What do you like/dislike about your country?

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richardbenson
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04 Aug 2008, 1:01 pm

its too hot. i need freezing cold weather

carturo222
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04 Aug 2008, 9:35 pm

República de Colombia

PRO:
* We share the same language with all our neighboring countries (and we speak it better than them).
* A tremendously varied geography with all conceivable climates.
* Proceeds from above: tasty native fruits, and wide possibilities for all kinds of crops.
* The capital, Bogotá, is an AWESOME city, with an exciting cultural life.
* A progressivist constitution.
* Our political institutions are stable and strong, a rarity in the region.

CON:
* Corruption at the local levels, even more outrageous than at the top government.
* A gory civil war in the rural areas, ongoing for 40+ years.
* Any possible combination of the previous two.
* Little state funds for research in science and technology.
* Obscenely expensive medical care.
* Most of our regional music is too boring.
* Our media are too superficial and too much aligned with the current government.
* The curse of all Latin America: hero-worship of the president.
* Living next to Venezuela and Ecuador with their nutty presidents (nothing against those fine nations, only their presidents).

WillThePerson
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05 Aug 2008, 12:35 pm

US 'o Eh (USA)
PROS: Awesome cities.
Rights
diversity
CONS: Crap government.
Crap schools.
Crap almost everything.

Dogbrain
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05 Aug 2008, 1:11 pm

United States of America

Pro: Tolerates an enormous amount of hyperbolic whining about itself.
Con: The enormous amount of hyperbolic whining about it.

Glasscutter
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06 Aug 2008, 1:21 am

-Kevin Rudd *shakes fist*
-Fuel prices
-Australian rap music
-Medical costs
-Water being stolen from the Murray River to supply Melbourne
-None of my favourite musicians are over here....
-High rate of immigration (i hate that cos there is very limited space here.
-Dropping from a first world country to second world by the rate we're going.

Australia needs a fix.

PLA
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09 Aug 2008, 2:42 am

Good: The state gives one some money while one are unemployed.

Bad: People expect one to talk with them.

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legendoftheselkie
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10 Aug 2008, 11:28 pm

USA-
Cons: The shameful episodes in its past, from slavery to Jim Crow, and racism that persists to the present day and probably will never be eliminated in this country; the slaughter, robbery, and degradation perpetrated by the ''Founding Fathers'' of our country against its true Founding Fathers and Mothers; the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in brutal prison camps in WW2II.
The teachers and textbooks that barely mentioned these things so I had to educate myself about them as an adult.

Pros: The fact that the books I learned these things from were allowed to be published and circulated.
The fact that I can write these words, then go to bed without fear of my door being busted down in the middle of the night.
The fact that if I don't like this country, I can leave anytime I want to.

Bradleigh
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10 Aug 2008, 11:37 pm

Well I found out that Australia does not have freedom of speech as a right, though we often think we do.

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Daran
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11 Aug 2008, 1:09 am

legendoftheselkie wrote:

USA-
Cons: The shameful episodes in its past, from slavery to Jim Crow, and racism that persists to the present day and probably will never be eliminated in this country; the slaughter, robbery, and degradation perpetrated by the ''Founding Fathers'' of our country against its true Founding Fathers and Mothers; the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in brutal prison camps in WW2II.
The teachers and textbooks that barely mentioned these things so I had to educate myself about them as an adult.

And the shameless nuclear bombing of Japanese civilians in the aftermath of WWII.

Dox47
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11 Aug 2008, 3:16 am

legendoftheselkie wrote:

I don't know that I'd say that the US has a more shameful history than any other given country, we certainly have less skeletons in our closet than many. The history of the US is also sort of a gray area in that being founded by European colonists, do you blame our past bad behaviors on the countries of origin or on the newly founded country? Also, take the quotes off of Founding Fathers, their position in history is not in doubt. The Indians who where here founded their own nations, but they did not found this one. Further, had the technological and epidemiological shoe been on the other foot, the Indians would have done the same to us that we did to them, so lose the superiority.

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Dogbrain
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11 Aug 2008, 11:00 am

Daran wrote:

And the shameless nuclear bombing of Japanese civilians in the aftermath of WWII.

You must be PROFESSIONALLY STUPID to make a statement like that. We bombed NOBODY in the aftermath of WWII. We bombed DURING WWII, but anyone who isn't a worthless idiot knows the difference between "during" and "aftermath".

Anyway, the only reason that the Japanese didn't bomb a US city with a nuclear weapon is that we happened to get it first. Every major player in the war was working on nuclear weapons to use on civilian populations. Anyone who isn't a whiny little nancy-pants understands that that was how ALL nations fought wars at that time.

Daran
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11 Aug 2008, 11:43 am

Dogbrain wrote:

Daran wrote:

And the shameless nuclear bombing of Japanese civilians in the aftermath of WWII.

That's exactly what I meant, shameless! The war was over, there was just a lost cause of some left over Japanese troops in the Pacific. They would have surrendered without bombing thousands of innocent people to death. Shouting won't help you by the way dogbrain ...

Dogbrain
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11 Aug 2008, 12:44 pm

Daran wrote:

That's exactly what I meant, shameless! The war was over

The war wasn't over. Japan had not surrendered. They were still fighting on. There was no "aftermath", yet. Of course, you approve of the atrocities commited by your beloved Nazis and Japanese Imperials, since you didn't bother denouncing any of them.

twoshots
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11 Aug 2008, 12:47 pm

legendoftheselkie wrote:

USA-
Cons: The shameful episodes in its past, from slavery to Jim Crow, and racism that persists to the present day and probably will never be eliminated in this country; the slaughter, robbery, and degradation perpetrated by the ''Founding Fathers'' of our country against its true Founding Fathers and Mothers; the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in brutal prison camps in WW2II.
The teachers and textbooks that barely mentioned these things so I had to educate myself about them as an adult.

