American exceptionalism and the bullshit it is

[squeeze berry]

He really deep down doesn't want to reveal his country because he KNOWS the discussion would then be about his homeland. The folks I've met who say they're from 'the continent' are usually Dutch. Avoids those awkward mental pictures of wooden shoes, tulips and windmills. But THEY are probably the most arrogant on "the continent"..

Well you are a smart one, well besides what you re saying is true (the part about the discussion would be about talking shit about my country, you did get the country wrong though)

I actually gave away what country I m from (see my reply below here). My country luckely doesn't make that awful Heineken beer, we make beer that actually doesn't taste like piss

Wel they did found one of the Biggest cities in the US, back when New York was called New Amsterdam.

Are you Russian?

I m not afraid of anything, I already gave away what country I m from: you just have to use that brain of yours at the quote below. If you can make it you earn the rigth to talk shit about it, if you don't well boohoo ... And heck, I will even talk shit about my country if you can guess which one it is

And no, Russians drink wodka not beer . But if I was a anti-American that would have been a good guess ;-)

Yes I get it, you make very good arguments. It s a speech to kick up morale, it is Nationalism. I should know after all, I m quite Nationalistic myself but not to the point that I think my countrymen can do everything better than any other country. I only think they re the best at drinking and making beer, only if we re drunk we can pretend that we re the best at everything . So take a guess, which countries big multinational beer company has taken over some of the biggest American beer companies?

Frenchmen would be talking German today had it not been for America TWICE.

Well that s what I mean, blowing up Nationalism so much that you re taking credit for the work of others. The US only had a small army in WWI compared to the real big armies of European Nations at the time. World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes you liberated the French once and the French will probably never hear the end of it ... Even when they come to your aid in your wars: first gulf war, Afghan war, ...

The Irony of what France did for you and you being so ungratefull is so hilarious, did you know that the King France bankrupted his country by spending huge amounts of money to help the Americans win against the British (well also because he hated the British)? You don't hear the French brag about that now, do you? (it s the same bankrupting that led to the French revolution)

the French were also responsible for great suffering in our country during the French and Indian War, which helped lead to our revolution. i.e dissatisfaction with the lack of protection by the British along the frontier and expecting the colonists to pay for a war in gold and blood the colonists didn't start.

but......

I'm more into drinking than fighting.

I'll pop a cork with you any time. We have some decent beer that you likely never drank . There are just too many to list. Our wine in Virginia has surpassed European and California vintages in quality and price.

At least I prefer Virginia wine.

I drank some beer from Alsasce years ago that was pretty decent. Stella is from Belgium I think.

Don't get me started on the booze topic.

PS next time we are leaving the fighting to you and we will stay behind and dally with your madamoiselles

 

[Mac1958]

.

Fourth try:

Why does it matter if America is "exceptional"?

.

 

[Unkotare]

I actually gave away what country I m from (see my reply below here).

If you weren't afraid you would have come right out and answered a direct question instead of playing coy about 'giving it away' like some little girl. The only 'bashing' of your country that you have ensured is that it has a dopey, pissy little wuss like you as a citizen.

 

[Munin]

Well, I see that a few others have tried to explain the term "American Exceptionalism" to you, but I think the most succinct way to describe it is that we are the exception to the rule. The old rule at the time of America's founding was pretty much monarchy. Our NEW rule was that the people are capable of ruling themselves. Of course, the concept of American Exceptionalism today would include the ideal of promoting our belief in democratic self-rule on the framework of constitutional law.

The notion that "American Exceptionalism" is about claims of general superiority is just wrong.

Ok, ty for putting it straight. But you can not deny that American politicians like to say that America is the greatest country in the World, claming it to be superior

When I hear that kind of reasoning it makes me think of the Naive girl in the video below, hoping everyone will kiss Americas Ass and saying how great it really is. When it is not then it is pathetic and kind of a bit sad when you have millions of unemployed people and still saying that: is that not being unpatriotic?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqcLUqYqrs]Why America is NOT the greatest country in the world, anymore. - YouTube[/ame]
I actually agree with what the guy in the middle says

and the guy below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=T8UqdPKbpWM

 

[OldUSAFSniper]

Ahhhh a foreigner whining about American Exceptionalism.

You know, I live in Oklahoma, about 30 miles outside of Tulsa. The nearest town to where I live is less than 2,000 people. I own a ranch and I raise cattle. I drive a truck and in this truck I have a Colt Double Eagle, a Remington 870 shotgun and an M-4. I keep them because of the snakes, the coyotes, the packs of wild dogs, and just occassionally, the mountain lions. If the polls are open, I vote. I go eat breakfast every day at a small cafe on the highway and I talk with several ranchers who are always there. Together we have solved ever world problem that there is: twice.

The closest neighbor to me is Mexican-American, although he claims he is just American. He has a wife and six children and he came here about 30 years ago. One of his sons is a Marine. Another close neighbor is about 75% Muskogee-Creek Indian. His wife is 100% white, although she comes from Louisiana and her parents are Creole. I've got a Pakistani neighbor and his family (they're muslim); I've got a man with a Ukrainian woman and his two kids; a man and his family who's decendents were original Sooners and who's two sons just got home from Afghanistan (Air Force); a ragin Irishman who never met an American bourbon he didn't fall in love with; and I could go on and on.

You have no idea what it is when we speak of "American Exceptionalism." Each one of those families I mentioned believe in it, understand it, and know what it is. This isn't something unusual, this IS America...

 

[Unkotare]

So that means that there is a big chance you American guys have been making love with France

I see you know as much about sex as you do about America.

