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I laughed so hard at your picture my drink came back up out of my nostrils... thanks!!!
Who cares what Europe thinks...
We could use god guns and BETTER prisons to Americas benefit ... and we don't imprison minor offenses... nor druggies... they are all released.. most crimes are a book and release by mandatory federal requirements... have been for several years... jail overcrowding is so bad only serious felonies even stay in custody
Last edited by notmeofficer; 06-17-2015 at 07:39 PM..
I love how the libs come on here and assume they know how Europe feels about this country. How many times do they have to be proven wrong before they stop "assuming?" And I should add "the rest of the world" to that.
If you are European, gun happy, religious, and prison crazy is exactly how they see us.
No other country on earth has the number of incarcerated people the US does. No other first world country would put up with the number of gun deaths that we do (and I am not anti-gun owning). And no other civilized country has the problems with religion versus government that we do.
These are all things from our past that we hold on to. If you say the Middle Eastern countries are where we were 500 years ago, then you'd have to say we are where Europe was 150 years ago. It's not likely you're going to see topless beaches or the high rates of agnosticism here that you do in Europe. But you also have to understand that America is made up of the troublemakers, free spirits, and adventurers from Europe. We also don't have the mostly homogenized population a lot of European countries have. Here in America, most of us are still only a hundred years or so away from pioneering great grandparents. The kind of attitude they had towards getting things done is what has fueled our innovation process. Believe it or not, along with being old fashioned and stubborn, as a population, Americans are also very fluid and open to change. That's not a bad thing.
I love how the libs come on here and assume they know how Europe feels about this country. How many times do they have to be proven wrong before they stop "assuming?" And I should add "the rest of the world" to that.
They certainly weren't proven wrong about the Iraq FauxWar. How many European nations joined George WTC Bush's "Coalition of the Non-Existent" in that American debacle?
I am a citizen of the U.S. and this is basically how I view the U.S. now and how a number of people throughout the world especially Europe see us as a country. I think the U.S. is and has been the laughing stock of other parts due to these 3 societal things. Anybody want to respond either from the U.S. or outside.
I've never lived in Europe so I don't know what they think of us. But surely our crazy religious nuttery and large scale denial of evolution and AGW don't speak well for us.
I've never lived in Europe so I don't know what they think of us. But surely our crazy religious nuttery and large scale denial of evolution and AGW don't speak well for us.
This is incorrect. 90% of Americans are functional atheists. Meaning they profess a believe in God, but live day to day pretty much identically to atheists. Inviting God briefly and perfunctorily into the picture during emotional occasions such as births, deaths, funerals, illnesses, weddings, etc. The rest of the time, God goes into the background for the vast majority of Americans. Effectively very similar to Europe in real terms.
Probably 90% of Americans believe in evolution. Those that are religious just solve the problem by arbitrarily declaring that evolution is part of God's plan. Problem solved, and now able to be ignored.
AGW is where we get it right. There is no AGW, and even if there is, there is NOTHING to be done about it. Warming will be good for the planet, not bad. Sea levels will rise, and cities will have to be redesigned and rebuilt to a more efficient standard. Win-win. Lots of jobs for decades if not centuries. Further, arable land will increase as precipitation increases. We can move civilization much farther North than ever before, into the Arctic and sub-Arctic even. More food for everyone. A few island nations will submerge. Big deal, the people will move. They will have time to plan and ultimately will be better off.
I've never lived in Europe so I don't know what they think of us. But surely our crazy religious nuttery and large scale denial of evolution and AGW don't speak well for us.
I have lived in Europe. In general, Europeans have a very positive view of the US. Many of them love to come on vacation to New York, DC, Disney, Vegas, etc. etc..
But the OP is also correct in that many Europeans don't really get why so many Americans are religious (because so many Europeans are not), they think that we have too many guns and don't understand our gun culture and they think that we probably do incarcerate too many people and for too long.
But - and it is a big but - that view is far from universal. There are religious Europeans, there are Europeans who are interested in guns and who love to shoot when they come to the US and there are Europeans who think that their own countries are too soft on crime.
Just as in the US, there is a disparity of views on these subjects.
I am a citizen of the U.S. and this is basically how I view the U.S. now and how a number of people throughout the world especially Europe see us as a country. I think the U.S. is and has been the laughing stock of other parts due to these 3 societal things. Anybody want to respond either from the U.S. or outside.
I don't agree with you 100% but you do have a point about some of the gun lovers. Last week as I was on the bus heading home from work, I could hear this guy in the next row chatting with this woman. I couldn't help but over hear because they were pretty loud but they were talking about guns. The guy was explaining some bit about how you do this and do that. Not sure how they got on the topic but he was quite excited about explaining it. I had to plug in my headphones just to keep from listening to this nut.
I don't agree with you 100% but you do have a point about some of the gun lovers. Last week as I was on the bus heading home from work, I could hear this guy in the next row chatting with this woman. I couldn't help but over hear because they were pretty loud but they were talking about guns. The guy was explaining some bit about how you do this and do that. Not sure how they got on the topic but he was quite excited about explaining it. I had to plug in my headphones just to keep from listening to this nut.
How horrible, he should be arrested and put in solitary confinement. That will show him to be excited about anything. My God!!!
I agree with you about the prison industrial complex but not about firearms. People who have never fired a gun or taken a gun safety course talking about things they have no experience with is simply ignorant. Firing guns is fun, and can be done quite safely and responsibly.
If I could I'd combine many of the socialist aspects of Europe such as free health care, more vacation time, etc. and combine it with some social libertarian ideas like ending the war on drugs and keeping firearm ownership free.
Don't they own guns in Switzerland? In any case, some of us prefer to let Darwin settle things in exchange for a little more freedom instead of banning everything because some people might hurt themselves. This is also why I oppose the war on drugs.
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