[lit-ideas] Re: american exceptionalism
- From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:08:49 -0400
On 7/3/2010 12:50 PM, dsavory@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
What metric could be used to determine if Americans are freer than
Brazilians, Aussies or Swedes?
Discussions with same. I know Brazil so I'll speak
about that.
In no particular order, Brazil:
* has greater corruption (this is a good index ...
US is 18th I think, Brazil much further down)
* is much more polluted. (Breathe Sao Paulo air.
Go on, I dare you.)
* has a mind-numbing bureaucracy (Kafkaesque and
slow. For one tiny example, widows claiming
husband's pensions must first produce a "life
certificate" to prove they are alive, and this
cannot be done in advance, takes months during
which the widows are on their own to produce cash
for living expenses.)
* has a draft for all 18 year old males, which
exposes the youth to sadistic "exam" procedures
including strip and hose down, but is underfunded,
so never takes most of these draftees, is content
merely to crush their spirits during the days of exam.
* has a university system that runs on patronage.
Salaries of professors are below living wage so
university spots are reserved for the wealthy who
inherit them from parents.
* has out-of-control crime, not just in the
favelas where drug mobsters using Barretts and
RPGs routinely defeat military sent in, but
nationwide. More people died of violent crime in
one year there than in the entire Intifada ... but
nobody noticed, because there is no way to use the
info to bash the US.
* has a general culture of not recognizing
personal excellence, thereby incurring unmotivated
professionals and partially causing the
eternally-collapsing infrastructure.
So just for starters, here's one way to determine
that Brazilians are not as free as Americans or
Canadians. The metric could combine corruption,
pollution, size of bureaucracy, education, and
cultural factors that value excellence and offer hope.
Regards,
Eric
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