USA - Good - Bad and or the Ugly

[Goober]

USA - Good - Bad and or the Ugly

I have seen many anti US comments on CanCons threads - Yes they have done some nasty things - same as the USSR- China - and a number of other countries.

So a couple of questions:


So has the US done anything good for the world in the last 100 years -1910 to present

What would the world look like if the USA did not have the economic and military power that they have.
PS - Every powerful country through out history has wielded their power - No exception for the US - USSR - now Russia China.

“War Is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means”

Lets have at er. Eh

 

[Cannuck]

Every country does good things and bad things. What I find amusing about those that bash the US is that they usually ignore Canada's involvement in much of the wrong doing as well as the benefits we have received. People conveniently forget the money Canadians make by supply the US military when they criticize the US for its military.

 

[TenPenny]

You could hardly sit reading something on the internet and believe that the US military-industrial complex has not given benfits to our society.

Despite what the French might think, the Internet is 90% a US innovation.
Then there's GPS.
Automotive technology - sure, other nations build good cars, but MOST of the volume/assembly innovations were directly resulting from US markets.
etc, etc, etc.

Sure, there are bad things, but the upside is huge.

Edited - too many 'nots', too much wine.

 

[Goober]

Every country does good things and bad things. What I find amusing about those that bash the US is that they usually ignore Canada's involvement in much of the wrong doing as well as the benefits we have received. People conveniently forget the money Canadians make by supply the US military when they criticize the US for its military.

So the USA interfering in WW1 and 2 would be wrong?

 

[AnnaG]

I guess sometime in my life I have met one or two who fit the shoes of "the ugly American" but I can't recall him/her/them. The vast majority of the ones I have met have been really nice people and even helpful when the time came. I am not overly fond of the American administration, though. Nor am I particularly fond of the business attitude of a lot of their companies.

 

[Colpy]

relatively speaking???

Good.

One of the best nations on earth

 

[Dexter Sinister]

relatively speaking???

Good.

One of the best nations on earth

Agreed, no contest. If we must have a superpower as a neighbour, I'd rather have that one than any other one there's ever been. Heroic contributions in two world wars against monstrous evil, rebuilding of the devastated losers so they're now two of the most successful nations around, the source of many of the greatest of the world's artists and writers and thinkers and athletes, and the people who wrote that ringing document that includes "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." And considering what the USA *could* do with its military and economic power, that it doesn't do because it's a civilized place... well, count your blessings. The world would be a much worse place without the USA.

 

[AnnaG]

Agreed, no contest. If we must have a superpower as a neighbour, I'd rather have that one than any other one there's ever been. Heroic contributions in two world wars against monstrous evil, rebuilding of the devastated losers so they're now two of the most successful nations around, the source of many of the greatest of the world's artists and writers and thinkers and athletes, and the people who wrote that ringing document that includes "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." And considering what the USA *could* do with its military and economic power, that it doesn't do because it's a civilized place... well, count your blessings. The world would be a much worse place without the USA.

I'd amend that to say "..... without the goodness in the people of the USA".

 

[Cannuck]

So the USA interfering in WW1 and 2 would be wrong?

I guess I don't consider the US's actions in WW and WWII, "interfering"

 

[Francis2004]

USA - Good - Bad and or the Ugly

I have seen many anti US comments on CanCons threads - Yes they have done some nasty things - same as the USSR- China - and a number of other countries.

So a couple of questions:


So has the US done anything good for the world in the last 100 years -1910 to present

What would the world look like if the USA did not have the economic and military power that they have.
PS - Every powerful country through out history has wielded their power - No exception for the US - USSR - now Russia China.

“War Is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means”

Lets have at er. Eh

All countries have good and bad. We often tend to linger on the bad as that is what is media driven and most remembered by event.

No one daily thinks about the good that the US has done in Medical, Technological, Agricultural or even Military fields. But everyone can point to specific events in time as wars ( Vietnam, Grenada, Iraq ) and local events of Softwood Lumber, iron tariffs and trade issues that affect our daily lives. Anything negative will stay in memory much longer as negative angry thoughts are much more likely to remain then positive ones.

All my manufacturers are based in the US and never do I have issues with any of them. However many have had a culture shock on their first visit here..

However with that in mind I must ask whether Canada is given any credit for it's Medical, Technological, Agricultural or even Military fields accomplishments ? For that matter how many Americans know where most Canadian cities are located ?

Fact is we are extremely similar and really like family.. Perhaps it is why we nit pick at each other..

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I'd amend that to say "..... without the goodness in the people of the USA".

Yes, fair comment, let's amend the last sentence to read, The world would be a much worse place without the goodness in the people of the USA. I've traveled a lot in the USA, and there is not a more generous, helpful, caring, welcoming people.

 

[aman12]

I've also travelled extensively in the USA since 1961 and have always enjoyed it. Citizens of the USA have always been fantastic. Over the years i have sometimes disapproved of their government and sometimes approved. That, however, has nothing to do with my respect and genuine liking of our neighbours.(despite their funny spelling)

 

[SirJosephPorter]

USA - Good - Bad and or the Ugly

I have seen many anti US comments on CanCons threads - Yes they have done some nasty things - same as the USSR- China - and a number of other countries.

So a couple of questions:


So has the US done anything good for the world in the last 100 years -1910 to present

What would the world look like if the USA did not have the economic and military power that they have.
PS - Every powerful country through out history has wielded their power - No exception for the US - USSR - now Russia China.

“War Is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means”

Lets have at er. Eh

Goober, sure Canadians like to criticize USA, I am one of them. But I have also said in the past, that it is important to keep these things in perspective. I criticize USA because of its innate conservative, puritan nature, because of the excesses it commits internationally.

However, both USA and Canada (and indeed, the developed world) are motivated by the same world view, tolerance, multiculturalism equal rights for everybody, freedom of speech, religion and so on. We differ in the interpretation; we do not differ in the basic goals.

Thus, in Canada equal rights of everybody means that gays must be permitted to marry, in USA equal rights are not interpreted that way. But the commitment to equal rights is still there, unlike make countries in the world.

So let us say that when it comes to human rights, minority rights, civil rights, civil society etc., Canada is around 95 (on a scale of 100), let us say USA is around 85. But Saudi Arabia or Cuba would be around 5 or 10, Russia perhaps around 50 and so on (this is a strictly arbitrary scale, made up by me).

Thus gays may not be permitted to marry in USA, but they are not stoned to death (as they may be in Saudi Arabia or Iran).

We criticize USA for not achieving the last 10 or 15 points. But perhaps you are right, we rarely give USA the credit for achieving the 85 in the first place.

 

[Cliffy]

Mercans are nice people. Some of my best friends are Mercans. Their government's Foreign Policy sucks, to which my Mercan friends agree. Don't know any Republican Terrists though, just what I see on TV.

 

[JLM]

Mercans are nice people. Some of my best friends are Mercans. Their government's Foreign Policy sucks, to which my Mercan friends agree. Don't know any Republican Terrists though, just what I see on TV.

People is people (as you and I well know, Cliff), some just have to get over this imaginary line running along the 49th parallel.

 

[Cliffy]

Tell that to the Muslim haters. I would abolish all imaginary lines drawn on the globe but some people couldn't handle not having enemies.

 

[Liberalman]

America makes a good corn dog

Ben Dover sure likes it

 

[Kreskin]

Don't forget Ben's wife Eileen.

 

[Liberalman]

LOL Ok

 

[TenPenny]

I once heard a record album by a folk duo, Ben Dover and Phil McCavity.