# Is America Really Backward Compared to the Rest of the West **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 13, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329 "2010-03-13T05:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/381 "2010-04-06T17:17:25Z")
Sorry **elbows** , but I’m lost. To which gibberish filled rant were you supplying the soothing salve of reasonable discourse? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/382 "2010-04-06T17:20:22Z")
post #377, the Dread Scott and Plessy vs Ferguson cases. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/383 "2010-04-06T17:23:53Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > post #377, the Dread Scott and Plessy vs Ferguson cases. Thanks, and good point. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/384 "2010-04-06T18:34:35Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Here even counseling is not required! Here you go - The US right of personal freedom vs government control is in conflict. In Germany a compromise was made between the Bible thumpers and the not Bible thumpers, to keep them both happy. People wanted abortion, but not everybody. It’s called democracy. Ever heard about it? I’s certainly great, but it comes with the perk, that the other guy has the same right to it, as you. Sure some people like that decision, others do not like it. However, it’s a bit contradicting to protest against “murder” via [violence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_violence) with a [gun in your hand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_God_(USA)) Or even [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Files#The_.22Nuremberg_Files.22)guy, read [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Files#Elton_John_incident) and then tell me again, why it is so bad that Nazism is banned in Germany. Now, this is one reason, people outside of the US may think, there is something not right in the US… not that everything smells like roses in these places. But at least I don’t have to fear getting shot at, if my car backfires… besides the embarresment and getting laughed at. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/385 "2010-04-06T19:21:12Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Has **Curtis** been to the pit yet? 'Cause I can smell the sulfur. I don’t know – but feel free to do so. **Curtis** , there is no “Europe in general”. Europe is not one big monolithic nation. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/386 "2010-04-06T19:29:30Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **Curtis** , there is no “Europe in general”. Europe is not one big monolithic nation. Well, there can be, if Mexico, Cuba etc are included in the term we use for America. However, if America is meant as in USA, then no Europe is not one nation, the EU is getting there somewhat, but not every Europen nation is in the EU. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/387 "2010-04-06T20:04:44Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I don’t know – but feel free to do so. Nah, not my thing. I’m not interested in pitting a 13 year old, if he is one. Plus as a male, I feel some distance from the abortion debate - I know that I’ll never have to put my body on the line for my opinions - so I generally try to shut up about it. My comment was meant more as a subtle warning to CLM that he was rushing in where angels fear to tread. However, I don’t send subtle well, and I suspect that he doesn’t receive it well either, so again, the point is likely lost. Plus the last poster to interact with CLM wound up in the pit, and then self-imposed exile. I like it here, and I don’t want to go to the cornfield. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/388 "2010-04-06T20:37:45Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Here even counselling is not required! You’re better off without it. Abortion counselling, as a concept, is patronizing, patriarchal bullshit which treats grown women as if they were children who can’t make up their own minds. And as a reality, it’s a waste of time in any case, since a woman is either A) a devout Catholic/Muslim/Whatchamacallit who wouldn’t dream of having an abortion in the first place or B) a good atheist, who doesn’t give a flying duck about your “sanctity of life”. Result : A) never sees a counsellor, B) never listens to the counsellor she’s bound by law to meet. Like I said : waste of time, and state money to boot. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/389 "2010-04-06T21:16:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Would you say the same thing after Plessy v. Ferguson or the Dread Scott case? Nitpick: It’s _Dred_ Scott. Although I’ve sometimes dreaded studying it sometimes, myself. > **[Dred Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott)** > > Dred Scott (c. 1799 – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African-American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as the "Dred Scott decision". The Scotts claimed that they should be granted freedom because Dred had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal, and laws in those jurisdictions said th... ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/390 "2010-04-06T23:27:37Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > People wanted abortion, but not everybody. Do the others get miniature American flags? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/391 "2010-04-06T23:45:47Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > It was in direct relation to puddins post, not the lack of anyones willy. I know, I was just trying to head off an obvious tangent before it got too established. > [@](#): > > Let me put it this way, my 16 year old niece was over in the US as an exchange student and got asked following by her US classmates: “How do you get around, since you don’t have cars yet in Germany”. I’ve had university-educated Americans admit to me, in person, that they’ve got no idea where Australia is, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329/392 "2010-04-07T10:56:13Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Do the others get miniature American flags? Sure, why not? > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I know, I was just trying to head off an obvious tangent before it got too established. > I’ve had university-educated Americans admit to me, in person, that they’ve got no idea where Australia is, FWIW. No worries, but this really makes Americans look stupid, when they claim to be THE most educated nation in the world, yet don’t know simple stuff… and the person you where talking about is university educated. Which makes me, really curious about the US educational value. Sure, not everybody is a genius in Europe, Asia, Africa & Australia, but normally they don’t say that their country is the pinnacle of human evolution and it’s the god blessed country (except this one drunk who claimed, that Ireland is THE most advanced country in the world, regarding technology, this was 10 years ago, I’m still laughing). This is certainly not stating, that every American is as dump as a dustbin, there certainly is a good amount of intelligent and smart people as well. And it certainly isn’t stopping me of calling some Americans my friends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-america-really-backward-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-west/532329.md?page=19)