The USA

[Amai]

Here are the only tolerable countries in my opinion:
Canada, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa

These states in the US are tolerable:
Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut

Maybe California, we'll see on December 8th.

..and these cities:
Mexico City, DC (It's a district, not a city, but yeah)

These are the countries that..well, let's just say if I was President I'd probably invade them and try to establish a better government:
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Cameroon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Western Sahara, Somaliland, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Jamaica (yes, Jamaica), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Palestinian territories (Gaza), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Brunei, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Tonga.

As you can see, although the USA is not on the tolerated list, it is not on the intolerable list either. So it's pretty neutral. My dream in life is to put it on the tolerated list.

By the way, if anyone can reply with the reason why all those countries are on the intolerable list, I will personally bow down to your greatness.

 

[LadySurreal]

I like to put America as Mexico, Canada, and the USA as a whole. Mexico for it's corruption, USA for it's BS in the government, and Canada for having the people living USSR style.....only with the option of "Free-thinking", but none of us actually used it. /sarcasm

Stephen Harper: Take monies frum skool n' use it 4 govnmintz purpoz
Me: Why not take money from prisons? You know, the T.V, X box, Internet and clean toilets.....
Canadians: *GASP*


If you go to Pakistan where women go to prison for being raped....say "Why do you wave your country's flag?". Sure the US Government is spitting nothing but BS right now, but I can say the same for Canada, Sweden, Russia, China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, South Africa, and Mexico as a few examples.


For my opinion on the US: Not a terrible country, if you want a horrid developed country, try Greece, it's a mess over there, to the point people suggest they leave the Euro Zone. If you've never been there, your insults on them is invalid.

I feel sorry for average German citizens getting dogged by basically everyone.....

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Why is that good exactly? Higher taxes are higher for a reason, they pay for things like schools and hospitals. Speaking of which; why is medicine in America treated like a business? And why was the idea for an NHS attacked like that? How is free health care bad?

You have to understand American political culture to understand why we value low taxes. We're a capitalist society, so we don't believe that the government should be providing services that we prefer private businesses to handle. And healthcare in America is a business. We have some the highest quality of healthcare in the world because of this. Free health care isn't really free. Nothing in this world is free. In order to have an NHS, we would have to pay for other people's healthcare. Call it selfish if you want, but Americans have a "Government: Stay out of my way!" political attitude for the most part.

Here are the only tolerable countries in my opinion:
Canada, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa

These states in the US are tolerable:
Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut

Maybe California, we'll see on December 8th.

..and these cities:
Mexico City, DC (It's a district, not a city, but yeah)

These are the countries that..well, let's just say if I was President I'd probably invade them and try to establish a better government:
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Cameroon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Western Sahara, Somaliland, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Jamaica (yes, Jamaica), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Palestinian territories (Gaza), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Brunei, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Tonga.

As you can see, although the USA is not on the tolerated list, it is not on the intolerable list either. So it's pretty neutral. My dream in life is to put it on the tolerated list.

By the way, if anyone can reply with the reason why all those countries are on the intolerable list, I will personally bow down to your greatness.

My Wild Guess: For their recognition (or non-recognition) of same-sex marriage. You would have to include California in that list.

 

[Skip Class]

That's the one thing that annoys me. Measurements, spellings, driving on the opposite side of the road

I agree on any Australians on this one since New Zealand and Aus are kinda similar in the way we look at America.
I think that if I ever did move there I'd probably die driving on the wrong side of the road with confusion o_o

Measurments and Spelling is another thing. I mean whenever I talk/Skype any of my Forum friends I get into the habit of spelling it the other way - Mom/Mum etc.

Also how Americans say words differently than we do sometimes
EG Jandals - Flip Flops
Bickies - biscuits - Cookies
Block - Man
Bugger - Disappointed
Kumara - Sweet Potato
Jersey - Sweater

People who meet me say that I have an American Accent though I was born in New Zealand and I've never lived anywhere else (And I've been to America one when I was 5)
I personally do like the American accent but I've recently learnt that the accent can vary between States? Is that true and how can it differ?

 

[Gardenia101]

I agree on any Australians on this one since New Zealand and Aus are kinda similar in the way we look at America.
I think that if I ever did move there I'd probably die driving on the wrong side of the road with confusion o_o

Measurments and Spelling is another thing. I mean whenever I talk/Skype any of my Forum friends I get into the habit of spelling it the other way - Mom/Mum etc.

Also how Americans say words differently than we do sometimes
EG Jandals - Flip Flops
Bickies - biscuits - Cookies
Block - Man
Bugger - Disappointed
Kumara - Sweet Potato
Jersey - Sweater

People who meet me say that I have an American Accent though I was born in New Zealand and I've never lived anywhere else (And I've been to America one when I was 5)
I personally do like the American accent but I've recently learnt that the accent can vary between States? Is that true and how can it differ?

