Other Cultures

Is the American way of life the best way of life?

  • Yes, every society should strive to be like ours.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, it's possible to achieve a synthesis between our society and their own.

    Votes: 3 17.6%

  • No, they should be free to have the society they choose.

    Votes: 11 64.7%

  • Definitely not, A society like America's should be avoided

    Votes: 3 17.6%
  • Total voters
    17
chcr

chcr

Too cute for words
It's easy to use our yardstick to measure things.
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Prof said this in another thread, but it brings up a point I'm curious about. We have some non-Americans on the forum. Do your societies judge other cultures by your rules, or do you expect them to react n their own way?

I personally find it a little surprising that so many ostensibly intelligent Americans are shocked by the way a completely foreign culture acts or reacts. I've even had someone (who up to this point I'd thought had an adequate grasp of reality) say that Asian people went against human nature in the way they react to death. Am I unusual in not expecting other cultures to react in unexpected ways?
 
i dont think its the best for everyone. its the best for us but not all over the world. i wish americans had more respect for other cultures as i feel other cultures should respect us. i believe in freedom not just our own freedom but other peoples freedom to not be like us. we force our own "freedom" which to me isnt freedom.
 
No, they should be free to have the society they choose, whether that takes them down the toilet or into prosperity.
 
To each his own as they would see fit. You don't tell me how to live and I won't tell you how to live. Just don't hurt anyone in the process.
 
Maybe it just me, that's how Squiggy & flavio will make it at least :D but it seems that many of the America Sucks crowd has a perception that democracy is "not for them". I've even seen that written by a college professor. What makes "them" so different? Isn't yearning for freedom part of the human condition? Bettering oneself & advancing the following genreations is only a western european caucasian trait? I for one, think not.

Democracy for all & then they choose the particulars (ie No, it's possible to achieve a synthesis between our society and their own)
 
Actually, democracy is not a natural concept for anyone. People are either leaders, or followers. To expect followers to make good decisions is folly. They don't want to. That leaves leaders, of which you have two types. Those how make good decisions, and those how don't. Those how make good decisions get to stay in power. Those who don't get overthrown, and usually killed.

In this light, a monarchy is the normal sense of gov't. A ruling class who are trained from birth to lead. To make good decisions. The difficulty is in making a monarch responable to the public, without having to kill him.
 
Too true. I've yet to see a more stable system. Maybe someone here can invent one.
 
Don't like the answers. The answer 'No, they should be free to have the society they choose'
in itself denotes a democracy. Naturally i think they should be able to choose their own government yet i can't limit myself to one of these answers.
 
Don't like the answers.
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I understand what you're saying Hex. I thought the same thing when I was writing them out. I couldn't figure out a better way to word it though.
Here's one of my favorite democracy quotes:
Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried. -- Winston Churchill
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We're not a democracy. That would be utterly stupid. We're a republic.
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That's what we're supposed to be, but if you think about it, are we? A republic is a representative democracy. The United States is a republic, because we vote for people who are supposed to represent us. Do you think the majority of them do an adequate job? (This probably needs a separate thread.)
 
The United States of America is not a democracy. We are a republic. A democratic (voting) constitutional republic.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States Of America, and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands."

In our republic the citizens are "endowed with certain inalienable rights" that cannot be taken away by a majority vote of any kind. Read the BILL OF RIGHTS. This republic form of government makes property rights secure from masses of people who would vote to control or steal an individual’s property or to even decrease his enjoyment of the same property. In a democracy the majority rules and human nature being what it is the takers soon out number the givers and then the system collapses and anarchy takes over. After a little anarchy the people usually are willing to subject themselves to a king-dictator-tyrant type to get some kind of order to things. So goes the historic cycle of governments. We need to constantly remind everyone we come in contact with that we are a republic and not a democracy.



If the United States was a democracy Al Gore would be president. But the United States is not a democracy and it is better that way.
 
Republic:
1 a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government c : a usually specified republican government of a political unit
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Democracy:
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
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Semantics, I suppose. I could argue either side myself. As I said earlier, it would work better if our representatives actually represented us.
This is pretty far afield from the original thread, though.
 
chcr said:
b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote
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chcr said:
b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
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Everyone should have a choice as to which society they want to live in...provided that their society doesn't interfere with the culture of others. That's the key here, folks. If somebody chooses to live under a dictator, and that dictator doesn't threaten anybody outside his/her border, and the people willingly choose that dictator, then there's no problem. If the people no longer want that dictator, then it's their task to remove him/her from office. Not ours. ;)
 
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