# America 101: How would you answer these kinds of questions? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994 "2015-01-27T12:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/41 "2015-01-28T15:35:52Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > Oh! I’ve also been asked several times why all the baddies in Hollywood films are played by British actors. Actually, nowadays all the GOOD guys are played by foreign actors, too! Batman was a Welshman! Thor and Wolverine are Australian. Seriously, you look at all the high profile Hollywood movies, and you’re liable to find foreigners playing all the leading roles, even when the characters are supposed to be American. In recent years, we’ve had an Irishman (Daniel Day-Lewis) playing Abraham Lincoln, a Welshman (Anthony Hopkins) playing Richard Nixon, an Aussie (Cate Blanchett) playing Katharine Hepburn, a South African playing Aileen Wuornos. That said, there ARE some serious British stage actors who figure they can play the villain in some American action movie and make enough money to go back to the West End for a few years and do the low-paying work that actually interests them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/42 "2015-01-28T16:52:17Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Actually, nowadays all the GOOD guys are played by foreign actors, too! Batman was a Welshman! Thor and Wolverine are Australian. _Thor_ had a very international cast. In the major roles, you had an Australian, an Israeli, three Britons, a Swede, an Irishman, four Americans, a Canadian, and a Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/43 "2015-01-28T17:38:57Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I didn’t bother reading the replies so far so forgive me if I repeat info. And giving the obviously anti-US nature of the questions forgive me if I treat this thread as a ‘hostile witness’. 😃 > > So in a nutshell: > \* > > - Why can’t you Americans stop interfering with women’s health care?\* > > If you want to talk about abortion, just say so, don’t use pretentious, pseudo-intellectual euphemisms. And abortion is legal in all 50 states. > \*\* Why can’t you understand science? > > - How can you still be so blind to the reality of climate change?\* > > Don’t ask two identical questions when only one is enough. Climate change as it exists today is less science than it is a neo-hippie fad and it deserves to be held up to intense scrutiny by anyone claiming to be a real scientist. Not doing so is the very definition of ignoring the ‘scientific method’ and instead caving to politics & media hype. > \*\* How can you speak of the rule of law when your presidents break international laws to make war whenever they want?\* > > 9/11 was more than a justification for everything we’ve done in the war on terror. If anything, we haven’t gone far enough. When terrorists attack and destroy one of your country’s greatest structures/achievements and murder 3000+ of its innocent citizens call us. Till then questions like the above mean next to nothing. > \*\* How can you throw away the Geneva Conventions and your principles to advocate torture?\* > > Waterboarding is not torture. > \*\* How can you hand over the power to blow up the planet to one lone, ordinary man?\* > > First, a nuclear war would not ‘blow up the planet’, but it would destroy most of Western civilization. And second, it is neither in the hands of ‘one’ nor an ‘ordinary’ individual. It would require two (and actually quite a few more) top members of the US govt to launch a nuclear strike, and on many levels the US President can hardly be called an ‘ordinary individual’ (and this coming from one of the only countries that has _ **NEVER** _ had a king). > \*\* Why do you Americans like guns so much? Why do you kill each other at such a rate?\* > > Because this country was formed by armed revolt and personal ownership of firearms was (and to some degree still is) an integral part of that. Again, those of you who’s history is dominated by aristocracy & peasantry will never understand this. And we are a nation of over 300 million people. Percentages distort. > > Any other homework? :rolleyes: This is a good post for helping the OP understand the problems we have here. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/44 "2015-01-29T06:08:09Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Very good points. Come to West Virginia (you know, country roads, Blue Ridge mountains, Shenandoah river…) sometime. One of the most heavily armed places in the world, and one of the safest too. People are polite. _Very_ polite. West Virginia has higher homicide rates than much of Western Europe. A well armed society is a society with [paranoid cops](http://www.businessinsider.com/why-do-us-police-kill-so-many-people-2014-8). US cops killed over 404 people in 2011, compared to two in Britain (zero in 2013) and 6 in Germany and Australia. Zero in France IIRC. Now let’s break out the homicide numbers for about 2011. West Virginia: 3.3 US as a whole: 4.7 That’s not too different, in my view. Let’s look at other upper income countries: Australia 1.1 Britain 1.0 Italy 0.9. Yeah, even with the mafia. Greece 1.7, Yes: even with their economy in terrible condition Sweden 0.7 Norway 2.2. Huh. That’s pretty high, but not by US standards. Ireland 1.2 France 1.0 Germany 0.8 Japan 0.3 Iraq has a murder rate of 8.0, 142% higher than West Virginia’s. West Virginia’s murder rate in turn is 230% higher that Britain’s. I wouldn’t call West Virginia a safe place to live: its murder rate is closer to war-torn Iraq percentage-wise than it is to Britain. (You can look at the differential and get different results: the bottom line though is that West Virginia has an elevated murder rate by 1st world standards.) > **[Murder Rates | Death Penalty Information Center](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/murder-rates)** > > The Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the media, policymakers, and the general public… > **[List of countries by intentional homicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate)** > > The list of countries by homicide rate is derived from United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data, and is expressed in number of deaths per 100,000 population per year. For example, a homicide rate of 30 out of 100,000 is presented in the table as "30", and corresponds to 0.03% of the population dying by homicide. The reliability of underlying national murder rate data may vary. Only UNODC-vetted data is used in the main table to maintain consistency. In some cases, i Homicide rates ... ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/45 "2015-01-29T06:34:51Z")
Ok, I messed up the US numbers. Let me try again: ```auto Murder 2013 Murder 2011 United states 4.6?? 4.7 West Virginia 3.3 4.7 Vermont 1.6 1.8 ``` 4.6 figure from here: [FBI — Table 16](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-16/table_16_rate_by_population_group_2013.xls) I took the lower 2013 figure from West Virginia and said it was 2011. In fact West Virginia’s murder rate in 2011 was the same as that of the entire US. So I understated the violence in West Virginia. Vermont though has murder rates in striking distance to that of an ordinary first world country, though still higher than Britain, France, Germany or Italy. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/46 "2015-01-29T10:44:24Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Norway 2.2. Huh. That’s pretty high, but not by US standards. I expect you’re looking at Breiviks stats. The normal rate is about 0,7 - 0,8. I did once calculate that if Norway had the murder rate of Texas, the increased murder rate would be equivalent to one Breivik every 5 months. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/47 "2015-01-29T13:50:01Z")
These kinds of comments come up a lot when I’m talking to my European friends and colleagues; usually I answer that most of these problems come from red state America and that the nation has grown apart to the point where we no longer share the same culture. ETA that I also agree with their sentiments and concerns. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/48 "2015-01-29T16:49:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > These kinds of comments come up a lot when I’m talking to my European friends and colleagues; usually I answer that most of these problems come from red state America and that the nation has grown apart to the point where we no longer share the same culture. There may be some truth in that, but I don’t think it’s helpful to divide the world, or the country, into an “Us” vs. “Them” and smugly assume that “Us” are enlightened and right-thinking and “Them” are all stupid primitive yahoos. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/49 "2015-01-29T16:57:56Z")
The US has a population level of 310 million, unevenly spread among 50 Federalized States, each with it’s own challenges & concerns, and to some extent, slightly different cultures. Maybe comparing the US to Norway (a politically stable and economically well off country of 5 million) is not really useful, IMO. Europe, from the Urals to Portugal, has a population of 700 million. So the US has the about half of the population of Europe as a whole. Just looking at Europe as a whole, I think you will find a wide spectrum of economic stability/unstability, approaches to governmental activities & responsibilities, crime rates, cultures, etc. etc. blah blah, then just cherry picking one much smaller (and better performing) subsection of that continent. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/50 "2015-01-29T16:59:29Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Actually, nowadays all the GOOD guys are played by foreign actors, too! Batman was a Welshman! Thor and Wolverine are Australian. > > Seriously, you look at all the high profile Hollywood movies, and you’re liable to find foreigners playing all the leading roles, even when the characters are supposed to be American. In recent years, we’ve had an Irishman (Daniel Day-Lewis) playing Abraham Lincoln, a Welshman (Anthony Hopkins) playing Richard Nixon, an Aussie (Cate Blanchett) playing Katharine Hepburn, a South African playing Aileen Wuornos. > > That said, there ARE some serious British stage actors who figure they can play the villain in some American action movie and make enough money to go back to the West End for a few years and do the low-paying work that actually interests them. It was still worth a giggle, though, when we watched _Air Force One_ the other night, and on seeing Gary Oldman’s screen credit, Mr Boods (who is British) said, ‘I think I know who the bad guy is in this one…’ (We followed up with that other '90s _Die Hard_ rip off, _Passender 57_, and yup, British dude as bad guy. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/51 "2015-01-30T00:44:38Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Europe, from the Urals to Portugal, has a population of 700 million. So the US has the about half of the population of Europe as a whole. Just looking at Europe as a whole, I think you will find a wide spectrum of economic stability/unstability, approaches to governmental activities & responsibilities, crime rates, cultures, etc. etc. blah blah, then just cherry picking one much smaller (and better performing) subsection of that continent. Well that’s an _interesting_ opinion. I trust you can name an upper income European country with a substantially higher murder rate than the US. Here, I’ll get you started: Upper income countries: > **[World Bank high-income economy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank_high-income_economy)** > > A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a gross national income per capita of US$14,005 or more in 2023, calculated using the Atlas method. While the term "high-income" is often used interchangeably with "First World" and "developed country," the technical definitions of these