Is America the greatest country in the world?

rustneversleeps

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

youre so smart. 

rustneversleeps

Spiritual_Chaos said:

rustneversleeps said:

God Bless America

Three words to prove ignorance. 

i meant Thor Bless the World.

Annafalk

rustneversleeps said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

youre so smart. 

Yes he is, rgambs you are probably right I changed my mind. Good night.

rustneversleeps

Annafalk said:

rustneversleeps said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

youre so smart. 

Yes he is, rgambs you are probably right I changed my mind. Good night.

kids never been right in his life.

rgambs

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

I don't think it has to be like that at all. Just because you love your country it doesn't mean you dislike or don't love other countries also.
What good comes out of it? I think people wouldn't sing national anthems if nothing good came out from it.  

It probably doesn't have to be like that, but I think the problem is that intellectuals tend to think about the deeper consequences of nationalism and less intellectual folks tend to just dig deep and take it very seriously.
There is no debating the connection between patriotism/nationalism and war.  The world wars were conflicts that can be blamed almost solely on people's investment in their arbitrarily drawn borders.  
Cultural differences are great, and Europe is wonderfully full of cultural regions, but nationalism just amplifies the divisive aspects of cultural differences.

People sing national anthems for different reasons.  Tradition is probably the biggest one, but what's troubling is that you can trace nearly all nationalist traditions to times of war.  Think about it, it's true.
Pride in your country doesn't make much sense to me, what do I have to be proud of about America?  I didn't make it what it is, I'm just 1 person living life how I see fit.

rgambs

rustneversleeps said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

youre so smart. 

Thank you, goat milk is brain food.

rustneversleeps

intellectuals.....  thats hilarious.  

rustneversleeps

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

I don't think it has to be like that at all. Just because you love your country it doesn't mean you dislike or don't love other countries also.
What good comes out of it? I think people wouldn't sing national anthems if nothing good came out from it.  

It probably doesn't have to be like that, but I think the problem is that intellectuals tend to think about the deeper consequences of nationalism and less intellectual folks tend to just dig deep and take it very seriously.
There is no debating the connection between patriotism/nationalism and war.  The world wars were conflicts that can be blamed almost solely on people's investment in their arbitrarily drawn borders.  
Cultural differences are great, and Europe is wonderfully full of cultural regions, but nationalism just amplifies the divisive aspects of cultural differences.

People sing national anthems for different reasons.  Tradition is probably the biggest one, but what's troubling is that you can trace nearly all nationalist traditions to times of war.  Think about it, it's true.
Pride in your country doesn't make much sense to me, what do I have to be proud of about America?  I didn't make it what it is, I'm just 1 person living life how I see fit.

so the "intellectuals" dig deep and take themselves very seriously is what im gathering.  kids are funny today.

rgambs

rustneversleeps said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

I don't think it has to be like that at all. Just because you love your country it doesn't mean you dislike or don't love other countries also.
What good comes out of it? I think people wouldn't sing national anthems if nothing good came out from it.  

It probably doesn't have to be like that, but I think the problem is that intellectuals tend to think about the deeper consequences of nationalism and less intellectual folks tend to just dig deep and take it very seriously.
There is no debating the connection between patriotism/nationalism and war.  The world wars were conflicts that can be blamed almost solely on people's investment in their arbitrarily drawn borders.  
Cultural differences are great, and Europe is wonderfully full of cultural regions, but nationalism just amplifies the divisive aspects of cultural differences.

People sing national anthems for different reasons.  Tradition is probably the biggest one, but what's troubling is that you can trace nearly all nationalist traditions to times of war.  Think about it, it's true.
Pride in your country doesn't make much sense to me, what do I have to be proud of about America?  I didn't make it what it is, I'm just 1 person living life how I see fit.

so the "intellectuals" dig deep and take themselves very seriously is what im gathering.  kids are funny today.

Yes, you gather correctly.  We tend to take things seriously and not just pound a Busch and yell  !USA USA USA!!!

I don't think there are any kids participating in the discussions on AMT, though some folks act like kids with their flippant sarcasm and personal insults.

mcgruff10

Spiritual_Chaos said:

rustneversleeps said:

God Bless America

Three words to prove ignorance. 

Why? Our country was based on the principals of Christianity.  

mcgruff10

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

Isn't it a positive thing to sing the national anthem? Isn't it a good thing to be proud over your country? 

Mostly not.
Nationalism is always a part of the preparation for war, and it is divisive.  
It leads to all sorts of discrimination and ill feeling toward foreigners, and what good comes from it?

Nationalism was a big part of world war 1 but since then?

brianlux

rustneversleeps said:

intellectuals.....  thats hilarious.  

Rusty, Rusty Rusty,  isn't befriending or at least getting along with your fellow P.J. fan more important than argue about so impossible as "the greatest country"?  Or is it just more fun to stir the muck?

Have fun and beware The Giant Cat.

23scidoo

Nationalism has nothing to do about loving your country..why not..i love my country, i know my difference with the other nationalities, but i don't want to bomb any country..
with some expection..lol..

Smellyman

Does a bear crap in a toilet?






Betteridge's law of headlines is one name for an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.

Spiritual_Chaos

23scidoo said:

Nationalism has nothing to do about loving your country..why not..i love my country, i know my difference with the other nationalities, but i don't want to bomb any country..
with some expection..lol..

You can also "love your country" but admit that its not the "greatest in the world"

rustneversleeps

cheeseburgers

brianlux

rustneversleeps said:

cheeseburgers

in paradise, lol

rgambs

rustneversleeps said:

cheeseburgers

A compelling argument!  
Not just cheeseburgers either, America owns sandwiches in general.  I've never had an excellent sandwich abroad. 
It's like they just don't understand sandwich anatomy and physiology outside the US.

rgambs

I would truly miss the array of sandwich opportunities in America, though I am pretty sure that I would put the excellent breads and cured meats of Italy to better use than the natives do.

I just want to clarify that I am not being snarky, sarcastic, or otherwise provocative.  America is the sandwich king of the world, and I am a sandwich kind of man.
Soup, keep it. 
Salad, sure, let's dance until my true love arrives.
Sandwich, welcome home love.

rgambs

Light-hearted as my sandwich love fest was, it does touch on one of the aspects where America is truly one of the greatest nations of Earth.
Cultural diversity, the melting pot is great, you can get delicious food and art from anywhere in the world here.  It isn't rich in origin, it's never going to be like eating a local delicacy or seeing some artistic expression in it's native location, but damn if we don't have the ability to taste (both physically and spiritually) a bit of everything humanity has to offer.