Sorry I was agreeing with you... Can see how you could read that in a way I didn't intend. My point was that by thinking the American way is the best already it stops healthy feedback loops.
I really don't think the original commenter was implying that everyone was an American or that the American system was the proper way to do things, especially based on his/her other posts. I see this kind of comment all the time, and it doesn't appear to be constructive but antagonistic.
I did misunderstand, and felt I had to speak up accordingly. Some of my highest-voted posts on HN have been the ones where I've had to patiently remind people that America now is leaps and bounds better than America in almost any other decade by almost any conceivable measure.
Not every measure, for sure. But the history of America is one of constant (if slow) overall improvement; why throw that away? But now I'm preaching to the choir...
I don’t know if you realize this, but when you write it this way it seems that you are implying an ‘American way of thinking’ is a morally inferior one.
Apologies if I am coming across as a curmudgeon. Although you do seem to have been missing my point.
I am not questioning the truth of your statements -- for all I know you may be right. I am questioning the form in which they are offered, in a discussion which is already rife with personal opinions disguised as fact. Everyone has an opinion; facts are harder to come by.
Specifically, I pointed out that when you say "most Americans", you are just (as you readily admit) extrapolating from yourself. Why not just say "I"? That seems more truthful. I can't reasonably claim to know what "most Americans "think, and neither should you, I think. Extrapolating is just another way of assuming.
Could you avoid making baseless statements that an attitude is "particularly American"? I'm doubting you've done any sort of survey, even informal, to back this up. There's a mental shortcut a lot of people like to take, where if the USA does something one way, and another country does it a different way, it's because the USA is wrong, and the not-USA country is doing the same thing as the entire rest of the world. It's stupid, it's mildly insulting, and it doesn't contribute in any way to the conversation.
Your post would have lost nothing, in fact would have gained quite a bit, if you had simply left out the "Americans are weird" bit.
I agree with you. I guess I might have been a tad overreacting at the "we-are-the-best-and-only-truly-free-people" attitude I see too often coming from some people from the U.S.
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