terms differ. The term "first world" commonly refers to countries that aligned themselves with the U.S. and NATO during the Cold War. Several institutions, such as the Central Intelligence Ag Ac... Murder rates by country: > **[List of countries by intentional homicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate)** > > The list of countries by homicide rate is derived from United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data, and is expressed in number of deaths per 100,000 population per year. For example, a homicide rate of 30 out of 100,000 is presented in the table as "30", and corresponds to 0.03% of the population dying by homicide. The reliability of underlying national murder rate data may vary. Only UNODC-vetted data is used in the main table to maintain consistency. In some cases, i Homicide rates ... In the list above, I reported some of the largest countries in Europe -Britain, Germany, France and Italy- as well as those with depression levels of unemployment (Greece). All had murder rates a fraction of that of the US. You are correct though that third world countries and tinpot dictatorships often have higher murder rates than the US. Middle income countries and those with weak rule of law also have higher murder rates. When the cops are corrupt or incompetent, plenty of bozos will take the law into their own hands. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/52 "2015-01-30T00:52:08Z")
My response is “Why should we do what another nation wants, instead of what \*we \*want?” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/53 "2015-01-30T02:31:30Z")
I guess my question would be if there are actually Norwegians stupid enough to ask such absurdly simplistic questions about issues that obviously do not have simple answers, or if, in fact, the questioners really have no interest in asking the question at all, but are merely saying “you suck compared to Norway.” ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/54 "2015-01-30T04:50:22Z")
It would be nice to be sweet little Norway all tucked up nicely out of the way with tons of oil to pay for universal healthcare and few people to spend it on. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/55 "2015-01-30T05:29:17Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Well that’s an _interesting_ opinion. I trust you can name an upper income European country with a substantially higher murder rate than the US. Here, I’ll get you started: > > Upper income countries: > [World Bank high-income economy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank_high-income_economy) > > Murder rates by country: > [List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate) > > In the list above, I reported some of the largest countries in Europe -Britain, Germany, France and Italy- as well as those with depression levels of unemployment (Greece). All had murder rates a fraction of that of the US. > > You are correct though that third world countries and tinpot dictatorships often have higher murder rates than the US. Middle income countries and those with weak rule of law also have higher murder rates. When the cops are corrupt or incompetent, plenty of bozos will take the law into their own hands. Any discussion of murder rates in the USA should mention that they vary greatly. My humble home state of North Dakota has a murder rate of 2.2 per hundred thousand people per year, so it wouldn’t be too out of place in Europe. Other states are even lower. In fact most places in the USA have murder rates comparable to Europe. There are a few small islands with murder rates more like a third world country. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/56 "2015-01-30T16:44:01Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Well that’s an _interesting_ opinion. I trust you can name an upper income European country with a substantially higher murder rate than the US. Here, I’ll get you started: > > Upper income countries: > [World Bank high-income economy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank_high-income_economy) > > Murder rates by country: > [List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate) > > In the list above, I reported some of the largest countries in Europe -Britain, Germany, France and Italy- as well as those with depression levels of unemployment (Greece). All had murder rates a fraction of that of the US. > > You are correct though that third world countries and tinpot dictatorships often have higher murder rates than the US. Middle income countries and those with weak rule of law also have higher murder rates. When the cops are corrupt or incompetent, plenty of bozos will take the law into their own hands. No, my point was that the US is NOT a monolithic entity with the same murder rates, income rates, and uniform laws dealing with abortion, SSM, business and environmental regulations, culture, approach to governing, and the challenges all those diverse constituent populations feel are important to them. It’s like assuming that the entire US (culture, laws, business, crime, economy, education, health care, etc.) should all be considered to be no different than what is found in Wisconsin (based on pop size compared to Norway). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/57 "2015-01-30T21:44:57Z")