Quite honestly, we Americans find your word choices odd as well.
(Bickies? I always laughed at that xD)

And, yes, you can get a few different accents around here.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I like to put America as Mexico, Canada, and the USA as a whole. Mexico for it's corruption, USA for it's BS in the government, and Canada for having the people living USSR style.....only with the option of "Free-thinking", but none of us actually used it. /sarcasm

Stephen Harper: Take monies frum skool n' use it 4 govnmintz purpoz
Me: Why not take money from prisons? You know, the T.V, X box, Internet and clean toilets.....
Canadians: *GASP*


If you go to Pakistan where women go to prison for being raped....say "Why do you wave your country's flag?". Sure the US Government is spitting nothing but BS right now, but I can say the same for Canada, Sweden, Russia, China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, South Africa, and Mexico as a few examples.


For my opinion on the US: Not a terrible country, if you want a horrid developed country, try Greece, it's a mess over there, to the point people suggest they leave the Euro Zone. If you've never been there, your insults on them is invalid.

I feel sorry for average German citizens getting dogged by basically everyone.....

Yeah those countries are kind of messed up, the world as a whole is pretty messed up but then again when has it never been messed up?

 

[Timbjerr]

I personally do like the American accent but I've recently learnt that the accent can vary between States? Is that true and how can it differ?

If you've got an hour or two to waste, there's a TVTropes article on this. XD

It's the same concept of there not being a central British accent. What most non-Brits call a British accent is just a simplified Cockney accent and what most non-Americans call an American accent is a variant of the Midwestern accent. :P

 

[Livewire]

Here are the only tolerable countries in my opinion:
Canada, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa

These states in the US are tolerable:
Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut

Maybe California, we'll see on December 8th.

..and these cities:
Mexico City, DC (It's a district, not a city, but yeah)

These are the countries that..well, let's just say if I was President I'd probably invade them and try to establish a better government:
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Cameroon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Western Sahara, Somaliland, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Jamaica (yes, Jamaica), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Palestinian territories (Gaza), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Brunei, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Tonga.

By the way, if anyone can reply with the reason why all those countries are on the intolerable list, I will personally bow down to your greatness.

I can see why you added the Eastern states, but Iowa? /is perplexed

My guess would be they are all either:

A. Third World Dictatorships
B. Extremely Right-Wing Islamic Theocracies
C. Nations with disgusting human rights records
D. Extremely poor nations, in terms of overall GDP

You have to understand American political culture to understand why we value low taxes. We're a capitalist society, so we don't believe that the government should be providing services that we prefer private businesses to handle. And healthcare in America is a business. We have some the highest quality of healthcare in the world because of this. Free health care isn't really free. Nothing in this world is free. In order to have an NHS, we would have to pay for other people's healthcare. Call it selfish if you want, but American's have a "Government: Stay out of my way!" political attitude for the most part.

That's an apt description of the conservative side of the argument, yes, but-

We like to whine about everything wrong with country, from SS to our infrastructure, yet we don't seem to want to pay up to fix it. That's mostly because our Politicians have done a great job of employing politics of fear and incitement that promote selfishness and greed. The best way to get elected in the united States is to cater to the "mob mentality" and scare the people into thinking your opponent will raise their taxes. It's a fool-proof strategy, even George Bush figured that one out. The emphasis on individualism and materialism is disgusting.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I can see why you added the Eastern states, but Iowa? /is perplexed

My guess would be they are all either:

A. Third World Dictatorships
B. Extremely Right-Wing Islamic Theocracies
C. Nations with disgusting human rights records
D. Extremely poor nations, in terms of overall GDP



That's an apt description of the conservative side of the argument, yes, but-

We like to whine about everything wrong with country, from SS to our infrastructure, yet we don't seem to want to pay up to fix it. That's mostly because our Politicians have done a great job of employing politics of fear and incitement that promote selfishness and greed. The best way to get elected in the united States is to cater to the "mob mentality" and scare the people into thinking your opponent will raise their taxes. It's a fool-proof strategy, even George Bush figured that one out. The emphasis on individualism and materialism is disgusting.

There's noting disgusting about individualism. Our Constitution is based on individualist thinking.

And I was trying to emphasize that we cringe at the mention of higher taxes. Suggest that taxes should be raised, and your chances of election are slim even in left-leaning parts of the country.

