4 ms·

Your country is constantly under attack? It's as varied in culture and population as Europe? You can go from poor to billionaire? Dude, I surely want to smoke

by bighi 13y ago

Your country is constantly under attack? It's as varied in culture and population as Europe? You can go from poor to billionaire? Dude, I surely want to smoke what you're smoking.

Nrsolis 13y ago
Please level up on your reading comprehension and see if you care to reframe your criticism. And Lloyd Blankfein grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn. In fact, the same housing project that Jay-Z did. It turns out that where hard work and preparation meet opportunity, there is luck to be won. I was born here as the child of two lower-class immigrant parents from different parts of the globe. Now I'm a one percenter. My wife grew up in a single parent household from the age of three, moved to NYC with $300 20 years ago and is also a wildly successful person. Rags to riches is not a fairy tale in the USA. It DOES happen but not without lots of hard work. Luck plays a part, but you'd be AMAZED at how many people with the good fortune to be US citizens can't manage to even get out of bed in the morning to take advantage of the amazing opportunities here.
- VexXtreme 13y ago
  So Europe is shitty because your mom almost got killed by her government? How about tens of millions of native Americans who were systematically exterminated by their government? While America was founded on some really great and unique ideas and concepts (your declaration of independence comes to mind), the execution is less than stellar. That in and of itself wouldn't be a problem if you wouldn't claim that you're somehow better and more exceptional than everyone else. You don't believe there aren't other places in the world where people go from rags to riches on daily basis and where opportunities are abound? You think the rest of the world lives in caves and mud houses? The best way to remedy that would be to get a passport and get out more.
  - Nrsolis 13y ago
    Just an FYI if you can stand to look past your own prejudice and ill-informed speculation: 1. I've lived (and worked) overseas in both Europe and the Middle East. 2. I've visited and spent great deals of time in South America, Central America. I haven't been to Asia but that's been mainly a function of time than opportunity. That'll probably change next year with a trip to Singapore. 3. I've run out of pages in my passport, buddy. I'm likely better travelled than you are. Last month, I did three transatlantic crossings back to back. I've driven from Paris to Milan in a 5-series. I was at the Berlin Wall while there was still a Berlin Wall and I've been back to see it's disappearance. I've even got a picture of myself in East Germany from BEFORE the wall came down. Before you go off talking trash about how dumb and untravelled Americans are, you might consider that the person on the other end of that screen you live your life on had a Passport and exposure to the world before you were born.
    - VexXtreme 13y ago
      Now that you've got this out of your system and let everybody know how awesome your life experiences are, would you like to address the individual points in my reply or would you like to brag a bit more and hurl some more insults? While it was unfair of me to bring up the passport thing, you completely missed the point of my post.
      - Nrsolis 13y ago
        No, I didn't miss the point of your post. I understood it completely amidst the insults you hurled MY way and the way you misread what I was trying to say. I will however accept your apology and reward that with this little gem: You can get rich in a place called China or in a place called Russia, but you can't criticize the government there AT ALL or you will end up in jail or dead. Or alive and wishing you were dead. Americans, rich and poor, criticize the government all the time, and don't worry about this (much). There are western countries (like France) where you can get rich and live (mostly) free, but you'll be constantly hounded by the taxing authorities to support their ever-grander uses for the money you earned. Like political elites? Like enclaves of power you can't ever penetrate? France has 'em in spades. In America, you can go to a crappy school and still become President. We've had Presidents with only a high-school diploma. Some had no formal education. You can live in some Middle Eastern countries like a sheik, but you'll be dependent on a ruling class that holds power via a system of socially acceptable corruption and religious oppression. But hey: LOW TAXES. You can find examples of places that have individual things that are better (sometimes a LOT better) than we have in the US. What you can't find is a nation anywhere in the world that has the same level of disparate groups living in more-or-less peaceful coexistence to keep the country moving forward. We have every kind of person from every kind of place with every crazy religion you can imagine. We have so many choices that people make up their own religions. We have so many mixed nationalities in offspring that we have almost lost the idea of what it means to be from-somewhere-else. It's not any one thing, but the combination of things that has made this place great. We are more cacophonous than many other places but also more resilient. It's tough but we manage. We make mistakes but the people course-correct. We elect bad leaders and then elect good ones. But if you ask me if I would rather live anywhere else, the answer is NO. I still think the USA is the best place. But seriously dude, you need to THINK before you attack: You might just learn something. Not all of us older types are terminally fuddy-duddy.

by bighi 13y ago

Your country is constantly under attack? It's as varied in culture and population as Europe? You can go from poor to billionaire? Dude, I surely want to smoke what you're smoking.

