This Is An Interesting Question

[Minimalist]

“When was America great?” Rushdie asked. “Was it before women had the vote? Was it when there were slaves? When was that moment of American greatness to which we aspire? It doesn’t exist.”

He repeated the question on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday.  It is worth considering.

[bennyboy]

Winning WWII and defeating Hitler. MacArthur saving the day in Korea with a brilliant military strategy, preserving at least some of the country for a capitalist and eventually democratic government which we consider a big step up from N. Korea.

Other than that, practically the entire modern industrial and electronic world that we live in was created by America. We are using about 20 American inventions right now in just communicating our ideas online. And that's not a trivial contribution. It deserves to be called a great contribution, and at least in these senses, America fully deserves the title "great."

I think this is a case of "What have you done for me lately?" Will, in Bill Maher's case, the technology and freedoms afforded by American ingenuity and the constitution have allowed a political comedian to become super famous and earn many millions of American dollars.

[Minimalist]

That's why it is an interesting question.

We beat Japan pretty handily but most of the heavy lifting in Europe was done by the Russians.  Inchon is a great lesson why there is no military solution in Korea now.  Yes, great move since he had total air and sea superiority but then he failed to stop the Chinese before they drove him halfway down the peninsula again.  And here we sit, 64 years later.

But for the sake of argument let's say the period 1945-1960 was our peak.  Economically.  If not socially.





But that's okay. I'm not so sure the super-rich would agree with you because of the influence of unions in that time period but you have hit the obvious period of greatness..... for whites, at least.

[I_am_not_mafia]

Other than that, practically the entire modern industrial and electronic world that we live in was created by America.

I think you'll find that the modern world was created by Britain with the industrial revolution and then the enlightenment in Scotland.

If you're referring to the post-war world then Germany and Japan should also be considered major contributors.

[vorlon13]

Thurgood Marshall arguing Brown v Board of Education at SCOTUS, winning and in a few years being made an Associate Justice

First flight of Columbia (in fact the danger of that first flight wasn't fully appreciated for years)

Balto leading the way to Nome

President Johnson ordering SR71 recon flights over Alaska following disastrous Good Friday quake to support relief efforts

2000 counter protesters challenging Westboro Baptist in Missouri when they came to protest Michael Sam

Betty Ford going public with her addiction problem

Wizard of Oz (1939)

Gary Flandro discovers Grand Tour trajectory making possible exploration of outer solar system (1964)

Terry Dubrow/Paul Nassif fix Rajee's disfiguring plastic surgery on Botched (5/10/16 airdate)

Jeanna Giese survives rabies with Milwaukee protocol treatment

Capn Crunch

[ignoramus]

Aussies invented the dunny! Without that life wouldn't be so great knee deep in poo now would it!



yeah, between America and the mother empire, we'd still be in the middle ages.
But progress came at a cost. The spread of Christianity and the slaughter of 10's of millions of innocent indigenous people.

A bitter sweet reflection.

[Whateverist]

We were the best of nations. We were the worst of nations. Just like all the rest.

[Thumpalumpacus]

In the context of the thread, yeah, the good old days were good if you were a white male. Minority or female? Not so much.

As for America's other moments of greatness, I'm partial to the Marshall Plan. Yes, it was enlightened self-interest, but all the same, I don't think there's one other single program in mankind's history that affected so many people so positively.

[I_am_not_mafia]

In the context of the thread, yeah, the good old days were good if you were a white male. Minority or female? Not so much.

As for America's other moments of greatness, I'm partial to the Marshall Plan. Yes, it was enlightened self-interest, but all the same, I don't think there's one other single program in mankind's history that affected so many people so positively.

I think this nails it. America has achieved some really great things. Going to the moon for example. Whatever you think about the nuclear bomb, the Manhattan project was a major undertaking and achievement. And even though it was worked on by many non-Americans, America still supplied the resources.

But during both of these great projects, America wasn't a great place for you if you weren't a white heterosexual male. And even for white male heterosexuals, they were less free because of the need for gender conformity.

Problem is, no one has defined exactly what is meant by the word 'great'.

[pocaracas]

Other than that, practically the entire modern industrial and electronic world that we live in was created by America.

I think you'll find that the modern world was created by Britain with the industrial revolution and then the enlightenment in Scotland.

If you're referring to the post-war world then Germany and Japan should also be considered major contributors.

Clearly you don't remember the time when Portugal and Spain set out to look for riches beyond the known old world. That's when they found the Americas.
Chris Columbus' idea is said to have been turned down by the Portuguese, so he went for the Spaniards. The legend claims that the Portuguese knew how to get to India by going around Africa, so why waste money in going around the whole [unknown] world?
Also, at the time, there was a treaty between Portugal and Spain, that gave most of the Atlantic to the Portuguese and anything beyond some meridian to the Spanish... Knowing that before that meridian there was nothing of interest, the Portuguese couldn't investigate without breaking the treaty.... so you guys got the nice Spaniards taking over most of the Americas, while we only got Brazil, whose tip was still on our side.

Whatever happened later on in North America, with the English and Dutch and French is a tale of piracy, I reckon.