it is to manipulate these simple minds.
Granny is a good example of one.
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BINGO!

Despite what fear mongering Righties will tell you, it is possible to believe that America is GREAT, yet still has it's problems.

Trump says he wants to make America great again...I say, it never stopped being great.

Maybe someone should ask Donald why he hates America so much.
 
Thing1 said:
I always find it amazing when people say that America is the greatest country - especially people who haven't traveled much. But really, anyone.

I mean, it may be, depending on your criteria. But people say it as a purely emotional, nationalistic sentiment. It doesn't really have any meaning.
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I've been to several countries, and I believe America is the greatest nation on Earth.

What country do you find better?
 
Yang Wenli said:
Calling a country "the greatest on Earth" is a meaningless statement. You should use specific some metric (GDP, population, land area, etc...) or else all you're doing is bloviating.
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You think GDP is greater than the freedoms Americans enjoy?

What country do you think is better?
 
Konono said:
I've been to several countries, and I believe America is the greatest nation on Earth.

What country do you find better?
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I want you to read the bolded, and genuinely think about that.

Does that sound like any kind of sound, well-researched conclusion to you, based on the fact that you've been to "several countries"?
 
If someone told you a restaurant had the "best burger in NYC," and then followed up by saying they had only tried burgers at a few different places in NYC...how much stock would you put in that opinion?
 
Thing1 said:
I want you to read the bolded, and genuinely think about that.

Does that sound like any kind of sound, well-researched conclusion to you, based on the fact that you've been to "several countries"?
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Did I say my opinion was based solely on that?

I doubt you've been to many other countries. When you do, get back to me. You can research what other people say about a country, but until you go there and especially live there as I have, you will not have the true appreciation of how great this country is. My family came here at great cost and this country has give me opportunities not available in other countries.

What country do find better?
 
Thing1 said:
If someone told you a restaurant had the "best burger in NYC," and then followed up by saying they had only tried burgers at a few different places in NYC...how much stock would you put in that opinion?
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Critics get paid to do that all the time.

LOL
 
Konono said:
Did I say my opinion was based solely on that?

I doubt you've been to many other countries. When you do, get back to me. You can research what other people say about a country, but until you go there and especially live there as I have, you will not have the true appreciation of how great this country is. My family came here at great cost and this country has give me opportunities not available in other countries.

What country do find better?
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I appreciate your experience - but how can you make that determination based on such limited experience? Have you even taken the time to consider every single country on the planet...much less actually spend time in each for a thorough evaluation?

I've been to 6 other countries, but it doesn't matter which "I find better." As I said in my post, America MAY be the best country...but unless someone has spent time in every other country and has done extensive research on the matter, they're in no position to say which is "best."

If I'm just going by studies and not experience, the U.S. came in as the 13th happiest country based on a recent report that I saw. To me, that would probably be the criterion I'd go with - happiness. But everyone would have a different measure of what "best" would mean.
 
Konono said:
I've been to several countries, and I believe America is the greatest nation on Earth.

What country do you find better?
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None. Please explain to me in objective rational terms why the U.S. is greater than say Japan, Brazil, Germany, France, or any of the other industrialized nation? They all have virtually everything we have. Wealth, modern technology, modern infrastructure, political liberty, freedom, culture, education. How are we better on any rational, objective basis?
 
Konono said:
You think GDP is greater than the freedoms Americans enjoy?

What country do you think is better?
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Name one modern industrialized nation other than China that doesn't have the freedoms we enjoy. Some of them have even greater political freedoms than we do.
 
Konono said:
You think GDP is greater than the freedoms Americans enjoy?

What country do you think is better?
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That's a logical fallacy of a false dichotomy. Just because one has determined that there is no objective proof that the U.S. is any better than most other developed nations doesn't mean you believe those nations are better than us.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
That's a logical fallacy of a false dichotomy. Just because one has determined that there is no objective proof that the U.S. is any better than most other developed nations doesn't mean you believe those nations are better than us.
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What is an equal country then?
 
Mmhmm. That's very interesting.

