4 ms·

Correction: if you're lucky enough to be in America.

WalterBright 4y ago
Millions of people come to America. Just in my neighborhood there are Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Iranian first generation immigrants. I often hear Russian at the local park. The local real estate agent is first gen Romanian. A good friend is a Polish immigrant. I've run into three first gen Afghan immigrants nearby. The other two members of the D Foundation BoD are Romanian and Turkish. My mother was an immigrant. My sister married an immigrant. They all came to America by choice. In fact, America is a nation of immigrants. They came here to establish a country based on freedom, and took advantage of that freedom. Any country could do what America did, if their citizens chose to.
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  Great. Now what about the other ~7.5 billion people out there? It's extremely elitist to say that anyone who wants to succeed should "just" get to America. Even if you wanted to claim that just touching the shores of the USA meant automatic success (and I am not suggesting you are), not everyone literally can do that.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    > extremely elitist LOL. First generation immigrants everywhere you look in the US. > not everyone literally can do that There is nothing special about America that every other nation could not do if their citizens wanted it. America was created by immigrants to be what they wanted it to be.
    - actually_a_dog 4y ago
      None of that is relevant. The fact is that other nations simply have not done those things that make America special, for whatever reason. Not everybody has the literal means to be able to just leave their country, and most people certainly don't have the means to improve it. You are again making pronouncements from atop your elitist throne here.
      - WalterBright 4y ago
        > The fact is that other nations simply have not done those things that make America special That's right. They chose not to. > most people certainly don't have the means to improve it There are many, many historical examples of individuals of no means rising to strongly influence and even command a nation. There are also many examples of citizens toppling their government and replacing it. You know, like the American Revolution, which revolted against the British that ruled the world at the time.
        actually_a_dog 4y ago
        None of those are the least bit relevant at the individual level. You sound like you subscribe to the "great man" theory of history. That theory is, quite frankly, bunk. No man is an island, and one, single person can't accomplish anything meaningful without the support of others. You allude to this in another comment, but I do know who you are, and, no, you didn't build that. Everything you accomplished was built on the backs of what people who came before you did, and you got lucky to end up in such a privileged position to be able to even have some of the opportunities you had, much less take advantage of them. Do you even remember what your argument is? Because I don't.
        WalterBright 4y ago
        > Everything you accomplished was built on the backs of what people who came before you did, and you got lucky to end up in such a privileged position to be able to even have some of the opportunities you had, much less take advantage of them. Yeah, if I'd just watched TV the whole time, the outcome would have been the same. Right? > single person can't accomplish anything meaningful without the support of others. Great men go out and get the support of others. Do you think Apple would have existed without Steve Jobs? SpaceX/Tesla without Musk? The Soviet Union without Lenin? The Church of England without Henry 8? The US without Washington? Why is the US so different from the other North and South American nations? The Haber process without Haber? Do you know about Norman Borlaug, who is credited with saving over a BILLION lives? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug There are great men, and they have great influence over history.

Millions of people come to America. Just in my neighborhood there are Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Iranian first generation immigrants. I often hear Russian at the local park. The local real estate agent is first gen Romanian. A good friend is a Polish immigrant. I've run into three first gen Afghan immigrants nearby. The other two members of the D Foundation BoD are Romanian and Turkish. My mother was an immigrant. My sister married an immigrant. They all came to America by choice. In fact, America is a nation of immigrants. They came here to establish a country based on freedom, and took advantage of that freedom. Any country could do what America did, if their citizens chose to.

actually_a_dog 4y ago
Great. Now what about the other ~7.5 billion people out there? It's extremely elitist to say that anyone who wants to succeed should "just" get to America. Even if you wanted to claim that just touching the shores of the USA meant automatic success (and I am not suggesting you are), not everyone literally can do that.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  > extremely elitist LOL. First generation immigrants everywhere you look in the US. > not everyone literally can do that There is nothing special about America that every other nation could not do if their citizens wanted it. America was created by immigrants to be what they wanted it to be.
  - actually_a_dog 4y ago
    None of that is relevant. The fact is that other nations simply have not done those things that make America special, for whatever reason. Not everybody has the literal means to be able to just leave their country, and most people certainly don't have the means to improve it. You are again making pronouncements from atop your elitist throne here.
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      > The fact is that other nations simply have not done those things that make America special That's right. They chose not to. > most people certainly don't have the means to improve it There are many, many historical examples of individuals of no means rising to strongly influence and even command a nation. There are also many examples of citizens toppling their government and replacing it. You know, like the American Revolution, which revolted against the British that ruled the world at the time.
      - actually_a_dog 4y ago
        None of those are the least bit relevant at the individual level. You sound like you subscribe to the "great man" theory of history. That theory is, quite frankly, bunk. No man is an island, and one, single person can't accomplish anything meaningful without the support of others. You allude to this in another comment, but I do know who you are, and, no, you didn't build that. Everything you accomplished was built on the backs of what people who came before you did, and you got lucky to end up in such a privileged position to be able to even have some of the opportunities you had, much less take advantage of them. Do you even remember what your argument is? Because I don't.
        WalterBright 4y ago
        > Everything you accomplished was built on the backs of what people who came before you did, and you got lucky to end up in such a privileged position to be able to even have some of the opportunities you had, much less take advantage of them. Yeah, if I'd just watched TV the whole time, the outcome would have been the same. Right? > single person can't accomplish anything meaningful without the support of others. Great men go out and get the support of others. Do you think Apple would have existed without Steve Jobs? SpaceX/Tesla without Musk? The Soviet Union without Lenin? The Church of England without Henry 8? The US without Washington? Why is the US so different from the other North and South American nations? The Haber process without Haber? Do you know about Norman Borlaug, who is credited with saving over a BILLION lives? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug There are great men, and they have great influence over history.