Magee
Location: That place with the thing...
wow, stereotypical american 😆
So I shouldn't be proud of my own country? 🙄 It's called nationalism/patriotism, what's wrong with that. And it is the truth.
Alpha Centauri
How proud we should be of our countries ability to kill huge amounts of people.
Very proud actually. 💃 In all honesty, I was making an argument that the US wouldn't lose in a war against the European Union. And additionally, America could have taken over any country it wanted during 1945-1950 when it was the only country that had nukes. Unlike Germany, Japan, or the U.S.S.R., the United States didn't annex any part of the world when it had the power to do so. So yes I'm proud. America is far from perfect, but it's still the greatest country in the world.
Where were the Europeans when the Serbs started ethnic cleansing of the Muslims in the Balkins? This was happening adjacent to them, right freaken across the border from them and what did they do to stop this? 🙄 It was America - thousands of miles from across the Atlantic - that intervened to stop this "[killing of] huge amounts of people."
Every time conflict starts up in the world, most of the world want America to step up to the plate first and send our troops and money to solve the crisis, and then these countries *MIGHT* assist America. 😠
United States didn't annex any part of the world when it had the power to do so. So yes I'm proud.
How about the annexation of Texas, and the Gadsden Purchase? This was pre-WWII, but the same principal applies. We had the power to do it, and we did. Why did the U.S. do that? Because Mexicans were viewed as "dirty half breeds" not fit to be left with all of that hand or govern themselves.
The U.S. is a giant piece of annexed land. First the original 13 colonies were taken from the British who had no damn right to be there in the first place, as they had no right to be in Ireland before the "Americas".
Then the Louisiana purchase (any further acquisition of land was not covered in the Constitution, so we had no right even by our own hand to take it) which we bought from the French, who had laid a claim of all the land between the Mississippi and it's tributaries many years prior. Napolean, in his exclamation “Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies.... I renounce Louisiana.” decided to sell his property. So we took that, and pushed the Indians further back, they had, prior to that under Napolean's ownership been able to live there.
Then the annexation of Texas, the Gadsden Purchase, then more fighting and shit over California, the Oregon territories and other Canadian boundaries. Oaklahoma -- "Indian Territory" was found to contain gold, so we took that last vestige of land from the Indians. And the government went on to rape and desicrate their culture for years and years.
Unable to believe ourselves as anything but righteous, we fought and took back the south when it secede. Although the end outcome was for the greater good with the abolishment of slavery, the intial reason for war had nothing to do with slavery. But even that was botched on and on with reconstruction, carpet baggers, President Hayes, etc. etc.
This is to say naught of our interference in the Pacific Islands and Islands off the Gulf of Mexico.
Personally, I'm not proud of "my country" the United States of Amerigo Vespucci, that bastard map maker.
ScarletSpider
How about the annexation of Texas, and the Gadsden Purchase? This was pre-WWII, but the same principal applies. We had the power to do it, and we did. Why did the U.S. do that? Because Mexicans were viewed as "dirty half breeds" not fit to be left with all of that hand or govern themselves.
The U.S. is a giant piece of annexed land. First the original 13 colonies were taken from the British who had no damn right to be there in the first place, as they had no right to be in Ireland before the "Americas".
Then the Louisiana purchase (any further acquisition of land was not covered in the Constitution, so we had no right even by our own hand to take it) which we bought from the French, who had laid a claim of all the land between the Mississippi and it's tributaries many years prior. Napolean, in his exclamation “Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies.... I renounce Louisiana.” decided to sell his property. So we took that, and pushed the Indians further back, they had, prior to that under Napolean's ownership been able to live there.
Then the annexation of Texas, the Gadsden Purchase, then more fighting and shit over California, the Oregon territories and other Canadian boundaries. Oaklahoma -- "Indian Territory" was found to contain gold, so we took that last vestige of land from the Indians. And the government went on to rape and desicrate their culture for years and years.
Unable to believe ourselves as anything but righteous, we fought and took back the south when it secede. Although the end outcome was for the greater good with the abolishment of slavery, the intial reason for war had nothing to do with slavery. But even that was botched on and on with reconstruction, carpet baggers, President Hayes, etc. etc.
This is to say naught of our interference in the Pacific Islands and Islands off the Gulf of Mexico.
Personally, I'm not proud of "my country" the United States of Amerigo Vespucci, that bastard map maker.
You missed what came after when I said "America is far from perfect, but it's still the greatest country in the world." If we're bringing up past events and taking into consideration of everything, then mostlikely no country in the world can truly say that they're hands are clean of mistreatment of their fellow man. Look at the Romans, French, and British, they attained power & land the same way. I'm not ignoring what happened to Native Americans (who we took the land from), Mexicans (that we took more land from), or African Americans (who's slave/free labor helped build America). America is not perfect but still better than most countries in the world. Look the Mexicans that we took land from, the Spanish came and began taking what was not theirs & massacrering the native people of America (both North & South). The land and property of which we took from the Mexicans was previously that of the natives that the Spanish took.
