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Is America really the "Land of the free"???

Lol.... your friend is brainwashed. A land so free they can kill or imprison you indefinitely without trial? Where the laws are drafted by big money and special interests? Where election fraud is rampant? Yeah right.

Land of the fee, home of the slave.

Reply 21

Conciousness

Original post by elitepower

Every baby born in america could be the president

That explains why every president in US history bar one has been from the same bloodline.

Reply 22

Rakas21

21

Original post by Conciousness

That explains why every president in US history bar one has been from the same bloodline.

Who was the exception?

Reply 23

jumpingjesusholycow

18

"And in the 'Land of the Free' you know nothing comes for free"

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 24

Felisto

I think America is the "Land of the contradictions and the extremes". And that is understandable considering how large and diverse the country is.

There is sometimes so much freedom (e.g. freedom of speech) that the freedom of one person interferes with the freedom of another person.

Let me give you an example for a contradiction in the general understanding of freedom. I'm not an expert in US law so correct me if I'm wrong on the following. Prisonbreak is a crime in the USA. How can that be? In Germany (And in the UK?) for example it isn't a crime. Why? Because we think you can't deny someone the natural desire to be free.

Reply 25

Cheese_Monster

14

The American Dream is based on the false Hollywood culture that you can achieve "anything" if you try hard enough. In reality, the USA has one of the highest wealth gaps in the developed world.

Reply 26

jreid1994

10

Yes land of the free with a private healthcare, overly expensive universities, middle class "glass ceilings" and rubbish state schools vs great private schools America is great, if your rich to start with if not, well your odds are against you from the start. Say Timmy and George want to become doctors Timmy comes from a family of oil barons and ivy league aluni, George comes from the USA equivalent of a large council estate, Timmy parents pay to send him to a prestigious private school where you get Oxbridge style tuition like Eton $$$$$ vs George who goes to a state comprehensive "brains and persistence" Timmy and George both get extremely high grades, Timmy's parents send him to Harvard $$$$$ vs George who can't afford Harvard or even most universities as he is in poverty, so he has to go to a state university "brains and dedication" then the both get through undergrad with extremely high grades, Timmy and George both end up at let's say Yale medical school as they both got in, Timmy and George meet each other, Timmy asks George what college he went to and automatically assumes as he went to a state university for university that he's stupid, because Timmy has connections he can get a good specialty like heart surgery and earns millions whereas George has no connections what so ever he ends doing internal medicine, who in reality is more worthy of the title of doctor?

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Reply 27

Aspiringlawstudent

3

Original post by Cephalus

The UK is the greatest country in the world, no doubt. But America is pretty cool.

By what metric? :confused:

The only league table that we seem to regularly top is that of teenage pregnancies.

Reply 28

ckingalt

14

It is sad that so many look at America's diminishing freedoms and congratulate themselves. It is not as if a lack of freedom in the U.S. will make your country any more free. The truth is that America is called by some "the land of opportunity", because it was. The American ideal traces its roots back to immigrants who risked everything for a real chance at freedom and opportunity. They succeeded and founded a nation on those principles. If America is no longer the land of the free, it is not because the American way failed. It is because the American way has been betrayed. The U.S. is losing its freedoms because it is becoming more like Europe.

Europeans ignorantly celebrate that change. Just look at the overwhelming support for American politicians that emulate popular European candidates. The General consensus is that America should be more social, and more restrictive, and that is exactly what is happening. The state of American freedoms is pathetic, because they are becoming more European.

Lots of countries have freedom like America? Wrong, no one does anymore. We should all weep for the failure of the American dream. It was the best chance the world has had yet of getting it right.

Reply 29

Sergeant Pepper

Honestly, I don't think that there's a single place in the world that you could be completely free in. Some people would say 'the internet' but obviously the proof is everywhere that it's not. And to talk about racism, that is an issue everywhere, not just in America or in the UK and I don't think I could say whether it's worse in the USA or the UK.

Reply 30

paddyman4

14

It's been significantly less free since their introduction of nifty catch-all terrorism charges.

It's the most incarcerated country on the planet, so in a literal sense it's not so free I guess. Plus they have the death penalty and torture even their own citizens - it doesn't seem so free if the state owns your life.

And if you look at their hounding of Assange then you can see their priorities don't lie with freedom.

(edited 11 years ago)

NO

Original post by Rakas21

Who was the exception?

Obama I imagine :dontknow:

Reply 33

Leon Trotsky

3

Original post by readysteady

Oh and America has free speech? yeah right!

What makes you say that? America has some of the strongest free speech laws in the world, and their right to free speech is enshrined in the constitution. There are plenty of things you could criticise the US for, but a lack of free speech isn't one of them.

Reply 34

Conciousness

Original post by Rakas21

Who was the exception?

Martin Van Buren, the eighth one. But apparently he's still related to Roosevelt so I'm not sure.

Original post by Martyn*

America never won their freedom in the war of independance. America is not free from the Crown.

yes yes yes YES! Someone who gets it.

Reply 35

Conciousness

Original post by Leon Trotsky

What makes you say that? America has some of the strongest free speech laws in the world, and their right to free speech is enshrined in the constitution. There are plenty of things you could criticise the US for, but a lack of free speech isn't one of them.