It's true

I'm pretty proud of freedom of speech. That's not super confusing if you're from Venezuela.

Why would you be proud of your parents or your family or even your culture? You didn’t choose them. It was blind cosmic luck that you happened to be born into that group. And yet- most people are. Most people are proud of their loved ones when they do well, when a team they are on or when something they contribute to is doing well. That’s how many people feel about the US. Even if you were born here and didn’t do anything other than pop out- if you’re contributing to the reality and the dream that represents America, you have something to be proud of. America is more than a country, it is an idea- one that can be different to everyone. As a country America has problems, does things that maybe aren’t worthy of pride, but in the whole it’s still a great place with great people working together towards a dream of a place where everyone can have opportunity and freedom to live the life they want on their terms. That doesn’t mean America is “better” than anyone else, but it is special.

^agreed

@dash224 No, you're demonstrating the exact reason why people make fun of you. "Sorry you guys suck"?? A) even if the US was the greatest country in the world, loving your country doesn't mean having to put down and insult every other country on the planet, most of which you don't even know jack shit about, B) the US objectively doesn't rank that well in almost any aspect other than the military. Right now if someone says the greatest country in the world, I think Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Canada. The US doesn't even cross my mind. LikE SoRRy YoU guYs SuCK.
@unklethan You're not the only country with freedom of speech. In fact, judging by the "let's fire football players for kneeling" debacle which is still going on, I'd say most western/northern European countries have more free speech than you. Also, I'm genuinely curious, why do you guys always mention Venezuela?

Canada and New Zealand are two countries that rank well in a lot of things that I hope to visit.

@ewqua well in my case I'm from venezuela. But in general venezuela.... gosh it is a long story but basically it was a country with a lot of potential (i mean we used to have immigrants from everywhere) most people thought it was untouchable and that socialism was not gonna hurt it....well now it has completely collapsed surpassing Cuba in a negative way. But you know...nobody cares :(

Btw I agree. I love USA but not the only country with freedom. And who cares if the football players want to protest. That's how freedom looks like.

@ewqua Venezuela is frequently brought up because it's a perfect modern example of socialism failing again. I bring up Venezuela often because I've studied South America extensively, and Venezuela has had the most noteworthy current events, like the citizens and the government literally warring with each other.
Back to free speech. Looking at the last 50 years, in Chile and Argentina: speaking out against the government in private gets you pushed out of a helicopter. In the Philippines: if you disagree with the government you get "salvaged" (you disappear). In the UK, apparently the police can track you down if you say racist stuff online.
Those are just the first things that come to mind without doing any digging.

@ewqua
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/12/americans-more-tolerant-of-offensive-speech-than-others-in-the-world/
This is a survey of citizens in the countries, not the government. Point still stands.

@guest I've heard that New Zealand is really expensive in terms of living costs but otherwise yes definitely one of the best ranked countries. I would've mentioned it if it wasn't for that pesky character limit.
@itsamemaria Ok, I got you, in your case it makes perfect sense. It's just that so many Republicans mention Venezuela, it's become their go-to argument against any healthcare or minimum wage policies. Like, you can explain why a single payer healthcare system would overall cost less than what is in place now, they will totally ignore it and start shouting "But Venezuela!!" It's really annoying. Not to mention most "socialist" movements in the US and the Europeans criticizing the US's government are mostly leaning towards Social Democracy, meaning their point of reference is Scandinavian countries, not Venezuela with pure socialism.

@unklethan Alright, seems I chose the wrong person to poke with that question. But I'm actually glad you're educated on the subject and are not just using Venezuela as a buzzword like so many people do. Ok, so I won't pretend like I know more than you about this, but I always thought that Latin America is kind of notorious for its problems with corrupt politicians? Because I'm sure its problems aren't *just* socialism but they might go deeper. I'd be really glad if you educated me on this, I'd love to learn more. Anyway, yes the Dankula scandal opened my eyes too to how things are in the UK. And the study is interesting too, I'm glad that they left out Ukraine and Russia from the European median, that way it's more accurate. But it sucks that they didn't measure some countries, like for example my country, the Czech republic, I think would measure higher than Poland because frankly, people here are sick of the sjw speech police and most people who are against free speech are older and

used to not speaking freely from back when the country was under a communist regime. Plus Poland has many conservative Catholics so I'm fairly certain that if the Czech republic, Slovakia, and Hungary plus the Baltic and Scandinavian states were included, the score would go way up. We're often overlooked because these countries are small and insignificant and many people assume we're part of Russia somehow. But anyway, it's a shame that they didn't include so many countries because I think it would change the score. But maybe it wouldn't, these speculation are what-ifs at this point.
Anyway one thing I think is important to point out that while in the US and the UK the trend seems to be going down for free speech because many young people are easy to offend nowadays, in countries like mine it's the opposite because of the older generations as I mentioned earlier. But again, this is pretty much speculation, once a newer study comes out, then we'll be able to debate it properly.

You point out something when referring to South America- that it’s problems may stem from “corrupt politicians” and other issues besides socialism. What’s important to note here is that in theory, all systems of government including dictatorship can create great countries full of happy people, provided that the people in charge are just and seek the good of their citizens, and can be equally bad if the opposite is true of leadership. Socialist or not, all countries have problems, and the scandavian countries people like to hold as paragons of enlightenment have plenty of their own practical and philosophical issues. I’m going to bring up WW2 simply because it is the event which shaped the 20/21st century global and political landscape the most, the touch off point for the Cold War and all the major events stemming from it, and the most clear description of the underlying philosophies of most countries involved.

An estimated 10,000 Norwegians died in WW2 fighting the Nazis, and 50,000 were executed after the war as sympathizers. The Swiss took Nazi money as fast as they could get it. So on. Norwegian countries have built a reputation on peace and neutrality. On high standard of living. But the foundations for that are built on profiting off the wars of others. Some of the largest weapons suppliers in the world come from peaceful Norwegian countries, the dictators and demagogs move their money through the Swiss. The NATO allies commit to NATO actions bombing other countries, Norway’s government even bragged of their share of the action in Libya, and then they use the other side of their mouth to talk about peace and neutrality. Scandinavian countries do a very good job of playing all sides to their benefit. Of thinking but not saying- Americans tend to be vocal. You know where you stand with Americans. But the cultural and nationalist tones unsaid but there to see in laws and culture of many...

... scandanavian countries would look right at home on a big red hat saying “Make ———— great... still.” They’re just more subtle. Theologically the US requires new citizens to have a basic understanding of language, and to show they understand and support the fundamental philosophy of freedom. Many scandanavian countries require linguistic fluency, and a demonstrated and proven understanding and acclimation to day to day culture, and depending on canton or municipality may even require that the local citizens get to vote on wether to veto your citizenship. The scandanavian countries don’t want to be melting pots. They exist for people who think, act, feel, the same as they do. Assimilation and not integration. That may work on a small scale, but it doesn’t work for the largest countries in the world, for countries interested in preserving cultures and waysbother than their own.

@ewqua I wasn’t really being serious with the last part of my comment. I just don’t understand why people give us crap for loving our country.

@ewqua Short answer: The US, in an arrogant (my opinion) attempt to block the spread of communism/socialism, orchestrated the removal from office of prominent communists (or communist leaning or sympathizers). They were replaced by conservative US-approved politicians who were supposed to be leaders of republics and democracies. Hard-line conservatives who had political ambitions ended up easily corrupted, becoming dictators.
Unfortunately, the well-intentioned move to spread democracy led to a wave of dictatorships who corruptly suppressed democratic principles like free speech, voting, free elections, etc.

Admittedly not America's shining moment, to be fair.