The Greatest Nation on Earth

WoollyRedHat · 27-10-2012 04:07PM

What do you define as great?

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:07PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Where are they now? A mediocre country with the same GDP as Ireland? Ireland which didn't invade the world and kill millions to enrich itself ? Ludicrous. And I'd the "obvious rebuttal" is "we can't run ourselves" show me a famine.

A country that every billionaire in the world covets citizenship of ... and some of its football clubs

bfocusd · 27-10-2012 04:08PM

Russian prison systems are mental, makes ours look like a playground, that's one this we need to excel. I'd have to say Italy, not too hot not too cold, great food and good looking men

moprice3 · 27-10-2012 04:10PM

Germany! Loses 2 wars and still runs europe, in a similar vein to japan, fantastic and rebuilding themselves

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:11PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Lol. Look, you have no idea. The mao Mau rebellion is big in Kenya, the Opium wars are big in China, the Indians remember the famines under the British, the middle east remembers the Balfour declaration.

You just imbibe British media. So little do you know.

Remind me.... what African nation escaped colonisation ah yes... Ethiopia.

gallag · 27-10-2012 04:11PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Where are they now? A mediocre country with the same GDP as Ireland? Ireland which didn't invade the world and kill millions to enrich itself ? Ludicrous. And I'd the "obvious rebuttal" is "we can't run ourselves" show me a famine.

To be fair, the only reason Ireland does not have a history of invading countrys and killing millions to enrich itself is it lacked the ability to do so. In the times all this empire building **** was going down it was survival of the fittest, it's not like it was a moral reason to not build an empire. And is famine the benchmark for a well ran country now?

Duggys Housemate · 27-10-2012 04:12PM

Jan Hus wrote: »

A country that every billionaire in the world covets citizenship of ... and some of its football clubs

Yawn. What's left of the Empire is the premiership. Ok. Best country in the world for proles and Russian billionaires. Who are avoiding tax.

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:15PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Yawn. What's left of the Empire is the premiership. Ok. Best country in the world for proles and Russian billionaires. Who are avoiding tax.

Rome still looms large in global affairs... how long is its hard power empire gone, 1700 years? Britain's is only gone 50 years.

Duggys Housemate · 27-10-2012 04:15PM

gallag wrote: »

To be fair, the only reason Ireland does not have a history of invading countrys and killing millions to enrich itself is it lacked the ability to do so. In the times all this empire building **** was going down it was survival of the fittest, it's not like it was a moral reason to not build an empire. And is famine the benchmark for a well ran country now?

.

It would be a good benchmark on how badly a country is run, for sure . It's possible Ireland would have been as bad as the UK , or a Jewish run central European power would have been as bad as the Nazis. Counter factual histories are pointless.

Ellis Dee · 27-10-2012 04:16PM

Rudyard Kipling: The sun never sets on the Empire.:rolleyes:

George Bernard Shaw: If the sun never sets on the Empire, it's because God wouldn't trust the English in the dark.:):):)

Duggys Housemate · 27-10-2012 04:17PM

Jan Hus wrote: »

Remind me.... what African nation escaped colonisation ah yes... Ethiopia.

Colonised by Italy. What's the point of that post? Are you saying that Aricans are genetically inferior and deserved to be colononised?

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:17PM

Its colonies still want France (world's third greatest nuclear power) to act as policeman in Mali. What more could be said of the UK?

Duggys Housemate · 27-10-2012 04:17PM

Jan Hus wrote: »

Rome still looms large in global affairs... how long is its hard power empire gone, 1700 years? Britain's is only gone 50 years.

And all that's left is the premiership.

27-10-2012 04:18PM

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

What do you define as great?

Good question.

A country that provides a safe & secure environment for all of its citizens would be high on the list.

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:22PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

And all that's left is the premiership.

In the European agreements to take place in the next month the UK is expected to play a major part. It still holds a seat in the security council. Plus I am simply pointing out that the closer other nations were to the orbit of Europe, the better they are. The only people in the world who are genetically inferior are Americans. ( stupidity problems)

ejmaztec · 27-10-2012 04:27PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Part of the "obsession" ( which in this thread is one post) is because they were pretty bad running Ireland. Your post misses the other stuff, as late as the 60's the empire was engaging in ethnic cleansing and mass killings against independence movements. .

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Where are they now? A mediocre country with the same GDP as Ireland? Ireland which didn't invade the world and kill millions to enrich itself ? Ludicrous. And I'd the "obvious rebuttal" is "we can't run ourselves" show me a famine.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Lol. Look, you have no idea. The mao Mau rebellion is big in Kenya, the Opium wars are big in China, the Indians remember the famines under the British, the middle east remembers the Balfour declaration.

You just imbibe British media. So little do you know.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Yawn. What's left of the Empire is the premiership. Ok. Best country in the world for proles and Russian billionaires. Who are avoiding tax.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

.

It would be a good benchmark on how badly a country is run, for sure . It's possible Ireland would have been as bad as the UK , or a Jewish run central European power would have been as bad as the Nazis. Counter factual histories are pointless.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

And all that's left is the premiership.

Definitely no obsession.:P

SEPT 23 1989 · 27-10-2012 04:30PM

Japan and Germany

Is this some sort of joke?

GalwayGuy2 · 27-10-2012 04:36PM

The only people in the world who are genetically inferior are Americans. ( stupidity problems)

****in' hell that's bigoted:O

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 04:38PM

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

****in' hell that's bigoted:O

But nonetheless true

Da Shins Kelly · 27-10-2012 04:39PM

Jan Hus wrote: »

I hate to generalise but Americans in my experience tend to lack basic intelligence. This is after all the nation of Sarah Palin, she is fairly representative of most Americans.