The US is:

6th in Public Expenditures on Healthcare
9th in Bribery
9th in Retirement Security
11th in Economic Freedom
13th in believing that homosexuality should be accepted
14th in Education
17th in Happiness
19th in National Satisfaction
23rd in Gender Equality
24th in Freedom from Corruption
24th in Literacy
26th in Child Well-being
33rd in Internet Download Speeds
46th in Freedom of the Press
115th in Linguistic Diversity
44th in Healthcare Efficiency
66th in Religious Diversity

On the other hand, there ARE some things we excel at.

We're number two in ignorance. (If you think that's good, then you're somewhere in with the rest of those 98-percenters.)
We're GREAT at keeping children in poverty. When it comes to child poverty, 33 countries are better at keeping kids out of poverty than us.

And the grand prize:

We're first when it comes to how many prison inmates there are. We have the most. WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!

You can hear the crowd, waving their arms out of the holes of the cut-off sleeves of their flannel shirts. Do you hear them? Chanting "YOU ESS AY!!! YOU ESS AY!!!" while "Rock You Like a Hurricane" blares from the speakers and F-16 fighters fly overhead (which is a mercy since that song sucks harder than a Dyson). Later, amidst the lingering stench of sweaty arm pits and beneath the glaring sodium lights, the clean-up crews will be out to take away all the empty Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee cans the crowd littered the place with.

And before anyone accuses me of "hating America," I don't hate it. I'm embarrassed by it.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
None. Please explain to me in objective rational terms why the U.S. is greater than say Japan, Brazil, Germany, France, or any of the other industrialized nation? They all have virtually everything we have. Wealth, modern technology, modern infrastructure, political liberty, freedom, culture, education. How are we better on any rational, objective basis?
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Go to Japan as I have and tell me which you prefer.

We have more freedoms than all the countries you mentioned. More job opportunities, better quality of life, the ability to move up economically is superior to those countries.

For all you people that don't think America is the greatest country, what I find interesting is that none of you can cite a single country that is equal or better than America. It took my family great effort to come here and I proud of this country.

You guys clearly aren't. Probably all born here and take it for granted.
 
Stelakh said:
Mmhmm. That's very interesting.

The US is:

6th in Public Expenditures on Healthcare
9th in Bribery
9th in Retirement Security
11th in Economic Freedom
13th in believing that homosexuality should be accepted
14th in Education
17th in Happiness
19th in National Satisfaction
23rd in Gender Equality
24th in Freedom from Corruption
24th in Literacy
26th in Child Well-being
33rd in Internet Download Speeds
46th in Freedom of the Press
115th in Linguistic Diversity
44th in Healthcare Efficiency
66th in Religious Diversity

On the other hand, there ARE some things we excel at.

We're number two in ignorance. (If you think that's good, then you're somewhere in with the rest of those 98-percenters.)
We're GREAT at keeping children in poverty. When it comes to child poverty, 33 countries are better at keeping kids out of poverty than us.

And the grand prize:

We're first when it comes to how many prison inmates there are. We have the most. WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!

You can hear the crowd, waving their arms out of the holes of the cut-off sleeves of their flannel shirts. Do you hear them? Chanting "YOU ESS AY!!! YOU ESS AY!!!" while "Rock You Like a Hurricane" blares from the speakers and F-16 fighters fly overhead (which is a mercy since that song sucks harder than a Dyson). Later, amidst the lingering stench of sweaty arm pits and beneath the glaring sodium lights, the clean-up crews will be out to take away all the empty Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee cans the crowd littered the place with.

And before anyone accuses me of "hating America," I don't hate it. I'm embarrassed by it.
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If you hate the Scorpions, then you hate America.
 
Konono said:
what I find interesting is that none of you can cite a single country that is equal or better than America.
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Ireland. I spent eight years in Dublin when I was younger. We go back on holiday every year, and it always feels like coming home.

If I have my way, I will some day draw my last breath on a stool of the Stag's Head off Dame St. in Dublin.

And when it comes to Japan, it really depends on where you're living. I found that the people in Okinawa were amazingly polite, respectful and decent when taken as a whole. I would gladly live there again, too.
 
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