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What is it about the US? (pg. 3)
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
Also, why does everybody have such a hard-on for the small-business owner. He employs fewer people, provides fewer products and at higher prices? An arguement, of course, can be made for quality, but this applies only to a handful of goods. |
I am not sure you are correct about that. I think I have heard that small businesses create about 3/4 of the jobs or something like that. I am not really sure but i know they do play a part when it comes to hiring a lot of ppl. |
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| GRinLoCK |
mmmmmm i wonder which one?
duh you mean our big bros to the north...
Hey i dont think what i just wrote got through to you. The biggest corporations no longer have nationality. That probably includes most of the ones you can think of and a few others you ve never even heard of. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
Lol. Seem to have touched a nerve. I never called Africa a country, I referred to it as a region. Is size a prerequisite for success? Look at Japan--they seem to do fine on their small little, not-as-geographically-diverse-as-the-U.S. island nation. For every example you try to throw out, I guarantee you there are plenty of exceptions or inconsistencies. As a whole, Africa dwarfs the U.S. in sheer geographic size. And geographically speaking, I'm sure you'd find that conditions in Africa are equally if not more diverse than what you'd encounter in the U.S. Deserts, jungles, you name it. Hell, the cure for cancer is probably somewhere deep in the jungles of Africa. And in case you weren't aware, there is plenty of desert in the U.S. as well--it's called Las Vegas (well more than Vegas, but the humor was probably wasted anyway).
Your words. Verbatim.
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Hell, look at Hong Kong for that matter... ;) |
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| HardTranceProd |
| quote: | Originally posted by GRinLoCK
You see the source of your confusion lies in your assumption that your culture is "anglo-saxon".
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hahaha. No offense man but this is the most misguided statement I've ever read. Have you ever heard of the governing elite? Do you know who the CEOs of the big companies are? Ain't got no Hungarians or blacks or Asians there. Ever seen your local politicians? how about state politicians? how about federal??
How about just anybody with ing influence? |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by HardTranceProd
Have you ever heard of the governing elite? Do you know who the CEOs of the big companies are? Ain't got no Hungarians or blacks or Asians there. Ever seen your local politicians? how about state politicians? how about federal??
How about just anybody with ing influence? |
agreed, but its also more than that. it doesnt matter what the ethnic/racial makeup of a society is, its the governing culture that i assume you were talking about. the anglo-saxon protestant work ethic is alive and well in all of these multicultural nations that were originally mentioned. |
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| HardTranceProd |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
the anglo-saxon protestant work ethic is alive and well in all of these multicultural nations that were originally mentioned. |
oh god, it's not just the work ethic. It's religion, values, the Anglo-Saxon conservatism, et-ing-cetera. The Anglo-Saxon values are firmly ingrained in American society no matter where you're from. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| Why do Hispanics call us gringos? I mean don't they realise that a majority of americans are not of English decent. I think there are more Germans here than Englsih..but yea whatever. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by GRinLoCK
mmmmmm i wonder which one?
duh you mean our big bros to the north...
Hey i dont think what i just wrote got through to you. The biggest corporations no longer have nationality. That probably includes most of the ones you can think of and a few others you ve never even heard of. |
Maybe they don't have nationalities but my point was that it was a bunch of American entreprenuers who started some of those corporations. |
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| TheNobleEu |
| quote: | Originally posted by HardTranceProd
Yet, out of all these countries, the US remains culturally distinct, and extremely different from, say, Canada and Australia. Why? What is it about the US that makes it such a sharp contrast to the other former British colonies? |
In a word, a culture of "rebelliousness."
Early Stage:
1. Colonists with an anti-monarcharic (even anti-English) popular culture;
2. A spirit of New World 'republicism';
3. Desire for autonomy from an overlord's military adventurism;
4. Desire for self-advancement/investment and development of one's one infrastructure rather than an overlord's;
5. (On religion): Development of the concept of pick-and-choose Protestant-esque religion on one's own terms as opposed to all-or-nothing approach (eventually culminating in American Episcopalianism as opposed to say Roman Catholicism).
Late Stage:
1. Early stratagem of isolationism/xenophobia;
2. Gross investment in and pace of industrialization; competatively-based advancement of technology as a capitalist venture;
3. (Absolutely pivotal, differentiating the US from everyone else): Enormous investment in advanced education and research (read: doctoral and post-doc) as a commerical venture; predicted strength of private industry as a capitalist spinoff of educational institutions;
4. Totally unabashed efforts in attracting the *top minds in the world* in all fields of inquiry to the USA, owing to advanced research facilities/sheer volumes of cash available for research, also civil liberties/freedom;
5. Melting-pot ideology.
If you think about it, the seeds of the USA actually date back several hundred years, during the Mediaeval period.
| quote: | Originally posted by HardTranceProd
Why are the US' Anglo-Saxon siblings all Socialist, while the US abhors Socialism? Why are the other Anglo-Saxon countries secular, while the US is religious? |
Because the USA is by far the most culturally backward? :)
Also there is something to be said about using one's one (limited) perspective as the measuring cup by which all other things are measured. The US left for example doesn't abhor things you would identify as "Socialist," but they (or you) would never call them Socialist for it (because that's a smear word). And the policies held by what you in the US would call a leftist Democrat we in Canada would call a rightist Conservative. ;) (But point taken, this difference).
Seriously tho, the Anglo-Saxons as you call them (quite a misnomer) aren't ideological Socialists in the sense you use that term.
| quote: | Originally posted by GRinLoCK
The biggest corporations no longer have nationality. That probably includes most of the ones you can think of and a few others you ve never even heard of. |
This is an important point. Most "big corporations" you can think of that one would identify as "proudly American" (re: "the top 100 list") aren't owned by America. See above, "Late Stage," points 2-5.
Cheers,
-N |
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| EvilDust |
| I find it ironic the US still uses the Imperial System for measurements :D |
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| ali92 |
| quote: | Originally posted by EvilDust
I find it ironic the US still uses the Imperial System for measurements :D |
Yes. I was born & raised here in the US & find it quite annoying as well. If it was up to me (and probably a decent amount of others who are 'internationalised'), notations like date, time, numbers, measuring, currency, etc. would be standardised to:
Date: 1999-12-31 / 31 December 1999
Time: 23:59:59
Timezone: actual offset (eg. UTC-05:00 for US Eastern Standard Time / US Central Daylight Time)
Combined: 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC-05 for midnight on 1 January 2000 in New York
Measure: SI ('metric')
Currency: [number] [ISO 4217 code] / 500.00 EUR for 500 euros. |
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| djHollen |
| quote: | Originally posted by HardTranceProd
So my question is, why? |
you can find your answers in history books probably a little bit better than on a TA forum.
taxation without representation... sound familiar. america was so far away from the king they felt they didnt need to pay taxes.
also, freedom of religion. catholics versus protestants.... aint pretty. i was there.;)
phew, i feel like ive tested the limits of my knowledge. hah!:crazy: |
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