What makes a country "great"?

[Infohawk]

Apparently the leader of Brazil said after his country was chosen to hold the Olympics that Brazil has entered the "elite of the world's nations." This just strikes me as ridiculous.

First of all, I'm always bothered when people try to personify countries. "China is strong." "The U.S. is a bully." Countries are not people. They are collections of people in a complex organizational structure. It is hard for them to be "great."

But if I were pressed to argue for what makes a country great, I might say a country can be militarily, culturally, or economically "great." The U.S. currently dominates in each of these categories. The U.S. has more Navy than the rest of the world combined. People around the world watch American movies. It still has the largest economy in the world. Then the USSR put the first man into space, they were great. But what about a country like Singapore? They are small but per-capita they are impressive.

What do you think makes a country great? How do you measure greatness? What countries do you think are in today's elite?

 

[BarrySotero]

The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rock-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

 

[StageLeft]

I didn't realize Brazil had about the 10th highest GDP of the world. Still, you won't see me living there.

 

[yllus]

Really, it's the quality of a nation's women that makes a country great or not-so-great.

 

[JS80]

Hot white chicks. With big boobies.

 

[MotF Bane]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Hoooly shit are you for real?

 

[bfdd]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

.... I'm a big fan of the founding fathers AND porn, drugs, and "rick-n-roll"

OH NOES THE BRAIN HURTS

 

[cyclohexane]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Hoooly shit are you for real?

BarrySotero is against "rock-n-roll"? What are you, 90?

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: cyclohexane

Originally posted by: MotF Bane

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Hoooly shit are you for real?

BarrySotero is against "rock-n-roll"? What are you, 90?

He smiteth sodomites too. And sodomaybes just to be safe.

But in all seriousness, "the U.S. is the greatest, best country God has ever given man on the face of the earth." So take that Peru!

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: yllus
Really, it's the quality of a nation's women that makes a country great or not-so-great.

The chicks on the beach in Rio would make a dead man hard.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Don't care for porn really, drugs are bad mmmkay, and rock is well... rock. I would rather have those in the U.S.A. than gangs of Taliban roaming around and beating, killing, and inflicting general mayhem on our populace.

What makes America great is that we have the freedom of choice. Unfortunately some people will do with that what they will. Not always with good results.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Would somebody pulleeze help Barry down off his high horse?

He is projecting again. Call Moonie and the Self-Hate Police.

 

[CitizenKain]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Wrong.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

What makes a nation great is hubris

 

[HappyPuppy]

Wasn't it hubris, at least in part, that brought about the demise of the Roman, Spanish, English, French and Portugese empires?

Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

No they were great! Just ask their citizens. It's a built in self destruct mechanism based on pride. Like Colt 45 it works every time.

 

[cubeless]

what's great about america is that we allow illiterate, non-productive people to vote... it ensures that we'll the kind of governance that will carry us on for another couple hundred years...

and isn't hubris that dip they make out of garbanzo beans? the gas that stuff gives you will definitely ruin a civilization...

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Wasn't it hubris, at least in part, that brought about the demise of the Roman, Spanish, English, French and Portugese empires?

Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that.

There is nothing wrong with pride, as long as you are prepared to back it up with action. The Romans hierarchy realized that the peons were getting restless and less appreciative of being conscripted and sent off for decades to foreign lands to fight for the wealthy back home. To counter this they built The Colisseum where the unwashed were allowed to watch for free battles and mayhem beyond their wildest dreams. This made them more acquiescent to doing the bidding of their superiors.

Doesn't sound so much different than what we have today, does it?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Not really. People submit best when their leaders stroke them.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

You're like the perfect caricature of every conservative. Never stop posting

 

[BarrySotero]

Originally posted by: yllus
Really, it's the quality of a nation's women that makes a country great or not-so-great.

That's wha tAlexis de Tocqueville said:

"There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes, would make man and woman into beings not only equal but alike. They would give to both the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them in all things--their occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may readily be con-ceived that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and dis- orderly women. ..


Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man, but they never doubt her courage; and if they hold that man and his partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, while they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to continue, they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement....

As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.


http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/detoc/ch3_12.htm

The full page is quite interesting.
Obviously we don't have as many men and women like the ones the US used to have

 

[BarrySotero]

Originally posted by: cyclohexane

Originally posted by: MotF Bane

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Hoooly shit are you for real?

BarrySotero is against "rock-n-roll"? What are you, 90?

I like music once-in-awhile - even got an A in music history and know the difference between a madrigal and a chanson. I even like the Decemberists despite pimping fpr Obama. But I don't listen to it all day long lost in my head like the average boob. Music is mostly for women and guys listening to music all day look weakish to me.

 

[BarrySotero]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Don't care for porn really, drugs are bad mmmkay, and rock is well... rock. I would rather have those in the U.S.A. than gangs of Taliban roaming around and beating, killing, and inflicting general mayhem on our populace.

What makes America great is that we have the freedom of choice. Unfortunately some people will do with that what they will. Not always with good results.

Seeking virtue doesn't mean repression. People back in the day understood they had to natures - a lower animal nature and a higher spirit. Transcending the former to acquire the latter was a way to preserve ones connection to the true self and not suffer the conflict and emptiness of addictions to appetites that never satisfy. There is a freedom and blithe quality of discovering ones inner and true identity/nature. Growing like a beast plundering life and other people for satisfaction destroys dignity as well as an unbreakable connection to inner contentment that the fleshy types don't realize exists.

 

[Sclamoz]

Originally posted by: BarrySotero

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: BarrySotero
The US was great because it had a core of people with high character and values. It was these people that led way to revolution, emancipation, defense vs Hitler etc. Economic and military superiority grew out of this rugged individualism and pursuit of virtue (the "pursuit of happiness" phrase in the declaration of Independence was using the Aristotelian meaning of happiness as the pursuit of virtue - it never meant people should be free to degenerate into porn, drugs and rick-n-roll"). Now the US is going in reverse and the average citizen is a spiritual pygmy as far as character goes. So we are collapsing into crap via intentionally down-bred mediocrity.

Don't care for porn really, drugs are bad mmmkay, and rock is well... rock. I would rather have those in the U.S.A. than gangs of Taliban roaming around and beating, killing, and inflicting general mayhem on our populace.

What makes America great is that we have the freedom of choice. Unfortunately some people will do with that what they will. Not always with good results.

Seeking virtue doesn't mean repression. People back in the day understood they had to natures - a lower animal nature and a higher spirit. Transcending the former to acquire the latter was a way to preserve ones connection to the true self and not suffer the conflict and emptiness of addictions to appetites that never satisfy. There is a freedom and blithe quality of discovering ones inner and true identity/nature. Growing like a beast plundering life and other people for satisfaction destroys dignity as well as an unbreakable connection to inner contentment that the fleshy types don't realize exists.

craaaaaaaaazzzzyyyy

 

[sandorski]

"Greatness" is hard to quantify. If you look back at history, the "Great" Nations of the past were those which Dominated at the time. The US, Soviet Union, Britain, and Spain have all likely earned that place in History. Other Nations like China and India are probably on their way to becoming "Great" as well, although they probably are already.

Basically put, if some disaster happens and somehow Civilization is wiped out along with easy access to Historical Record, if a Peoples past remains as Legend amongst the Survivors, then that Nation was likey "Great" by default. It all comes down to which Nations are so significant that People far beyond its' Borders knows about it.