the most 'free' countries are....

Zoso

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/0 ... html?ncid=

pretty interesting to me anyway especially when some people here have said again and again that the USA have the most freedom's....

Though Americans pride themselves on living in the "land of the free and the home of the brave," per the Star-Spangled Banner, The Canadian Fraser Institute has some news for the United States: It's not tops in the world when it comes to freedom.

That's right; the Canadian think-tank ranks the U.S. just seventh in its ranking of most and least free countries for 2013. According to the National Post, the list was published as part of a book compiled by the Fraser Institute and Germany's Liberales Institut, Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom.

The Fraser Institute's website explains the publication's goal:

This project, sponsored by Canada’s Fraser Institute, Germany’s Liberales Institut, and the United States’ Cato Institute, focuses on creating the first comprehensive and conceptually consistent index of freedom, including economic freedom, and is based on the “negative” definition of freedom—in other words, the absence of barriers or coercion that prevent individuals from acting as they might wish.

According to the South China Morning Post, the index described personal freedom as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, discrimination against homosexuals and women's rights. Economic freedoms were understood to include property sovereignty and "individuals' engagement in voluntary transactions."

The metrics come from a composite score derived from data provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit, OECD and Freedom House, the National Post reports, with a 10 representing the highest score possible.

Africa and the Middle East didn't fair too well in the study, as the New Zealand Herald notes, with African or Middle Eastern countries making up eight of the bottom 10. Zimbabwe ranked dead last.

lando

Frazier institute is shall we say a tad right wing. Just throwing it out there

Smellyman

What a terrible Estonia picture. I thought she was eating her own hand off.....

Hugh Freaking Dillon

Smellyman wrote:

What a terrible Estonia picture. I thought she was eating her own had off.....

totally a pic from the Walking Dead.

MotoDC

Shocking huffpo picked a NASCAR fan with a beer bong as their representation of the US, while largely choosing beautiful national landscapes, wildlife, or monuments for many of the other countries. :roll:

Zoso

MotoDC wrote:

Shocking huffpo picked a NASCAR fan with a beer bong as their representation of the US, while largely choosing beautiful national landscapes, wildlife, or monuments for many of the other countries. :roll:

Why would an American online newspaper be anti their own country?

MotoDC

Zoso wrote:

MotoDC wrote:

Shocking huffpo picked a NASCAR fan with a beer bong as their representation of the US, while largely choosing beautiful national landscapes, wildlife, or monuments for many of the other countries. :roll:

Why would an American online newspaper be anti their own country?

What difference does it make where the newspaper is based?

edit: more to the point, are you actually suggesting that that pic is any of the following:
1) Sufficiently representative of the US?
2) In the same league in terms of positive impression as most of the rest of the pics?
3) That its selection was pure happenstance on the part of the "newspaper"?

cincybearcat

Hahaha, no agenda with that picture and caption of the USA.

They literally wrote he is from Taledo, Ohio...no such place. Making fun of his country accent I would guess when trying to say Toledo. What a waste of time this reaserch and article is, and now, this thread.

Zoso

MotoDC wrote:

Zoso wrote:

MotoDC wrote:

Shocking huffpo picked a NASCAR fan with a beer bong as their representation of the US, while largely choosing beautiful national landscapes, wildlife, or monuments for many of the other countries. :roll:

Why would an American online newspaper be anti their own country?

What difference does it make where the newspaper is based?

edit: more to the point, are you actually suggesting that that pic is any of the following:
1) Sufficiently representative of the US?
2) In the same league in terms of positive impression as most of the rest of the pics?
3) That its selection was pure happenstance on the part of the "newspaper"?

no it doesn't represent the USA as it should but the research still stands... I didn't post it for any other reason then for information. I didn't intend it to be anti-USA at all.

Zoso

cincybearcat wrote:

Hahaha, no agenda with that picture and caption of the USA.

They literally wrote he is from Taledo, Ohio...no such place. Making fun of his country accent I would guess when trying to say Toledo. What a waste of time this reaserch and article is, and now, this thread.

sorry I wasted your time...

MotoDC

Zoso wrote:

MotoDC wrote:

What difference does it make where the newspaper is based?

edit: more to the point, are you actually suggesting that that pic is any of the following:
1) Sufficiently representative of the US?
2) In the same league in terms of positive impression as most of the rest of the pics?
3) That its selection was pure happenstance on the part of the "newspaper"?

no it doesn't represent the USA as it should but the research still stands... I didn't post it for any other reason then for information. I didn't intend it to be anti-USA at all.

Honestly didn't think that you did; my critique was of the article (edit: well, moreso of the picture selection), not your intentions. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

I can't critique the article (assuming it even needs it) without diving deeper into the assumptions and data that support the study. Can't do that right now.

Jason P

Cool beer bong.

Although, I prefer the hard hat that holds a beer on each side with a straw. That way I can hold my cigarette.

mikepegg44

It doesn't surprise me that we aren't the 'most free'...We didn't invent freedom and liberty, nor do we allow ourselves all of it...it should really go, "home of the arguably more free, and probably the same amount of brave per capita"...At least this gives us something to shoot for right?

MotoDC

Jason P wrote:

Cool beer bong.

Although, I prefer the hard hat that holds a beer on each side with a straw. That way I can hold my cigarette.

Own up. You submitted that pic from your last NASCAR camping trip for that article.

Jason P

US is free as long as you shut up and don't do anything stupid ... and pay your tithings to your governments ... or break local ordinances ...

Now that I think about it, you can't even go live under a tree without filling out the appropriate paperwork and make sure you are more then 150 feet away from any water source.

:fp:

Jason P

MotoDC wrote:

Jason P wrote:

Cool beer bong.

Although, I prefer the hard hat that holds a beer on each side with a straw. That way I can hold my cigarette.

Own up. You submitted that pic from your last NASCAR camping trip for that article.

Ha! I'm no Dale Jr. fan!

Although, I will admit that I once walked into the Indy 500 with 2 cases of beer resting on my shoulders while holding my admission ticket in my mouth. Don't remember much of what happened later on for some reason ...

:think: