Quote from: Cconvert2G36 on April 12, 2015, 12:21:10 AM

Quote from: Fatman3001 on April 11, 2015, 05:15:08 PM

Norwegian. Don't get me wrong, I like americans. They're just a bit... binary. It gets to be intense sometimes.

Don't confuse the established left-right political parties and their media arms with the actual views of the people. There is actually a fair amount of nuance and diversity of views at the human level.

You don't have a left, and you still get all testy.

Quote from: Cconvert2G36 on April 12, 2015, 12:21:10 AM

Quote from: Fatman3001 on April 11, 2015, 05:08:59 PM

I worked for a hostel a long time ago and spoke about politics to both americans and canadians, and it's weird how uptight americans are about politics. Canadians had no problem with it. I kind of think of canadians as americans without a personality disorder.

A rather binary viewpoint, no?

I understand criticism of US policies, hell, I participate in it often. Especially the proclivity to play "world police" (as long as there is strategic interest in doing it).

As long as we are making sweeping generalities though... I could say it is easy for oil states (Norway, Canada) with small populations to be very generous with social programs. The ones not so generously endowed with resources and productivity (Greece) tend to lecture other nations less (smugly).

Yes, it was a sweeping generalization meant to provoke a conversation because the price was doing f all. But there is a fair amount of truth to it. Norway has pretty much the same welfare system as their neighbors in Scandinavia, even though they are not oil nations. Other european countries have different blends of public and private systems, but always with a guarantee for care. There is nothing special about Norway or Canada or Greece. The odd one out is the US. And look at your reaction. Up in arms.