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America being ridiculous...again

hay82 said:
How can you be entirely sure about that..?
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I've been to enough places around the world and read enough to have an educated opinion. I'm as sure as anyone can be.
 
Robert said:
I've been to enough places around the world and read enough to have an educated opinion. I'm as sure as anyone can be.
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Which is about not sure at all.. I wouldn't be able to say anything about how free Denmark is. How exactly is freedom measured.?
 
Ah, but I am sure, but I like where this is going.

How about this for a start. Freedom is being at liberty to do anything so long as it doesn't impose on the liberties of others.
 
Are there any pink elephants?

That's probably a okay way to describe freedom, but how will you measure it? What would rate the most. I don't know how things work in the US, but as far as I can hear people can't say **** and stuff like that on TV.. Would such a thing count against freedom, and if so how much would you value such a thing. It's a ridiculesly small thing.
 
Pink elephants? I haven't seen any, but I'll be happy to let you know if I do.

You're right, there is a limit to what can and cannot be said on certain networks. Words like that offend a lot of people, and parents are often concerned about the affect on their small children. Knowing how far to take something like that is a tough line to draw. But it's not like it isn't allowed. Even the FCC said that they would have allowed the broadcasting of Saving Private Ryan during primetime. Also, I get a lot of channels that allow foul language, nudity and sexual situations. No loss of freedom here.
 
So you are not ruling out the existence of pink elephants although you have never seen any? Then how can you rule out that there are countries that are more free that the US?

I certainly don't know enough about the US to say if it is more or less free than Denmark and I would be very surprised if you know enough to say so.
All I can say is that from my perspective the US does not look that free, but I have not been there and I don't really like to form my oppions on that unstable foundation.

I would assume that a lot of your perception comes from american media, and I would say that it is very subjective in that matter. Unless you have lived in every single country in the world for more than a few years, I'll say that your statement has no foundation.
 
Because there are no countries more free then the US. There are some counties that are more liberal or more open about some things, but not more free.

I know my country, hay82.

Please be careful that you aren't forming any opinions about my great country based on the notoriously anti-American European media.
 
I don't doubt that you know your own country, but in order to be able to make your statement you would have to know every country in world just as well.

What are you using to base your statement on...? The anti-european american media?
 
Like it or not, the USA is a great country.

My belief is based on first hand knowledge of many countries, other folks that have lived in elsewhere, and a solid education. No guess work here.

Does all this make you feel threatened or is just hurting your pride?
 
Not hurting my pride, nor do I feel threatend.. I'm not saying that I think Denmark is greater that the US. You are just displaying an atitude which I think is the one that has made people hate the US.

I still don't doubt that you have first hand knowledge of other countries, but that is just not enough. Tell me the difference between the freedom in the US and Denmark.. The US and Germany, The US and France.. The list goes on.

I don't have any pride of my country, I just live here. I think it's very naive to think that you can say what you say, and I would never make such a statement, because I have no way of proveing it.
 
Actually a better way to put it is like this: In America you can do anything you want as long as you don't a) Piss off enough of your neighbors that they can get together and pass laws against your fun b) get caught if you happen to break some laws c) afford an attorney that can quibble, nitpick and litigate you out of your troubles. That TV station that started this whole debacle with Saving Private Ryan could have just aired the thing. They were free to do so but it would have cost them.

Personally I don't have anything against Europe or any other place. It just irritates me that the US seems to take on the role of punching bag whenever it does something conservative. *shrug* I mean, why should it bother me if you can hear the news guy in France say 'the fucking bank robber'. And why should you care if the news guy in New York can't say the same thing? I don't know. It seems like we've got enough trouble here and there and everywhere without obsessing about stuff like that.

One good thing about America is that if there is something bad happening and it does affect enough folks they can get together and make enough noise to get something done about it.
 
I think it was a good thing that I joined this forum. Before I joined I had a somewhat anti American attitude. Being able to actually hear some americans say how they feel or look at things has removed that. Of course I can still find the type of persons I thought every American was like, but I found out that it isn't limited to the US, every country has such people.

If there is one thing I hate it's being a prisoner of my own prejudices, and I love it each time I get to see things from a different view.

Another thing I hate is when people say/believe that one country is better that another or that one person is better than another.
 
hay82 said:
If there is one thing I hate it's being a prisoner of my own prejudices, and I love it each time I get to see things from a different view.

Another thing I hate is when people say/believe that one country is better that another or that one person is better than another.
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Thats a good attitude to have. I've done some traveling overseas, though I have never been to Europe--passing through the airport in Spain or England or somewhere hardly counts--its different. Its quite a bit different, actually, than it is here. I was pretty shocked, though, to see how unhappy most people were to see that I was from America. [insert head shake here] I guess its that whole prejudice thing. I'm from the midwest so I sound like a cowboy when I speak. I don't know if thats what set it off or what. It was a fun trip. I'd like to do it again sometime.

Whats strange is that language didn't seem to be that big a barrier. Cokes are Cokes no matter where you are. I'll tell you this, they didn't seem to make as big a deal about the language thing over there as they do here.

Hmmm...culture shock is not to be underestimated. Folks get used to doing things a certain way and they get that "We ain't never done it that way before" attitude. Its hard to shake.
 
Prolixic said:
Its quite a bit different, actually, than it is here. I was pretty shocked, though, to see how unhappy most people were to see that I was from America. [insert head shake here] I guess its that whole prejudice thing.
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I think the reason a some Europeans look at you that way, is because they think that Americans have no idea what is going on it America, but they have no way of convincing you of that. I guess you where lucky you didn't get the we-hate-you attitude which also seems to be a very big part of europe, although far from all are that way.

Just makes me wonder how europeans are looked at in America.
 
hay82 said:
Just makes me wonder how europeans are looked at in America.
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I don't know that they are looked at in anyway really. I mean most folks seem to happy just to get by and let well enough alone. A lot of the younger folks probably have opinions if they're in college and maybe some that aren't. But unless you've been in the military and were posted somewhere else traveling outside the US is prohibitively expensive--barring Canada or South Padre Island.

This is probably a terribly midwestern attitude. If I lived in New York or somewhere that gets a lot of tourists it would probably be different.
 
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