Quote from: shewolfBecause I say it is.

Damn straight.

Quote from: SettembriniI´m selfish.

I think America is great because it shows Westerners still kick butt if roused. Might be the wrong people sometimes, but someone gets killed if the West is messed with. Thanks for doing the dirty work of "Ape vs Ape chest beating and skull crushing" while still reamining an elightened, democratic society.

Moron.

Regards,
David R

I personally wouldn't be offended if anyone anywhere in the world said the place they came from was the greatest place in the world. Geez. There's nothing wrong with that. A sense of pride and belonging and identification is healthy and normal and there's nothing offensive about it.
 
Otherwise if you buy into the idea that it's "politically immature" you eventually become a witless tool for some marxist regime which has absolutely no qualms about getting you to work in the interests of the country they think is best. And it won't be your own.

"Useful idiots", Easy prey.

I used to really love it, but it's changed since 9/11.  Got resentful and righteous and bitter where it used to be blustery, hospitable and fun.

Quote from: walkerpI used to really love it, but it's changed since 9/11.  Got resentful and righteous and bitter where it used to be blustery, hospitable and fun.

Well getting attacked when you least expect it sometimes does that to people (and countries).



- Ed C.

...okay , seriously .

 Is Jackalope the new Tom Kalbfus of the internet or what?




- Ed C.

Quote from: Serious Paulwhat makes America the greatest nation on Earth? And why?

Many countries have to build walls to keep the people in because they want to get out.  The United States is talking about building walls to keep people out who want to get in.

(And, yes, I know that various other Western nations also have a healthy number of people wanting to get in, though quite a few of those have citizenship requirements that create a thing called a "second generation immigrant" and even a "third generation immigrant".)

Quote from: SettembriniI think America is great because it shows Westerners still kick butt if roused.

By the way, Sett, this American appreciates the support the German Navy showed the American Navy after 9/11:

http://www.100megsfree2.com/jjscherr/scherr/images/lutjensflag901.jpg
http://www.100megsfree2.com/jjscherr/scherr/images/leutjens.gif
http://www.100megsfree2.com/jjscherr/scherr/images/lutjenssalute.jpg

Quote from: ClaudiusWe're all living in America
Amerika ist wunderbar!

If you are going to post a link to that video, at least post a link to the right one.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=zYwlRH7R6DE

Quote from: BalbinusThose who claim it is frequently haven't gone anywhere else, frequently don't speak anyone else's language and frequently have just assumed everyone else deep down wants to be American.

I spent a year living abroad in Europe, teaching English as a second language.  I've also spent a year living in Mexico, and visited South America.

QuoteHalf the problem with US foreign policy is this bizarre delusion that it's the greatest country on Earth, and other places would be better if they were more like it.  Britain had the same delusion in the 19th Century.  We were wrong then, you're wrong now.

"I just want to say this. I want to say it gently but I want to say it firmly: There is a tendency for the world to say to America, "the big problems of the world are yours, you go and sort them out," and then to worry when America wants to sort them out." - Tony Blair

QuoteJackalope, with all due respect, is a fucking idiot, with so little grasp of history, politics or the international situation that he's not worth responding to directly.

Ah, yes.  When you have no actual argument, call those you disagree with ignorant idiots.  Always a powerful argument.

QuoteI note however that the Danes seem quite happy with Denmark, and aren't noticeably seeking to move in droves to the US, suggesting that their perspective at least might differ somewhat from his own.

That's because after World War 2, the American government put tremendous pressure on Western Europe to clean up their act.  The current prosperity of Europe is entirely a result of American efforts to reconstruct Europe in the model of American liberalism.

There's a lot of Americans of Danish heritage.  You know why?  Because once upon a time, Denmark was struggling under a legacy of fuedalism that results in prosperity for an aristocratic class of elites, and many of the common men of Denmark, their  wretched, huddled masses, fled the oppression of European plutocractic capitalist exploitation to forge new destinies in a land where freedom and opportunity are actually valued over the rigid maintenance of a decaying class structure.

Let's also not ignore the fact that were it not for American power, Denmark would currently be a subject of Germany or Russia.  Denmark only thrives because of the patronage of American military power.

