THE US is the most divided nation in the western world..why?

[glockmail]

Man, you really ARE an artard...



Peer Answers & Peer Support - Dictionary

Hint: just because YOU don't know a word, doesn't mean it doesn't exist... capish?

Wow I guess I better stop watching so much news and tune into the real important stuff!

The Great Glock stands corrected and acknowledges this new word.

 

[cbi0090]

I would like the opinions of americans...as to why their country seems so divided.....unlike any other western nation

My theory is the religious extremism (absent in all other western nations) that exists in the midwest and southern states fosters a culture of ignorance and poor education standards.

This clashes with the educated and more travelled and world wise americans living in the remaining regions.

But I stand to be corrected and I would like to hear what you all think.

The U.S. does not operate within a prescribed culture, as most other nations do. Nothing is assumed to be. If you come here thinking your going to see a homogeneous people, or assuming that we are, your in for a shock.
The only connecting link is that we operate on an ethic or a premise that basically says "Do unto others as you have done to you". It doesn't matter that Jesus said it anymore, it's just the American way.
It's the benchmark of what is or isn't fair, and it gets applied across all racial, sexual, national, ethnic, religious, etc. lines. We have thousands of organizations arguing constantly about what is or isn't fair to them or others. Just when you think you know how you should behave to one another, someone comes along and makes it an insult, or old fashion, or insensitive.
Of course, this doesn't get applied evenly nor correctly all of the time, but it is in the back of everyone's mind as the our news media and those within our legal system won't let us forget or lower our guard on the issue, ever.
It may seem messy and burdensome, but it is how we've grown and continue to grow into making us into a place where "everyone" can live, so long as you don't bother others.
You want to run around naked in your back yard, fine, so long as I and mine don't have to see your ugly ass. But, if you impose yourself on me that's another matter, a serious matter and it's a struggle we deal with constantly. Someone is always trying to impose themselves on you.
I don't want my neighbors dog crapping in my yard anymore than I want to see two homosexuals kissing on the street. Both instances effect me in the same way but one is supposed to be something I'm supposed to learn to be more accepting of?!? because...it involves people. People who are different, but people nonetheless, who have the right to live as they see fit, to search for their own truth. OK, I'll try.

 

[AllieBaba]

We're the most divided because we're the most free.

 

[AVG-JOE]

We're the most divided because we're the most free.

Expound on this, please. It will either be the most profound, eye opening statement ever written or hilarious.

Either way it should be entertaining...

-Joe

 

[William Joyce]

Race.

 

[mightypeon]

In my view, the US is fairly unique when it comes to treating class differences.
Of all western countries, the wedge between poor and rich is the biggest in the USA.
However, the US also has "class borders" which are relativly easy to pass.
Looking at things like education (For your interest, Germany is the country where the education of your parents will have the by far highest influence on the education that you will achieve), it does seem as if "the poor" of America tolerate its equalities because they all plan on getting rich.
While the poor in Germany tend to see themselves as "the poor", the "poor" in the US see themselves as "not rich yet".
At least, this in my attempt on explaining why the poor of America are not demonstrating all over the place, like the poor in Germany definitly would under the same conditions.

 

[editec]

In my view, the US is fairly unique when it comes to treating class differences.
Of all western countries, the wedge between poor and rich is the biggest in the USA.
However, the US also has "class borders" which are relativly easy to pass.
Looking at things like education (For your interest, Germany is the country where the education of your parents will have the by far highest influence on the education that you will achieve), it does seem as if "the poor" of America tolerate its equalities because they all plan on getting rich.
While the poor in Germany tend to see themselves as "the poor", the "poor" in the US see themselves as "not rich yet".
At least, this in my attempt on explaining why the poor of America are not demonstrating all over the place, like the poor in Germany definitly would under the same conditions.

Ah yes, the myth of American offering the greatest social mobility in the world continues, I see.

I don't doubt that America used to be the nation which provided opprotunity for the most social mobility in the world.
I am however dubious that is still true.

Recent empirical research has, however, questioned the generalized perception of the U.S. as the land of opportunity and has shown that intergenerational mobility is not particularly high when compared with other industrialized nations. If we rank countries in a continuum from complete immobility, in which accidents of birth fully determine individual fate, to perfect mobility, in which individual outcomes are completely independent of social origins, the U.S. would be placed somewhere in the middle, closer to England and further away from perfect mobility than Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Finland.

Now unless one counts downward social mobility (the decline of the middle class into lower class) as a good thing, I suspect America is not actually the place providing the best opportunity for social advancement.

We could be that nation again, though.

But it seems to me that allowing our educational systems at the K-12 levels to fail for so many communities, coupled with allowing the cost of higher education to becoming increasingly out of reach of more people, the opportunity social mobility seems statistically less likely for THIS generation that it probably was for the boomer generation.

 

[Hum Dinger]

The essence in what divides America is that Americans have 2 fundamentally different root philosophies, combined with those who ascribe to one of those philosophies taking advantage of and promoting severe lack of education of a very large percent of the popluation.

America was founded by a bunch of philosophers. To many Americans, these philosophies ARE America. The basis of these philosophies are the inalienable rights of all people, the equality of all people, and democracy.

Many people, including many Americans at the time, thought that the founding fathers and their philosophy were absolutely lunatic. Many believed simply that the world always had, always would, and always should be controlled by a tiny minority of super wealthy elite. They believed in an unequal socio-economic order where some people were more priviledged by birthright, and only force of power, thereby proving who was better, could change the socio-economic order.

During the 1800 & 1900s there were many revolutions which forced the wealthy to abdicate direct government control, but in most circumstances allowed them to keep their wealth. Many of the common people throughout the world fought on the side of the wealthy.

'Modern' democracies were formed. But because the wealthy still had all of the economic power, unfortunately communism was born, as a step beyond democracy.

After WWII the world became divided between democracies and communism. That's when the the wealthy elitists began to transform the United States back into a a country ruled by themselves.

Because communism was based on economic theory, they convinced many Americans, thru fear of communism, that we HAD to be the opposite of Communist and that we were first and foremost a CAPITALIST country. Secondly, they used political, economic and psychological tactics (usually religion) to gain the support of the uneducated masses in order to reinstate their socio-economic order.

We are now a country divided between those who espouse the original philosophies of the founding fathers and those who believe in capitalism above all else.

We are being transformed into a country for and by the wealthy. Freedom and liberty is interperted as freedom and liberty for the wealthy. The personal freedoms of the common person are being trounced upon. PROFIT is SACRED.

The wealthy have made it clear that they consider modern government, for and by the people, to be their enemy.

The Republicans are simply the party of those people who either have or recieve a lot more money than they have ever earned. They will fight tooth & nail to retain this economic position, even going as far a to propose that Sarah Palin would make a good President. They will argue the most ridiculous points imaginable, but at the heart it's all about manitaining or expanding the current socio-economic order.

The Democrats want government to do what modern goverment was created to do: protect and support the average person from the abuses of the wealthy. To not let the economically advantaged take advantage of the economically disadvantaged.

Though fundamental American philosophy is not diametrically opposed to capitalism, the capitalists have gotten so extreme that it has gotten to the point that either you are a capitalist OR you are an American.

This is the essence of what this election is about and what divides the United States.

 

[WhiteLion]

I would like the opinions of americans...as to why their country seems so divided.....unlike any other western nation

My theory is the religious extremism (absent in all other western nations) that exists in the midwest and southern states fosters a culture of ignorance and poor education standards.

This clashes with the educated and more travelled and world wise americans living in the remaining regions.

But I stand to be corrected and I would like to hear what you all think.

No you don't, you don't want the opinions of no one else but those of like minds, you want to continue to spew your atheistic trash to the masses, the only thing, and i say again, the only thing that stands between your kind, the truely arrogant, is that threshold we call the Holy BIBLE,,the standard and the warning of the coming existence of people like yourself and your murderous ancestry. You stand not to be corrected, because its not in your nature to except anything less than a totalinarist controlled, atheistic dumd down public school system and a society with only one view, and many atrocious goals (or clashes)...Your brand of philosophy is nothing more than rationalizing away the truth..Therefore the hand writing's on the wall, for many regions worldwide.......

