Stop and smell the roses every once in a while...

[Magyk]

Yeah, it's really too bad that youths are shying away from it tbh. Not because we need to be "guns fuck yeah america #1 freedom woo woo we're the best in the world at everything fuck yeah." but because we're lacking the self pride that made us great in the first place. We're replaced self pride with apology tours.

I don't think pride makes anything great, in all honesty. America might be pretty great, I mean I love freedom, living in a first world country, and not having to go day to day with any real and immediate threat of danger that's prevalent in other parts of the world, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. There's a lot of room in pretty much every facet.

You can never consider yourself great, the greatest, the best, or perfect. Complacency is dangerous. You can never become satisfied, you always need to strive for improvement. That's what made America great in the first place, we always pushed ourselves as a people to improve.

[Turky]

Saying we're egocentric would also imply that we have little regard for others, which isn't true. Let's suppose you wake up tomorrow and a severe earthquake has struck Argentina? You better believe that the first country on-site to provide outside help will be Big Brother USA.

You might have the impression that we care for other countries. And to an extent that's true, but you're only scratching the surface. Last semester I took courses in both environmental conservation and world history, and both of them basically sent home the message that the corporate U.S. is a boatload of jerks. If you don't believe me, take the time to watch this. There's many other documentaries I watched, but I think that one sums up my point in a nutshell.

Also, a classmate of mine last semester worked for a relief group in Haiti, and she said that all the stuff we're throwing their way is actually hurting their self-sufficiency. She knew a man who wanted to make a business out of buying shoes in Haiti's capital, and then taking them back to his rural hometown and selling them there for a profit. This way, people didn't have to travel to the city to buy shoes (most people there don't have shoes--see the irony in that?).

But because our relief efforts sent countless thousands of pairs of shoes there, people didn't need to buy his shoes because they got them for free. So the U.S. loves to appear like a philanthropic country, but a lot of it does have a self-gaining agenda.

Corporations have basically taken over Jamaica...they've ruined their banana industry, their textile industry, and so much more. Chiquita basically bought out their banana plantations, and re-hired the workers at a fraction of their original wage. And of course they undercut the local prices so they barely had a chance. And the milk? They sell powdered milk there which is cheaper than the real milk, so the real milk farmers have to throw most of it out.

...you get the idea. We're jackasses.

[Magyk]

Dude blaming an entire country for the actions of a few, makes sense to me.

[piipe]

chile and germany rocks

[Magyk]

chile is in my top countries I want to visit, actually.

[GUARD!AN]

Turkey, I think you make a lot of sense actually, and I think that's exactly what Kera was talking about, striving to improve. No one can argue that a lot of Americans have good intentions (which I agree with what Magyk was saying there), but Turkey you must realize currently throwing free stuff at countries in need is the only way most people know how to help.

I don't know if you can really blame the organizations either, they also don't know any better. As far as I'm aware, aiding a country in need is certainly not a science yet. I think as more of these studies are done, and more countries are helped, the strategies and methods by which we help countries in need will become a lot more effective in the long term, and I'm really excited to see the day that starts to happen.

Anyways, on the topic of America...a lot of people like to jump on the "America is on decline" bandwagon, and I understand their reasoning (particularly around the state of our school system). For the longest time, having grown up in America and seeing the type of slackers in our schools that are supposed to grow up and be the future of our country, I also thought we were fucked. But the reality is, I'm sure that's always been the case. 90% of Americans are fat and/or stupid. But the other 10% is the glory of this great nation. They more than make up for the other 90%, and that's really what the rest of the world sees. They are the ones who exemplify the American dream and are the reason for American Innovation. As long as we have that 10%, the great innovators of the world, we'll continue to be in the spotlight. Once that 10% finds somewhere else more appealing, then we are fucked. Kind of like when the German scientists all left Germany after WW2.

[Caesar]

Well couldn't have said it better myself GUARD. Why cant history be like that short sweet simple and TO THE POINT?

[Ramshi]

Hear hear.

[Caesar]

lol ya

[Turky]

Dude blaming an entire country for the actions of a few, makes sense to me.

Who keeps buying the shit that the corporate US exploits other countries to get? We're all at fault, and until we change our ways and habits, we can't even hope to change what the corporations do. How about let's stop buying shit from China? Pretty sure they'd close the plants in China, and bring our jobs back to the mainland where they belong.