" and Russia and Indonesia and the Philippines and . . . . so many other first world tyranny's"

There are only two first world countries on the planet and neither are tyrannical.

Its just a talking point. It's not meant to be true, its meant to be complex and take time to disprove.

They throw a very wide net for what is a tyranny: high taxes, laws they dont agree with as well as surveilence cameras are bundled together as Tyranny. Some of these aspects are problematic at times for sure, and should be debated, like they are.
Either way, according to this arguement, the US is devoid of tyranny, unlike most of the rest of the world, owing wholly to the second amendment and its liberal interpretations.
It follows that buying/owning a gun is a patriotic act that shields generations to come from "tyranny".

There are so many holes in this arguement, starting with the very abstract and and wide definition of tyranny with many apparent holes in it. The incursions into the privacy of citizens is infringed but that is supported by the same people who want guns to fight tyranny. Apparently rights of privacy is not an aspect they deem worth defending. Free speech and the rule of law IS being attacked, but that is fine too, encouranged even. The guns have become the means to its own end, only.
So when people die from it its not the price you pay for avoiding tyranny or maintaining freedom, its the price you pay for faster access to recreational tools. If you think that is a worthwhile trade thats an opinion you can have and it doesn't rely on any false premises. Just call things by their right name.

I only just realized this; that means the last administration you respect is that of Nixon/Ford. I like what that says about you and how you no longer get to suggest the protection of the constitution, the rule of law or indeed democracy is why you need guns, as you clearly dont mind a few infringements in those. :) Also one of the few things I remember from documentaries I have seen about Nixon is that he was an avid supporter of more restrictive gun laws.

Maybe they'll load some of these corona idiots into railcars to transport them to "safety".

Covidiots, they're called covidiots.

FFS Gerd, all this time I thought that because you were good at mathing this game that it might signal some intelligence and reading comprehension. Apparently I was mistaken. America is a fluffhole of poverty and corporate greed. We had slaves in the 19th fluffing century, our greatest loss of life in a war was when we fought ourselves FFS. As I have said in every one of these posts, I have no illusions of our warts and flaws. Why do you insist on trying to portray my cynicism as some sort of USA USA bullfluff when I never said that?

I said, and I'll say again and use smaller words so you and scode can understand. Americans hate being told what to do, we hate it so much that right now while the rest of the world has beaten the virus we are arguing about mask orders violating our freedoms. We are probably the most individualistic nation that has ever existed. Its our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. That individuality means that we give more per capita to charity that any other nation and we have more homeless people than any other nation. Our military is 100% professional volunteers and it could roll through Europe like a lawn mower if we wanted to. Instead we volunteered to send millions of our boys to fight and die so that you don't have to speak german.

The 2nd amendment isnt what makes us great and it isnt what hold us back. Its just a tiny sliver of our identity that Europeans seem fixated on even more than we are. Clean up your own house Gerd, you live in one of the most segregated nations in the world. Native Swedes are emigrating to find lower taxes and immigrants are being imported to do the work you can't be bothered to soil your hands with while being treated like second class citizens. Are all of the brown people ruining your utopia Gerd, are they a burden on your precious tax dollars Gerd? Suck it up buttercup, welcome to the end of your fairy tale - in 20 years you'll be working for the Chinese just like us.

Scode do you realize that Kentucky has a higher GDP than New Zealand? You are irrelevant, you're a tourist destination where Americans go to make movies. Go watch some cricket and stay out of the grown ups conversation.

I don't even know how to respond to this. Have you ever seen a rainbow and were like "maybe, just maybe I could touch it and experience it's beauty" ?

This is what I am witnessing right now. Its an art form really.

Before anyone even thinks that I (or archaic or KoH or any of the other Americans on this thread) just agree with whatever each other say, there are a LOT of things that archaic and I have a different opinion on in our country. Even with our differences of opinion, we respect each other enough to listen to each other and actually contemplate both sides. Even at the end, we most likely will continue to differ in opinion. What we don't do is baseless fact each other or assume we know each other's opinion without listening to it.

Also, to Gerd specifically. I feel like maybe we just have different outlooks about life. I tend to think things are positive. So where you feel that both sides are fluffty. I am more of the mindset of "I think America is a good place to live, and hell......Sweden is probably a great place to live too". I've never been there, but I've dealt with plenty of visiting Swedes. Both in fun (going to bars) and in working (business partnerships, customers, etc). Most of the interactions online have also been pretty great. Some of my favorite people that have ever played this game are Swedish.

