America - Idiot Nation?

So is Billie right or wrong?

I don't see it as an American question anymore. The world is saturated with soundbite media. I have never been to a country that can really claim the contrary. Power relationships in the world have tended to "create" a dominant nation be it the UK, Germany, the USSR, The Romans etc. They were all "idiot nations". I have seen no alternative that is not equally if not more absurd. I trust no nation to rise without becoming even more despotic.

Callin out to Idiot America?

OEC

well, few would call imperial England or Rome an 'idiot nation'. They were Cruel war-mongering imperialists but they had advanced cultural norms.

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Originally Posted by 23*

well, few would call imperial England or Rome an 'idiot nation'. They were Cruel war-mongering imperialists but they had advanced cultural norms.

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I think I'd take pop culture over those alternatives.

OEC

Their norms weren't more advanced. They just thought they were.

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Originally Posted by hewhoisagod

Their norms weren't more advanced. They just thought they were.

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hmm...yes i guess you're right. I might have used the word 'modern' instead.

Believe me, I'm Irish and every history book I read documents english brutality against the irish, but despite this, I will certainly say that they pushed democracy almost singlehandedly onto its feet as a concept. The Romans, Egyptions & Greeks all had written languages and were investigating maths and science while the inhabitants of my and your (if you are american) nations were still swimming in mud baths. Healthcare, medicine and literature were certianly advanced.

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Originally Posted by hewhoisagod

Their norms weren't more advanced. They just thought they were.

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They were at the time when they existed.

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Originally Posted by 23*

hmm...yes i guess you're right. I might have used the word 'modern' instead.

Believe me, I'm Irish and every history book I read documents english brutality against the irish, but despite this, I will certainly say that they pushed democracy almost singlehandedly onto its feet as a concept. The Romans, Egyptions & Greeks all had written languages and were investigating maths and science while the inhabitants of my and your (if you are american) nations were still swimming in mud baths. Healthcare, medicine and literature were certianly advanced.

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In using the term "Idiot Nation", I am thinking more in terms of their effect on their citizens and the world at large. I do agree that modern pop culture is atrocious, it is my fault for not making more clear my own sense of "Idiot Nation". I tend to believe that empires make a Nation idiotic as much as a given culture.

OEC

i call it button nation :)
everything avaible on button, while somewhere else you need to sweat to get something

I think the Majority is of every culture is usually fairly stupid, and the majority is always what they're judged by.

true

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Originally Posted by nyar

I think the Majority is of every culture is usually fairly stupid, and the majority is always what they're judged by.

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True. People generally only see the popular culture.

OEC

Everything's so easy to get here...

You know, personally, I think that we're going to stop advancing in technology here pretty soon.

Or hell! Advancing as a species. We're way too comfortable. Why invent something when you have 39827598247924 channels on T.V., and five million times that in web pages on the web?

I admit, I'm addicted to the internet. :x But I try to create something new everyday. :(

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Originally Posted by cheinara wraithwalker

Everything's so easy to get here...

You know, personally, I think that we're going to stop advancing in technology here pretty soon.

Or hell! Advancing as a species. We're way too comfortable. Why invent something when you have 39827598247924 channels on T.V., and five million times that in web pages on the web?

I admit, I'm addicted to the internet. :x But I try to create something new everyday. :(

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I think we'll keep advancing technologically. I think the problem will be that we will *not* advance as a species. Our technological abilities will be greater than our ability to use them wisely (they are already in many ways) Still, I love the inet and all my toys:1orglaugh :thumb:

OEC

Well....idiot nation means this to me....
People don't NEED to think for themselves anymore. Thinking and working hard is a choice, not a necessity to survival. I don't have to wake up in the morning, work hard to figure out how to start my fire, then go out and try to outsmart and kill my breakfast. I can get up, stick some poptarts in the toaster, and crash in front of the TV for 10 hours.

Ok, so what about money? People need to think to make money! NOT TRUE! I mean, inventors, engineers, scientists, detectives, artists...they think...they create, they are not the norm in an idiot nation. Then you have Doctors, Lawyers...yes, they are smart, yes they think....do they create? Sort of....but they use a lot of knowledge already laid down for them. Almost everyone else gets told what to do, when to do it, how to do it. You don't get hired at many jobs where the others tell you that you have to figure out how to do your job....problem solve until you get it right! NOPE...there are books, computers, bosses....they tell us how to think.

We are also an Idiot nation in the fact that we don't seem to understand the consequences of our actions. Sure there are people in Greenpeace (for example) that are trying to save animals and trees. But they still write on paper (made from trees), and agree to remain part of a society that abuses everything they are trying to save. We think we understand how the world works, and what our impact on the planet is...but we dont'. I don't even want to have kids because the majority of superpower nations are ruining the planet as we speak. We will be out of water and breathable air in a hundred years or so. "Oh, we can just make machines that make water and filter air"...yeah? well....that kind of thinking is IDIOTIC!!!

Ummm..yeah, there is my rant...thank you. *takes a bow*

:)

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Originally Posted by Forestghost

Well....idiot nation means this to me....
People don't NEED to think for themselves anymore. Thinking and working hard is a choice, not a necessity to survival. I don't have to wake up in the morning, work hard to figure out how to start my fire, then go out and try to outsmart and kill my breakfast. I can get up, stick some poptarts in the toaster, and crash in front of the TV for 10 hours.

Ok, so what about money? People need to think to make money! NOT TRUE! I mean, inventors, engineers, scientists, detectives, artists...they think...they create, they are not the norm in an idiot nation. Then you have Doctors, Lawyers...yes, they are smart, yes they think....do they create? Sort of....but they use a lot of knowledge already laid down for them. Almost everyone else gets told what to do, when to do it, how to do it. You don't get hired at many jobs where the others tell you that you have to figure out how to do your job....problem solve until you get it right! NOPE...there are books, computers, bosses....they tell us how to think.

We are also an Idiot nation in the fact that we don't seem to understand the consequences of our actions. Sure there are people in Greenpeace (for example) that are trying to save animals and trees. But they still write on paper (made from trees), and agree to remain part of a society that abuses everything they are trying to save. We think we understand how the world works, and what our impact on the planet is...but we dont'. I don't even want to have kids because the majority of superpower nations are ruining the planet as we speak. We will be out of water and breathable air in a hundred years or so. "Oh, we can just make machines that make water and filter air"...yeah? well....that kind of thinking is IDIOTIC!!!

Ummm..yeah, there is my rant...thank you. *takes a bow*

:)

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I agree to a point. I do know a lot of Doctors and Attorneys who create in addition to their professions tho. My brother in law is a Plastic Surgeon and a Virtuoso Pianist. The money I have earned and will earn in my next profession will go towards my own creations, causes, and convictions as much as anything (also family of course). You can have your cake and eat it too:thumb:


OEC