_(1) Why can’t you Americans stop interfering with women’s health care? (2) Why can’t you understand science? (3) How can you still be so blind to the reality of climate change?_ Two reasons. One, the U.S. is much more religious than most European countries. Compare the U.S. not with secular Europe, but with fundamentalist Iran. (Fundamentalists don’t constitute a U.S. majority, but they occupy a key electoral niche.) But two, ignorance and bigotry will often enhance corporate profits, or enable electoral success. Because money plays such a strong role in American elections, bigotry and misconception become the norm when they are advantageous for the big Dog-eat-dog players. _(4) How can you speak of the rule of law when your presidents break international laws to make war whenever they want? (6) How can you hand over the power to blow up the planet to one lone, ordinary man?_ Here, I’ll take a more sanguine, nearly right-wing position. The U.S. has often played a role as world policeman/imperialist. Some of its interventions are altruistic or nearly benign. There _is_ a natural exemption for cops (as shown in numerous threads here) and I supported exemption of the Big Cop from World Court prosecution. I will stipulate that this postulates a level of integrity which some or many U.S. administrations do not deserve. As for the lonely ordinary planet blower-upper, what alternative do you suggest? Do you argue against round-the-clock major MAD strike capability, nearly worshipped by U.S. leaders? :eek: _(5) How can you throw away the Geneva Conventions and your principles to advocate torture? (7) Why do you Americans like guns so much? Why do you kill each other at such a rate?_ I wonder this myself. Many Americans, if you read between the lines, blame our “ethnic diversity” for the high crime rate and need for guns. Others focus on “their right” to a gun – The Second God-given right, with the peculiarity that any actual purpose is often considered secondary or even irrelevant. Some say gun-holding would reduce school massacres, but one holder said he’d not risk being a dead hero. One Doper fears to travel abroad, if he’s not allowed to carry. The strong support for liberal manslaughter acquittals in Texas and Florida astounds me. (Are there any stats on SYG and Texas-legal shootings’ broken down by race?) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/58 "2015-01-31T06:39:45Z")
I’ll address some of the more relevant questions since I find the entire morality play of “enlightened Europeans” vs. “Neanderthal Americans” quite tiresome, even as an American liberal who generally finds Europe superior in most areas of socioeconomic policy. > [@Leaper](#): > > - Why can’t you Americans stop interfering with women’s health care? If the question is generally applied to health care access in general, it is quite relevant, but obviously here its an euphemism for abortion. Perhaps the questioner should ask the French or the Germans or even the Norwegians themselves who both generally restrict abortions to the first trimaster, whereas in the United States a 20-week abortion ban is seen by many as a return to millions of women dying from coat-hanger abortions. > [@](#): > > - Why can’t you understand science? Obsessive GMO-paranoia reflected in mandatory GMO labelling and in the case of Germany shutting down nuclear power after Fukushima isn’t exactly reflective of understanding science either. > [@](#): > > - How can you hand over the power to blow up the planet to one lone, ordinary man? I doubt Britain and France has their entire House of Commons and National Assembly respectively deciding when and where to use nuclear weapons. > [@](#): > > - Why do you Americans like guns so much? Why do you kill each other at such a rate? The abnormally higher American murder rate is probably driven by more factors besides just the lack of gun control such as the existence of large minority populations that have been culturally alienated due to a long past of oppression and discrimination. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/59 "2015-01-31T21:12:01Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > No, my point was that the US is NOT a monolithic entity with the same murder rates, income rates, and uniform laws dealing with abortion, SSM, business and environmental regulations, culture, approach to governing, and the challenges all those diverse constituent populations feel are important to them. > > It’s like assuming that the entire US (culture, laws, business, crime, economy, education, health care, etc.) should all be considered to be no different than what is found in Wisconsin (based on pop size compared to Norway). Ok, fair enough and thanks for the amplification. Personally though, I perceive the US as pretty homogenous. In practice it has a single language and I can travel anywhere here without too much culture shock. But hike 300 miles from Amsterdam and you can be speaking 3 or more different languages. I suspect the truth lies somewhere between our two perceptions. Also, Norway is only 86% Norwegian. I wouldn’t characterize it or any other large Western European country as homogenous. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Any discussion of murder rates in the USA should mention that they vary greatly. My humble home state of North Dakota has a murder rate of 2.2 per hundred thousand people per year, so it wouldn’t be too out of place in Europe. That’s twice the rate of Britain, France, Italy and Germany. It’s approximately the rate of Norway when they have a once in a lifetime massacre. It’s seven times that of Japan: imagine how they feel! Hat tip to **Qin** : he’s one of the few center lefties who has a working sense of modern American conservatism. A real resource. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994/60 "2015-01-31T22:07:22Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It would be nice to be sweet little Norway all tucked up nicely out of the way with tons of oil to pay for universal healthcare and few people to spend it on. Norwegian universal healthcare counsumes about 9 % of GDP. US healthcare consumes 18 % and fails to be universal. You might as well say the US could afford the same sweet stuff for its citizens as Norway if it had an economically performing healthcare system. Norwegian healthcare is not paid for from oil anyway, since all the oil is saved in a fund. Has been for decades. The country is run off the non-oil economy, much like Sweden and Finland which are organized in a similar manner, and offers similar benefits without oil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-101-how-would-you-answer-these-kinds-of-questions/710994.md?page=4)