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Background before watching the clip. This is from the new HBO show Newsroom which I keep meaning to watch. The initial question asked was "what 2 things make America the greatest country in the world?" The political people answered: Democrat- Diversity and Tolerance. Republican- Freedom and Freedom. Jeff's character answered the following: (make sure to watch all of it)
And it basically sums up my thoughts exactly. Too busy fighting or not willing to even recognize that there is a problem. I especially like the part at the end.
I should also note that on our news last night a study was just released confirming what everyone already knew. The middle class is disappearing and the lower class has replaced most of it.
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Last edited by Shyguy222 : 07-10-2012 at 05:59 PM.
And now what does Congress spend all its time trying to do? Cut taxes for the rich and ban abortion. Pogo was right -- we have met the enemy and he is us.
Great clip, and bravo to the producers, writers, director, and actors for having the balls to say it.
He forgot to add one thing to the list of things we lead the world in, which is elitism. We are an extremely elitist society. I include myself.
We think our opinions are right and fuck everybody else who disagrees, because they are "stupid". Our entire political system doesn't cultivate leaders, it cultivates those who are the best at belittling the other guy. It isn't about "what we can do for our Country"....it is about "What that other guy CAN'T do for our country.". Politicians stand in front of us and instead of simply telling us what they are going to do to make our Country better, they stand in front of us and tell us what the other guy is going to do to ruin our Country. It's NOT the same thing. We tell ourselves we are the best because we are better than someone else...not because we ARE the best. Our ideas aren't great, it's just that the other ideas suck. In daily conversation we talk about the things we think are good by pointing out the faults with other things. Instead of talking about what makes us better, we talk about things that make other countries bad.
And the worst, we don't do anything about it. We just bitch about it on the internet. I am an elitist, and I'm doing nothing about it. I'm doing nothing to make my country better. I'm not even sure what I could do. But I guess I can take comfort in the fact that I realize I am part of the problem, at least I'm not blind to that. Doesn't make me better, it just makes the other guy worse.
I've always wondered about the life expectancy/mortality rate studies, so maybe someone can answer this for me.
Now, realistically speaking, those two are directly linked. When one person dies at 100 and the other dies at 0, your average life expectancy turns to 50. So infant mortality clearly brings the average.
So my 2 questions are:
- Removing the outliers (ie, infant mortality), what does the average life expectancy look like?
- Is there a universal description of an infant mortality? Does every country count infants born with complications, infants born prematurely, and the other host of issues that can happen with a child the same way?
I've never really been able to find super-deep stats on that, so I'd be interested to see if anyone else has anything like that.
....How do you turn this damned thing on, again!!!
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you know what? it would of had more of an effect had they NOT piped in that music at the end. and i think its the best alternative to whats out there for most of the world. so, the next time someone want to blow people up, call one of those other countries and see what you get. you all get indignant and call the U.S.A.(why doesn`t the usa do something)you say(people are getting killed!) you say. you want to know why we are the greatest? because no one else will come to the rescue. not Canada, not Japan, etc. we are broken but its not for not trying. we just have to drag the rest of you along with us!
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I don`t approve of political jokes....I`ve seen too many get elected
If you want to know what's wrong with America, then I would say its Hollywood horse shit like that video. It's so fucking cringe worthy, it really does amaze me how so many people can just sit there and accept that sort of Hollywood shit. Give me Noam Chomsky any day "Evaluating countries is senseless and I would never put things in those terms, but that some of America's advances' particularly in the area of free speech that have been achieved by centuries of popular struggle, are to be admired." In many respects, the United States is the freest country in the world. That's why it has to control its people's thoughts with propaganda and misinformation, like what was just demonstrated in lefty's post. I mean why not listen to a George Galloway video instead of a two-bit actor's? Nobody has called for the US to invade their country lefty. Infact they are all calling for the US to get the hell out and to stop invaiding and occupying them.
with a jelly donut im guessing.
Last edited by bird lover : 07-11-2012 at 12:05 AM.
you know what? it would of had more of an effect had they NOT piped in that music at the end. and i think its the best alternative to whats out there for most of the world. so, the next time someone want to blow people up, call one of those other countries and see what you get. you all get indignant and call the U.S.A.(why doesn`t the usa do something)you say(people are getting killed!) you say. you want to know why we are the greatest? because no one else will come to the rescue. not Canada, not Japan, etc. we are broken but its not for not trying. we just have to drag the rest of you along with us!
