America

[Commodore Axilon]

Besides, if our army stank, how did we free the Iraqis?

Strawman much? Who here said the US Army stunk? All I heard was that the whole thing was unnecessary, unjustified, and a breech of international law.

And "free the Iraqis"? You make it sound like they're better off now then under Saddam. We've seriously royally screwed that country and its people. Never ending, regional, ethnic, and religious conflicts are the worst.

...And I'm sure some right-wing nut job is gonna come along and twist that to make it sound like I support Saddam.

[Fishalicious]

You totally support Saddam, don't make it sound like you don't, you disgusting lefty.

...anyways, jesting aside; we really did kind of screw over Iraq. /:

What can I say? Every place is disgusting, so long as it has people. We do nothing but fight, we can't stand each other, we have opposing views... it wouldn't be that bad if there wasn't a such thing as an extremist or radical. People just take things so seriously nowadays, too. We're just like ants... attacking anything near us and doing nothing but reproduce and take. At least ants get eaten and provide for the food chain... and eat most of what they kill.

Someone needs to come in with a bucket of water to splash on our "nest" so we'll calm down.

[DW]

I've actually been keeping an eye on this since I don't have much to say about right/left wing...I'm not even really sure which is which, don't really care either. I just have my views and I keep them, unless somebody makes a really good argument against it.

Don't worry, though, this hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be so far, but if it gets out of hand I'll do something about it, since I have an objective point of view here...

[Baka Nezumi]

I'll try to keep it clean, Shika. If it offends anyone in any way, I apologize.

I voted for Negative. LadyNintendo said some of my veiws but I am a little less strong about those opinions.

Honestly, is America really "the only example of what a country should be like"? If that were indeed the case, we would have a good reputation with at least a small percentage in some major countries. For example, I stayed in France over the summer. During those 40-ish days, we (my family) were asked questions along the lines of, "Do you hate Bush? I certainly do." by around a 112 people (that's what my journal tallied, at least).

Although I am an American, and I have pride in my country, there are certainly more than a small number of little problems that need fixing.

[Bboy94]

* Right to bear arms. How can you justify giving people access to things solely meant to kill, harm or threaten others? I'd actually like to see some reports about this matter, because I don't believe America is a safer place with everyone having a gun to "protect" themselves.

I'd just like to say, if we could have guns, what if a criminal came to your house with an illeagel gun? If you were a law-abiding person, you'd be dead. Anyway, my view is positive. We have problems, but I'd rather be here than anywhere else.

Still, it would be less killing. Virginia Tech couldn't haved happened if people couldn't get guns. If you have a gun in your house and someone breaks in, thats not what is gonna protect you. What is is a dog, alarm system, etc. Having a gun would simply cause turmoil. And you could be charged with man-slaughter or murder if you killed them. It doesn't help, it generally makes the situation worse.

Yes, I'm sure democratic socialism is a nice alternative to America.

Yes, yes it is.

Lady Nintendo, I wish I was as convincing as you, you had some very good points.

Some of you people need to watch Colbert or Stewart. The people who need to watch these kind of shows, or movies like "SiCKO" or "An Invonvenient Truth." Or if they did, they say its all untrue and stuff like that. Which in in of itself isn't true.

Mike Gravel for President.

[Zoratunic]

Honestly, is America really "the only example of what a country should be like"? If that were indeed the case, we would have a good reputation with at least a small percentage in some major countries. For example, I stayed in France over the summer. During those 40-ish days, we (my family) were asked questions along the lines of, "Do you hate Bush? I certainly do." by around a 112 people (that's what my journal tallied, at least).  

How can people from other countries judge America if they don't live here?

[Vaati]

If somce people aren't really fond of our government, I can see that, but when they judge you individually kind of gets me angry. Like if you go to a different country and the people give you dirty looks because you're American. Isn't that called racism? Not all Americans are stuck up snobs that say "Haha! We're better than all you other countries!", and absolutely love our government and think it's the best government on the whole planet, (A bit of exxageration there) most Americans actually dissagree with some of the government's decisions.
Don't get me wrong, but Canada seems like a bit of a better country than America, so says a proud American.

[Gamefreak]

Some of you people need to watch Colbert or Stewart.

I have never used Colbert as a credible source of news.  Only for entertainment.

The ultimate thing that makes me angry about this, is that most of the people here are just bashing America.  Do you have any ways to fix it?  Would you do a better job as president?  Quit whining and find some solutions if it's that bad.

[Mysterious F.]

I'll say neutral. Yes, there are many things in this country we can improve upon, but there are also many good things that equal or outweigh the bad.

