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America
Mar 7, 2010 21:17:40 GMT -5
Post by thedeathburger on Mar 7, 2010 21:17:40 GMT -5
So I've lived in America my whole life More specifically, Massachusetts And I grew up hearing that America was the best country on Earth And that everywhere else was a living, breathing stereotype
The thing is, in certain ways, we are the best But in most others we aren't We don't have the biggest guns (probably China) We aren't the nicest (probably Canada) We don't have the most advanced technology (definitely Japan)
So why do we consider ourselves the best? Why is it that our population is either a patriotic, or striving to leave?
I'm sort of in between I like where I live, But at the same time, I feel I have to be hypercritical And, in the words of Philip DeFranco:
"America is a limited edition Beanie Baby, with a Big Mac in one hand, and an American flag in the other, and when you flip it over, on the back, it says MADE IN CHINA"
I don't know Just wanted to throw that out there
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America
Mar 7, 2010 21:21:29 GMT -5
Post by Johncoyne on Mar 7, 2010 21:21:29 GMT -5
I think that people mean that we have freedom. Freedom of religion, and all that good stuff. I was watching Undercover Boss (I love that show) and there was a guy from some other country (I forget...) and he was saying how Americans take their freedoms for granted and how he loves being here so much. I don't know how much of that was scripted, but, it made me think.
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America
Mar 7, 2010 21:28:05 GMT -5
Post by swan on Mar 7, 2010 21:28:05 GMT -5
"America is a limited edition Beanie Baby, with a Big Mac in one hand, and an American flag in the other, and when you flip it over, on the back, it says MADE IN CHINA" That's a pretty sweet quote. I find it hard to accurately judge how good America really is but people are given the freedom to live life how they want (for the most part at least), and having the world's largest economy helps to add stability to the country.
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America
Mar 7, 2010 21:53:17 GMT -5
Post by Breepop on Mar 7, 2010 21:53:17 GMT -5
It's bothered me for a while that most Americans whole heartedly believe that they live in the best country in the world. It's so untrue. It's one thing to be patriotic (AMERICA FUCK YEAH AMIRITE ;D), it's quite another to waltz around like your country has the best of everything ever. Ok, America is better than a crapload of countries, but thinking that it's the best is...dangerous. Americans have the biggest fracking case of ethnocentrism ever. I've just started to accept it.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 15:15:51 GMT -5
Post by ifyouwantblood on Mar 8, 2010 15:15:51 GMT -5
Alot of people in norway say that we are the best country in the world. I think it really is just a matter of patriotism, because who doesent want to live in the worlds best country? Altough i do doubt that people who live in countries with a awful tyrant leader think that, But maybe they think that one day they will get a new leader who speaks of freedom and their country will be the best in the world right? (but then again i cant read minds) ( OR CAN I ? )
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America
Mar 8, 2010 17:50:52 GMT -5
Post by mrshneeblee on Mar 8, 2010 17:50:52 GMT -5
I wouldn't say America is the best considering highest obesity rate and it's corrupt government but I'd say its pretty decent, hell ova lot better than countries in Africa/Middle East.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 20:05:26 GMT -5
Post by kevinguy247 on Mar 8, 2010 20:05:26 GMT -5
What I love about America, and what I think every citizen loves is that it has the POTENTIAL to be great. Sometimes it really is a force for good in the world and sometimes it's not, but it has the potential to change if people want it to bad enough.
What I hate about America is that the people who don't want change can manage to convince us that the very thing that makes America so great is evil. I hate living somewhere that any idea is a bad idea and I'm encouraged to accept things how they are, even though I can't be forced.
America was and is a fantastic IDEA. I think that the idea isn't utilized nearly often enough.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 20:09:34 GMT -5
Post by runforthefinish on Mar 8, 2010 20:09:34 GMT -5
As the world becomes more open to opinions, more and more countries are exceeding the Freedom and rights people have. Sweden and Germany are both really good examples of how much the world has advanced in the last thirty years.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 20:13:46 GMT -5
Post by mrshneeblee on Mar 8, 2010 20:13:46 GMT -5
I agree, Germany is a exponential community, formed over a period of hundreds of years from fragmented entities and was devastated by two world wars, it still managed to reserve a spot with the best.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 20:17:50 GMT -5
Post by noobsensei on Mar 8, 2010 20:17:50 GMT -5
There are different ways of measuring who is the "best" country in the world. The United States is certainly near the top of the list by many measures. IMO, we are second to no one when it comes to protecting civil rights and civil liberties, and we're one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to promoting racial and religious tolerance. We also have one of the most vibrant economies in the world, the most fiscally reliable government in the world, and one of the highest GDPs per capita.
However, we fall far behind our peers in many other measures. Our pre-college education system is terrible, as is our health care system. We also have a lot more poverty and crime than other developed countries, and our legislative process is becoming increasingly dysfunctional.
With all that said...there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather live. I'd like to visit many countries and maybe even live in them for short periods of time (no more than a year). But I wouldn't want to move anywhere else permanently.
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America
Mar 8, 2010 20:25:35 GMT -5
Post by Lex on Mar 8, 2010 20:25:35 GMT -5
Canada > United States.
There are probably other countries out there better than Canada, I've just never been to them.
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