Philosophy Now Forum

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:VT added:

"Well I certainly wouldn't want to live there. It comes across as a backward dump with all the wrong priorities."

Sounds prejudiced to me.

PhilX

It's not my fault it comes across that way. It's your fault if the rest of the world sees you like that.

Refusing to accept responsibility won't help your cause.

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:VT I think you're from England. How about WWII when we saved your sorry hides and I think you still owe us a chunk of money. Fair enough?
PhilX

Without the 20,000,000 dead Soviets we'd still be on the beaches and we paid you back every cent. And let's not forget you were late as usual and would not have come if Jap hadn't attacked you and would have kept on happily trading with the Nazi.

Arising_uk wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:VT I think you're from England. How about WWII when we saved your sorry hides and I think you still owe us a chunk of money. Fair enough?
PhilX

Without the 20,000,000 dead Soviets we'd still be on the beaches and we paid you back every cent. And let's not forget you were late as usual and would not have come if Jap hadn't attacked you and would have kept on happily trading with the Nazi.

That's what happens when one is following an isolationist policy and has a sizable German minority. It seems you can't please everybody.

PhilX

Arising_uk wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:VT I think you're from England. How about WWII when we saved your sorry hides and I think you still owe us a chunk of money. Fair enough?
PhilX

Without the 20,000,000 dead Soviets we'd still be on the beaches and we paid you back every cent. And let's not forget you were late as usual and would not have come if Jap hadn't attacked you and would have kept on happily trading with the Nazi.

You had to PAY them? I didn't know that. I wonder how much they paid back the Japanese for testing their new toy on them.

Not quite, we had to borrow from them.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Arising_uk wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:VT I think you're from England. How about WWII when we saved your sorry hides and I think you still owe us a chunk of money. Fair enough?
PhilX

Without the 20,000,000 dead Soviets we'd still be on the beaches and we paid you back every cent. And let's not forget you were late as usual and would not have come if Jap hadn't attacked you and would have kept on happily trading with the Nazi.

You had to PAY them? I didn't know that. I wonder how much they paid back the Japanese for testing their new toy on them.

You never heard of lend-lease??? Shows how much you know

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:
You never heard of lend-lease??? Shows how much you know

PhilX

''The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled An Act to Further Promote the Defense of the United States''
OMG, how could I possibly not know about something that promotes the DEFENCE of the only country on the planet that matters.

Philosophy Explorer wrote:Some may say we can always do better (or worse).

Speaking for the US, I think where we exceed would be our technology and our freedom. I already know that some will disagree. But an underlying question is how do we gauge how well we are doing? Standard of living? How many people want to move into here as opposed as to how many people want to move out of here? How do we judge? And I feel comfortable in saying that we can always improve.

What do you think about all of this?

PhilX

Sadly the US culture is all about belief and not fact. The culture is high on believing in freedom. But just because you keep on saying it, does not make it true. In fact the US keeps banging on about freedom, making any sane culture think that there might be something wrong here. And in fact there definitely is.
Whilst pretending freedom at home, the US is in the habit of denying it to the rest of the world, through intrigue, economic power and warfare.
At home there are a series of heavy restrictions excercised by a highly militarised police state.
And despite being rich, there are shocking levels of poverty that most civilised countries would be ashamed of.

What the US is good at is indoctrinating the people to THINK that they are free and democratic.
But seriously only two parties (barely distinguishable) covering 350 million persons, in a democratic system led by a temporary king, that occasionally has his power restricted? Is that the will of the people?

LM said:

"...covering 750 million persons...." Where did the extra 400+ million people come from?

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:LM said:

"...covering 750 million persons...." Where did the extra 400+ million people come from?

PhilX

Okay - I'll take your word for it.
I don't think that changes the argument much.

Lev Muishkin wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:LM said:

"...covering 750 million persons...." Where did the extra 400+ million people come from?

PhilX

Okay - I'll take your word for it.
I don't think that changes the argument much.

It's important when you want to be regarded as an authority figure.

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:

Lev Muishkin wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:LM said:

"...covering 750 million persons...." Where did the extra 400+ million people come from?

PhilX

Okay - I'll take your word for it.
I don't think that changes the argument much.

It's important when you want to be regarded as an authority figure.

PhilX

I don't.
Anyone can misremember

One way I would gauge the exceptionalism of a culture is its openness and its ability to roll with the punches - its adaptability. In this respect I think the U.S. stands out. But the rest of the world is catching up and learning to be just as flexible and pragmatic.

I was surprised that the US has introduced voluntary euthanasia in some States. Euthanasia and legalised marijuana. Some might even accuse you of being liberal.

spike wrote:One way I would gauge the exceptionalism of a culture is its openness and its ability to roll with the punches - its adaptability. In this respect I think the U.S. stands out. But the rest of the world is catching up and learning to be just as flexible and pragmatic.

Spoken like a true American Exceptionalist.

Amongst the West, the US is by far the most backwards looking and traditionalist, always harping back to the Constitution resisting change. It is top in crime; top in wealth polarisation; top in prison population; it's politics is moribund and it's parties ossified.

Civilized Countries do not require a written constitution. their constitutions are written year by year with new laws that respond to change.