Why the USA is a disgrace

[Catholic_Lady]

The majority of Americans isn't comfortable with what you call your list of disgrace. Polls show that they hold pretty liberal views. It's white, old, rightwing America endorsing what you list. A dying out breed.

The only thing I hope for is more secular liberals moving their asses to the voting booths. The American voter turnout is the only real American disgrace compared to every other Western democracy. Everything else is down to who's parking his ass in the White House and who's dominating the houses.

Ah yes. "Old white Republican men" - the root of all evil. You know, the men who fought in World War 2 for all the rest of us sitting on our as*es throwing sh*t in their direction. 

[The Grand Nudger]

"The men who fought ww2" were russian.  The whole "greatest generation" thing...kind of just a fairy tale that generation told about themselves, you outta be familiar with that sort of thing.

Old white republican men couldn't possibly be the root of all evil, but they are the root of a significant chunk /w regards to the US, it's just a consequence of the leverage they hold.

[Jenny A]

I'm an American so I'll throw in my $0.02 worth. (That's two cents for those that don't understand US currency)

You want to bitch about all you think is wrong with my country, yet we are one of the FIRST countries to step up and offer aid to other countries who suffer a major catastrophe, such as an earthquake. Does Haiti ring a bell?

When the US was hit by Hurricane Katrina, how many other countries stepped up and offered us assistance? To this fucking day, we still have areas of New Orleans that have never recovered from that disaster that happened more than ten years ago. When FEMA failed to properly do its job, our own citizens organized a nationwide televised relief effort. What other countries did that for the American people that even came close to what our own citizens did?

MY country might not be perfect, but it's where I live. It's where I was born and raised. What I have noticed is that for all that's wrong here, we have given out trillions in aid to other countries and we have NEVER been paid back a single penny for it.

The next time another country suffers a natural disaster, I hope those bitching about how horrible we are, don't expect us to show up with our American Red Cross trucks, volunteers and supplies (such as potable water, food, blankets and building supplies). You clearly don't deserve it.

Actually, we received many offers of help, we just turned them down. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...13_pf.html You can find a list of public and private foreign aid to the U.S. here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internat...funds_used
Including 20 million dollars donated to the American Red Cross by Australia.

[Joods]

I'm willing to bet our citizens never saw a dime of that and it went straight into the general fund for the government.

[Tiberius]

Okay, so sometimes people comment that I'm "too anti-American". Well I have good reason. Some of the shit that they do has far-reaching consequences.

• The USA starts wars. They're the most war-hungry nation on the planet.
  
• They are the worst first world country in their handling of income inequality.
  
• Companies based in the USA extort people. This includes so-called "copyright trolls" and other companies like PayPal that freeze accounts without warning and keep all of their client's money.
  
• Prostitution is still prosecuted, and pornographers have not been forced to provide a safe work-palace, despite the enactment of a new law in California.
  
• Minors can be tried as adults - something not done in any other first world country.
  
• Criminal prosecutions are excessive.
  
• They trigged the GFC because they allowed predatory behaviour in the corporate banking world.
  
• Because they have corporations that are based on distributing creative works, they fight to keep copyrights and patents at unreasonable lengths, in measures that only benefit publishers and not artists or researchers.
  
• They believe they can dictate to other sovereign States how they should behave, and what policies they should enforce.
  

Feel free to add your own points.

OMG you're right!!! Why on earth did I decide to move from the UK to the US?!? I must be crazy!!!

Or...perhaps you can create a list of negative aspects of every single country on the planet, and without contrasting it with the list of positive aspects, you get an unfair view of the country as a whole.

[Whateverist]

I'm very critical of the US because it is the country I know best. I can't help but see all the 'gaps in paint'. But really I think these kinds of comparisons are pointless and impossible. Really, what can a quarter billion people possibly have in common? Is 'virtue' the kind of thing that is really going to be found in greater concentrations in the people in one geo-political camp than another. Meh. People suck and every now and again the worst of them will surprise you.

[dyresand]

"The men who fought ww2" were russian.  The whole "greatest generation" thing...kind of just a fairy tale that generation told about themselves, you outta be familiar with that sort of thing.

Old white republican men couldn't possibly be the root of all evil, but they are the root of a significant chunk /w regards to the US, it's just a consequence of the leverage they hold.

And the ironic part of it all more people are coming out liberal these days the republicans lost their whole religious base.
I'm guessing the more and more religious people are  starting too see how stupid their side is for a change. Not to mention younger people
like me are going to go with the least religious person and someone who want's to do actual good.

[CapnAwesome]

No, I'm sorry, but Australians wouldn't want to enforce their idiocies. We don't have groups trying to violently ban abortion, for example. Trialling minors as adults, practising the death penalty, criminalising prostitution - are you really saying that's "equal"?? Those are horrific abuses of civil liberties. As is disconnecting people's internet because the MPAA says so.

Now we have PayPal banning VPNs, and freezing their money.

Please Danny, explain how your Quixotic civil liberties rail against vpn legislation compares to your silence and tacit approval of Australian hate speech law. Which precisely is more of an abuse against civil liberties? Apparently in your book it's perfectly fine if the government limits your speech, but damn them if they become a minor inconvenience in your pursuit of digital connectivity. I'm looking forward to hearing how Americans are to blame.

I would think that Australia has no equivalent to the 4th amendment, protection against search and seizure, is the more obvious one. Australia is pretty shitty on civil liberties honestly.

[abaris]

Ah yes. "Old white Republican men" - the root of all evil. You know, the men who fought in World War 2 for all the rest of us sitting on our as*es throwing sh*t in their direction. 

Do you really want to go there? Fine by me. The last really just war the USA ever fought. And by the way, these men are either high in their 90ies, if you're able to do the math or dead. Not the generation I meant.

[Catholic_Lady]

I know a couple here in our Air Force town. Yes, they are just monsters...