That all depends on your point of view. America, for all it's heroism in WWII, why did America get involved? For all our heroism for the "war on terror" to rid the world of terrorist regimes, why did America get involved? Are we really trying to help other countries, or are we really just trying to help ourselves? Furthermore, if we are so great and spending so much money on our military and foreign aid, why (up until now) do we not have universal health care....or more importantly, why do we not have a universal health care system that is actually designed to truly help American citizens? Why do we have homeless? Why do we have so many American citizens living below the poverty level? Why do we have cities, that were once the capitals of industry, practically in ruin? Why do we import more than we export? Why is our education system so flawed? Why do we have so many murders? Why do we have such a drug problem? Why are we obese?
We are flawed, much more than we want to admit.
America is hardly the worst country in the world, this is still a great country. But we are not the best. The argument should be made that no country is the "best". Most free countries have their issues and they all have their strong points. Things that make them the best in some areas and the weakest in others. I think the point of the posted video isn't to say America is a bad country. It is just saying that we were once the best, far and above. But we slipped, we got lazy, and most importantly, our leaders got greedy for their own personal gain.
It's not our country that is becoming increasingly worse, it's our political system...more to the point, our politicians. JFK once told us that we should not ask what our country can do for us, but rather what we can do for our country. I think that is more important today, but it is something that should be said to our leaders. Our system, in theory, is (in my opinion) the absolute best political system....in theory. Every political leader, everybody who has power in this country, is a regular person, voted into power by the collective citizenship.
We were once a "government of the people, by the people, for the people". Meaning those in power were citizens, voted in by citizens, to do right for the citizens. Now we are a government of the rich, by the people, for themselves.
I don't know what can be done about it, I don't think anything CAN be done about it. Maybe one day a citizen, educated, who's only real interest is in making this country the best again, will run for office. Maybe that person will appeal to more than 51% of the country and get elected, and maybe that person will find a way to get the ball rolling to move out the old, rich, powers that be, and move in those who truly want to do right.
The US doesn't manufacture anything for export except military technology.
Maybe if America invested in education, manufacturing and industry, their economic situation would improve.
The Noam Chomsky is freaking awesome... he came and spoke to my college one year ( which is a breading ground for TFA pricks..) and he just tore them a new one, he was honest and had the data to back up his views... Was nice to see some one just take them down a few pegs for once.
you know what? it would of had more of an effect had they NOT piped in that music at the end. and i think its the best alternative to whats out there for most of the world. so, the next time someone want to blow people up, call one of those other countries and see what you get. you all get indignant and call the U.S.A.(why doesn`t the usa do something)you say(people are getting killed!) you say. you want to know why we are the greatest? because no one else will come to the rescue. not Canada, not Japan, etc. we are broken but its not for not trying. we just have to drag the rest of you along with us!
As other's said, no one calls the US for help. Generally if they want help they just ask for help. From anyone. Usually the UN because the point of them is to be a united front for all the countries that can give help.
But that's not the point of the video. It's more about exactly what you demonstrated in your post. A complete lack of understanding of how the rest of the world actually sees the US and an unwavering fanaticism to the country and it being the top dog.
Canada actually does help a lot of countries, but as a smaller population and economic power it can't do quite as much as the US is in a position to do (hence why it may seem like the US is always getting asked).
Canada is also higher ranked in several of the categories mentioned in the video. The difference though, is that Canadians are proud of these accomplishments but are not completely blind to the many problems we have. We also don't brandish being top dog as a weapon and as a bully would.
BUT one of the most infuriating things I see in my country is the adoption of the American political way. There is more and more infighting and less and less actual work. Our parties are getting more and more extreme and more and more one sided. We are letting more decisions be made by a person instead of the people.
__________________
I got a rep from Kirouki and Angel, I can now die happy
Silver87 is my favourite Mod because I love movies and boobs and she has both. If Moose had boobs , well that would just be weird
Rep from mOOse completes the triad. I knew he loved me before anyways
click to showDon't let the name fool you, it's only around beautiful girls
Damn right I suck up. I don't like getting in trouble
My boredom leads to others anger
Last edited by Shyguy222 : 07-11-2012 at 01:20 PM.
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The Truth about America
, well that would just be weird
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