All I'm saying is is that America is the greatest country in the modern world; it wasn't in the past: MORALLY, militarally, and economically. Despite its past, America today is the greatest country in the world. We had the power to annex large portions of land after WWII but we didn't unlike the U.S.S.R. We treated our people better than the Soviets did to theirs. We even flew cargos of food everyday into West Berlin when it was located in East Germany when the Soviets took control. Our past is not clean but neither is most countries in the world. Currently, we are the greatest nation in the world.
Alpha Centauri
"It's called nationalism/patriotism, what's wrong with that. "
Everything. It's land. You can't help where you're born so why be supremely proud of it.
Nothing wrong with loving the land that you live in - and I WASN'T born in America...I came from Vietnam. And I'm not just proud of the land, it's the ideals of America that I love.
I'm not saying there are anything wrong with the ideals. Democracy and equal representation are very important, but it's the actions behind the ideals that rend some of our "superiority" moot.
Militarily we are the foremost authority. Economically, we depend a lot on outside producers. When was the last time you bought anything with "Made In USA" on it? If they just quit sending stuff to us, we'd be in trouble with our economy.
Morally... that is debatable. There is no universal moral standpoint. But remember the U2 spy plane incident with the U.S.S.R.? "We're not spying on you!" But lo and behold, they rig a one chance aircraft up, overload it with fuel and send it straight up. They risked lives, and lost one, to prove we're backstabbers. We're not the moral superiors of the world. No one is. I'm done with this. America isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. In MY opinion, it's not THE BEST, but it could be a lot worse.
"it's the ideals of America that I love."
Hahahaha. Possibly the most hilarious comment ever.
Bill Hicks said it best when he said America spent so many years trying to trick people into believing there were all these evil forces out there but when it came right down to it, America was and is the biggest evil force there is.
Let's not go calling America the greatest country Beyonder. Let's actually be realistic and look at the country itself. A country that over the past years has been more of a backstabber and liar than any other. Saying that it's the greatest country overall is stupid.
"Currently, we are the greatest nation in the world."
Tell that to the people who lost husbands, dads, sons, brothers, cousins and nephews in your "greatest nation's" wild goose chase of a fake war on "terror". See how they feel about calling your country with it's overbearing, war-hungry, immoral nature and it's insane bloodlusting leaders, the greatest nation in the world. The land of the free where you're so free that you don't get a choice in whether you want to go fight in a war or not. A nation that so badly wants to be the protector of the world yet continually makes it worse by feeding it's money hungry belly by selling weapons to other nations that are meagre and hundreds of thousands of miles away, that can't actually hurt them at all and then convincing you how evil they are because they own those weapons. A nation who's leader was running around making back alley treaties and deals with the so-called enemy, flying them around the states in first class in return for certains things, days before the tragic Twin Towers events, then had the gaul to put personal gain before the protection of thousands of innocent people.
Greatest nation? America alone is the closest thing to Hell on Earth you can possibly get.
When your own national anthem starts becoming a contradiction, greatest nation claims go out the window.
-AC
Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
"it's the ideals of America that I love."Hahahaha. Possibly the most hilarious comment ever.
Bill Hicks said it best when he said America spent so many years trying to trick people into believing there were all these evil forces out there but when it came right down to it, America was and is the biggest evil force there is.
Let's not go calling America the greatest country Beyonder. Let's actually be realistic and look at the country itself. A country that over the past years has been more of a backstabber and liar than any other. Saying that it's the greatest country overall is stupid.
"Currently, we are the greatest nation in the world."
Tell that to the people who lost husbands, dads, sons, brothers, cousins and nephews in your "greatest nation's" wild goose chase of a fake war on "terror". See how they feel about calling your country with it's overbearing, war-hungry, immoral nature and it's insane bloodlusting leaders, the greatest nation in the world. The land of the free where you're so free that you don't get a choice in whether you want to go fight in a war or not. A nation that so badly wants to be the protector of the world yet continually makes it worse by feeding it's money hungry belly by selling weapons to other nations that are meagre and hundreds of thousands of miles away, that can't actually hurt them at all and then convincing you how evil they are because they own those weapons. A nation who's leader was running around making back alley treaties and deals with the so-called enemy, flying them around the states in first class in return for certains things, days before the tragic Twin Towers events, then had the gaul to put personal gain before the protection of thousands of innocent people.
Greatest nation? America alone is the closest thing to Hell on Earth you can possibly get.
When your own national anthem starts becoming a contradiction, greatest nation claims go out the window.
-AC
APPLAUSE.