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Originally Posted by msmith
AGAIN, the U.S. trumps France (and every other country that you mentioned) in virtually every meaningful category of success, accomplishment, technological development, financial power and influence, which would naturally be a significant offshoot of intelligence. Are you actually attempting to argue that the French as a whole (or any other country that you mentioned) are "smarter" than Americans?
How does Finland or Sweden stack up against the United States with regards to their respective economies? Does your assertion that they are less religious contribute to the fact that they are objectively less successful and less developed nations than the United States? (with all due respect to their inhabitants)
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I wanted to comment on you mentioning this the first time, but ran out of time before I had to go to work. Low and behold, you belabor the point again.
Do you ever wonder why so many people around the world think that we Americans are pig-headed, egotistical morons who think the world revolves around our country and that the rest of the world be damned? The era of Bush made it that much worst, but when people read things like that, do you really wonder why we're not well liked outside our own borders?
Open your eyes. Have you ever even been outside the country? What basis are you trying to use that says the US trumps France (or other countries) in anything? I note that while you state it as fact, twice, you don’t bother to offer any type of supporting links or anything to back up your point. Perhaps because there aren’t any?
I’m not an economist, nor am I going to pretend to be, but you say that the US is above in economy…then why is the US dollar below the Euro (of which France uses), the British Pound, and even the Japanese Yen? (Which Japan, as a side note, is 96% Buddhist). Isn’t the exchange rate typically used as an indicator for a country’s economy? By GDP we’re not in the top either, but being I don’t fully understand GDP (nor do I care to waste the effort reading up on it just to argue to the point), I’ll just leave it at that.
Sure, we’ve invented a lot of things, had a lot of technological advances, etc. Sure, we seem to have a bit more influence, but keep in mind how big of a country we are. We’re also the only country that’s ever dropped a nuclear weapon, and twice at that. Must be because we’re so smart and advanced, right?
I just can’t believe that you’re trying to argue that the US is better in every “meaningful” measure, as well as smarter, by just stating it as a fact. Truth is that you have nothing to back these claims and are just spouting off the typical America-must-be-the-best mindset because you’ve learned that you should be proud to be an ‘Merican –insert Bush accent here-.
You also are not doing well to argue the point that those that believe in god are not dumber than their non-believing counterparts. The following of your posts has been quite interesting, starting off with hey, Sony is evil and don’t you all agree, to hey, don’t attack the newbie who was just trying to politely point something out, to now spewing off biased viewpoints without backing. Your actions are proving alone the argument you are trying to disprove.
Before you go off on the fact that it says on the side that I’m in Korea, let me make a few things clear. I was born and raised in the US, by a mother who outside of a trip to Canada when she was a little kid has never left the country. I am a US citizen who chose, like many other fresh college grads, to go abroad for a year and teach English, which is why I’m here. When I’m done, I’ll go back to the US. So don’t bother with any arguments about me not being an American and so my points aren’t valid or worth listening to (as if that should matter anyway). And if you’re wondering why I steer away from saying America and American, it is because while it is a common phrase that we use, it’s also another example of our egotism. Keep in mind that the continent we’re on, as well as the one to the south, are Americas, and it can be offensive to all the other people on the two continents that we claim it all as our own. One of those things you pick up on if you look beyond our borders and all.
You said: “Are you actually attempting to argue that the French as a whole (or any other country that you mentioned) are "smarter" than Americans?”
Are you actually attempting to argue that Americans are smarter as a whole than any other country? Don’t you see how absurd that is, that you just assume we are the smartest and make it seem like someone is lacking in mental capacity to even suggest that such a thing isn’t true?
You’re one of the reasons why every Canadian I saw in Europe had a very prominent Canadian flag on their backpack, why a girl I met in Greece who moved to the US from England when she was little would use an English accent when asking the locals for directions and such, even though she didn’t have one in her normal speech. Take the incredulity you have at someone daring to suggest that the US isn’t the best, brightest, most fabulous country in every way and imagine how they feel with you saying the same thing about their countries. You don’t have anything to back it up, so stop claiming that it’s gospel (no pun intended).
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Originally Posted by Patricia
I am now deeply puzzled. I always understood that Christians didn't measure success by such worldly standards. Yet here they are described as the only meaningful ones.
Nothing about striving for holiness, excelling in works of charity, or promoting human dignity actually counts as a success then?
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Touché.
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Originally Posted by msmith
I was just making a general point that referring to a predominantly godless nation like France as being more intelligent than a predominantly Theist nation like the U.S. is utterly absurd based on practically every metric of "success".
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I like how you call them “godless” as opposed to atheists, non-believers, or a myriad of other options at your disposal. But then again, that’s how you see them, isn’t it?