 

[Murf76]

.

Fourth try:

Why does it matter if America is "exceptional"?

.

There's a wikipedia page that draws together quite a bit of information on the term:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism
But I think the first paragraph sums it up pretty well.

American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is different from other countries in that it has a specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy. In this view, America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming "the first new nation,"[1] and developing a uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism and populism.[citation needed] This observation can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as "exceptional" in 1831 and 1840.[2] Historian Gordon Wood has argued, "Our beliefs in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of ordinary people came out of the Revolutionary era. So too did our idea that we Americans are a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty and democracy."[3]

I'd say, in answer to your question, that concepts such as liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, etc. are still important to us... at least I'd hope they are. Almost ALL of our political division appears to me to be based on our opposition to collectivism in all its forms. The debate isn't so much Democrats vs. Republicans or Liberals vs. Conservatives as it is Collectivists vs. Individualists. "American Exceptionalism" at its core is about our system of government, the protections we place on the Liberty of the Individual citizen, and how that differs from the governance which we saw, and still see, in other parts of the world.

Protecting the minority opinion, the individual, is still important to us today. It protects us from the evil of unrestrained democracy, which is nothing but mob rule without the constitutional constraints which we've placed upon it.

 

[Munin]

We have AMUSEMENT PARKS larger then your country Munin... I once rode a train thru your country, went to take a pee and missed it...

Crap, you must have missed our great national monument then: A patheticly small guy that is peeing... You could have at least had the decency to pee on him you bastard !! (I am a man of my word eh, you guessed it right)

And no I m not shitting you

It s always the same shit, everyone wants to get through our country to get some other place : The germans with their fricking tanks to go on a tourist trip to Paris, the French when a dwarf and canons decides to go on a tourist trip to the rest of Europe, the Americans when they want to Visit Berlin but some Russian ashole got there first and took a shit on it, ...

 

[Murf76]

Well, I see that a few others have tried to explain the term "American Exceptionalism" to you, but I think the most succinct way to describe it is that we are the exception to the rule. The old rule at the time of America's founding was pretty much monarchy. Our NEW rule was that the people are capable of ruling themselves. Of course, the concept of American Exceptionalism today would include the ideal of promoting our belief in democratic self-rule on the framework of constitutional law.

The notion that "American Exceptionalism" is about claims of general superiority is just wrong.

Ok, ty for putting it straight. But you can not deny that American politicians like to say that America is the greatest country in the World, claming it to be superior

When I hear that kind of reasoning it makes me think of the Naive girl in the video below, hoping everyone will kiss Americas Ass and saying how great it really is. When it is not then it is pathetic and kind of a bit sad when you have millions of unemployed people and still saying that: is that not being unpatriotic?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqcLUqYqrs]Why America is NOT the greatest country in the world, anymore. - YouTube[/ame]
I actually agree with what the guy in the middle says

and the guy below

Bill Maher - America Isn't #1 - YouTube

Interesting clip. But as you can see, the constitutional structure we created allowed all those great things the actor discussed toward the end of his monologue. As we move further and further from the integrity of our founding beliefs, the worse off we become. And he's right, we no longer have a superlative news media to keep us truly informed and educated. It takes me 4-6 hours a day to FIND the news, to figure out who's lying for partisan purposes, what's being left out, and of what real priority or newsworthiness something is. And on top of that, our educational system isn't sufficient to explaining such things as American Exceptionalism or what the philosophical beliefs or our founders meant to the spirit of our Constitution, divided politically as it is.

Bottom line though is that regardless of whatever personal misunderstanding' people might have about the term, American Exceptionalism is about the unique method of governance that we chose.

 

[Munin]

the French were also responsible for great suffering in our country during the French and Indian War, which helped lead to our revolution. i.e dissatisfaction with the lack of protection by the British along the frontier and expecting the colonists to pay for a war in gold and blood the colonists didn't start.

but......

I'm more into drinking than fighting.

I'll pop a cork with you any time. We have some decent beer that you likely never drank . There are just too many to list. Our wine in Virginia has surpassed European and California vintages in quality and price.

At least I prefer Virginia wine.

I drank some beer from Alsasce years ago that was pretty decent. Stella is from Belgium I think.

Don't get me started on the booze topic.

PS next time we are leaving the fighting to you and we will stay behind and dally with your madamoiselles

Oh yeah that sounds good . Yes Stella is from Belgium, in belgium it is sold as normal beer but oddly enough outside Belgium it is sold as a premium beer (tells you a lot about how good the beer is here ). But then you haven't drank our real good beers yet (the heavy ones), the best of them that I can think of are:

Duvel Duvel Moortgat Brewery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (heavy beer that will get you drunk fast if you re not used to drinking it)
Orval Orval | Brewery | Authentic & know-how (very good, also one of the heavier beers)
Trippel Karmeliet Tripel Karmeliet - Brouwerij Bosteels - Buggenhout, Belgium - BeerAdvocate (very tasty also)


And of course the world best beer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westvleteren_Brewery
The problem with this beer is that it is rare and this is what makes it so wanted, it is brewn by a monestary. The problem with it is that the monks only make so many beers a year, they re not commercial and you can only buy the beer if you go to the bar acros the street of it or if you order it like 1 or 2 years in advance. But knowing a lot of beers in Belgium, I can say that Tripple Karmeliet is at least as good or better (depening on your taste) as that famous beer

And yes, I ve heard about American wines they are good and can compete with a number of European wines. South American Wines are pretty good too (Chile for example)