What are the 5 best things and 5 worst things about your country ?

[Maciamo]

I am interested to know what all of you think are the advantages and disavantages of your own country or any country where you have lived at least for a few months (and know well enough).

If possible, try to choose something that distinguishes your country from most others, not something that could be said for any countries.

[Silverbackman]

Well it is hard to say 5 good/bad things about the US as a whole because the US is very diverse and each of the 50 states are quite different from each other.

So I will go with the 5 best things of California which are;

*Best Climate-Usually never too hot or too cold.

*Diversity-Every type of people from all over the world, especially Silicon Valley.

*Very Green and Beautiful Landscapes-Especially Northern California including Mendocino and Nappa Counties. Whine is great too.

*Laid Back State-People are friendly and nice and there is little racism anywhere in California.

*ATMs work 24/7 and most up to date technology-California contains the computer technology capital in the world, Silicon Valley which I currently reside in.

Worst things about California;

*Public Education is very sour here (besides the top universities such as Stanford or Davis)

*Earthquakes are common and if you live in Central California you can even loose your life from it.

*Stoners are common especially in the Northern California. The famed Emerald Triangle which contains my hometown has the largest marijuana trafficking in the world.

*Random Weather especially in Mid California. Never a definite season, though that is not necessarily bad.

*The worst thing of California is the price. California is one of the most expensive states in the US. A small 1,200 sq. feet house cam cost $500,000, the same money you can use to create a 10,000 sq. feet mansion in Georgia for not much more, maybe even much less.

[Mal]

If possible, try to choose something that distinguishes your country from most others, not something that could be said for any countries.

This is next to impossible to do for most modern nations unless they start sticking to the absolutely banal. Like say, wooden shoes for the dutch or beer for the Germans. Those kind of insights are fairly weak I think ;)

Anyway...

First of all since there is alot of America-hate in many international boards I feel that I have to preface my statements by saying that "No, I do not think America has sole claim to anything good or virteous" and "No, I do not always think that America invented everything under the sun". It's sad that I would have to debase myself so much infront of supposably enlightened (atleast compared to us Americans, right?) people - but alas these are the times we live in and loathing of my country has reached a very undeserved high water mark.

The United States. My Personal Top 5 and Bottom 5.

Top 5
1) Habeas Corpus.
2) The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/...w/civilr19.htm
3) Social Mobility. This is pretty aptly known through out the world as "The American Dream". Non-Americans scoff at this alot, but it exists. My family and millions of other families are testemant to this. This country has blessed us with almost unimaginable wealth and privelege.
4) Cultural Diversity. There is not a day that goes by that I don't take note of the multitude of people surrounding me of all shapes, sizes colors and creeds. All of us different looking on the outside, but on the inside all striving for the same goal of producing a better life for ourselves and our families. Each man and women entitled to speak their mind, share their views and shape our laws. There is a reason why American citizenship is so prized and its not solely based on money.
5) Beauty. This is personal preference but America is a beautiful and large country. Temperate forests, great plains, coral reefs, blistering deserts, mountains, canyons, artic tundra and rain forests. There is so much to see here that if you love nature you could spend most of your life seeking out new things and never see half of it.

Bottom 5

1) Apathetic voters. People are complacent here because we have it so good. They get soft and seceed too much authority to their representative. To me this is the exact opposite of the principles upon which this country was founded on. A good citizen is a responsible citizen that actively takes part in the democracy.
2) Income disparity. America has a collosal amount of wealthy people, but also has the largest percentage of poor out of any developed nation.
3) Lack of national health care. We have made some inroads on this issue, but its not enough. There is no reason that the wealthiest nation on earth cannot afford to take care of its citizens. Sure, we will take care of you if you are under 18 or over 65, but the years inbetween you are basically out of luck and it stinks.
4) Increasingly stratified education options. One of the best things about this country when it was founded was compulsory public education. Thomas Jefferson said it best when he noted that an educated public made for good voters. Frankly the costs of higher education coupled with the increasing demand of college educated workers is making the situtation untenable. Something needs to be done since we can't keep importing workers from abroad especially when their own countries start to mature and compete economically.
5) Political Partisianship. This is particularly bad in our democracy where we have a defacto two-party rule. Every year the ideology of both parties gets more radicalized leaving a large portion of the public scratching their head and wonder what they should do. It's no wonder that the country is virtually divided against itself when our politicians practice a dogma of actually attempting to divide us!

[TheKansaiKid]

*Best Climate-Usually never too hot or too cold.

are you talking death valley or San Francisco

just kidding with you I think you are right I lived in Santa Monica for a few years and I thought it was the best climate I had ever experienced.

[mad pierrot]

The famed Emerald Triangle which contains my hometown has the largest marijuana trafficking in the world.

This could easily be considered a good thing.




Since the U.S. is likely going to be a common choice, I'll talk about Wakayama-ken.

The Good:

1. Arida mikans- extremely tasty oranges. (and practically free if you live here.)
2. Koya-san- The entire mountain complex, including the world heritage site, the monastary, the college, everything. An awesome place.
3. The great onsen- seaside baths and hot springs in cold mountain rivers.
4. The cost of living- some might argue this with me, but it doesn't change the fact that I only pay 25,000 yen to rent an entire house.
5. It's close to Osaka.

