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10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America
Mark Manson's Blog ^ | July 10, 2012 | Mark Manson

Posted on 10/17/2013 1:45:07 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

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To: Hardraade

Go back to La La land. If you think surgery is free, you are off your rocker.


41 posted on 10/17/2013 5:35:35 AM PDT by mfish13 (ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Another sophomoric, obscenity-laced “see how smart I am!” arrogant liberal diatribe.


42 posted on 10/17/2013 5:43:55 AM PDT by Drawsing (Fools show their annoyance at once, the prudent man overlooks an insult. Proverbs 12:16)
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To: Hardraade

With health insurance that Obama has let me keep, so far, my insulin co-pay is $40/month. I actually get more than I use in a month, so it is somewhat less than that. Supplies, test strips, etc. run about $40, too. The test strips being the most expensive piece of that. Throw in co-pays for a couple of generic drugs and having Type 1 diabetes costs me about $100/month. Granted, I don’t know what that would cost without insurance, but I don’t include that as a cost, since I would be paying for insurance regardless. Since it is through work, it’s based on a large pool, so it doesn’t cost more for me, based on my diabetes.


43 posted on 10/17/2013 5:49:12 AM PDT by tnlibertarian (Shut 'er down and leave it.)
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To: mfish13

Tell me, is your reading comprehension impaired somehow? Drinking? Pot? Anal probe?


44 posted on 10/17/2013 5:50:12 AM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/nicolae-hussein-obama/)
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To: tnlibertarian

Sounds about like in Scandinavia. Of course, the co-pay is higher here but when Obama gets the gears rolling it’ll probably get higher there too. And there’s diabetes products - like sugar monitors - that you cannot get in Europe, because socialized medicine won’t allow them at all.


45 posted on 10/17/2013 5:56:58 AM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/nicolae-hussein-obama/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

F the rest of the world, I have never cared much what they think about us nor will I ever. I just want our government to level the playing field on importing their crap and stop giving away all our technological advancements. I don’t care what anyone want to argue, without our advancements being stolen or given away the rest of the world would be a sh__hole.


46 posted on 10/17/2013 5:58:33 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Hardraade
And there’s diabetes products - like sugar monitors - that you cannot get in Europe, because socialized medicine won’t allow them at all.

Are you referring to glucose meters? Or the real-time, constant monitors that are connected to a person's blood stream? I understand that there are systems that use a constant monitor and insulin pump that essentially act as an artificial pancreas that are not allowed in the U.S. because the FDA doesn't think they are safe. I know this is true, because I read it on the internet. :)

47 posted on 10/17/2013 6:07:56 AM PDT by tnlibertarian (Shut 'er down and leave it.)
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To: driftless2
I think you’re probably as blind as Mr. Manson and all the straw men he excoriates.

Thoughts are like rectums, everybody has one. What I know is that you are talking about a subject of which you know nothing. But like a dog and a fire hydrant, you just gotta' do what you do best... P on the thread. Your thoughts have no value as, like a dog, you have never lived out of your neighborhood. As a result, you don't know there is a whole world out there, filled with billions of people, all existing with different laws and culture. And you condemn them all willy-nilly, without even thinking about it.

48 posted on 10/17/2013 6:08:32 AM PDT by SandwicheGuy (*The butter acts as a lubricant and speeds up the CPU*ou)
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To: Mears

bfl


49 posted on 10/17/2013 6:13:15 AM PDT by Mears (Liberalism is the art ot being easily offended.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

STD testing is free at any public health office in the country.


50 posted on 10/17/2013 6:13:26 AM PDT by Chickensoup (we didn't love freedom enough... Solzhenitsyn.)
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To: Ronin

Well....I’ve traveled more than this guy and for longer. Was in Japan for 4 years, China (PRC) 6 months, in Hong Kong (before turn over) and Taiwan a month each, likely another dozen countries across ME and Asia.

He is doing the same thing for the countries that he has been in that he is accusing US citizens of...looking only at his own experiences and ignoring things that don’t align with his thoughts.

People focus on what is around them - doesn’t mean they don’t care about other things just that is human nature. True everywhere not just U.S.

