USA - Good - Bad and or the Ugly
- Thread starter Goober
- Start date
That is your interpretation, YJ. I don’t think anybody regards USA as an enemy. The sniping, the bickering between USA and Canada (or criticism by Canadians of USA) is analogous to sibling rivalry. Brothers and sisters fight with each other, snipe at each other. But they unite in the face an adversary, are there to help each other when on needs help.
The same way, when USA is in need, Canada is right there (as was the case in Afghanistan). And of course, the other way round.
I hate it when people call the USA 'America'. That is incorrect. All countries in north, south and central America are 'Americans'.
You should specify WHICH Yankees you are talking about. On average they are people pretty much the same as we are. They laugh, they cry, they hurt, they bleed.
It is a universally accepted short form, Risus. I think most people understand that America is short for United States of America.
On the rare instance where we are talking of the continent (and mostly we talk of North America and South America anyway), that is clear by the context.
But I have no problem calling USA ‘America’. And really almost world over, US citizens are referred to as ‘Americans’. How else would one refer to US citizens? ‘USAans’?
Isn’t Yankee a term used to describe people mainly from Northern USA? I think initially it was a pejorative term used by the Southerners to describe the Northerners. Northerners adopted it as their own.
I am not sure Southerners would like to be described as Yankees.
"Yankees" is definitely a misnomer- that only properly refers to residents of the six New England states.
I usually make the habit of avoiding the term “American” as an adjective, or “America” as a substitute for the United States of America, ever since a member eons ago (don’t remember who it was) busted my chops for doing it. On that note, though, I don’t think that nomenclature ranks amongst the biggest issues that the United States has to deal with at the moment.
I think that the United States, by and large, is good.
Yes, I prefer many systems of government over the presidential and congressional republic used in the United States (remember, guys, I’m sure The Queen would take you back if you asked nicely!). However, I have to applaud the level of citizen’s engagement that the United States is able to achieve under its over-democratic system. United States citizens have an electoral voice in almost every aspect of the decision-making process — and even though the end-results may not always be desireable (or even on questionable constitutional grounds), the passionate discussions and debates that this process incites are exhilerating and something that Canada seems largely unable to reproduce.
The United States has endeavoured to spread its style of democracy to other nations, and not always successfully. However, its efforts have brought about positive changes. I don’t think that anyone here would refute that in terms of democratic government, there have been major strides forward in both the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Iraq. Granted, these improvements are not yet to the point where these nations are democratically-sustainable under their own weight, but they are nonetheless strides forward, and this is largely (perhaps exclusively) thanks to the United States’ drive to spread its take on freedom and democracy.
No world superpower can be all things to all people, so the negative press against the United States is to be expected (it’s there, and it’s never going to go away, so long as the United States is a superpower). This is the same thing, on a much larger scale, as it is with celebrities in Hollywood. A celebrity’s positive activities never hit the headlines because they aren’t the juicy stories that the world craves; but if they slip up, just once, it can mar their reputation for weeks, months, even a lifetime.
Does that make the positive work that the United States does count for less? Absolutely not. I think that we have a responsibility, though, to change our media viewing habits to set the expectation for balanced coverage, as opposed to the juicy soundbite of the day. Let’s face it, under the international population’s current attitude, which one of these do you think is going to get the headline?
Little girl goes to school for the first time, after United States supports educational infrastructure
► Torturing innocents? Detainee, never charged or tried, alleges torture by US troops
I think that the United States, by and large, is good.
Yes, I prefer many systems of government over the presidential and congressional republic used in the United States (remember, guys, I’m sure The Queen would take you back if you asked nicely!). However, I have to applaud the level of citizen’s engagement that the United States is able to achieve under its over-democratic system. United States citizens have an electoral voice in almost every aspect of the decision-making process — and even though the end-results may not always be desireable (or even on questionable constitutional grounds), the passionate discussions and debates that this process incites are exhilerating and something that Canada seems largely unable to reproduce.
The United States has endeavoured to spread its style of democracy to other nations, and not always successfully. However, its efforts have brought about positive changes. I don’t think that anyone here would refute that in terms of democratic government, there have been major strides forward in both the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Iraq. Granted, these improvements are not yet to the point where these nations are democratically-sustainable under their own weight, but they are nonetheless strides forward, and this is largely (perhaps exclusively) thanks to the United States’ drive to spread its take on freedom and democracy.
No world superpower can be all things to all people, so the negative press against the United States is to be expected (it’s there, and it’s never going to go away, so long as the United States is a superpower). This is the same thing, on a much larger scale, as it is with celebrities in Hollywood. A celebrity’s positive activities never hit the headlines because they aren’t the juicy stories that the world craves; but if they slip up, just once, it can mar their reputation for weeks, months, even a lifetime.
Does that make the positive work that the United States does count for less? Absolutely not. I think that we have a responsibility, though, to change our media viewing habits to set the expectation for balanced coverage, as opposed to the juicy soundbite of the day. Let’s face it, under the international population’s current attitude, which one of these do you think is going to get the headline?
Little girl goes to school for the first time, after United States supports educational infrastructure
► Torturing innocents? Detainee, never charged or tried, alleges torture by US troops
Words don't mean what you want them to mean, they mean what common usage defines them to mean and meanings evolve over time. Call yourself an American or refer to America anywhere in the world and you'll be understood to mean the United States of America.
Now you are really confusing me- you are suggesting using a "slang" term to replace what the whole world considers to be a proper term? I know "Yankee" used as slang means any American, but I'm pretty sure the original use meant people from New England.
There is your problem right there, Risus. The term can be derogatory. Do you think it is right and proper to refer to Americans with a term that can sometimes be considered derogatory?
It's getting pretty much the same kind of negative press Britain got when it was the world superpower in the 19th century, for much the same reasons, it's behaving very similarly. It's worth noting, however, that much negative press against the United States comes from within the United States itself. Not many nations in history would have tolerated that. The Founders built well.
JLM
I would think that the term Yankee at that time in history as the term like others has changed - would mean the original 13 (colonies) soon to be States - and I would refer to the song Yankee Doodle Dandy - could have been originally a British song that was derogatory to American soldiers - taken by the colonists and changed -