Having an opinion means making the most use of your ignorance.

You might also want to think about making other people’s objective truth into opinions as well, solely to even the playing field.

but as of now, I only know this one and I doubt that anyone can say for a FACT that this is the best society ever.

You can’t say for a fact so logically, this must apply to reality itself for if you cannot see the facts that exist, then they surelly cannot be claimed to exist by others.

Amazing logic, O.

Heh.

Amazing.

You’ve got to be kidding.

I have never lived anywhere else, so how on earth could I compare and contrast?

If I’d lived in 10 countries, I could tell you which society I believed was best, but as of now, I only know this one and I doubt that anyone can say for a FACT that this is the best society ever.

I’ve watched a lot of TV, however, and and can assert, without a tremor of doubt that the Wire was the best show on TV. EVER. How’s that?

The high infant mortality is bogus. Other societies don’t consider some births as live births that we do. We also manage to save high risk births that others don’t count - though those two might be the same thing. It’s like having a hospital that specializes in high risk heart treatment having a higher rate of deaths from heart problems than a GP hospital - that’s where the high risk heart problems go…so they have more deaths. You can’t save them all!
On the educational achievement front, I’m less disagreeing - I am really unhappy with the educational system in general, and attribute much of it to the teacher’s unions and lower standards. Still, I suspect there is also an inequality in the comparison…in many other countries, education is limited to high achievers. We educate all comers. That in itself can be a problem which manifests itself by lowering the achievements of the brightest, but even without that, when you talke off the top 20 percent, they’re going to have a higher average than if you measure the average of the entire 100%. My only direct experience is with Germany of some 40 years ago…universal education only went to about 8th grade. After that, you had to qualify to go to high school, and only a relative few went to the university.
How about literacy levels? That _might_ be a universal measure, although even there, I question the measurement of literacy - does that mean 6th grade comprehension? 12th grade? You know - there are two major problems with educational comparisons - the level and organization of teaching offered, and the level and opportunity of learning.

In fact, comparisons probably are pretty futile. “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” - pretty well describes how I feel about it.
If you don’t think the US today is the best place to be _now_ even if not _ever_, why would you not go to wherever you think _is_ the best place to be? If you don’t know of any place better, then why would you argue against the US being the best? Just because nowhere is _perfect_ and you don’t want to give the US a “10″? I could probably understand that - but nowhere is ever going to be perfect - so why not give us a “best” award for here and now? Why can’t you do that?

Without the aid of the Nazi party’s MPs, Hindenberg would have faced a crisis in leadership and lost all powers. In point of fact, Hindeberg’s party experienced numerous elections one after the other. Obviously Hitler won more votes the more elections you gave him to corrupt.

But his power first came from the emergency powers given to the Chancellor. After that, he really didn’t need the Prime MInister slot, cause he would then be able to control the entire Parliament from that position.

All of these are very good reasons why Parliamentary systems are extremely corruptible and prone to internal dissent and sabotage. They are even more corruptible than your basic democracy or republic. Which is saying a lot.

and that such observations are a matter of opinion.

You must also think factual statements about who has won the war also a “matter of opinion”. I disagree.

I have NO IDEA which society is the best ever, but things like high infant mortality, diminished educational achievement, etc, tell me that the U.S. is not living up to some of its citizens’ boastful claims.

To be the best society only requires that every other culture, nation, and civilization is worse. Being “best” is not about living up to your boastful claims of perfection, O.

people posting here

And exactly what would be their names?

That’s pretty unbelievable…what standards did they use? suek

My memory’s not THAT good, so (sorry Old Flyer), I had to Google.

From the Times Online:

“The UK finished in the bottom third of 21 industrialised countries in five out of six categories — material well-being; health and safety; educational well-being; relationships; behaviour and risks; and subjective well-being — ending up overall last, after the United States. ”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1384238.ece

I read the study, and one thing I recall was that, when answering the question, “I find my peers generally helpful and kind” (Or something to that effect ), the U.S. and the Ukraine were the only two countries where children did not find that to be generally true.

Suek: “And…what standards do _you_ use, Ozzie? What is your basis for your evaluation? What society do _you_ think is “the best society ever”?

Well, Suek, my contention is that it’s NOT a fact that the U.S is “the best society ever,” and that such observations are a matter of opinion.

I have NO IDEA which society is the best ever, but things like high infant mortality, diminished educational achievement, etc, tell me that the U.S. is not living up to some of its citizens’ boastful claims.

That’s pretty unbelievable…what standards did they use?

I live in the U.S, Suez. And yes, I like it here. Very much. I just dont believe it’s a fact that the U.S. is “the best society ever.”

(I agree with D.Q that America’s golden years were between the late 40s and the late 70s, however. I also agree that the Bill of Rights is one of those things that has made America marvelously unique, but sadly, I think many would gladly scrap the Constitution to save their own necks, even as they praise soldiers past and present for “fighting for our freeedoms.” )

And Old Flyer, just because it’s I dont think anyone can rightly prove that the U.S is the world’s greatest society, doesnt mean it’s not a better place to raise kids than England. (I dont even have to google to know that, according to Unicef’s annual report, England comes in dead last of all industrialized nations for raising children. America was next to last.)