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Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?

Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?


  • Total voters
    61
Do we also not have "freedom of approved speech"? Such as an example would be cant yell fire in a crowded room?

No. That is limitation based on you actually impinging on others' rights to life. The right not to be deprived of life is a negative right - it's something others can't take from you. The right not to be offended is a positive right - it is to say that whatever you find offensive, everyone else has the obligation to change their behavior around, even if they are incapable of predicting it.

North Vietnam did... But it wasnt much upheld tho. But so what if our wording of our founding documents are different. Does that change something?

Uh. Yes..
 
It's not.

It's a market economy protected by a military. China is not communist. The fact that you think it is demonstrates a lack of education.

That is sort of incorrect and sort of correct. China has a corporatist economy, marked by "free-er" markets than what she had previously.
 
Love and worship are different things.

Okay, why would you love something just because your mother happened to drop you here? Is that rational?
 
What's a bad thing? Objectivity or nationalism? I'm quite keen on the former, if you can manage it.

I am too but there are a lot of people who happen to like the latter for some bizarre reason. According to some, their country can do no wrong, just because it's their country.
 
That is sort of incorrect and sort of correct. China has a corporatist economy, marked by "free-er" markets than what she had previously.


We aren't talking about historical nostalgia WW2 fanaticism here.

China is not Communist today. It is member of the global marketplace just as much as the U.S.
 
That is sort of incorrect and sort of correct. China has a corporatist economy, marked by "free-er" markets than what she had previously.

And they keep getting "free-er" while we are going the other direction. Imagine that.
 
Of course I am an exception. Every day I drive on the freeway, I drive faster than the speed limit.
 
Well said, sir! Remember Kipling's "White Man's Burden"? If one takes it in the context of the time (by which I mean one should ignore the racist language), one can see that Kipling was being a 'sunset poet' for England, that it was his way of "passing the torch" from England to America when it came to world leadership. For the past few years, I've come to think that maybe it's time that we here in America find a 'sunset poet' of our own (and I've hubris enough to submit my own entry for the title). We were on top for almost a century, but because we had the best of everything, we sat on our laurels and have allowed other nations to pass us up when it comes to standards of living and education, all the while never dreaming that we could ever be surpassed. What's more, we don't realize that when it comes to world leadership, we have not even come close to the centuries of influence that England (and Rome before her) held - we are too blinded by our own national hubris.

Who will next assume the mantle of world leadership? China might - they're very smart and they've got more political will than we do - but I suspect that they've got a great deal of internal problems that they've got to address first. My money is on the EEC instead.

I am in awe of your poem. It was truly and entirely brilliant. I have only good things to say about it.

If I may -- how long did it take you to write that?
 
What someone says and what someone means are often two different things. And the word "exceptionalism" is sort of self explanatory in meaning.

If you have to ring your own bell and tell the world you're great, you might not be as exceptional as you think?

You are justifying the fail in using the clearly defined term from the op. Stop defending mediocrity.
 
It was a mind set that the US was the top of the food chain. Best and brightest. We always have been the shining light on the hill that all other nations strive to be. Don't believe it? Look how many people came here.
I don't seem to remember a mass exodus of people from the US heading to Europe in the early 1900s.

China and Russia haven't become ashamed of themselves yet. Our left has been hating on the US for some time.

Its been said that the American left "loves" the US like an abusive husband "loves" his wife by beating her. There might be something there.
 
There's such a dramatic difference that I'd argue that modern Greece is an entirely different nation than thousands of years ago when they actually made a difference to the world. It's one of those "what have they done for us recently" things.

Absolutely.
 
Super-patriots are often the first ones to threaten secession.
 
Sadly, the entire idea of what some call American exceptionalism has been politicized by the right as some sort of lame shorthand for "F the rest of the world cause we are different here and nothing you heathens do matters to us or reflects upon us".

I see it more as sneered at cruelly by the left. Its said that conservatives are thankful for what is, while liberals are furious for what isn't. Perhaps that explains the difference.
 
Okay, why would you love something just because your mother happened to drop you here? Is that rational?

If it has to be explained to you, I feel sorry for you. You probably should find greener pastures elsewhere.
 
As an ideal, yes. Our values as Americans are great. Maybe not the best, that's hard to judge, but certainly great. But being American doesn't make us better. It gives us something to strive for. Too many Americans trade on our past accomplishments and fail to make future accomplishments a reality. As Americans, we are called to something greater. We must live up to that ideal.

This has a sort of 'Kiplingesque' ring to it, a variation on the 19th century 'The White Man's Burden' idea. I don't feel the U.S. has to be 'greater', and has nothing to apologize for or prove to the rest of the world. Most of the rest of the world sucks in comparison, and sucked long before there was an 'America'; let all those other assholes strive to be 'greater' for a while.
 
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China and Russia haven't become ashamed of themselves yet. Our left has been hating on the US for some time.

Its been said that the American left "loves" the US like an abusive husband "loves" his wife by beating her. There might be something there.

Well, few other countries have a yellow press that prefers hysterical sniveling to the boring reports on 'reality', and this is just as true for the Right's media hacks as it is the 'Left's'. Most other countries can keep their dirty laundry under wraps, as they control their press and keep outsiders from getting too close, hence 'journalists' and talking heads follow the path of least resistance and regurgitate half-assed 'stories' without much critical analysis, and have credulous people convinced we're just the most evilest country ever or whatever. Put China under the same microscope, or 3 fourths of the rest of the planet, and let's see the differences.
 
Well, few other countries have a yellow press that prefers hysterical sniveling to the boring reports on 'reality', and this is just as true for the Right's media hacks as it is the 'Left's'. Most other countries can keep their dirty laundry under wraps, as they control their press and keep outsiders from getting too close, hence 'journalists' and talking heads follow the path of least resistance and regurgitate half-assed 'stories' without much critical analysis, and have credulous people convinced we're just the most evilest country ever or whatever. Put China under the same microscope, or 3 fourths of the rest of the planet, and let's see the differences.

Absolutely, this actually has its roots in Marxist critical theory. Essentially, paint the US as an awful place, only criticize, and offer no context.

Social marxism had to go there, as it could no longer defend marxism on an economic level, so its taken its fight to the culture, in an effort to facilitate "revolution". :doh
 
China and Russia haven't become ashamed of themselves yet. Our left has been hating on the US for some time.

Its been said that the American left "loves" the US like an abusive husband "loves" his wife by beating her. There might be something there.

"Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: Precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from."

"If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America.... They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different Way. You see, they love America the way a 4-year-old loves her Mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups.

To a 4-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world."

-- Al Franken

Sen. Franken, of course, is exactly right.
 
I dont think thats the burden on a political discussion board, do you?

"Its been said that the American left "loves" the US like an abusive husband "loves" his wife by beating her."

How do you get that from the poll?
 
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