I'm not American FYI.

If you're a SF Giants fan, you're American.

I mean...yeah good point LOL, plus I was born in the Americas so.... there's that.

Did you get full citizenship here in the US?

Yup :-)

fluff man. You're probably more American (US) than most of the people who were born here.

Yeah, because he has the right views on guns, right?

Dude. Get over it. I dont care what his view on guns are.

More like he came to this country, not being born here, earned his citizenship, and likes living here. So he has an appreciation for this place. Whereas a lot of people born here have a sense of entitlement and think you don't have to contribute to be a part of this country. If anyone, he should have a pretty good perspective of what its like being a US Citizen.

Gerdler probably think us gun loving Americans stroke our long rifles while we lie on our silk sheets every night.

And I came from a very leftist country, there's a reason why my family left that fluff show.

Zen, don’t wast your time on trolls.

I think only a minority do. I have no issues with that.

What I think is weird is that its portrayed by americans here that USA is one homogenous blob of like minded people at least in regards to gun rights and the government. I know for a fact it isn't. Or I have been lied to by several of the americans I have befriended both IRL and online.

I know my views on guns, the government, and many other issues align decently well with some americans. Even some Swedes seem to share my views.
I have never voted left or center-left in my life in the parlimentary elections I've voted in. I guess thats on a standard left-right scale which is kinda outdated by now.

If we are still talking right-left scale theres crap on all parts of the scale and that goes for USA, Argentina and Sweden, as well as most other countries that had brushes with something resembling democracy.

Saying all the problems Argentina has faced can be explained only by a few administrations having been "leftist" is an oversimplification in the extreme. You could probably get further with the analysis that what has been Argentinas downfall has been political turmoil, authoritarianism and a heavy dose of nationalism(which lead to war etc). That said Im not saying your families personal troubles came from this, they might have been the direct result of even just one bad decision. But Argentina has not been untroubled by the right either.

Its a 3D problem which is problematic to explain in 1D, even tho the everything seems to be shoehorned into the left-right continuum these days.

Requiem single handedly won this thread. I submit to your wisdom.

I am the protector of your time!

100%

See I can do it too. Should I call this the sitcom mentality? Or is there a better name for it?

Further proof your just an ingorant retarded American. Thanks for proving all my points with your last statement...

Just you know. We are all irrelevant. Just like this whole conversation...

Actually Argentina's problem is 1D, same as rest of Latin America, it's called Conquistadores :-) yes I said it, truth be told they're the root of our chaos.

I've kept you guys posting so far lol so it's obviously doing something... If i had written like I did about any other country on earth I would have gotten either a mixed response or it would have been brushed off in jest lol. And it took 4 pages for one of you to accept you have problems but you finally did lol. It's only been attacks coupled with chest beating until then, more or less. If you cant see a problem you can't fix it. And the only reason you are still here is because you feel the need to "defend" your country's honor.

And yeah Archaic the majority of your posts here have been the classical "USA USA"-chants more or less, but now you have agreed that USA had some problems two centuries ago as well as some things you don't agree with now.
Soviet is all about the chants as well, except he thinks the last half century the USA has been run by Chinese plants and believes in QAnon; the direct decendant of Pizzagate, a movement that believes Marina Abramovic is actually several hundred years old and stays young by drinking childrens blood and semen. No one batted an eyelash, so who knows who else believes this, haha. :)
ZEN took an aggressive defensive stand right from the start and was clearly bothered by the thought that US police might have something to learn from others in some regards, even tho my post was made in jest as I had already pointed out and both ZEN and Req referenced and therefore most likely read. His tactic is to agree with everything anyone says to defend USA or throw shade on others as he pointed out, never to look inward, that would be admitting defeat.
Koh, while we clearly don't agree on many issues is at least able to both take things in jest instead of going full on defense or all out attack as soon as someone disagrees.