And OP was referencing states and countries based on whether or not they recognize same-sex marriages.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I like to put America as Mexico, Canada, and the USA as a whole. Mexico for it's corruption, USA for it's BS in the government, and Canada for having the people living USSR style.....only with the option of "Free-thinking", but none of us actually used it. /sarcasm

Stephen Harper: Take monies frum skool n' use it 4 govnmintz purpoz
Me: Why not take money from prisons? You know, the T.V, X box, Internet and clean toilets.....
Canadians: *GASP*

Not to make this a thread on Canada. But education is an exclusive Provincial responsibility. Not Federal. So, Harper can't "take monies frum skool n' use it 4 governmintz purpoz"

 

[LadySurreal]

Not to make this a thread on Canada. But education is an exclusive Provincial responsibility. Not Federal. So, Harper can't "take monies frum skool n' use it 4 governmintz purpoz"

I'm simply making an example.

Rephrase:
Harper: War is bad, Military is bad.
Me: Then why become part of NATO and have a military in the first place? Why not go "Costa-Rican" (Abolishing military)?
Canadians: *GASP*

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Not to make this a thread on Canada. But education is an exclusive Provincial responsibility. Not Federal. So, Harper can't "take monies frum skool n' use it 4 governmintz purpoz"

The U.S. is the same. Education is a state responsibility here.

 

[Livewire]

There's noting disgusting about individualism. Our Constitution is based on individualist thinking.

And I was trying to emphasize that we cringe at the mention of higher taxes. Suggest that taxes should be raised, and your chances of election are slim even in left-leaning parts of the country.

And OP was referencing states and countries based on whether or not they recognize same-sex marriages.

Don't get me wrong, individualism is great in moderation, but it's been driven to extremes in our unregulated capitalist society. And nowhere will you find anything penned by a founding father of this country that stresses individualism over a greater loyalty to the country and your fellow countrymen as a whole.

One of the best Examples of the emphasis on unity-

[SIZE=-1]Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.[/SIZE]
​

[SIZE=-1]GEORGE WASHINGTON, farewell address, Sep. 19, 1796[/SIZE]
​

 

[parallelzero]

I'm simply making an example.

Rephrase:
Harper: War is bad, Military is bad.
Me: Then why become part of NATO and have a military in the first place? Why not go "Costa-Rican" (Abolishing military)?
Canadians: *GASP*

...That's a horrible example, too. We have a military, and we're involved with NATO, in the case that something eventually happens that DOES directly influence us. It's more or less there for a worst case scenario, and we're only in Afghanistan still because we got involved by supporting the US with 9/11. We're withdrawing most of our troops next year anyways.

Just because our PM thinks war is bad doesn't mean it's something he can completely avoid, and abolishing our military would just be a horrid idea. In this day and age, it's best to be prepared.

That said, in terms of the US, I don't really have that much of an opinion? I don't particularly care for obnoxious US tourists coming to Canada, or overly-patriotic Americans, but I'm not going to generalize the country based on my exposure to them (since everyone acts differently away from home). I think it's an okay country, but it's nothing exceptional.

 

[Happy Azumarill]

i liked Kevin Rudd, hes was against war same as Obama

 

[Amai]

My Wild Guess: For their recognition (or non-recognition) of same-sex marriage. You would have to include California in that list.

Only places that performed same-sex marriage were on the list. If they just recognized marriage in other places or had something similar but not equal, they weren't good enough.

I can see why you added the Eastern states, but Iowa? /is perplexed

My guess would be they are all either:

A. Third World Dictatorships
B. Extremely Right-Wing Islamic Theocracies
C. Nations with disgusting human rights records
D. Extremely poor nations, in terms of overall GDP

All the locations on the tolerable list were countries that actually had equal rights. All on the intolerable had homosexuality illegal, be the punishment prison, whippings, or death.

 

[WonderGirl]

This thread is so stupid and pointless. I can't even believe it was created. We could do this for every single country in the world, you know. There's no such thing as "All Americans are bad" and all that crap. To be honest, I don't like that country that much, but seriously, what's the use of even arguing? Some people are good, others are bad. It's got nothing to do whether they're American or not.

However, if you're asking if we like the country apart from the people, then I can agree that it's okay to talk about it. But some people get really carried away and arguing for/against Americans is so stupid and pointless.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Only places that performed same-sex marriage were on the list. If they just recognized marriage in other places or had something similar but not equal, they weren't good enough.


All the locations on the tolerable list were countries that actually had equal rights. All on the intolerable had homosexuality illegal, be the punishment prison, whippings, or death.

Gays in California have it made. We are home to the city of San Francisco, ya know!

 

[Amai]

Gays in California have it made. We are home to the city of San Francisco, ya know!

Without equal rights or protection (California does have protection though) that doesn't matter to me.

And I do not believe marriage is a right. I believe the legal status you gain when married and the multiple benefits that come from it are rights though, and I believe creating something out of thin air just for gay people is discriminatory. The perfect compromise would be to make it so religious institutions can deny gay people marriage, but courts cannot. That way, we still have the ability to get married and religious institutions are unaffected by the change unless the want to be affected.

 

[Prometheus]

It sounds and looks brilliant but I wouldn't go due too racists and the KKK.