We're the most powerful country in the world, we're the greatest country in the world, to a degree unmatched since the House of Hapsburg. Is it inherent? No. A lot of American exceptionalism is tied into some concept of virtue or whatever, and I don't believe that. But the day is currently America's place in the sun.
There's nothing exceptional about America. There is something exceptional about freedom. Take away the freedom, and America is just another bully.
I brought this up in the Syria thread but we can't deny that we are the most powerful country and the only one that can project power. That isn't necessarily a good thing and I often think that the World would be better served if this was a multi-polar world or if there was an agreed upon international force that actually could act as policeman. That isn't the way the world works so for now at least in the terms of military and economic might we are exceptional. One way I look at how the US views itself and is viewed by the rest of the World is like a rich uncle. A rich uncle in a family is liked for his wealth and often looked to to help out someone having trouble in the family. The rich uncle though because of his wealth and that he helps out other people in the family often decides he knows what is best the family and sticks his nose into other family members affairs. This makes for very uneasy Thanksgivings where a lot of people tell the rich uncle to leave them alone and the rich uncle reminds them who helped pay for their braces. At the same time though if one of the family members get into trouble and the rich uncle doesn't help then he is criticized for being greedy and not helping his relatives in need.
I agree with you regarding the circumstances. I still feel that you are looking at how the world perceived America in the past. There have been plenty of countries who have patterned their constitution and justice system to mimic ours so we do not have a monopoly on this anymore. Whether those countries honor their constitution, that is another story With regards to immigration, we have tightened our immigration policy that it is no longer as easy as before to migrate to the US. Germany and Canada has a less stringent immigration policy than us. Is the U.S. the most immigrant friendly country in the world?
The exceptional thing is that you actually have less freedom than many many other countries but the Americans thought they had the most.
Can't speak on AmericaNs, but America is not exceptional as it once was. Newsroom did a good job on explaining this: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/h__uutzcQXc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> We used to be. We still could be. But right now we aren't exceptional.
That 1-in-4 stat seems like hokum; we and the rest of the developed world have had a 99% literacy rate for a while.
America is not exceptional, not in the least. Yes, we enjoy freedom. But so does nearly every single developed country in the entire world. Also, according to the Global Peace Index, which takes crime, jailed population, access to weapons ect. into account, we rank 99 out of 162. http://www.visionofhumanity.org/#page/indexes/global-peace-index/2013
America is a country. A rich one. And one that happens to be diverse as well. That is it. Why does it have to be exceptional? Seriously, we do what's in our self interests.
America does quite well funtioning given its diverrse population. we are te most diverse rrichest country in history. we are exceptional and there is not arroggant to say so.
"American Exceptionalism" does not refer to the citizens of the United States; it refers to the country as a whole. And yes, in many (probably most) ways, America is exceptional. There are better arguments to use when discussing international matters, however.
Its awesome killing, exploiting, and oppressing people just because they were born on a separate region from yourself. Hyperbole, but I think nationalism is pretty ******* stupid. I really do not know what drives people to strive for division.
??? Interesting??? Logic: 1. The world contains N nations 2. N > 1 3. Nationalism places a single nation over others. 4. Further division of peoples of earth. I'm not advocating a one-world government or anything of the sort, but what he typed is one of the most logical and non-controversial things I can imagine in the forum.
