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Peace2Peace
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What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 02:53 PM
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My question is addressed to TIG memebers from the U.S.
Please name a few good things which the United States give/bring to the World nowadays.
I am not asking to write an essay on that topic but would like to create a list of examples like: a)... b)... c)... etc.
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 03:43 PM
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The electric light bulb,
Bifocals
Cotton Gin
Steam powered locomotion
the Telegraph,
the Telephone,
the Television,
the Sewing Machine,
The mechanical Refrigerator
The Cylinder Printing Press
Roller Skates
The first Skyscraper
The Handheld Camera
The Escalator
Air Conditioning
The Motion Picture Camera
The Aeroplane
Radio Astronomy
Nylon
The Defibrillator
Microwave Oven
Carbon Dating
Polariod Camera
The Heart-lung machine
Polio Vaccine
The Integrated Circuit
Oral Contraceptives
Lasers
The Personal Computers
The first Operating systems for computers
The Artificial Heart
The Internet
The Hubble Telescope
The Human Genome Project
A Vaccine for Cervical Cancer
And we landed on the Moon which was "one great leap for mankind"
We were instrumental in founding the UN, we stormed the beaches of Normandy and helped liberate Europe,
turned Japan and Germany from brutal Imperial dictatorships into peaceful vibrant Democracies
Stood up to the Soviet Union...
America also invented Rock and Roll, Rap, R&B, Soul, Jazz, Country and Blues music.
Sinatra, Elvis, Hendrix, Dylan, James Brown, Aretha Franklyn, James Moody, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Jay Z, Mos Def - I could go on.
We also Invented Hollywood - Warner Brothers, Fox, New Line, Paramount, MGM - Films like Citizen Kane, the Godfather, Apacolypse Now, Schindler's List, Chinatown, Star Wars - I am not going to name all the great American film -
but No country has ever put out as many well financed film productions as the US -
Spielberg, Kubrick, Coppola, Orson Wells, Milos Foreman, Roman Polanski, Cameron, Lucas, Martin Scorcese, Brando, Paccino, Dinero, Jonny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Merrel Streep, Diane Keaton...
We also invented Comic Books, Spiderman, Superman, X-Men etc.
I could go on but I'm about done.
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S.M
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 03:55 PM
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I actually think that there's nothing to thank US for.at least for the last 50 years.
This post was edited on: 2007-10-06 at 03:58 PM by: salma
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Peace2Peace
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 04:00 PM
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Luke, thanks for your reply. But I want to focus on the time gap after the IIWW.
This post was edited on: 2007-10-06 at 04:06 PM by: Peace2Peace
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 05:08 PM
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Half of that WAS post WW2 - Most of the music and film I listed as well as all the inventions past the Polariod Camera -
We landed on the moon in 69 -
For that matter turning Germany and Japan into a Democracy was a 35 year project after WW2 -
It was the mid 80's when Regan told Gorbochev to "tear down this wall" -
We were instrumental in rebuilding Europe AFTER WW2
I realize you are from Russia but I consider the roll back of the Soviet Union out of Eastern Europe in the late 80's and early 90's to be a rather dramatic achievement.
There are a few other inventions post WW2 worth mentioning -
like Fiber Optics
Plastics
The Galileo spacecraft which is now orbiting Jupiter
The Mars Rover which took canvassed the Martian surface 3 years ago
I don't think you can brush aside some of the defining inventions of the 20th century - Like Airplanes, Plastics, the Television, Computers & the Internet -
I forgot to name some great American writers like Hemingway, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne, Walt Witman, Emily Dickinson, F Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck
Post WW2 - you have J.D. Salinger, Alan Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Maya Angelu, and Toni Morrison
Even some of the best Russian writers were American Citizens when they wrote their best work - Vladimir Nabokov and Lolita - Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged.
"actually think that there's nothing to thank US for.at least for the last 50 years."
