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America: Pros' and Cons'

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by FreeFlow9917, Aug 15, 2013.

  1. FreeFlow9917

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    I was thinking, America is certainly a great country, but i have the pros and cons
    Pros:
    The First Amendment that gives us freedoms
    The right to bear arms
    The veterans who have fought and died for this country
    I have the right to say this
    The patriotism in third world country

    Cons
    Not the best in education (Pretty Damn Good Though)
    There are better healthcare systems other than ours
    Japan and South Korea are better technology wise and are years ahead of us
    Politics, what would happen if demo and reps sided together
    Corruption, a lot more than others

    I am sure there are pros and cons to every country, but people need to realize we are a great country, not the greatest
     
  2. Gen

    Gen
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    Well, I think the issue is that most people don't recognize that there is no such thing as the 'best' country. People come to America every day and love it. People go to the UK every day and love it. People go to Canada every day and love it.

    There is a reason why mankind has worked its way to all of the edges of the Earth. Everyone loves a good adventure. Paris doesn't seem even half as romantic when you grew up playing in the streets. We all have at least partially shitty governments; we all have corruption; we all have our rich and our poor; and I am an individual that has actually lived and traveled around enough to give a realistic opinion on that.

    The only reason why the United States gets the most flack is because it is of the front runners of media. The United States is like the Kardashians. No one, including Americans, cares about our lifestyles, economy, or government unless they either have something to laugh or complain about.
     
  3. Goblin

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    I kind of agree with last poster. Like you made that list of pros and cons but I wouldn't entirely agree with it. Some things relate to politics - that said. Life in America can be pretty great but I believe in critiquing it anyways because America isn't totally free or equal yet and we should politically be striving for perfection as much as we can.
     
  4. partmin123

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    What I think Mental was trying to say here was to make a list of pros and cons of america compared to other countries
     
  5. Dublin Boy

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    America's problem is that it is supposed to be the United States Of America, but with LGBT Laws being different in every State, it is anything but United, make Gay Marriage, LGBT Laws & LGBT Rights equal in every State & Democracy in the US just may become a litle stronger, other than that, it's a Great Country :slight_smile:
     
  6. Argentwing

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    I'm way too tired to give an in-depth presentation of the good and ill of this country, but I will say that I absolutely love the Constitution and the culture of freedom that grew up around it. What I don't like is that people work every day to corrupt our freedom for their own greedy, horrible purposes and expect us to go on saying that we have liberty. We do, but it's being chipped away slowly and surely. One day it'll all be gone, and I hope that we can fix it before we have either an Orwellian state or a new revolution. :/

    @DublinBoy, I'll go ahead and disagree. I'd say that recently we are TOO united. States are supposed to be separate entities for the most part united only in our common allegiance to each other. The overarching federal government, however, has over-stretched its power and is sort of trying to overwhelm States' rights by making nation-wide laws. It sort of defeats the purpose of dividing up the country like we have. I'm thankful that instead of just outright banning gay marriage (way too liberal to pass on the largest scale) we do have the ability to pass it in some places and not others. It breaks the battle down into smaller, more digestible chunks until the more conservative parts are ready for it.
     
    #6 Argentwing, Aug 16, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2013
  7. Aquilo

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    This is fun : ) The Con list is longer, but that doesn't mean I don't like the USA, it's just easier to think about the bad things your government does..

    Pro:
    -Nature (National parks and other areas are really beautiful)
    -American inventions (Internet, refrigerators, combine harvesters, dishwashers, escalators, electric fans, zippers, supermarkets, sunglasses, chocolate chip cookies etc.)
    -Americans people
    -Movies and television series
    -Participation in WWI/WWII and a few other wars


    Con:
    -American inventions (Atomic bomb, machine guns, sporks, electric chair, banana splits, traffic lights, pineapple pizza's etc.)
    -American 'football' (rugby and normal football are better)
    -Badly maintained infrastructure, which is too dependent on cars
    -First past the post system resulting in:
    -Two party system
    -Media (stuffed with adverts, subjective and too americocentrist)
    -American military invasions and coupts to protect business interests/ego of presidents (Mexico, China, Spain, Cuba, Colombia, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Iraq etc. etc. etc.)
    -War on Drugs
    -American support of dictators
    -American business model (compared with the German one for instance)
    -American system of education and healthcare (if you're rich, it's perfect, if you're not...)
    -American nonsense posed as science (Creationism, Climate change denial, etc.)
    -Corruption
    -American espionage
    -American disregard for the rights of foreign citizens (spying/drones/torture/etc. are ok, as long as it's not on Americans)
    -British television series and movies re-enacted with Americans.
    -American cities
     
  8. Aussie792

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    I actually have a lot of problems with the law and culture of the US. A lot of Americans tend to have this idea of American exceptionalism and a cultural obsession with violence, a hatred of women, and anti-intellectualism. But it's not the worst. Just big, over-governed yet under-served, and with anti-intellectualism at it's worst and yet some of the world's greatest thinkers.

