# Get your finger out America, I for one don't welcome our Chinese overlords. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597 "2011-10-14T02:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/1 "2011-10-14T02:23:52Z")
America, get your act together. You’re the greatest damn country on earth, and you know it. Just shake yourself out of this fug and get on with it. You landed on the goddamn moon for chrissakes. I, for one, don’t want to live in a world dominated by Chinese interests. I’ll take CIA assassinations any day. Come on America, you know in your heart of hearts that you’re great. Buck up, have a shave, and get to it. Kthx, most of the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/2 "2011-10-14T02:30:17Z")
Is this sarcasm or what? I’d rather not live in a world where Chinese interests are globally paramount (authoritarianism, human rights abuse, environmental/labor abuses, etc). Not that the US is perfect, but we are better on those issues. Either way the EU and US are still the main global economic players. China is big, but the OECD nations still control the majority of the world economy. Not only that but developing nations that are rising up like Brazil or India likely have more in common philosophically with the US and EU than they do with China. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/3 "2011-10-14T02:31:41Z")
It’s meant slightly in jest, but it’s not sarcasm. I think America needs to buck up and seize once more the reins of world leadership, despite what my bitchy fellow Europeans say. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/4 "2011-10-14T02:34:30Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > You’re the greatest damn country on earth, and you know it. Americans are certainly sure that they are the greatest country on Earth, but they aren’t. I don’t think there is one. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/5 "2011-10-14T02:36:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Americans are certainly sure that they are the greatest country on Earth, but they aren’t. I don’t think there is one. OK, but if there were one, the US would be it. Now get out there kiddo. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/6 "2011-10-14T02:36:17Z")
I will agree that we need to get our damn act together, but I think that generally and historically speaking, no good comes of “we’re the best damn country on Earth” style thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/7 "2011-10-14T02:41:38Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > OK, but if there were one, the US would be it. Now get out there kiddo. We have 2-10x the population of all other OECD countries, so yeah as a result our military and economic power is larger than a nation like Canada or France. Per capita, we aren’t the best country on earth. Who knows which one is though, or how you’d even define that. We are an overextended, militaristic plutocracy that has been living off easy credit with a failed political system and no interest in long range planning (investing in education, science and infrastructure are all seen as wasteful when compared to the instant gratification of tax cuts). We aren’t going to save the world. We are an empire in decline. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/8 "2011-10-14T02:43:58Z")
Do keep in mind that China will still take a few decades to have a GDP per capita similar to the US and that by then, demographics will catch up to China very severely. India is behind China right now but its demographics, political system\*, English language skills and geography\*\* put it in a better position. What are you afraid China will do if it becomes more powerful? \*Dictatorship allows you to get some things done quickly but often means that the grossest abuses and inefficiencies are tolerated. It also seems to result in signifiant resources being allocated to the military not because of military utility but as a way to ensure the loyalty of the military to the government. \*\* I understand that Western China is very much the boondocks. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/9 "2011-10-14T02:47:18Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What are you afraid China will do if it becomes more powerful? Based on the way it treats its own citizens, I fear it having undue influence on how I live. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/10 "2011-10-14T02:48:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > We are an overextended, militaristic plutocracy that has been living off easy credit with a failed political system and no interest in long range planning (investing in education, science and infrastructure are all seen as wasteful when compared to the instant gratification of tax cuts). We aren’t going to save the world. We are an empire in decline. It’s just this kind of thinking that I was railing against. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/11 "2011-10-14T03:25:38Z")
[Paging Gordon Sinclair](http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp). [In his own voice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwv-dndrMDE). [The Top 40 version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_hbaYtJ2aw). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/12 "2011-10-14T03:33:35Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [Paging Gordon Sinclair](http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp). > [In his own voice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwv-dndrMDE). > > [The Top 40 version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_hbaYtJ2aw). Glad to know I’m part of a lineage. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/13 "2011-10-14T08:53:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > We have 2-10x the population of all other OECD countries, so yeah as a result our military and economic power is larger than a nation like Canada or France. Per capita, we aren’t the best country on earth. Who knows which one is though, or how you’d even define that. > > We are an overextended, militaristic plutocracy that has been living off easy credit with a failed political system and no interest in long range planning (investing in education, science and infrastructure are all seen as wasteful when compared to the instant gratification of tax cuts). We aren’t going to save the world. We are an empire in decline. Hey, leave the America bashing to us, will you? God, you even have to claim _that_ as your own. P.S: American exceptionalism has little to do with its current or (recent past) level of military might. The exact same shit you hear today was there in the early XIXth century. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/14 "2011-10-14T09:10:50Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > OK, but if there were one, the US would be it. You spelled Sweden wrong 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/15 "2011-10-14T14:15:05Z")
I’ve always said the U.S. was being held back by its poor self-esteem and excessive concern about what everybody else thinks. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/16 "2011-10-14T14:51:43Z")
> [@marley23](#): > > i’ve always said the u.s. Was being held back by its poor self-esteem and excessive concern about what everybody else thinks. u! S! A? U! S! A? U! S! A? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/17 "2011-10-14T15:36:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’ve always said the U.S. was being held back by its poor self-esteem and excessive concern about what everybody else thinks. You misspelled “Canada”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/18 "2011-10-14T15:48:42Z")
Are you from Australia? I haven’t seen many countries outside of the western pacific that paranoid about the “Chinese”. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/19 "2011-10-14T16:34:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Americans are certainly sure that they are the greatest country on Earth, but they aren’t. I don’t think there is one. No, the problem is that at this point a lot of Americans ASSUME we are the greatest country on earth, but have no interest in walking the walk to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597/20 "2011-10-14T16:40:16Z")
Landing men on the moon is damn impressive. But it pales in comparison to the feat of bringing them back. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-finger-out-america-i-for-one-dont-welcome-our-chinese-overlords/599597.md?page=2)