Nrsolis 13y ago

Please level up on your reading comprehension and see if you care to reframe your criticism. And Lloyd Blankfein grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn. In fact, the same housing project that Jay-Z did. It turns out that where hard work and preparation meet opportunity, there is luck to be won. I was born here as the child of two lower-class immigrant parents from different parts of the globe. Now I'm a one percenter. My wife grew up in a single parent household from the age of three, moved to NYC with $300 20 years ago and is also a wildly successful person. Rags to riches is not a fairy tale in the USA. It DOES happen but not without lots of hard work. Luck plays a part, but you'd be AMAZED at how many people with the good fortune to be US citizens can't manage to even get out of bed in the morning to take advantage of the amazing opportunities here.

VexXtreme 13y ago
So Europe is shitty because your mom almost got killed by her government? How about tens of millions of native Americans who were systematically exterminated by their government? While America was founded on some really great and unique ideas and concepts (your declaration of independence comes to mind), the execution is less than stellar. That in and of itself wouldn't be a problem if you wouldn't claim that you're somehow better and more exceptional than everyone else. You don't believe there aren't other places in the world where people go from rags to riches on daily basis and where opportunities are abound? You think the rest of the world lives in caves and mud houses? The best way to remedy that would be to get a passport and get out more.
- Nrsolis 13y ago
  Just an FYI if you can stand to look past your own prejudice and ill-informed speculation: 1. I've lived (and worked) overseas in both Europe and the Middle East. 2. I've visited and spent great deals of time in South America, Central America. I haven't been to Asia but that's been mainly a function of time than opportunity. That'll probably change next year with a trip to Singapore. 3. I've run out of pages in my passport, buddy. I'm likely better travelled than you are. Last month, I did three transatlantic crossings back to back. I've driven from Paris to Milan in a 5-series. I was at the Berlin Wall while there was still a Berlin Wall and I've been back to see it's disappearance. I've even got a picture of myself in East Germany from BEFORE the wall came down. Before you go off talking trash about how dumb and untravelled Americans are, you might consider that the person on the other end of that screen you live your life on had a Passport and exposure to the world before you were born.
  - VexXtreme 13y ago
    Now that you've got this out of your system and let everybody know how awesome your life experiences are, would you like to address the individual points in my reply or would you like to brag a bit more and hurl some more insults? While it was unfair of me to bring up the passport thing, you completely missed the point of my post.
    - Nrsolis 13y ago
      No, I didn't miss the point of your post. I understood it completely amidst the insults you hurled MY way and the way you misread what I was trying to say. I will however accept your apology and reward that with this little gem: You can get rich in a place called China or in a place called Russia, but you can't criticize the government there AT ALL or you will end up in jail or dead. Or alive and wishing you were dead. Americans, rich and poor, criticize the government all the time, and don't worry about this (much). There are western countries (like France) where you can get rich and live (mostly) free, but you'll be constantly hounded by the taxing authorities to support their ever-grander uses for the money you earned. Like political elites? Like enclaves of power you can't ever penetrate? France has 'em in spades. In America, you can go to a crappy school and still become President. We've had Presidents with only a high-school diploma. Some had no formal education. You can live in some Middle Eastern countries like a sheik, but you'll be dependent on a ruling class that holds power via a system of socially acceptable corruption and religious oppression. But hey: LOW TAXES. You can find examples of places that have individual things that are better (sometimes a LOT better) than we have in the US. What you can't find is a nation anywhere in the world that has the same level of disparate groups living in more-or-less peaceful coexistence to keep the country moving forward. We have every kind of person from every kind of place with every crazy religion you can imagine. We have so many choices that people make up their own religions. We have so many mixed nationalities in offspring that we have almost lost the idea of what it means to be from-somewhere-else. It's not any one thing, but the combination of things that has made this place great. We are more cacophonous than many other places but also more resilient. It's tough but we manage. We make mistakes but the people course-correct. We elect bad leaders and then elect good ones. But if you ask me if I would rather live anywhere else, the answer is NO. I still think the USA is the best place. But seriously dude, you need to THINK before you attack: You might just learn something. Not all of us older types are terminally fuddy-duddy.