So now we are arguing the greatness of Canada?
Actually, my post was (I thought obviously) tongue in cheek. For the record, I probably owe my very existence to the Canadian troops in WWII (My Dutch father was liberated by Canadian troops in the late stages of starvation.
And it doesn’t mean “the best at everything” either, which is another trap people fall into, both foreign and domestic.
I mean, the US is extraordinarily powerful, both economically, militarily. And for such a powerful country, the US has been extraordinarily benign in a historical sense.
It, along with the UK and France, have set the template that pretty much the rest of modern democracies follow.
It’s still the primary destination for people emigrating from their homelands. Something like 20% of the world’s foreign-born population live in the US, with the runner up (Germany) accounting for just under 5%
And we’re a colossal nation. It’s not really a fair comparison to look at say… Norway with all 5.28 million Norwegians, who are in large part ethnically and culturally homogenous, and compare that to America, a country of 327 million Americans, who are most emphatically NOT ethnically or culturally homogenous, and to draw reasonable conclusions. You could, however, look at some regions of roughly 5 million people in the US and compare- say… Minnesota or Wisconsin, and probably draw a lot more comparable comparison. Similary, looking at Alabama vs. Norway would look quite different. It’s almost like comparing an individual to an average.
For nations of our size, we’re VERY good by most metrics. Japan, at a little more than 1/3 our size is the only other country that even comes close.
So it’s arguable that we’re “great”, although we’re not necessarily best at anything.
Dad always said the problem with Americans is they believe their own propaganda.
If we are getting all serious here: thinking the USA is currently the greatest country is not “delusional “. By certain metrics it is clearly the greatest, by many other metrics, it is near the top. And while you can define “greatest “ as whichever country can provide you with the most choice in abbey brewed beers (Hello Belgium!), I believe greatest needs to incorporate some aspect of both economic and military power. When ranking countries in quality of life aspects, weird things happen. Apparently Syria is a great place to be, having the 5th lowest suicide rate in the world, and even the Congo has a suicide rate fully 2/3 lower than the US. (3/4 lower than Belgium, too!)
The best check on any country being “greater” than the US is to look at migration. What percentage of their population migrated to the US, what percentage of the US population migrated there. If the migration (I.e. people really, really committing to their opinion on which country is better) doesn’t tilt towards that other country, the discussion should be over right there.
[Shrug] So does everybody else.
This is written like someone who enjoys the perks of a good education and a well-paying job while the people who serve your food or teach your children are homeless or barely scraping by. It is risible that you laud the “great healthcare” while the leader of the country has repeatedly tried to eliminate the Affordable Care Act on the groundless claim that it somehow inhibits cost-effective care, and meanwhile even if you do have coverage through employment medical and pharmaceutical costs continue to skyrocket while quality and accessibility of care declines compared to the “socialist” health care systems of nearly every other major industrial nation. And while Silicon Valley is the darling of the tech world today, it is scarcely the only place where innovation is occurring. It is, however, a place that is becoming as well known for perfidy, malfeasence, and bad personal behavior as for the technology it produces. So, there’s that.
Because of the concept of “American exceptionalism”, which is essentially that if America does it it must be awesome. To be fair, there are many great things about the United States which is the reason so many people strive to come here for opportunity and education but that does not mean that everything the US does is great, which is for some reason a difficult concept for many people to wrap their heads around, especially when they are told that it is unpatriotic to question their government or doubt the sincerity of a political process driven by lobby interests.
Well, it’s a good monologue up until the point where he says, “It sure used to be…”, after which he commits the same sins of glorifying and whitewashing that he has just criticized. As a nation, the United States has done some great things like advancing science, making universal literacy a priority, and fighting against fascism. Of course, it has also done some horrific things, like repeatedly forcibly relocating minority groups into reservations or concentration camps, embarking on unprovoked unilateral wars resulting in the deaths of millions of non-combatants, and spying on its own citizens. The Founding Fathers enshrined personal liberty into the Constitution (for landed white men), but they simultaneously built protections for the institution of human slavery into the core principles of election and representation, so one can be excused for not celebrating the Constitution as the most perfect political instrument ever drafted.
Stranger
While we’re at it, we need to get rid of all of those foam “number one” fingers you see people waving at sporting events.
All those delusional people thinking that their team is the best.
I’m tired of the rhetoric.
Let’s make a list of all of their team’s flaws and prove 'em wrong.
And you know those “#1 Grandma” coffee mugs? There needs to be much stricter vetting on who gets those.
You can have my “#1 Grandma” mug when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers - I won it from my wife in a totally legit game of Cripple Mr. Onion.
Umm… he’s the President; it’s part of his job to say stuff like that. Did you complain when Barack or Michelle Obama said it?
Bill Clinton called America the ‘world’s indispensible nation’ and ‘the world’s mightiest power’.
So, roughly one in six people here are foreign born, and that is evidence that we’re the best (or we have good tacos).
Qatar’s foreign-born population is roughly three in four. Surely, they must be even better than us (or have even better tacos)?
Well you can get stoned in an increasing number of areas and states in the US, my understanding is that in Qatar they are more likely to Stone you!
Aye.
Obviously it’s true that this is normal rhetoric for politicians, but remember that Trump was saying the opposite up to and even in his inauguration speech, which was some weird dystopian depiction of a failed country. Now, with his typical bullshit, he acts like suddenly he alone has turned the country around into a paradise.
This is the only thing that Trump does: Promote his Bullshit Public Image (BPI). He doesn’t give a fuck about actually running the country or actually improving it. All he cares about is his BPI, and getting more money for his businesses. That’s it.
People actually pay attention to what Trump says?:eek::smack:
Yeah, actually. I’ve been rolling my eyes at the “greatest country” comments for decades.
Look, I like the US. I’ve been in the US probably a hundred times. I don’t think any Prime Minister has ever called Canada the greatest country in the world, because clearly we’re not. And, as I said, I can’t recall any other world leader making such a bold statement. What got me was that Don Lemon, a respected CNN anchorman actually agreed with the statement.
I put this in the pit because I know it’s a contentious topic. Feel free to tell me to fuck off.
We have to. A good portion of the country listens and believes him. Know thy enemy.
Our country seems more ignorant than when we started the fight.
Cheering for a team is not the same thing as thinking you’re actually better than everyone else, which is what America does. I’m an American, and I see this shit all the time.
The framing is all wrong. At sports, it makes sense. We’re competing and we want to win. But, on the world stage, the need to cooperation is just as if not more important. There’s no contest going on here.
If people were just saying it at some actual competition, I wouldn’t care. But they genuinely seem to believe in American superiority. It’s why I refuse to call myself a patriot. I don’t want to be tied in with the flag worshipers.
The small percentage of dupes who pay him attention and believe him are precisely the margin he needed to win the election, and who will be that margin again if they continue to believe him. He knows this, so everything he does is to present his Bullshit Public Image to them.
That is the totality of Trump’s presidency.
That would be uncouth. But stating that calling the US the greatest country is delusional, is wrong.
You can be tired of hearing this being said, sure. Is it getting a bit much and a little thick at times? I sure think so. But it isn’t factually wrong, or at least not clearly and obviously so.
If your neighbor were possessed of an 11 inch pizzle, he would be correct in claiming he has a pretty big cock, and possibly that he has the biggest cock in the neighborhood. Not something you’d enjoy hearing all the time, but not incorrect, or, You know, delusional.