For example, the average person living in London has more money than the average one living in New York. This isn't just because we live in America, but it's because both America and New York have a larger population than London or the UK. But they still have money and an actually first-world life-style compared to the third world countries.

The US also has a very large amount of laws that give the ones living in the country (legally) free rights and give the country order. However, it's not perfect, as the court system, even if it is completely obvious that this one person did commit a crime, NEEDS proof to punish a law breaker, and several law breakers that have no proof against them get freed for this.

And part of the reason people think the crime rate in America is the largest in the world is.... well, where does most of the news today come from? America. What country helps cause a large amount of the news today? America. Which country is the most powerful country in the world? America (although China can be called a super-power) Almost 2/3rds of all the news today is from America. Other countries such as England and Germany have the similar crime rate to ours, but America gets more media attention.

See, every good thing has it's down side, every bad thing has a good side, with rare exceptions.

And I largely agree with Gamefreak, all anyone at all is doing in this topic anymore in insulting America. Well, guess what, half of all of you LIVE in America. If you have anything against us, go to Iraq or Ethiopia or Sudan or China for at least a year, then come back here and compare America to that country. If not, your arguments are pointless, one-sided opinions.

Although there are greater countries than America (UK, for example) there are far more worse countries than America. At least here we have rights, food, electricity, medicine, and other things that are needed, while half of all the other countries on earth don't have any of that for its citizens. To be honest, in fact, you're taking everything for granted and you don't even realize that this country is a great one.

And here's the part that could be viewed as quite mean, and I apologize ahead of time for saying this. All of you who are insulting America right now have become little more than spoiled brats in politics. Do you not know that many other countries don't have what we have? Do you not realize that we have the protection here we need that other nations lack? do you not realize here we have rights while other countries citizens are almost slaves? If you do not accept this fact, then you have no right to insult America at all.

*sigh* I'm glad that is out. Well, I'm not viewing this topic anymore, and please take what I said seriously and don't just cast it off like you probably will.

[LadyNintendo]

Honestly, is America really "the only example of what a country should be like"? If that were indeed the case, we would have a good reputation with at least a small percentage in some major countries. For example, I stayed in France over the summer. During those 40-ish days, we (my family) were asked questions along the lines of, "Do you hate Bush? I certainly do." by around a 112 people (that's what my journal tallied, at least).  

How can people from other countries judge America if they don't live here?

If your country affects my country, if your country affects the whole world in a way it shouldn't, if your country ignores tons of treaties it made AND quite often refuses to sign one, if your country does things that are against the human rights, then I certainly CAN judge your country while not living there.

If somce people aren't really fond of our government, I can see that, but when they judge you individually kind of gets me angry. Like if you go to a different country and the people give you dirty looks because you're American. Isn't that called racism? Not all Americans are stuck up snobs that say "Haha! We're better than all you other countries!", and absolutely love our government and think it's the best government on the whole planet, (A bit of exxageration there) most Americans actually dissagree with some of the government's decisions.

That's why I said earlier: no one should take what I say personal.

Lady Nintendo, I wish I was as convincing as you, you had some very good points.

Thank you.

The ultimate thing that makes me angry about this, is that most of the people here are just bashing America.  Do you have any ways to fix it?  Would you do a better job as president?  Quit whining and find some solutions if it's that bad.

I could never become president, but if you want a list (based on my very first post)
* Spend money to stop pollution. Take responsibilty and start working with Europe and some Asian countries to take care of this problem instead of letting them do the work.
* If I'd be president, I'd never start a war like this. I wouldn't fling around mud to win. I wouldn't give all teh good jobs to friends and protect them when they are obviously wrong. I would actually try to help people who suffered from a mayor disaster. And for as far as possible, I'd tell the truth and as much of it to the people.
* I'd respect international law.
* No more death penalty.
* No more right to bear arms, except for the cops.
* No more avoidable violations of human rights.
* Radical believers, whether Muslim or Christian, would be treated equally.
* Try to figure out what makes the Scandinavian countries a safer place and if possible, try to follow their example.
* Do something about fatsoes.
* some more, but I can't be bothered to come up with them right now.

The US also has a very large amount of laws that give the ones living in the country (legally) free rights and give the country order. However, it's not perfect, as the court system, even if it is completely obvious that this one person did commit a crime, NEEDS proof to punish a law breaker, and several law breakers that have no proof against them get freed for this.

And part of the reason people think the crime rate in America is the largest in the world is.... well, where does most of the news today come from? America. What country helps cause a large amount of the news today? America. Which country is the most powerful country in the world? America (although China can be called a super-power) Almost 2/3rds of all the news today is from America. Other countries such as England and Germany have the similar crime rate to ours, but America gets more media attention.