The Bad:

1. The accents- changes normal Japanese into unintelligible jibberish.
2. The nasty weather- Wakayama is one of the most humid places in Honshu.
3. Shirahama beach- a tourist trap on steroids.
4. An over-priced, inefficient highway system.
5. A surplus of mukade, the giant, poisonous centipedes that live in my house.

[Maciamo]

I'll start with Tokyo :

Best

- Convenience stores everywhere (about 15 within 10min walk from my house)
- Food : lots of delicious and not so expensive restaurants and take-away
- Safety : what metropolis of this size could be safer ? (that's a tricky question as there are no other metropolis of this size (35million inh.) in the world). Of course it could be argued statistically that there would be even less crimes with a higher proportion of Westerners to Japanese.
- Bicycle friendly city
- Shops have all the clothes, electronics or books one could wish for.

Worst

- Policemen (interestingly never the women) harassing Westerners. Maybe because the governor of Tokyo is a self-proclaimed racist and WWII nihilist who wants foreigners out
- The TV ! How could it get worse than it already is ? (well they could remove the news and educational programmes on NHK, then it would be the absolute decadence)
- Difficult to find an international public phone or a bank that accepts foreign cards.
- Old grandmas look at me with suspicious eyes as if they wanted to kill me
- The nearest supemarket is 7min walk away, while it could have been in front of my house OK I'll take that one out, as I could just move house. Let's choose the quality of housing then. Freezing cold in winter (even when it doesn't actually freeze), and bloody muggy in summer, as there is no thermic insulation or central heating.

[Silverbackman]

I'll start with Tokyo :

Best

- Convenience stores everywhere (about 15 within 10min walk from my house)
- Food : lots of delicious and not so expensive restaurants and take-away
- Safety : what metropolis of this size could be safer ? (that's a tricky question as there are no other metropolis of this size (35million inh.) in the world). Of course it could be argued statistically that there would be even less crimes with a higher proportion of Westerners to Japanese.
- Bicycle friendly city
- Shops have all the clothes, electronics or books one could wish for.

Worst

- Policemen (interestingly never the women) harassing Westerners. Maybe because the governor of Tokyo is a self-proclaimed racist and WWII nihilist who wants foreigners out
- The TV ! How could it get worse than it already is ? (well they could remove the news and educational programmes on NHK, then it would be the absolute decadence)
- Difficult to find an international public phone or a bank that accepts foreign cards.
- Old grandmas look at me with suspicious eyes as if they wanted to kill me
- The nearest supemarket is 7min walk away, while it could have been in front of my house OK I'll take that one out, as I could just move house. Let's choose the quality of housing then. Freezing cold in winter (even when it doesn't actually freeze), and bloody muggy in summer, as there is no thermic insulation or central heating.

I also heard that Tokyo has one of the smallest crime rates of a city in the world. It is pretty interesting considering Tokyo is also one of the biggest cities in the world as well (if not the biggest).

[Mycernius]

At the moment
Best 5
1 No deadly poisonous spiders or snakes
2 British Beer
3 Not too hot, not too cold
4 The NHS
5 The BBC

Worst 5
1 Tony Blair
2 House prices
3 People trying to make out everything the English did in the past was wrong
4 Nanny state
5 Did I mention that idiot Tony Blair?

[phantasmagoria]

Best:
Full of beautiful scenery
No creatures about that'll poison you
the worst biting insects are midgies!
(about Glasgow) The city has a brilliant atmosphere, in the centre
(about my area in particular) Local bands by the tens!

Worst:
Ned (chav, townie) infested >.<
Rainy
Hard to find a job
Dangerous in some places (cause of neds though, so refer to point 1.. as proof - my friend julie got beaten up last saturday for doing nothing but being a "goffik *****")
Cold

That's actually pretty hard! Kinda shows you that living here isn't so bad after all

[Maciamo]

I also heard that Tokyo has one of the smallest crime rates of a city in the world. It is pretty interesting considering Tokyo is also one of the biggest cities in the world as well (if not the biggest).

Anyway this is not true as almost all other Japanese cities (a few hundred of them) have a lower crime rate. I also think that Singapore, as well as many Canadian or Scandinavian cities have a lower or similar crime rate.

[Brooker]

About Seattle/Washington....

Best
-Liberal and open-minded.
-Values art and education.
-Laid back.
-Beautiful mountains and ocean nearby.
-Environmentally conscious.

Worst
-Rainy/cloudy
-When something goes wrong, people often look for someone to blame other than themselves or just chance.
-Has become very corporate, with Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing..
-Have been completely inept at developing a descent public transit system over the last thirty years.
-Spends tax payer money on things the tax payers voted against, such as our TWO new stadiums, Safeco and Qwest, and the fact they then name those stadium after soulless corporations. Why not call them "Tax Payer Field"?

[Mycernius]

I was in Seattle in 1993. I can remember in the morning you could smell the coffee as you walked down the street. Quite liked the city, and that's saying something as I am not a city person. Seemed almost Canadian than American.
It was raining though.

