When was America Great?

[Joe]

Don't know about great, but it was pretty nice a couple of weeks ago, before all this fucking rain.

Sorry Lak, it's probably our fault.

We're in New Orleans celebrating our 25th anniversary and one of our voodoo friends said she pushed that tropical depression east so we'd have good weather.

Sent from my LG-H700 using Tapatalk

[laklak]

I can stand a little rain for a 25th. Congrats!

Supposed to be almost great this weekend, just in time to smoke up that brisket sitting in the fridge.

[pErvinalia]

Don't know about great, but it was pretty nice a couple of weeks ago, before all this fucking rain.

#MAPNA!

[mistermack]

[laklak]

That's a documentary, you know.

[cronus]

It's always great on TV, from a few thousand miles away. The sun never sets on TV.

[rainbow]

It's always great on TV, from a few thousand miles away. The sun never sets on TV.

[pErvinalia]

It's always great on TV, from a few thousand miles away. The sun never sets on TV.

[Jason]

Your question hinges on what I, or, more generally, every individual considering, perceive to be 'great' or 'greatness' (within the context of that which we can generally agree to be the criteria of 'greatness' in a nation). This isn't as trivial a problem as it may seem - as you may know people are hardly uniform in their beliefs and values.

Personally, I don't think America ever was 'great,' at least not in whole. You could make the argument that the Union stood for equality, human rights, and things of that sort in the American Civil War, but America has never really stopped being motivated by the fear and anger stemming from their racial prejudices; and that alone is enough to disqualify them from 'greatness' in my books. Now add homophobia (and phobias of other LGBTQ) and they're right out.

[Scot Dutchy]

How could it ever be great when it has almost continually been a world aggressor since its conception.

[Jason]

American history has been largely one of aggression, but they also had extended periods where an isolationist foreign policy, and public opinion, held sway. It took a lot of propaganda work to convince the American people to join the Great War, as WWI was known at the time, which delayed America's entrance into the war by about 2 years.

[Svartalf]

well, the period they lived isolated under the Monroe doctrine, they were busy conquering territory from the Indians and the Spanish/Mexicans.

[Jason]

That's a fair point, and I'm far from ready to defend perfidious America, I just want to keep the vehemence grounded.

[laklak]

Pesky Redskins and effete Spaniards. We showed 'em, By Gum!

[Hermit]