2025: End of US Dominance

[MajorTom]

Of course, if we really had unrestrained freedom of speech on this board, I could post pornography and use the f-word as much as I wanted, but I cannot. Politics is a very touchy subject no matter who or what country you are talking about. Even with good moderators and generally intelligent people on this forum, it seems obvious that subjects like this cannot really be discussed in a civilized manner. Although it is by no means my decision, you can bet your ass if I ran this forum, I would probably put a stop to political discussions.

Ah yes.

What were those "no-no" topics again? The ones that people strive to avoid in formal settings (i.e., one's office or a public forum) in order to keep feelings from getting hurt?

• Sex
• Religion
• Politics

...

• Sports:rofl:

 

[Urwumpe]

Freedom of speech is a two edged sword, it is good to have it, but it is bad if you waste it for stuff, which would in the real world end with somebody punching you in the face.

So, the USA will no longer dominate the world. Bad? Only if the power vacuum is filled by religious zealots, warlords and tyrants. For me personally, I would prefer the world is dominated by free, just, democratic countries. Which is a type of country which gets more and more rare in the world. Which means for me, that these few countries should really take their constitution serious, not only internally, but also in foreign politics.

And who says that the USA can't come back? Or that the developments, on which the prediction is based, are all kept constant.

 

[Linguofreak]

I wish I was joking. And I realize those videos are edited for dramatic effect BUT.
They're, there and their are always mistaken, one for the other, as one example.

To be fair, I catch myself in this one fairly often, and probably do it without noticing a fair bit. It can be more of an autopilot thing than a stupidity thing. We're still spelling English approximately as it was pronounced 6 or 8 hundred years ago, even though the pronounciation has changed significantly. So we don't really have a user-friendly encoding scheme to begin with. "There" and "their" ought to be merged in spelling (after all, we get along just fine with all the different words pronounced "bank" spelled the same. You have river banks, financial banks, and the bank of an airplane making a turn). "They're" could be merged with the others or not, depending on how distinct you want to make contractions.

BTW: My mom just caught me spelling "led" (as in the past tense of "to lead") as "lead" (as in the metal). Point being that it's not just stupid people that make spelling errors.

Ask anyone at random where France is on the map (or any place at all) and watch them not find it for a long while if ever...

That's a bit more concerning.

Ask them what constitutes the US congress and watch them say "I don't like/follow/understand/care about/need to know, etc... any thing about "politics".

Scary, but at times the behavior of politicians does make it hard to blame them.

Ask any one what an adverb is...

If I'd gone into astrophysics like I wanted to as a kid, I'm not sure I'd have cared enough to be able to tell you now. But then I got hooked on foreign languages and linguistics, and in that line of work it's kinda hard not to know.

What the name of their state governor is...

Rick Perry.

What difference exist between syrup and sugar...

Depends what exact definitions you want to use. Most could tell you the difference between pancake syrup and table sugar (color, liquid vs. solid, etc.), few could tell you the difference between lactose and high fructose corn syrup.

What is a galaxy...

Even professional astronomers weren't entirely sure before the 1920's.

What is compound interest...

Given American credit-happiness, this is the really scary one.

In almost all fields, except sports, most Americans are without a clue.
There are a few gems that carry the rest of us along towards a future... But few indeed.

More than you think. But all too few.

 

[cjp]

I wrote the video wasn't really fair, didn't I? Of course it isn't:

• Of course the video was made by selecting all the stupid answers, and leaving out all the smart ones
• You could make such a video in any country, as demonstrated by the other videos posted here

Besides, there is a relevant difference between American culture and other cultures that has nothing to do with ignorance and stupidity: Americans put a lot of importance on being self-confident. I noticed this with most of my friends who are from the US: when they don't really know something, they usually don't say "I don't know": they'll give you the best guess they can make at the moment, and make it look like they're absolutely certain. When the guess is wrong, this makes you look even more stupid.

Maybe the "lack of high standards", which is BTW also not unique to the US, also has something to do with this?

Back on topic: if the world will have multiple dominant powers in the future, then maybe the arrogance in US foreign politics, as perceived in many non-US countries since the fall of the Soviet Union, will decrease a bit? At least it will be very counter-productive for US interests.

 

[Omhra]

if i may i propose that a ban on politics or anything that relates to threads like this on orbiter forum because some of this stuff is down right offensive to some people.

hmmm No.

If some one says "Death to the USA" that would be offensive.

If some one says "I am concerned that the vast masses of my beloved country are falling into the chasm of ignorance" ...it is a statement of love.

Do not be offended by truth.
It is a fact that mathematics are falling of the national psyche. It is a fact that spelling is on the low... Geography is an unknown and general science is all but a myth.
Arguments of merging words might have some validity. I always say that what ever strengthens communication is a favorable thing and that languages are always evolving. but you have to be careful to benefit the language and not cater to laziness.
I have had a print 4 feet tall by 8.5 feet wide nicely framed of the sombrero galaxy M104 in my living room for the last 8 years and I am yet to have anyone know what it is. Except for my few close friends...
Most ask me if its on the solar system... or if its a new "planet???"
Same at my Shop, the endless parade of people that have no idea what a topological map is (I have the Mars "topo-map" on my wall there, also larger than life) Thy think it is the Moon, which I understand... but they do like the pretty colors.

Not that I expect everyone to know everything, or even to have my same interests... But we are talking that the masses have an exclusive and exceedingly selective area of expertise which exists only on prime time TeleVision, Tele, TV, mind numbing sedative. Which from a behaviorist point of view is catatonic in principle.

 

[Star explorer]

well its not really your disicion now is it Omhra. its more of tex's and the moderators disicion. also you posted that people thought that your mars poster was the moon well not every one is interested in space and the universe (even though its hard to mistake mars for the moon).

 

[ar81]

You have a *slight* obsession with US, don't you ar81?

With all due respect, this is about the most unrealistic claim I've heard in a long while.

People in Africa and some other parts of the world don't even have enough food to survive! 1000's of people die every day because of malnutrition and illnesses that don't exist in western society.

If US has it hard, what do you say about that?

The pitfalls of Africa's aid addiction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7740652.stm

Politicians of poor countries play a major role in creation of poverty.
Jobs go overseas from US because there is poverty elsewhere.
Financial aid is not a solution.

Take those lazy politicians who live like kings in the middle of misery and make them do their job, push them, push them, so they see that ruling a poor country is not a chance to have power, but a job of responsibility. It is cheap and it will involve strong diplomacy.

The problem of third world countries is that you have lazy bastards leeching govt money. That causes jobs to go pverseas because of poverty and US citizens end up subsidizing the luxury of those lazy bastards.

 

[BHawthorne]

The video was depressing. Good lord, how hard were those questions? I nailed every one without a second thought. Seriously, I am so ashamed of my fellow countrymen sometimes...

What is so devious about the video is that it delibertly omits any correct answers from that "news" piece. It's a prime example of "reporters" painting the picture they want to get across and ignoring the true impariality that news should be. Reflecting back on the daily news I've yet to see anything in the last few decades that is truely impartial reporting on a national or international level. Local news sometimes sees impartiality, but more often than not there is an agenda there too. What I'd like to know is just what % were those ignorant interview soundbites compaired to the informed ones? Healthy scepticism makes me always seek the intent of the "news" piece. News doesn't get reported unless it has intent behind it. It's pretty clear what the intent of that video was.