Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What is this obsession with the "greatest" ? I just do not get this. What set of criteria will be universally acknowledged to make anything/anywhere the "greatest"?
There seems to be an inherent arrogance to whoever believes themselves/their country/team/religion/philosophy etc... to be somehow superior to others.
What makes us so wonderful as human beings is the sheer variety of our differences and the way we have all "evolved" to become disparate from others whilst sharing a common humanity.
I for one refuse to subscribe to the idea of a "greatest" Nation. That is the fastest way to Imperialism, intolerance , racism and bigotry.
I am French and very proud of some aspects of my country whilst thoroughly ashamed of others, same with my adopted country ( the UK) and the US ( a country I know rather well and where some of my family come from).
Everywhere I go no matter how poor or rich, how modern or "primitive", I see good people and bad people, good things and bad things. Positives and Negatives. Beauty and Ugliness.
To me anyone who needs to justify their "greatness" is already failing . Labels are never helpful.
There is no "greatest". It is all very relative and will all depend on each unique standpoint.
I suppose that makes me arrogant, but none can compare to the USA, even with all her faults. Now let's get to work fixing the problems we do have :-)
I wish that I could give you more points than I did! You took the words right out of my soul! My job causes me to travel around the world a lot (In 3 months I am going to Nigeria), and by far The U.S. of A is cleaner, better, and safer than most other countries.
I love France's architecture and fresh breads but it was filthy, I love Naples home-town feel, Iceland had a bunch of great looking women, Sweden women looked a lot like California, Somalia was scary, Ethiopia was dirty, Perth Australia was boring but the warm beer grows on you, Brazil the women could make a priest sin!!!! and I like a lot about the other countries but the United States of America is by far the best!
The top people from around the world blended into this melting pot of a culture and built it up from there!
I I am going to Nigeria), and by far The U.S. of A is cleaner, better, and safer than most other countries.
That doesnt make it BEST---It makes it as good as whatever is left over after you exclude "most other countries". Being better then Nigeria is rapidly becoming a criterion that will need to be used to claim that the USA is a great country.
Being a cleaner couintry is highly overrated. Polio, for example, occurred only in countries with modern sanitation standards, and ws virtually unknown in poor countries. The reason Americans get sick so easily when they travel abroad is becaue their environment has been so sanitized, that they have no resistance to anything. Safer is probably not true, either, as nearly all European counries have lower crime rates than the US, and also have stricter safety standards on automobiles. Not on new ones, but old junkers are simply not allowed on the roads in many countries. and safety inspections are very rigorous. The only other term you used is "better", wiich is somewhat vague.
Why do you think the immigrants from a century ago were the "top people"---are the Mexicans coming in now also the top people? What's the difference?
Plese do not send me any e-mails from Nigeria---I get plenty already.
That makes China 5 times as good as America in terms of population, ten times as good in terms of walks of life, and 100 times as good in terms of diversity of culture. Now would you like to hear about India?
I agree with your point that demographics don't make a country great but how is China that much more diverse than America? Last time I checked, it is 95% Han Chinese. Even in the Olympics when supposedly all minorities were represented in their traditional clothing, in reality it was just Han Chinese dressing up.
I don't really have an answer to the question though. A nation can be great economically, shear size, culturally, socially, and militarily. America used to be the greatest nation hands down-and while we have declined somewhat-much of the rest of the world has caught up. If the EU were a country I would give it to them right now. However, they have their own problems and if massive non-EU immigration continues without assimilating than they will drop.
Really, the EU, China, and the US all have decent arguments for being the greatest country.
and by far The U.S. of A is cleaner, better, and safer than most other countries.
and I like a lot about the other countries but the United States of America is by far the best!
Cleaner and Safer?? There are plenty of places cleaner and safer than the US. It is cleaner and safer than most 3rd world countries sure but it's Crime rate and murder rate is appalling compared to other industrialised nations. And with the coming economic crisis coming people who lose their jobs are going to be cared for a lot better in these countries. Not even in 3rd world countries do you get repeated mass shootings on college campuses.
I've been to a lot of countries too and don't see how you can difinitively say the US is best at all. If you took a survey of an even range of people from different countries who have been to the can to say Switzerland, Japan, France, Australia, New Zealand. Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, UK, etc. Could you say categorically than the US would come out the best? No. And nor could you about any other place.
You can mount arguments for the US being no. 1 but you can many many arguments against.
Last edited by billsaintkilda; 11-13-2008 at 02:02 AM..
ME THINKS YOU SHOULD BE ASKING WHO ARE THE BEST , KINDEST MOST OPEN PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.. WHO- ARE THE NON-JUDGERS, NOT BEDAZZELED BY SOME BLING OR SHALLOW ACHIEVMENT and ist there such a place , and would the let us in
greatness as in nobility? we used to be. i think we gota do a lota work to get back there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
