Much of this is directly taken from a very critically acclaimed cable news program written by very smart people. There's a profound scene from a recent episode, during which a university student, in an audience full of university students sitting in an auditorium for a symposium on news and current events, asks a respected and revered new journalist his opinion as to why he believes the United States is the greatest country in the world. His answer sounds somethings like this:
"America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. I don't know where you're getting your information from, and given that you're a university student at one of the more prestigious universities in the world, I'm somewhat shocked that the deluded concept of American exceptionalism still manages to pervade the dark recesses of your brain.
Because there is not one shred of current evidence, anywhere, objectively speaking, to indicate that America is the 'greatest' country in the world anymore. And whoever said this was a fucking competition to begin with? Grow up.
Here's a partial list of how we stack up on important metrics versus the rest of the modern world: We currently rank 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 49th in life expectancy, 22 in science, 178 in infant mortality.
Where do we lead, you might ask? Well, let's see, we lead the industrialized world in number of adults incarcerated in jails and prisons per capita. We're also top of the heap regarding the number of adults who believe that fucking angels are real. We also lead the world in defense spending, where we spend more than the next 25 countries combined.
And freedom? As if freedom is unique to America, or a warped sense of freedom is even accepted as actual freedom? Well, guess what, Canada has freedom, the UK has freedom, Japan has freedom, Belgium has freedom, France has freedom -- 207 sovereign states in the world, and 180 of those have freedom. And they all have free health care by the way.
The United States in years past used to stand up for what was right. We used to wage war on poverty, not poor people. We innovated, cultivated the world's greatest artists and the worlds greatest economies. We aspired for intelligence, rather than belittle it. We didn't scare so easily. And we certainly didn't prioritize political correctness over the concern that certain groups of people might have their fucking feelings hurt as a sacrifice for national security.
We stood up for what was right, sacrificed for moral reasons. We acted like men. We had balls, for Christ's sake.
The rest of the world views us as spoiled children who can't get our shit together. So you ask me why I think this is the greatest country in world? Are you kidding me? Yosemite National Park -- it's a beautiful place, but it doesn't make us the greatest fucking country in the world.
The first step to recognizing a problem is admitting it. America is not the greatest country in the world. Period."
[As usual, for you poor souls in denial, I welcome you to look yourselves in the mirror for a few minutes and think about what you can do to recreate the greatness that was your country in years past, rather than bury your heads in the sand, and continue to live comfortably on the money that keeps you alive]
*Thanks Aaron Sorkin for the notes.
*Thanks Aaron Sorkin for the notes.
-peace/warm regards:
jeremy