See, every good thing has it's down side, every bad thing has a good side, with rare exceptions.

And I largely agree with Gamefreak, all anyone at all is doing in this topic anymore in insulting America. Well, guess what, half of all of you LIVE in America. If you have anything against us, go to Iraq or Ethiopia or Sudan or China for at least a year, then come back here and compare America to that country. If not, your arguments are pointless, one-sided opinions.

Although there are greater countries than America (UK, for example) there are far more worse countries than America. At least here we have rights, food, electricity, medicine, and other things that are needed, while half of all the other countries on earth don't have any of that for its citizens. To be honest, in fact, you're taking everything for granted and you don't even realize that this country is a great one.

And here's the part that could be viewed as quite mean, and I apologize ahead of time for saying this. All of you who are insulting America right now have become little more than spoiled brats in politics. Do you not know that many other countries don't have what we have? Do you not realize that we have the protection here we need that other nations lack? do you not realize here we have rights while other countries citizens are almost slaves? If you do not accept this fact, then you have no right to insult America at all.

*sigh* I'm glad that is out. Well, I'm not viewing this topic anymore, and please take what I said seriously and don't just cast it off like you probably will.

Of course you need proof before you can convict someone. "Completely obvious" does not exist if you can't produce evidence.

And here I see the big difference between me and the ones protecting America: You think solely of yourself, I think of the world.

All your arguments are about how great America is for Americans! What about the rest of the world? You give those the finger, because, as long as your life is fine, everything is fine. Guess what, America is not the world. It is that mentality that I despise. That selfish way. How about the rest of the world who is negatively affected by the "American way" . You got a great military and really, it appears that is America's pride. It's your answer to everything. And what about freedom? All you mentioned about what Americans can get, you can get that in I don't know how many countries. Whoopdiedoo, you got the minimum requirements to be considered a first world country and you consider that good? Nothing more.....? How about the new kinds of freedom that often are a little too controversial for America?

[JQP: I fixed the double post]

[MagmarFire]

LadyNintendo, you just double-posted. Remember, we're in General Discussion, so please merge your posts. I'll let you off the hook this time, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a warning next time.

To make my post relevant, I put "positive," but the one where I admit that there are problems. Right now, though, I think I probably should've put "neutral" because there are a lot of problems that need fixing.

[Mysterious F.]

Radical believers, whether Muslim or Christian, would be treated equally.

That is actually impossible. Whether or not you make that law, people wouldn't follow it. You CANNOT make a law that changes people, it will end in disaster.


Also, let's go over all the good things America has done:

*Citizens of America have made very important inventions.
*Who knows how WWI would end without America, which largely turned the war around.
*The AR inspired many other revolutions (including the French Revolutuion) that changed history for the better.
*Be one of the first conutries actually allowing rights.
*WWII. Enough said.
*Become an inspiration for many other countries around the world.

And many other I won't bother to list.

Bad things:

*War on terrorism.
*Nukes
*Claimed by many to cause poverty, while in actuality we are doing the opposite.
*Global Warming crisis.

And many other minor things I'm too lazy to list.


Unlike you, I am actually taking both sides seriously, all you are doing is casting off everything against you are saying. Unless you are the type who recognizes both sides, then you are someone who almost argues for the sake of arguing.

And also, don't just go around say "All American Leaders Suck", take a look at other countries. Yes, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were the best world leaders ever. George III (England) was the smartest of all of England's rulers. None of the Popes were EVER in it for money or power.  

[darkphantomime]

That is actually impossible. Whether or not you make that law, people wouldn't follow it. You CANNOT make a law that changes people, it will end in disaster.

Then why do we have a law that marks people for 'suspicious behavior' and send them to Guatemala bay for 'interrogations'? The vast majority of the people there are muslim, accused of terrorist activities or 'funding' when they won't even be given a proper trial to determine innocence; it's all with the military and that's just stupid. We pick these people up for the smallest and even most questionable of reasons. And for what? To make a ticker-tape parade showing that we're making 'progress'?

[Mysterious F.]

That did little to actually help your case, JQ. I repeat:

you CANNOT make a law that changes people.

You can't make a law that says "You must always be happy", can you? No. Although this is no where near the same degree, it is still based around changing a person, which should in fact be ILLEGAL.

[alical]

I'm not overly fond of America. But then again I kinda hate my home country of England as well, I'm very far from being patriotic, in my opinion the UK sucks.  

The one thing that annoyed me was, America's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol, and then making up their own extremely similar anti-pollution thing, just so they can say they started it.
And the right to bear arms is just sick.
I agree with LadyNintendo about everything she said. I'm not saying the American people are bad, just the whole ego thing is out of control.