 

[Stoner]

I would like the opinions of americans...as to why their country seems so divided.....unlike any other western nation

Our country is not divided. Not even close. Sometimes it appears that way because of the libs that want everyone to think this country sucks and is evil. Then again these are the same dumbfucks that rooted for our soldiers to die in Iraq and Afghanistan so they and the MSM could publicize every thousand-soldier death mark. Remember how excited they got when it hit 2,000? Then 3,000? They were ecstatic. Sickening.

Bottom line, Mikey, this is the greatest country on the planet. Only libbies and jealous foreigners think we're divided.

 

[Gunny]

If you two were in prison, you would walk around holding his pocket like a leash you little bitch. lol

Have some experience with pocket-holding, do ya?

 

[Gunny]

Are you a leftoid?

How come I never see you on any serious topics? Like this one:

Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and other Wall Street giants helped foreign investors dodge billions of dollars in U.S. taxes on stock dividends while the IRS looked the other way, a Senate investigation found.

The firms worked with shell hedge funds that had little more than offshore mailing addresses in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere. The funds arranged complex equity swaps and stock loans aimed at circumventing U.S. tax laws, a staff report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said.

The IRS has neither enforced existing rules prohibiting the transactions nor tried to draft new standards, the 77-page report said.

“These are gimmicks peddled by American financial institutions to deny Uncle Sam taxes owed under our law,” Senator Carl Levin, who heads the panel, told reporters. “The IRS has pussyfooted on this.”

Morgan Stanley enabled foreign clients to avoid payment of more than $300 million in U.S. dividend taxes from 2000 to 2007. (THE SAME TIME THE REPUBLICANS RAN ALL THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT)



Lehman estimated its customer’s eluded payment of as much $115 million in 2004 alone.



UBS helped clients escape payment of $62 million from 2004 to 2007.

And why is it you're always so all over the place and spastic that you can't ever stay on topic in a thread?

 

[Old Rocks]

Our country is not divided. Not even close. Sometimes it appears that way because of the libs that want everyone to think this country sucks and is evil. Then again these are the same dumbfucks that rooted for our soldiers to die in Iraq and Afghanistan so they and the MSM could publicize every thousand-soldier death mark. Remember how excited they got when it hit 2,000? Then 3,000? They were ecstatic. Sickening.

Bottom line, Mikey, this is the greatest country on the planet. Only libbies and jealous foreigners think we're divided.

Well, this old blue collar liberal sees things quite a bit differantly. Yes, we are divided. Divided like a machine is divided. It takes many differant parts to make the whole. Parts that are differant in character and function. Sometimes they do not always work together as planned.
The fact that you have to see one group as the simplistic cause of everything wrong says far more about you, than about this nation.
As far as America being the greatest nation on the planet, for me, it is. Just as for my Canadian freinds, Canada is the greatest nation on this planet. Most of us love the place we call home.

 

[cbi0090]

Well, this old blue collar liberal sees things quite a bit differantly. Yes, we are divided. Divided like a machine is divided. It takes many differant parts to make the whole. Parts that are differant in character and function. Sometimes they do not always work together as planned.
The fact that you have to see one group as the simplistic cause of everything wrong says far more about you, than about this nation.
As far as America being the greatest nation on the planet, for me, it is. Just as for my Canadian freinds, Canada is the greatest nation on this planet. Most of us love the place we call home.

Excellent analogy.

 

[editec]

I would like the opinions of americans...as to why their country seems so divided.....unlike any other western nation

My theory is the religious extremism (absent in all other western nations) that exists in the midwest and southern states fosters a culture of ignorance and poor education standards.

This clashes with the educated and more travelled and world wise americans living in the remaining regions.

But I stand to be corrected and I would like to hear what you all think.

I think religious extremism (or anti-religious extremism) are tools that our masters use to keep us ever at each others throats.

That gives them the breathing space to pick our pockets and keeps forcing us to choose on the lesser or two evils, Mike.

Your delusion that americans are not well traveled as EUROS is of course based on the fact that it's a hop skip and jump from one foreign nation to the other for Euros and a fucking nightmare of travel for most American just to get from one state to the other.

