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ORIGINAL: RealityLicks

Okay, quick straw poll -

Regardless of our origin, how many of us have visited more than two foreign countries?

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ORIGINAL: lusciouslips19

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ORIGINAL: GreedyTop

As an American who considers myself a patriot (yes, I was raised on the Pledge of Allegience, hand on heart, salute the flag), I think that this country, as a whole, has gotten a bit too big for our britches in many ways.  Call it hubris.  The fact that so many people were screaming "HOW DARE THEY" after 9/11, to me, only illustrates just how cocky we've (generic) gotten.
But what's GOOD about America?
Take a road trip...criss cross the country.  We have plains, mountains, deserts, tropical, tundra..name it, and we've got almost every kind of climate and landscape all wrapped up within our borders.
Visit the small towns. Where people still greet strangers with a hello and a smile (ok, you can find that in the big cities too, but I think it's mostly people who've moved there from the small towns that do it..LOL) and no ulterior motive. 
I could go on, but I would like to see other Americans say what THEY think is good....


Andrea - Proud to be an American (which isn'tpreventing me from moving to the UK..LOL)

I quite agree with you. But that doesnt mean I like blanket statements that all americans are undereducated. There are undereducated people all over the world and educated ones
too.

Not all Americans are bible thumpers either, nor christian zealots.

edited to say: if it wasnt for your greedy tax the colonies up the yin-yang mentality, we'ldALL be Brits!!

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ORIGINAL: cp144

The US is pretty much a bunch of under-educated people that are trained to wave the flag and self-righteously believe that God loves them more than the rest of the world.  The country has some of the highest obesity rates because of sugar, tobacco and junk food marketing. A country of sedentary yahoos glued to the TV.

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

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ORIGINAL: lusciouslips19


Funny you say that. You wouldnt have the internet or the PC if it wasnt for those undereducated Americans. We are the creative innovators who dare to dream and try.

Except you didnt invent either, nor the railways or the telephone.

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ORIGINAL: LadyLolly

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ORIGINAL: cp144

The US is pretty much a bunch of under-educated people that are trained to wave the flag and self-righteously believe that God loves them more than the rest of the world.  The country has some of the highest obesity rates because of sugar, tobacco and junk food marketing. A country of sedentary yahoos glued to the TV.

Fat, dumb and happy in front of the TV
- that's what I aspire to be when I'm all  grown up.
Fuzzy made in Japan bunny slippers and a monster bowel of popcorn balaced on a slaves butt........

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ORIGINAL: felineone

Interesting.. I didn't know this was an American thing. (flag)
I didn't know other people thought this odd. I guess I just assumed that all countries loved their flag, and had a pledge too. Maybe I never really thought about it at all.
For me it is a symbol of our country. Standing together and reciting a pledge to that country is unifying in a land made up of immigrants from all over the world. It is a way to remember and respect those who died fighting for the freedom we came here for.
I have been to 2 other countries..Canada and Mexico...;) Never been to Europe, but would like to.
I worked with someone from England, and she said political cartoons there depict Americans with really big perfect teeth.. made me picture  Jimmy Carter .. here you might find crooked teeth on a drawing on someone from the UK
Maybe that's our gift to the world.. dental hygiene!

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ORIGINAL: felineone

Interesting.. I didn't know this was an American thing. (flag)
I didn't know other people thought this odd. I guess I just assumed that all countries loved their flag, and had a pledge too. Maybe I never really thought about it at all.
For me it is a symbol of our country. Standing together and reciting a pledge to that country is unifying in a land made up of immigrants from all over the world. It is a way to remember and respect those who died fighting for the freedom we came here for.

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ORIGINAL: felineone

I worked with someone from England, and she said political cartoons there depict Americans with really big perfect teeth.. made me picture  Jimmy Carter

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ORIGINAL: Foititis

I don't hate Americans, nor do I hate America as a whole. I dislike Americans who believe that America is the best country in the world in every possible faucet and all other countries are just jealous or copied them. I dislike the American government on the whole (not just Bush II I think what Roosevelt did in WWII was morally wrong, great politics but morally wrong). I like the American entertainment industry and I like that when an American fights for social change they normally get it done in the end.

Every country has its faults; personally I think that for a country with over 210,000,000 people they go alright.

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ORIGINAL: RealityLicks

Okay, quick straw poll -

Regardless of our origin, how many of us have visited more than two foreign countries?

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I read somewhere that over 80% of Americans don't have a passport. If that IS true, then I'm a bit curious about the lack of desire/motivation to see the world outside.  No judgement, just not undertstanding of the mindset.

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ORIGINAL: utterlybutterfli

Me?
Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Holland, Finland, Tunisia, Morocco, India and Sri Lanka.

I don't  view that as being particularly well traveled actually - given the size of the planet that we inhabit - but a um slowed me down a lot.
I read somewhere that over 80% of Americans don't have a passport. If that IS true, then I'm a bit curious about the lack of desire/motivation to see the world outside.  No judgement, just not undertstanding of the mindset.

As for our past colonisation of other parts of the world, well I'm as embarrassed about it as anyone else (even though it was hundreds of years ago)- but you see of a lot the developed european nations at that time were at it - France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany to an extent. We just happened to be a lot better at it than a lot of them.