You just wish you could live here too, America's the best

I do live here. Maybe I have a more strongly 'bad' bias about certain things because I do live here, I see what advantages we have, and I watch most people piss them away for no discernible purpose or reason. Plus they spend entirely too much time arguing about completely superfluous things like this.

Some newspapers are just insane:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/....photogallery?1

Isn't that the American dream?

You may find it offensive, you have a choice to not read it. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how fed and screwed up it is, as long it doesn't violate somebody else's opinion.

That's cool. Just spouting out my own inconsequential and unheard opinion, too. I'm American, dang it.

I know.

Try it in some other parts in the world.

Or try it a hundred years ago.

Hey, I'm lucky. I get that, I do.

I hate the "Be glad for what you have" argument. Nothing wrong with it in and of itself, you -should- be glad for what you have, and I definitely am. However, it's far too often used as a way to slap down someone reaching for more, which is the most natural thing in the world. Wanting more than you have.

That's how America got started, you know. Lot of other nice things we have, too. If the people that created what we enjoy today were given "Be glad for what you have" in lieu of cooperation, support, debate, even opposition that focused on their ideas and not on their basic desire to have more, we'd be much worse off today.

Not railing against you, btw, Silvanus. Just railing.

That's now how I was trying to put it.

I was more or less just saying, you have a chance to want more. Or to do less (unfortunately not to less though). There are a lot and a lot of possibilities open and while the system is imperfect, comments like 'America is retarded' without saying what is wrong, what needs fixing, how to go about fixing it.

Edit: By the way, I agree with you America is retarded and completely f-ed up. But where it is retarded and completely f-ed up it can be the complete opposite side of the spectrum.

Yeah. I was just mouthing.

I didn't actually expect to find any worthwhile dialogue. (Habits from other forums )