It's also the same country that put man on the moon, invented the foundations for the internet, the lightbulb and the camera, and produced the scientist who first observed that the universe is expanding; it produced the writings of William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain and Sylvia Plath; it is the country to produce the pioneers in pretty much every form of popular music - jazz, soul, rock n' roll, hip hop; they produced great icons of civil rights like Martin Luther King Jnr. and Malcolm X.

It continues to produce great minds in the forms of linguist and writer Noam Chomsky, arguably two of the greatest living authors Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon, the co-discoverer of DNA James Watson, Alan Guth, who has revolutionised our understanding of the Big Bang Theory. It is Americans who have transformed communication in the form of social networking on Facebook and Twitter, and made advances in technology with the invention of iPods and iPhones and all these other gadgets that seem to have become a part of many people's daily lives. And there are many, many more examples.

It's a huge country, so obviously there will be a greater chance of producing a lot of less than intelligent people, but it's pretty unfair to make a generalization that all Americans are lacking in basic intelligence when American minds have and continue to make huge contributions to the world.

golden lane · 27-10-2012 04:41PM

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Lol. Look, you have no idea. The mao Mau rebellion is big in Kenya, the Opium wars are big in China, the Indians remember the famines under the British, the middle east remembers the Balfour declaration.

You just imbibe British media. So little do you know.

i know 24 irishmen were prepared to wipe out an indian village (men women and children)..at the little big horn.....

history is no secret....it is there for all to read....

try...reading all of it.......you will be amazed.....

Furious_George · 27-10-2012 04:46PM

RossyG wrote: »

Well, that didn't take long.

He is kinda right tho. I have no prob with the british at all but the british media at the minute seem to be obsessed with how great britan is, what made britan great, etc. At the same time the government are taking a very isolated position when it comes to europe.

golden lane · 27-10-2012 04:51PM

Furious_George wrote: »

He is kinda right tho. I have no prob with the british at all but the british media at the minute seem to be obsessed with how great britan is, what made britan great, etc. At the same time the government are taking a very isolated position when it comes to europe.

surely.....you don't read that crap......

or, any newspapers......they are published to make a profit.......

with regard to europe.........yes, they are fed up giving handouts .....

ejmaztec · 27-10-2012 04:58PM

Furious_George wrote: »

He is kinda right tho. I have no prob with the british at all but the british media at the minute seem to be obsessed with how great britan is, what made britan great, etc. At the same time the government are taking a very isolated position when it comes to europe.

It's a concerted effort by the British government to try and persuade the British people that there are no problems, plus they're still trying to earn a few quid off the back of the Olympics.

RossyG · 27-10-2012 04:58PM

Furious_George wrote: »

He is kinda right tho. I have no prob with the british at all but the british media at the minute seem to be obsessed with how great britan is, what made britan great, etc. At the same time the government are taking a very isolated position when it comes to europe.

A couple of TV shows with a "look, we're not so bad really" subtext aren't indications of conceited self-obsession.

And the Conservatives have been wary of Europe since Thatcher toppled Heath.

The_Kew_Tour · 27-10-2012 05:03PM

Poland, Hungary or Wales for me.

Jan Hus · 27-10-2012 05:07PM

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

It's also the same country that put man on the moon, invented the foundations for the internet, the lightbulb and the camera, and produced the scientist who first observed that the universe is expanding; it produced the writings of William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain and Sylvia Plath; it is the country to produce the pioneers in pretty much every form of popular music - jazz, soul, rock n' roll, hip hop; they produced great icons of civil rights like Martin Luther King Jnr. and Malcolm X.

It continues to produce great minds in the forms of linguist and writer Noam Chomsky, arguably two of the greatest living authors Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon, the co-discoverer of DNA James Watson, Alan Guth, who has revolutionised our understanding of the Big Bang Theory. It is Americans who have transformed communication in the form of social networking on Facebook and Twitter, and made advances in technology with the invention of iPods and iPhones and all these other gadgets that seem to have become a part of many people's daily lives. And there are many, many more examples.

It's a huge country, so obviously there will be a greater chance of producing a lot of less than intelligent people, but it's pretty unfair to make a generalization that all Americans are lacking in basic intelligence when American minds have and continue to make huge contributions to the world.

England laid the foundations of the Internet and is the major pioneer in genetic sciences. Chomsky is undoubtedly a genius but (to some extent) the actions of his countrymen make him ashamed to be an American. The true discovers of DNA were two English scientists ( Rosalind and something). Plath would have considered herself British. The greatest living author is Marquenz. In mY view Hemingway was a terrible author. (I've never read Faulkner so I can't judge him). Tesla was far more brilliant than Edison... need I go on.
A country as large as the US was bound to produce a few aberrations especially if you comb through time.

gallag · 27-10-2012 05:08PM

When I read this thread title I thought how long until the brit bashing starts lol, thankfully the haters seem to be the vocal minority now and we finally seem to be fostering an attitude of genuine friendship between neighbors. The warm welcome the queen got in ireland and the roars from the british urging Ireland on in the Olympics silence the haters who would rather live in the past.

bb1234567 · 27-10-2012 05:09PM

The U.K were definitely the greatest and most important nation in the world throughout most of our planets history. The country is still extremely important today ,even though their population isnt that large. But there contribution to everything inventions,sport,literature, education,music,famous people,film,tv , world affairs, military ,history etc is phenomenal.
After that maybe sweden? germany,japan,switzerland..denmark even?

MaxSteele · 27-10-2012 05:11PM

Switzerland.

The Greatest Nation on Earth

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