This is true of all of Western Europe.  To say that any nation of Europe is greater than America when all such nations exist solely by the grace of America is...well, it's a right that only comes as a result of American beneficence.  We brought stability and peace to Europe, protected Europe from communist oppression, and continue to allow Europe to have their cake and eat it too -- by which I mean benefit from American domination while simultaneously criticizing American domination.

Tony Blair, as I quoted above, knows the score.

QuoteHe'll probably think I'm an America hater or basher.  I'm not, as I say I really like the US, I just think his perspective is that of a 5 year old.

America hater?  No.  I just think you argue like a man who has no real point, and thus can only sling insults and hope nobody notices the emperor has no clothes.

Quote from: Koltar...okay , seriously .

 Is Jackalope the new Tom Kalbfus of the internet or what?

Jokes like that work a little better when you don't pluck names out of total obscurity.

I.E. Who the heck is Tom Kalbfus?

Quote from: JackalopeJokes like that work a little better when you don't pluck names out of total obscurity.

I.E. Who the heck is Tom Kalbfus?

He was a frequent poster and irritant on several gaming forums a couple of years ago who gave "Gung-Ho American Patriotism" a bad name for awhile.

 I remember he was on both the SJG forums and the Citzens of the Imperium forums.

He caused George Washington to become a banned topic for awhile on one gaming forum.

Jeff might rember him. Casey777 too.


- Ed C.

Quote"Useful idiots", Easy prey.

There is no more useful idiot to a government than the patriot and the nationalist.

Quote from: KoltarHe was a frequent poster and irritant on several gaming forums a couple of years ago who gave "Gung-Ho American Patriotism" a bad name for awhile....Jeff might rember him. Casey777 too.

A joke two people might get.  A real classic in the making you got there.

I don't generally go on and on about how great America is.  In fact, historically I tend to live more by the following quote:

Quote from: James Baldwin"I love America more than any other country in this world; and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

But, you know, Serious Paul actually asked.

And I'm only picking on Denmark because of this guy I know, 18 year old kid from Denmark living in America because our schools have better programs for his area of study, is ALWAYS going on and on about how great Denmark is, how utterly shit and horrible America is, and steadfastly refuses to consider the very real role that America plays and has played in keeping Denmark free to be Denmark.

I've also been feeling a bit more aggressively patriotic the last few days because of this British bitch who came into the garage I work at and asked me to recommend a Mexican restaurant.  When I recommended a small local franchise chain, she went off on this whole thing about how much American franchise restaurants suck, and was flipping all of this anti-American 'tude my way, talking about how our culture is so fake and commercial, and it's impossible to find genuine ethnic food in America (wtf?  I've been to England.  I lived in Scotland for a month.  It ain't all that different, and the food is universally worse).

Then she said she was going to go to Azteca, a nationwide chain that serves something that isn't even remotely comparable to genuine Mexican food.  Sometimes I really hate having a work ethic and not being willing to throw a good job away by telling customers to GO BACK TO ENGLAND IF YOU HATE IT HERE SO MUCH, BITCH!!!

Seriously, I was okay with listening to British people bash America when I was in the UK.  I mean, I didn't really enjoy having every other person take me to task for the Bush administration (I worked on the Gore campaign!), and I got tired of people who thought there were 64+ states in the Union bitching at me about how Americans don't know anything about Europe, but I tolerated it. But fuck, if that's hwo you feel about America, don't come here.

Seriously, who does that?  Just starts bitching at a native about how much their country sucks while a guest in that country?  Oh right, EUROPEANS do that.  Like 9 out of 10 that I've met here in the States, coping that "We're so much better than you, we're not militarized, we're not aggressors (we just benefit from your militarism and aggression)." 'tude.  Pisses me off.

So yeah.  AMERICA RULES!!! EUROPE DROOLS!!!

:: pant ::

Okay, I'm done.

Quote from: John MorrowMany countries have to build walls to keep the people in because they want to get out.  The United States is talking about building walls to keep people out who want to get in.

That's...retarded, John. Exclusionary immigration policies are neither novel nor admirable. Building physical walls to compensate for inadequacies in policy and government is a sign of weakness.

!i!