3 ms·

Mostly because the US is very very diverse. If I move two counties over, my life expectancy goes up 5 years. It's probably fair to say 1% of the US is third wor

by jfoutz 14y ago

Mostly because the US is very very diverse. If I move two counties over, my life expectancy goes up 5 years. It's probably fair to say 1% of the US is third world. At the very least, Alabama's immigrant ghettos are concretely third world. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/456/reap-what-you-sow?act=1 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/456/r...

grecy 14y ago
That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not That's like comparing America's murder rate to El Salvador and saying it's perfectly fine. Instead, it should be compared to first world countries, and it's soon very clear that it's not OK and is a serious problem for such a prosperous country.[1] This kind of comparison leads to apathy. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#2010s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... (sort the list by "most recent", and have a look where the United States sits compared to the next first world country.
- anamax 14y ago
  > That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not He didn't say that the US didn't need improvement. The US' diversity means that the comparison is complicated. In fact, when you compare the US apples and oranges to apples and oranges in other countries, you find that the US is doing reasonably well. You're seeing consequences of the fact that the apple countries don't have oranges. We'd be happy to give some oranges to apple countries so they can show us how to do it correctly....
  - grecy 14y ago
    I understand it's a big, diverse place, but at what point is this thing "United" and at what point is it "divided"? I mean, either it's United or it's not.
    - anamax 14y ago
      > I mean, either it's United or it's not. Why do you think that that's true? I ask because it isn't in other circumstances (particle vs wave). The world doesn't care whether it's convenient. There are various connections, but geography is the only common one.
      - grecy 14y ago
        Because the whole founding principle of the country is "One nation, under god, indivisible...". It's supposed to be a singular entity where everyone is working towards the benefit of everyone, but that got lost somewhere along the way.
        anamax 14y ago
        > Because the whole founding principle of the country is "One nation, under god, indivisible...". That's from the pledge of allegiance, which was written in 1892, long after the nation was founded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance More important, you're confusing a goal with reality.
- jfoutz 14y ago
  The United States is very very diverse. Two states murder rates are right up there with Kazakhstan. DC looks, frankly, crazy. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.pdf http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.p...
  - anamax 14y ago
    States are much too coarse. In the early 90s, East Palo Alto had the highest murder rate in the US. (I think that the wikipedia article is wrong - I remember a number significantly higher.) It's right next to Palo Alto, which has a murder every decade or so.

by jfoutz 14y ago

grecy 14y ago

That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not That's like comparing America's murder rate to El Salvador and saying it's perfectly fine. Instead, it should be compared to first world countries, and it's soon very clear that it's not OK and is a serious problem for such a prosperous country.[1] This kind of comparison leads to apathy. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#2010s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... (sort the list by "most recent", and have a look where the United States sits compared to the next first world country.

anamax 14y ago
> That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not He didn't say that the US didn't need improvement. The US' diversity means that the comparison is complicated. In fact, when you compare the US apples and oranges to apples and oranges in other countries, you find that the US is doing reasonably well. You're seeing consequences of the fact that the apple countries don't have oranges. We'd be happy to give some oranges to apple countries so they can show us how to do it correctly....
- grecy 14y ago
  I understand it's a big, diverse place, but at what point is this thing "United" and at what point is it "divided"? I mean, either it's United or it's not.
  - anamax 14y ago
    > I mean, either it's United or it's not. Why do you think that that's true? I ask because it isn't in other circumstances (particle vs wave). The world doesn't care whether it's convenient. There are various connections, but geography is the only common one.
    - grecy 14y ago
      Because the whole founding principle of the country is "One nation, under god, indivisible...". It's supposed to be a singular entity where everyone is working towards the benefit of everyone, but that got lost somewhere along the way.
      - anamax 14y ago
        > Because the whole founding principle of the country is "One nation, under god, indivisible...". That's from the pledge of allegiance, which was written in 1892, long after the nation was founded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance More important, you're confusing a goal with reality.
jfoutz 14y ago
The United States is very very diverse. Two states murder rates are right up there with Kazakhstan. DC looks, frankly, crazy. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.pdf http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.p...
- anamax 14y ago
  States are much too coarse. In the early 90s, East Palo Alto had the highest murder rate in the US. (I think that the wikipedia article is wrong - I remember a number significantly higher.) It's right next to Palo Alto, which has a murder every decade or so.