That is an interesting attitude Sama - why don't you tell me what we should thank the Arab world for in the last 250 years?
I can tell you two things you can thank the US for in the last 25 - the Computer - which you are typing on - and the Internet - which is allowing us to have this conversation.
This post was edited on: 2007-10-06 at 05:29 PM by: Luke Lieberman
This post was edited on: 2007-10-06 at 05:31 PM by: Luke Lieberman
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 07:35 PM
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Do you realize the magnitude of contribution America has made to the sciences of Physics and Astronomy? Especially after WW2 when all the scientists from Europe were in America having fled Facism - like Einstein, and Max Planc, Enrico Fermi -
our understanding of the Universe has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years - MANKIND has never seen as far into time and space before the Hubble was launched.
Not just Physics, but the fields of Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Economics...
The US has more Nobel Prizes Laureates then any other country - over the last 100 years, over the last 50 years - not by a little, by alot 180 Nobel prizes -
168 of those Nobel prizes were awarded AFTER WW2!
88 Nobel prizes in just the last 20 years - 4 TIMES as many as any other country over that same period!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_Laureates_by_Country
This post was edited on: 2007-10-06 at 07:40 PM by: Luke Lieberman
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Jack
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 6, 2007 - 10:55 PM
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Hi, I was just wondering why exactly this question is being asked.
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Hayk
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 7, 2007 - 03:45 AM
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I am going to agree with Luke.
In order to clarify the issue of America's role in what concerns thanking or condemning it, let us assume the following view angle.
Let's judge by how much we have to be "thankful" or otherwise said "grateful" to a country or its people by the number of things, ideas, approaches, and attitudes that can be identified by the country. The most conspicious thing to estimate in that manner would be our daily life.
Look around you inside your apartment or house. How much of what you see can be traced to the US? What about much of electric devises? What about toilette, sink, lamp bulbs, TV set, hi-fi?
What about the clothes we wear? Music we listen? Ideas we have and value-system we judge by?
I will not make a generalization here but many many things of daily abode for many humans can be easily traced back to America. It is a simple fact.
It's another question concerning its incumbent foreign policy aspirations. This is a totally different issue and as such mustnt be embroiled with technological, economic and social-demographic role, a paramount one in 20th and 21st centuries, which it delivered to the modern world. Yes, no denying its detrimental role in most of recent history in crisis-stricken areas where many innocent people died. What is disdained by many about current American government is its narrow-mindedness and focus on benefits. But we mustnt underestimate what America contributed and what it still contributes and what will happen if America stopped being America.
This is not a promotion campaign refuting critics of America  but only my opinion.
P.S. this thread is being moved to the Culture and Identity board where it fits better..
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S.M
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 7, 2007 - 06:54 AM
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First thing is, when i replaied that question i didnt consider the life side of why we should thank US at all, i just considered the political side only, coz what US invented is a matter or fact that no one can deny.
2nd thing is, Arab invented numerous things also, in Mathematic, physics, space, Baiology, chemistry, they translated books in every field to several languges which without it, maybe the west wouldnt known about it. its true it wasnt in the last 250 years.no great achievments.but that was before they donegreat things also.
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dody89
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 7, 2007 - 08:50 AM
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as for me, i really wanna thank America for the GREAT CINEMA they make. there is no question that the american cinema is the best all over the world because they are perfect in each aspect of the cinematic aspects(directing, producing, performance, ............). THEY ARE PERFECT. and about the actors i dont think that the names that luke mentioned are enough cuz the greatest and the best actors in the world are american.
i wanna be specific. the question says what we should thank the U.S for?
i say i thank them for the movies they are making that had(and still have)a great effect on me, but if we are talking politics, i think that people all over the world(including americans)dont really admires the U.S policy concerning the wish to controll all the world or Amrecanize it.
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Arslan Jumaniyazov
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 7, 2007 - 12:30 PM
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It was the mid 80's when Regan told Gorbochev to "tear down this wall" -
Are you that naive to believe that Gorbachev tore down the wall because Reagan dictated it? Gorbachev and Soviet leaders were not "children" to listen to Reagan.