Pros: The fact that the books I learned these things from were allowed to be published and circulated.
The fact that I can write these words, then go to bed without fear of my door being busted down in the middle of the night.
The fact that if I don't like this country, I can leave anytime I want to.

rofflecopter. Where did you go to school? :lmao:

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Bart21
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13 Aug 2008, 5:27 pm

crackedpleasures wrote:

Mods, please move this to the correct subforum, but I think -as politics and lifestyle will influence the answers- this is the best subforum for it.

What do you like most about your country, what do you dislike most? What would need to change?

My own native country BELGIUM:

PRO
- very beautiful cities, especially my native Ghent but also Brussels and Antwerp
- a lot of culture, there is always something going on in the cities and the cultural offer is big
- multicultural cities, which I like a lot
- very high standard of living, with great healthcare and social services for citizens
- great cuisine

CONTRA
- politically the country is a mess. Separatist movements on mainly Dutch-speaking side spread hatred towards the other side of the country and constantly play drama queens despite living in a country of luxury.
- we must be the only multilingual country with a linguistic border. If both Dutch and French are official languages, why tell people which language to speak in a specific part of their own country?
- racism and intolerance are rising high, far right parties are doing well (fills me with shame)
- outside of the cities, people are too conservative
- terrible weather

NEEDS TO CHANGE
- far right party Vlaams Beland should be legally banned because of racist propaganda
- regional governments should be removed and all power given back to the national/federal government, so that maybe the endless whining between Dutch speakers and French speakers stops
- media should be less biased and less racist, they (deliberately?) help spreading racist ideologies
- removal of the linguistic border

In general the contra's outweigh the pro's. I am not very fond of my native country, I never was and patriottism is unknown to me. I realise most Flemish will disagree with me, people like me (Dutch speakers in favor of a unified Belgium) become a minority compared to the ones who want a separate Flemish state.

My current home country GERMANY.

PRO
- good standard of living, economy doing well
- healthcare is very well organised
- most Germans are very openminded and tolerant
- multicultural cities, especially my home town Berlin, I love the many cultural influences that immigration brought us
- the artistic and cultural offer is big, Germany's music scene is very good and diverse
- far right not doing as well as in neighbouring countries (maybe partially due to Germany's painful/shameful history, but the upside is that people will probably assure it never ever happens again)
- Berlin especially is very affordable to live in

CONTRA
- people tend to be a bit too correct and punctual. In general this is good, but they can already whine when you're a little 5 minutes late.
- I don't really like the German language
- cuisine is terrible and vegetarian unfriendly (luckily there is foreign cuisine on every street corner in Berlin)
- weather is not much better than in previous home countries like Ireland and Belgium

NEEDS TO CHANGE
- not really a lot, Germany is a very OK country to live in. It is not perfect but definitely the best EU country I have lived in.

I could make a report on previous home country Ireland (and N.ireland) as well but to make it not a too long post, I will stick to my native and current home country. About Turkey I don't dare to make a report because I lived in Istanbul and never went to Eastern Turkey which is culturally too different to claim I have seen the entire country. About Istanbul I should add that it was so good I can hardly think of a negative point.

Being Dutch i keep somewhat informed about the situation in Flanders and Walloon.
When reading your post my opinion is excactly the opposite of yours.
Altough i have to admit the old capital of my province Brabant wich lies in belgium named Antwerps is a nice city.
I do feel great connection with Flanders seeing as my province Brabant in the Netherlands was together with the Flemish part of Brabant far longer than that they were in different countys.
But as you know the war, religious and political conditions ripped the area apart and put it into two different countrys.

I think Dutch speaking people should be reunited with other Dutch speakers in the Netherlands.
French speakers should be reunited with France.
Having a country with 2 main languages wich all don't speak natively seems odd....
Also the Flemish taking over too many French word makes it difficult to understand.
Flanders also suffers a huge burden from it's poor Waloon twin with it's huge number of paid goverment official parasiting on it's tax moneys.
Many billions per year flow in a totally one sided way.

My viewpoint on your racism statement is that it's false.
The Vlaams belang is standing up for native people in Belgium who see theyr crimerates skyrocket due to mass immigration.
They also see theyr citys not becoming safe anymore and French conditions don't seem like such an unrealistic thought anymore.
People should be allowed to voice theyr opinion and atleast have a little voice on what the dictators in Brussels decide to do.

Research some about patriotism, because the new generation of people seems to lack pride or any respect for theyr ancestors.

JDoherty
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14 Aug 2008, 1:17 am

The Pros and cons of Living in Australia.

Pros:
Good weather for outdoors most of the time
No more John Howard!
Sports mad people
Decent healthcare paid by taxes
Heaps of open spaces (great for photography)
Multicultural country
Decent skiing in southern NSW and in Victoria (short season though)
Interesting wildlife

Cons:
Extreme weather (either drought, bushfires, cyclones or floods occur)
Too many venomous creatures (on land and in water)
Too many great white sharks (esp where I am)
Crocodiles (even nastier than alligators)
Rise in racism
Aboriginal health not anywhere as good as the general population
Shortage of water in Sth Australia.

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