[Brooker]

I think of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Vancouver as all being part of the same family and much more similar to each other than to any other city in their countries. Seattle and Vancouver have much more in common with each other than Vancouver does to Toronto or Seattle does to New York, for example. But I guess that's to be expected.

[overnight]

I live in Poland so here it is:

Best:
1. beauty - mountains, sea, forests
2. rich, long and colorful history -churches, castles, and museums are proof for that
3. diversity of seasons - winter with snow and usually pretty hot summer along with beautiful fall
4. you can choose all sorts of activities during the year - ski in winter, swimming ine the sea in summer, etc.
5. cultural festivals of all kinds -music, film, etc.

Worst:
1. low salaries
2. it's definitely too cold in winter, I prefer much warmer climate
3. bumpy roads almost everywhere
4. people are usually sad or upset with no reason
5. huge contrast between lifestyle in the countryside and in the city

[Maciamo]

I live in Poland so here it is:

Best:
1. beauty - mountains, sea, forests

It's no 1 in your list, but mountains do not really spring to mind when I think of Poland. On the contrary it is one of the flatest country in Europe after the Netherlands, Denmark and the Baltic. I suppose that you come from just across the Czecho-Slovak border.

[Atzerrian]

Spain

The Best
1. La Reconquista
2. Diverse Landscape
3. The Football
4. Cleanliness of its cities
5. Mundaka

The Worst
1. Immigration
2. Socialist government
3. A society that has become too liberal and degenerate
4. Real Madrid fans
5. Police actions that resemble those commonly seen in fascist nations

[^ lynx ^]

The Worst

5. Police actions that resemble those commonly seen in fascist nations

Curious comment from someone who has already made some fascist/xenophobic statements in this forum.

Please frijoli-troll, concentrate your-self on your failed stated (Mexico) and leave my country alone. You don't fool anyone pretending you're a spaniard. Thanks.

Greetings.

[Rastko Pocesta]

............................. (delete this)

[Rastko Pocesta]

1. The fact that more and more people are joining and supporting the human rights cause and number of people committed to such activism. In particular, Peščanik with more and more its new guests.

2. Unlike some EU members (Austria, Greece, Estonia, Finland, Cyprus) there is no conscription.

3. The feeling of international solidarity still endures among the citizens (with roots from former Yugoslavia) - tens of thousands of people attended the rally of solidarity with the Japanese people on April 10, 2011 (which had its sad sides - some were injured in stampedo; I was there, unable to move for almost 30 minutes).

4. Beautiful landscapes and generally wonderful nature.

5. Brankica Stanković and "Insajder" (Serbian WikiLeaks)

---

1. Growing nationalism, fascism, racism, homophobia and violence among the people, especially youth (hooligans are ruling the streets, violent hordes, uncivilized barbarians, primitive beasts beating everyone they want to).

2. Unbelievable poverty, economic misery and high unemployment. Hunger. Tycoons and oligarchs stealed everything they could in the privatization process. Capitalism ruined so many lives, so many companies here... that is probably the cause of the 1st problem: like in Nazi Germany, economic crisis is empowering fascism.

3. Complete moral indecency, often expressed in animal abuse etc. (recently an old man raped a dog in front of his granddaughter... I think that tells enough about the current state of the Serbian society)

4. Narrow-mindedness caused by religious extremism. Rejection of science and reason etc. De facto there is no separation of church and state.

5. Universal acceptance of conspiracy theories. Vast majority of people in Serbia believe that 9/11 was an inside job, that Libyan revolution was organized by the Americans, same applies to Sirya etc. If one rejects a conspiracy theory he is ridiculed as being dumb and naive.

[Reinaert]

5. Universal acceptance of conspiracy theories. Vast majority of people in Serbia believe that 9/11 was an inside job, that Libyan revolution was organized by the Americans, same applies to Sirya etc. If one rejects a conspiracy theory he is ridiculed as being dumb and naive.

Hmm, what if they are right?

[sparkey]

Hmm, what if they are right?

Then that would be beside the point, because the problem with places where conspiracy theories are rampant is that there is a general failing to use critical thinking. Consistently describing events with unlikely scenarios sounds like a legitimate problem to me.

[RobertColumbia]

For the USA:

Best 5:

1) Wide diversity in climate and landscape. Tired of your life on the polar ice cap and yearning to drink a coconut on a tropical island but too lazy to renew your passport? Sure, we got that.
2) Fundamental civil rights are protected by the Constitution and are very hard to take away.
3) A surprising lack of racism and prejudice. The racial incidents that you hear about on the news are very uncommon - nearly everyone gets along on a day-to-day basis.
4) Religious bigotry is not tolerated socially. The USA has one of the best examples of people with strong religious beliefs getting along and not killing each other.
5) A wide range of subcultures and fringe groups that are socially acceptable to belong to.

Worst 5:

1) No universal health care.
2) History of mistreatment of certain racial groups. Nobody seems to know what needs to be done to make up for the past and move on.
3) Our criminal justice system is too eager to lock people up and not very interested in actually helping people change their lives.
4) Our educational system is perennially broken.
5) Lack of useful public transportation in most areas.