Egypt

[onosson]

As are many denizens of any other country/political machine for that matter.

Sure, but I find it especially prevalent among Americans, and more especially online. I don't think Canada's the greatest country in history - far from it in fact.

 

[warwick.hoy]

This "we iz da bestest" attitude is on of the reasons why Americans are generalised as being notoriously obnoxious.

Trust me,...this is one of the most embarrassing things about being an American (huh, perish the thought). I know that if I go to a foreign country I'm going to be instantly judged and lumped into this stereotype and that doesn't sit well with me.

We are master at acting holier than thou and making sure every other country knows it.

Wasn't there a comedian that used this as material. Paraphrasing "We are the only country that consistently tells the rest of the world that we are better than them." I want to say it was Lewis Black

 

[onosson]

Well, I lived abroad for a few years and I'm well aware of the American "hyper-patriotism" that we're renowned for But my point personally, is that I've also conversely seen those who love love love love to villainize the US, it's almost a sport in some places - and a lot of times it's not really based on logic but rather prejudice, emotion, and misconception.
The USA is far from a perfect country, and we've done things in the past that I'm not very proud of as an American.... but we've also time and time again been in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" position in world events, and that's killing us as far as reputation goes.
We've sold weapons abroad, often in response to our rivals doing the same, we've propped up dictators but those same dictators were allied with us against "bigger and badder" enemies.. I can go on and on...
just suffice to say we 'aint perfect, and have many faults but we are not the world's boogeyman that we're made out to be and as a major power, we've accomplished a lot of great things.
I say this as we fade and China grows...

I pretty much agree. The U.S. has done some great things, some atrocious things, and like most countries is mostly out for itself. I'm not villainizing anyone - though there are tons of Canadians who DO demonize the U.S., which is one of the worst characteristics of people here sometimes.

 

[MatticusMania]

Sure, but I find it especially prevalent among Americans, and more especially online. I don't think Canada's the greatest country in history - far from it in fact.

Just the same, any progressive American is quite aware of our sordid history (as well as our sordid present) and would not boast to 'being the best'. Unfortunately we have a large country, with a lot of uneducated people, who havent yet realized this.

 

[aborgman]

For the sake of argument - name a better one?

How do you want to define "power"?

The UK had universal suffrage in 1918, USA didn't until 1965.

The UK outlawed slavery in 1833, USA didn't until 1865.

 

[onosson]

Just the same, any progressive American is quite aware of our sordid history (as well as our sordid present) and would not boast to 'being the best'. Unfortunately we have a large country, with a lot of uneducated people, who havent yet realized this.

Well, it was claimed on the last page that the U.S. was the most benevolent / least harmful major power in history ... that's how this got brought up.

 

[onosson]

How do you want to define "power"?

The UK had universal suffrage in 1918, USA didn't until 1965.

The UK outlawed slavery in 1833, USA didn't until 1865.

It seems likely that there are some countries where slavery was never practiced.

 

[aborgman]

It seems likely that there are some countries where slavery was never practiced.

I certainly can't think of a country in whose territory slavery was never engaged in...

It was common all over Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Now, it was mostly tribal slavery which only really bears a passing resemblance to the industrialized slavery engaged in by many powers in the 18th and 19th centuries... But it was still slavery.

 

[onosson]

I certainly can't think of a country in whose territory slavery was never engaged in...

It was common all over Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Now, it was mostly tribal slavery which only really bears a passing resemblance to the industrialized slavery engaged in by many powers in the 18th and 19th centuries... But it was still slavery.

Well, again, we need to agree on definitions. But certainly there must be nations which *in their history as a nation* (i.e. not including previous occurrences in the same territory) have never permitted or engaged in slavery. The references to abolition of slavery in the U.K. and U.S. aren't referring to activities that took place BCE, though probably there was slavery in both territories in those times.

 

[aborgman]

Well, again, we need to agree on definitions. But certainly there must be nations which *in their history as a nation* (i.e. not including previous occurrences in the same territory) have never permitted or engaged in slavery. The references to abolition of slavery in the U.K. and U.S. aren't referring to activities that took place BCE, though probably there was slavery in both territories in those times.

One can certainly find very young countries that never engaged in slavery.

I can't think of any countries that predate 1850 that didn't engage.

 

[Balog]

Just the same, any progressive American is quite aware of our sordid history (as well as our sordid present) and would not boast to 'being the best'. Unfortunately we have a large country, with a lot of uneducated people, who havent yet realized this.

I've often thought that the root of the progressive movement is hatred of country, nice to see a member of the group so willingly admitting it.

 

[Balog]

How do you want to define "power"?

The UK had universal suffrage in 1918, USA didn't until 1965.

The UK outlawed slavery in 1833, USA didn't until 1865.

Britain also conquered and colonized what, 1/3 of the surface area of the world at one time?

 

[onosson]

I've often thought that the root of the progressive movement is hatred of country, nice to see a member of the group so willingly admitting it.

How does believing something is not the best equate to hating it?

 

[sloasdaylight]

Goodbye, sweet thread.

 

[warwick.hoy]

It was my plan to get Maki's thread closed all along,..but meh,...previous post deleted.

 

[UncleFluffy]

This seems an appropriate re-quote

a friend turned me on to this article. it is not without its own prejudices, but i think the over-arching point is well placed and hopefully a valuable entry into this discussion. the last paragraph sums it up well:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/31/narcissism_egypt

 

[Deleted member 92857]

Yes, exactly. We need to give power back to the people over here!





Elections. Pffft.

Based on our the results of elections for the past 20 years or so, I'm not sure the majority of people in this country are smart enough to possess a butane lighter or a sharp stick, much less any real power. We might find ourselves being led by Lady Gaga and Justin Bleber.

 

[Deleted member 92857]

I'd say just the opposite. I don't want any part of "one kind".

+1

Hitler wanted one kind.
Pol Pot wanted one kind.
Mao wanted one kind.

With those three names we're getting pretty close to 100 million dead for the sake of "one kind"

 

[Relic]

OK, back on track -The Egyptian military is being remarkably restrained, even pledging that they will not open fire on protesters - if that's the truth, it's a very telling sign that the end is near fro Mubarak. If he loses support of the military, then the game's over.

 

[Jim Campbell]

- there are tons of Canadians who DO demonize the U.S., which is one of the worst characteristics of people here sometimes.

it's almost the national pastime.....we rely on the us military to secure our borders while we look down our noses at us militarism.....like the late richard jeni,the comedian said,"canada,twice the anti americanism as france with half the travel time"