Fun facts about the United States

That's what happens when I'm only on my first cup of coffee. The point still stands though. Just because that particular site is intended as humor doesn't diminish the validity of the points being made, especially since it illustrates each one with concrete examples. Given that, I doubt the source really matters. Denial and the "it can't happen here" line of reasoning would likely be the same regardless.

as are the equally acceptable

"its the same here..."
"percentage wise thats..."
"blame Canada for...()"
and my favorite
"it ain't that way around here..."

I do not quite understand why some people got so defensive after this post.

If I would post: 95% of finns speak finnish as their native language, I doubt anyone would jump up and starts demanding some facts about how many speak finnish in Uganda etc? This even though the 95% might be wrong, could be 93 or 96%.

As far as I understood this thread was about USA mostly, not so much to compare with other countries, except the flat size in Japan. I did not see it as a negative thing towards USA that you have big garages. Big garages are always good ( my garage fit some 30 cars for example).

When it was compared to French, about the greenhouse gasses, it would have made more of a point to have the population numbers for both Frenach and Texas ( which someone later posted). This just show to me that texans use a lot of energy; maybe one could start thinking about why it is so and what could one do to reduce it?

All this makes me thankful to be English.

Aww come on.. there's a bright side to everything.

Some of the best parties were during the decline of the Roman Empire. Enjoy the ride!

Well no Chip, but still it doesn't mean we are a facist state. I'm no fan of the Patriot Act and I think Bush should be impeached for lying to the American public and illegally spying on its citizens. But these things don't make us a facist state.

Other countries don't have debates about burning the flag being illegal because that is already a stipulated crime most places. Most other countries don't have discussions about illegal wiretapping because their governments already have the legal right to wiretap who and what they please. Many of the police powers stipulated in the Patriot Act are matter of course for many other countries. Here we have debate, argument, protest... these very things bely that we are, in any way, a facist state.

I don't disagree that we have problems. I don't disagree that George W. Bush is a paranoid monster who has made very bad decisions for our country. I believe we will be paying for his short sighted paranoia and greed for a long long time. But it ain't facism

This is precisely why I find the OP and the "humor" site problematic.

Someone from Finland will read them and think they are "facts", when in reality they are just made up, or presented in a twisted manner that allows the reader to draw an incorrect conclusion.

It precludes any real discussion of the issue because no one know if they are addressing a made up statistic or a poor attempt at humor.

Water vapor is a greenhouse gas.

I wouldn't want to downplay the impact of greenhouse gases but the comparison of France (a country) to Texas (part of a country) is disingenuous. Any honest person would admit we could carve out a portion of France that emits a lot of greenhouse gases and carve out a like size area of Texas that produces close to 0 greenhouse gases. Would that be acceptable?

another problem with that,
Texas also has the largest concentration of livestock in North America. Livestock creates literally tons of methane gas every day, which happens to be a greenhouse gas.

Which conclusions specifically would be incorrect, and do you have sources?



That might be true if the discussion were about the facts themselves rather than the conclusions they suggest.



The United States produces the most greenhouse gasses per capita of any nation on Earth. That's a fact. The way it's presented in the OP is simply a creative way of demonstrating it. Is the EPA a valid source? http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/EmissionsInternationalInventory.html

As far as I know there is no way to exact mesure the pollution or greenhouse gases, so it will be an estimate. One can keep arguing the numbers and do nothing about it, or everyone can try to think for themselves, how can I help reduce this.

And yes I am sure we can find a place in Texas with none pollution and some in French with lots, but what is the point of that? We should look at the big picture; the earth. And if we would divide earth into sections, I am sure some areas would be higher on the pollution list ( we would ignore state borders and just look at the sections). Would it then not make sense to focus on those areas with highest pollution?

Well according the link you have there, its only when measured per metric ton and population, GDP, and land mass is not taken into account that the US ranks highest. When taken per GDP or per capita, the US does not.

USA got money so who would care if education level of american adult is comparable to average 12y old nonamericans?

don't make me hit you with my ruler!

I think there's enough there to warrant not shooting the messenger in the OP

You know what? I will say this: in declaring America to be fascist, in using that actual word, whose definition truly is so difficult to pin down, I'm focusing too much on the wrong thing. It's too easy to deny that we're fascist simply because it's difficult to say what, precisely, are the criteria for being fascist. A German in Nazi Germany could very easily have argued that Germany wasn't fascist with the same ease for this very reason.

Instead, the focus needs to stay on the actual substance of the problems that would prompt me, personally, to call us fascist. You can call it whatever you like. Call us a democracy, call us an oligarchy, or call us Bob, for all that it matters. No word, no label, can change the fact that the Constitution has been largely dismantled already and that the rest of it could at this point legally be tossed completely out the window overnight. Those are the facts that really matter. You can call it anything you like.

This is quite wrong Reitsuki.

These are the exact same kind of people. It's the difference between people who use critical thinking and analysis versus those that don't.

You're missing the point.

I'm not talking about types of people, I'm talking about the specific beliefs.

The fact the OP used "fun facts" in the title pretty much lets me know it's not the kind of stats I would use in a PhD thesis or anything more serious than some light reading due to boredom...

... but the reactions really do have me wondering. Would the same people who seem to be all miffed about the post have the same reaction if it was about Canada... the UK... Germany etc? My experience with American dominated forums says no... but maybe the SL crowd is "different"

Not if you're a 'love it or leave it' amurrican. Then the poster has to be punished, so she did so the only way possible, via an AR.

Actually, the current regieme prefers it that way. They can wave god and patriotism around while real wages go down and corporate profits go up and the rubes will think them 'good citizens' and vote for 'em again and again.

I disagree.

We are a large country with a large population. Naturally, the US is going to produce more greenhouse gasses than, say, the UK. So its not enough to say that the US produces more greenhouse gasses than X. A close examination of the data that is provided on that page shows that many countries smaller than the US produce more greenhouse gasses on a per capita or per gnp basis -- that is a more valid basis for comparison.

Again, throwing statistics around without thought or regard for the context in which they are gathered is irresponsible and a poor foundation on which to build a debate or argument.

Does it really matter if it's per capita or by square mile or according to GNP?

The PROBLEM is, it's too much.

(unless one is going to buy into Exxon sponsored propoganda and 'osterich' (tm Jamie Bergman) your way out of the argument.)

I can understand Bush easing up on evironmental protection requirements so that US industries can have a better shot at competing with Chinese industry, but like the national debt, paying for this later is going to be very unpleasant.

It depends what you consider "fair".

If every single person should be equally repsonsible, then per capita is the right normalization.
If those who earn more money should be allowed to pollute more then normalization by GNP makes sense.
If you think it should be based on ability to pay then some other criteria should be used.
etc.

It depends on your philosophy.

Everyone knows America sucks anyway.

Yes if the conversation were about how greenhouse gasses are destroying the earth and we need to curb them, then it wouldn't matter how you measure. But that's not the conversation. The debate is about the misuse of statistics.