Let me tell you one thing, Luke. If anything, Ronald Reagan prolonged the Cold War. There is widespread misperception in America that Reagan is to thank for the collapse of the USSR. That is not true.
Gorbachev and his close associated like Yakovlev came to power with exactly the intention of withdrawing from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe and ending the repression. And ending hostilities with the West.
By a huge military build-up and a belligenrent stance, Reagan made it harder for them to achieve it. Polish and Romanian dictators asked for help in the 80s but were kindly rebuffed by Gorbachev. His actions were consistent.
If Gorbachev wanted to keep the Soviet Union, he would do it. All he needed to do was to have an iron grip, and the US wouldn't be able to do anything against it.
I agree with your many other points about US contribution to the world. Every nation has a lot ot contribute, and especially rich countries with resources that make technological development easier.
Arslan
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Becky
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 7, 2007 - 09:34 PM
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Just a little side note here--although there are many great American films, producers, directors and actors, as well as many advancements in the film industry due wholly or in part to the Americans, I have to say that many other countries produce great films. I guess this is just one of my soap box issues I debate this all the time with co-workers who have never seen a film made outside of Hollywood and I feel sad that they are missing out on a world of creativity. I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for US films, just that many other wonderful and creative foreign films are out there.
Oh, and don't forget SPAM, didn't the US create that?! (I'm joking here in case the sarcasm isn't evident.) All the other great US inventions/contributions were already taken
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Peace2Peace
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 8, 2007 - 04:22 PM
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Hello to everybody who answered my question. Sorry I did not explaine why I asked it and what do I mean.
I saw a big list of good things which some of you created.
But I wonder - Whether this big imput be equalized with:
1) atomic bomibing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2) War in Vietnam
3) Wars in Afganistan
4) Wars in Iraq
5) Sale/use of weapons/arms etc..
P.S. this thread is being moved to the Culture and Identity board where it fits better..
that is why I put this question here but not to the culture section.
I would like to know how everybody thinks. Which input is more important for humanity/human development and Peace building.
Rock'n'Roll and microwave oven are good things but for those who have money to dance and to eat. They do not resovle the problem of poverty in Africa, for example.
This post was edited on: 2007-10-08 at 05:09 PM by: Peace2Peace
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Raine
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 8, 2007 - 04:38 PM
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i think that our country is in its "teenage years"--we're cocky and don't want to be told what to do, but we are well meaning. in the words of one of my greatest teachers, "America is currently making all of the mistakes that England was making one or two hundred years ago."
none the less, we are making differences in scientific research--think AIDS, Cancer and Malaria treatments. we are helping developing nations to conserve their resources and stiil make a livelyhood by encouraging tourism rather than destructive farming processes or poaching. we have a number of great authors. we also have the Peace Corps, though it isn't as big as I wish it would be. If nothing else, we are great at forging ahead and making mistakes so that other countries don't have to. i think it is hard to see Americas contributions because we dont have 3 or 4 major ones but rather thousands of contributions that aren't as obvious.
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Jeffrey Kunard
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Re: What we should thank the U.S. for?
October 11, 2007 - 09:57 AM
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"But I wonder - Whether this big imput be equalized with:
1) atomic bomibing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2) War in Vietnam
3) Wars in Afganistan
4) Wars in Iraq
5) Sale/use of weapons/arms etc..
Rock'n'Roll and microwave oven are good things but for those who have money to dance and to eat. They do not resovle the problem of poverty in Africa, for example."
You can't just criticize America because the country hasn't solved all the world's problems. The U.S has made significant donations to starving nations of the world.
This post was edited on: 2007-10-11 at 09:58 AM by: Jeffrey Kunard
This post was edited on: 2007-10-11 at 09:58 AM by: Jeffrey Kunard
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