    A country can never be put so simply; each person, each city, each building has a story, and there's no point in trying to lump it all in one.
     
  9. dfiant

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    The problem with the USA is they think they have freedom, but then again they believe everything their government tells them :wink:
     
  10. gibson234

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    I don't understand how letting people own objects that only purpose is to kill is a good thing and lots of countries have free speech and so on.
     
  11. carty

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    Cons - accent

    - over-freindliness or blatent rudeness.
    Patriotism - Americas the greatest etc lets fly our huge flags everywhere! etc

    American tv

    Your hip/hop, street culture

    Pros - the airports
     
  12. robclem21

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    Not sure I understand this original list. Two of the things on the pro list involve killing other people, and the only thing you have about saving people (healthcare) is a con. That seems to be a very big problem right off the bat.

    I agree with most others who say it is tough to lump that entire country together because it is so diverse. Overall, not a bad place to live, but I would never go as far as saying that the country is where it should be in the 21st century.
     
  13. Adi

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    USA

    Pros:
    - 1st Amendment;
    - 2nd Amendment;
    - No VAT;
    - Separation of Church and State.

    Cons:
    - People who don't understand the 1st Amendment;
    - People who take the second Amendment to ridiculous legths;
    - People who want to turn the country into a theocracy;
    - The war on women;
    - The inconsistent treatment of gays across the country due to the lack of unity.
     
  14. carty

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    War on women?
     
  15. Jinkies

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    ^ He's probably talking about the many people who are sexist and think women have only one use: To be in the kitchen.

    Here's my list of pros and cons:

    Pros:
    - The Constitution
    - The Bill of Rights
    - Founding Fathers
    - Convenience
    - Good business
    - Fight for Equality
    - Inventions such as the car, lightbulb and computer
    - A generally accepting people (so long as they don't know certain things about you in certain places)
    - Street cleaning in cities

    Cons:
    - Shitty music industry
    - Bipartisanship
    - current Politicians
    - Overprocessed foods
    - The people that want bad things to happen to other people because "It's their way of life"
    - WBC
    - The stereotype we've made
    - Innacurate stereotypes of other countries
    - Overtight and unnecessary security because of the Patriot Act
    - NSA spying
    - Shows such as Jersey Shore and TMZ
    - Worst education system in the world
    - Traditionalists
    - People who don't read the Constitution and make it something that only exists.
    - The insane amount of sexist people
    - The insane amount of people who assume things of other people.
    - The 420 culture
    - People who think video games make you violent
    - The fact that McDonald's is trying to sell itself as health food
    - The message that you have to have money in order to have a job
    - Political campaigns that demean other people
    - Fox News
    - CNN
     
  16. AwesomGaytheist

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    Part of the problem is that we Americans tend to have a huge ego. Thankfully though, the number of people who believe in "American Exceptionalism" is down. We're the best thing to happen to the world? Tell that to the Soviet Union. Tell that to the innocent civilians who were lined up and shot at point-blank range by American soldiers in My-Lai, Vietnam. Tell that to the other hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamise citizens who were killed in a failed 20-year war we fought for no good reason to begin with. Tell that to the thousands of civilians blown up when we started bombing Iraq. Tell that to the innocent people who were instantly vaporized when we nuked Japan.

    And above all, tell that to the families of the soldiers who were killed in so many unnecessary wars the US has fought purely for political reasons.

    That's the America I know.
     
  17. FreeFlow9917

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    I'm a millenial, what i'm trying to say is how we stack up to others. If you look at America's past, it isn't very great in some ways, i mean i love america, but every country has ups and downs, liku china, u.k. canada and so on, i'm just trying to point out the people who think America is the best, yet we're not. I mean we have many priveliges that we take for granted, but we need to realize that there is no such thing as the best country, let alone perfect. The main thing that i dont like is the politics, like how corrupt pat quinn and other politicians are, not all are, but it just leads me away
     
  18. Sorcerer

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    I suppose one of the things that stands out for me is the US criminal justice system:

    2.2 million people in jail, 6 times the rate in China
    The plea-bargain system which denies people a fair trial
    The death penalty

    The other is the prevalence of guns:

    30,000 gun deaths a year, incluing 12,000 from homicide, far higher than any other civilised country
     
  19. ScatteredEarth

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    That's a biased claim there though, you're focusing on one subject that seperates the states.. Just because it's relevant to this site in particular, it doesn't mean that it's the only thing that states don't agree on, like the death penalty and whatnot.
     
  20. Dublin Boy

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    LGBT Rights was just an example, there are too many differences to list, age of consent, death penalty, age to get married, marrying horses etc etc etc