There are plenty of shanty towns and slums I’ve seen and walked through that make those in the U.S. look like a palace.
Lots of open sewage in many places which I’ve never seen in the US.
I’ve seen dead folks in the streets left that people just ignored...no it’s not common and there are good and bad places in each country.
In many ways our freedoms are less because of over regulation and political/business cronyism.
The pharma thing is because WE pay for the research to invent them - but it also gives us first access.
High School isn’t guranteed in some countries not even elementary school - even in Japan not everyone goes to high school, often taking a trade school or just starting to work instead. (By the way this is partly why I take the test result comparisons with a grain of salt - they are working with a different sample of kids).
Seen police beat a kid with batons because he ran into them and spilt their coffee in Hong Kong. Saw the teenaged girls sold into the sex trade in Pattaya Beach Thailand.
There are some places I won’t go even in Tokyo or Osaka - and I’ve always said that you can stand in the street at 2AM in Japan buck naked with 10000 yen and sing and eveyone else will just ignore you until the neighborhood cop makes his normal rounds.

Are there things that are bad in the US, yes, are we self-absorbed at times - sure. We’re not perfect, but we have greater opportunity as a whole. Is our culture more standoffish - well, we do have a different sense of space for sure, but it reflects the culture we grew up in - same as the Frenchies and others do theirs. They are less rugged independents then we as a whole and so act accordingly

Kid has left out all the negatives that are apparent in other countries in order to promote his opinions and avoided the facts that didn’t fit. I’m not blind to our faults - and yeah we have an attitude, but I can’t say the Japanese, Chinese, or French can’t be pricks in their own ways. He’s not had his eyes opened to some truely bad long term situations in the other places, and there are plenty of great places out there as well - we don’t have the corner on the market.


51 posted on 10/17/2013 6:22:01 AM PDT by reed13k (For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.)
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To: SandwicheGuy

It’s not really about him being right or wrong about anything, it’s about immature audacity. He doesn’t have even a tiny fraction of a clue about what the entire world is like and any points that he made that might be true are pure luck. Because he made points that you seem to agree with you give him credit where none is due.


52 posted on 10/17/2013 6:22:25 AM PDT by jstaff
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t think the rest of the world is inferior, and I think we’ve certainly let ourselves go to heck in the last decades.

That said, I get the impression this author spends most of his time in major cities, living a lifestyle he chooses, but that happens to be the norm where he lives.

I’m not saying this is the case here, but just as an example, if you like living where the state has total control over your life, then North Korea is probably a great place to live. If you don’t, then it’ll suck badly. It’s a matter of perspective and choice. It’s great living in a place that already conforms to your choices and desires, but what happens if you’re the square peg?

There’s no mention by the author of owning property. Of starting a business. Of how much he pays in taxes, or of how well he is represented in government. He seems to value comfort over liberty. Now, granted, we don’t have the liberty we used to, but a lot of us would rather be free and impoverished than comfortable slaves. That may be an exaggerated reaction to the points the author is trying to make, but it’s my take.

Also, was he a citizen of the host countries? Living somewhere for a few years is a great experience, but it’s different when you have the option to get up and leave, or run to the nearest U.S. Embassy if things happen to go very wrong (and some of the places he mentions were war zones within living memory).


53 posted on 10/17/2013 6:29:13 AM PDT by chrisser (Senseless legislation does nothing to solve senseless violence.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Written like a typical 3rd grader, I mean liberal. They get nothing right but they believe everything they know.


54 posted on 10/17/2013 6:32:50 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I just wasted 5 minutes. What a crock.


55 posted on 10/17/2013 7:26:11 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I’ve spent the past three years living almost entirely outside of the United States.

Please leave and go back there, libtard.

56 posted on 10/17/2013 7:48:45 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The snarky, self-loathing tone is really distracting from what would otherwise be an article worth reading and debating.

Having lived 17 of my 46 years outside of the USA (not counting numerous Army deployments), I probably have more experience with this than the author - and I disagree with him on many of his points.

American exceptionalism is real ... but, unfortunately, fading fast.

57 posted on 10/17/2013 7:52:09 AM PDT by DesertSapper (Becoming more libertarian by the day)
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To: mbennett203
Can I take my AR15 with me? No? I'll stay here, thanks. Yes, it's that important to me. The author reeks of whiny socialist anyhow.

Amen. You speak for me.

58 posted on 10/17/2013 7:53:01 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
A routine STD test that can run you over $200 in the US is free in many countries to anyone, citizen or not.

I have no idea what an STD test costs and certainly wouldn't need one routinely. I think I know his reason for traveling so much.

59 posted on 10/17/2013 8:12:42 AM PDT by eartrumpet
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To: SandwicheGuy

Boy, you sure sound like an fair and intelligent person. Some leftist nitwit makes a blanket statement about all Americans, and of course everybody (Americans) just has to accept it. What I said was few Americans think they’re better than people anywhere else in the world, and most of us are quite aware our country has problems. You interpret this as “condemning” everybody else in the world. I suggest you brush up on basic reading comprehension.


60 posted on 10/17/2013 8:52:53 AM PDT by driftless2
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