Your attacks on Sweden I have agreed with more or less, except some not very well thought out. I'm fine with discussing all of them if you want. I agree with several counts as I have said. I'm not bothered by you pointing out the problem, I'm bothered by the problem. And I even encourage you to point out the problems you see so I get more grist for the mill when discussing them with my friends, colleagues and family. Doesn't bother me one bit tho, I'm rubber and you are glue it seems. :)

Here's a exercise for you all. Name one major problem that your country has, that can be fixed by elected representatives on some level, which doesn't shine right through, either by your choice of issue or the problem formulation, that you have picked one of your favorite politicians talking points. :)
I'll give Archaic a pass since he somewhat alluded also to some current issues already.
You won't be branded as traitors if you hug the flag right after posting, thats a rule I heard. :P

You probably could have just said colonialism in general as a world problem.

P.S. Would be nice if people had this much passion for the 4th

Hi. American here. From page 1

Thumbs up!

Those violations seemed to jokingly be portrayed as something good in the only comment I've read on it by this quintet.

Edit: here:


Is applied to information such as the type that could be/is gathered by the NSA and similar organizations? To me the wording sounds like its applicable.

Yeah, there is also a huge problem with civil asset forfeiture. On the bright side some judges have stopped taking the blanket statement of officers claiming to have detected an odor of marijuana as justification to search a vehicle during a traffic stop.

Yes, agreed!



That's a big one, traffic stops have become terrifying, the questions they make are all loaded, say the wrong answer and now you're in for a ride, I know this first hand, yet it's not a subject in police reform :-(

I listened to a radio host last week and his message, and he laid out his case pretty well, was pretty much that the "religion" that we Swedes cling to is individualism. Thats the idea I'm getting from Archaic about america too. We don't connect it with dislike of government tho. Its a clearcut difference in but the foundation is full of similarities.

We may dislike the ruling party, our prime minister etc, but the government contains so many apolitical levels that we for the most parts trust and value.

I have the impression, I don't know if it's true, that americans value "community" to a much greater extent than we do. I'm not sure exactly what that is but perhaps the neighborhood and/or parish and those who live there. While that still exists in some parts of Sweden, for the most part theres nothing like that. We are bored to tears by our housing cooperative meetings and the like. It takes a long time to get to know our neighbors here. In many areas you are considered a little weird if you say 'hi' when you meet them in the stairs or in the streets. I think that might be something that resonates in urban america, but suburban and rural america is far from it. Is this correct?

Hi, American here. Posted on page 2.



Reading. Comprehension.

I've been to a lot of major cities in the US, and while there are close knit people living in them. I would say not a lot of hospitality. We're rude to each other and even worse to visitors. Some areas in the mid west and south are a little better. I've been to a lot of other countries as well and have experienced an extreme amount of friendliness. Even in places I didn't expect like China.

It would be nice if people even knew what the 4th amendment was.....I have passion for everyone's rights. But the 2nd is always a spotlight and gets the most scrutiny. While the 4th is just starting to get some spotlight because of recent events. When the time comes when the govt/police try to seize your assets, I'll be there with my 2nd amendment rights in hand to defend your and my 4th.

Without having the Second, we'd lose the first, look at what's happening all around us, since 9/11 the government has sunk it's claws on us, metropolitan areas are the worst, if you own property you don't really own it, you need government approval just to remove a falling stump, then you got the mass surveillance...ugh, don't get me started.

Anyone ever watch "Persons of interest"? Creepy....we ain't far from that actually happening.

Did you see that the 3rd almost had to be used recently? Not once in it's entire history has it really even been talked about, but in the last couple months...

I actually didn't see that news clip. If the current administration was even talking about any form of military law coupled with military insertion, I would be disappointed but I wouldn't be surprised at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was like "oh they think the constitution is out dated? We will show them". Nothing the rest of this year will surprise me. In fact, to date, (allegedly) Muslims in internment camps in China is what surprised me the most. And it's only about half over!

I think it's scary how much upheaval has been caused by Rona, without thinking of the fatalities which of course are extremely tragic, but more from a broader view in terms of the rise of autocratic or wannabe autocratic changes in previously "free" societies. How little is being done with recommendations and how much is being done with partially or totally movement infringing bans with fines attached.

I would think that in a modern democracy that should be the last option and frankly Im shocked at how soon most countries/regions thought they were at that junction, before considering softer options.

Calling someone ignorant and retarded while using terrible sentence structure, incorrect wording, and poor grammar makes me giggle.

Pot meet kettle!