In the same amount of miles it takes me just to get out of the state of Maine, I could travel across five nation in Europe.

But let me tell you something.

One gets far more culture shock coming from where I am in Maine to say, So CAL, than one gets moving from France to Germany or Spain.

 

[Gunny]

Well, this old blue collar liberal sees things quite a bit differantly. Yes, we are divided. Divided like a machine is divided. It takes many differant parts to make the whole. Parts that are differant in character and function. Sometimes they do not always work together as planned.
The fact that you have to see one group as the simplistic cause of everything wrong says far more about you, than about this nation.
As far as America being the greatest nation on the planet, for me, it is. Just as for my Canadian freinds, Canada is the greatest nation on this planet. Most of us love the place we call home.

Or it says the machine has a broken part that needs to be discarded and replaced.

 

[sealybobo]

Or it says the machine has a broken part that needs to be discarded and replaced.

Old rocks makes a good point. By the way, another option is to fix america. You don't have to discard or replace it.

But his analogy was good. The world is like a machine too. So when the engine, america, isn't working right, the entire world doesn't work right either.

Now if canada is broke, that's like having a broken rear view mirror. It's important, but you can still drive the car.

It must be easy to be a canadian.

 

[Gunny]

Old rocks makes a good point. By the way, another option is to fix america. You don't have to discard or replace it.

But his analogy was good. The world is like a machine too. So when the engine, america, isn't working right, the entire world doesn't work right either.

Now if canada is broke, that's like having a broken rear view mirror. It's important, but you can still drive the car.

It must be easy to be a canadian.

Having people like you around is more like having a cracked block. The engine has to be discarded and a new one put in.

You call someone a piece of shit American because they don't believe in your vision of changing the US for the worse?

Thought you lefwingnuts didn't call others' patriotism into question just for thinking differently than you? That's right ... just another bullshit if we scream loud enough and point our fingers at the other side, no one will see us doing it.

 

[Turboswede]

Our country is not divided. Not even close. Sometimes it appears that way because of the libs that want everyone to think this country sucks and is evil. Then again these are the same dumbfucks that rooted for our soldiers to die in Iraq and Afghanistan so they and the MSM could publicize every thousand-soldier death mark. Remember how excited they got when it hit 2,000? Then 3,000? They were ecstatic. Sickening.

Bottom line, Mikey, this is the greatest country on the planet. Only libbies and jealous foreigners think we're divided.

Or...The cons want to make it look like the libs hate America, which is, of course, false. Americans are great at pulling together when we need to as we have in the past, the only thing that all American’s have in common is individualism. Because of that it seems like we have a hard time on agreeing about anything, until the chips are down. Even lefties like me supported attacks on Afghanistan and the ousting of the Taliban after 9/11. There was a real time there that all American’s were united and it was nice to see.

Thing is, America is full of individuals who hate being told what to do, if you tell us to look right, we look left or vice versa. I think it just comes from having so damn much of everything (money, land, cars, etc.) that makes us all into bickering siblings more often than not.

And I think that impression that Americans are divided has been responsible for the toppling of more dictators in the 20th century than any other misconception. The Taliban were actually dumb enough to think the left in America would protect them when harboring Osama?

That’s where I think it’s hard for Europeans to understand Americans because WW2 kind of nailed the lid on the Coffin of nationalism, but in America it’s still alive and well on both sides of the aisle because, well, we are just the best and we all (left and right) know it.

 

[WhiteLion]

Having people like you around is more like having a cracked block. The engine has to be discarded and a new one put in.

You call someone a piece of shit American because they don't believe in your vision of changing the US for the worse?

Thought you lefwingnuts didn't call others' patriotism into question just for thinking differently than you? That's right ... just another bullshit if we scream loud enough and point our fingers at the other side, no one will see us doing it.

Thats true Guns everyones entitled to their opinion weather its worth a shit or not... that asshole Dr Crump gave me a neg rep for what i swear i dont know, but i gave it right back to his ass lol...Oh and ive thrown out a many blocks racing that just couldnt handle the heat