Is the BBC Survey correct, USA one of most DANGEROUS nations on planet earth?

Answer 1

Most probably true.

Julius Caesar:
Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.
How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.

Answer 2

"There is a hard core of people in the United States who will not be moved, whatever facts you present, from their conviction that this nation means only to do good, and almost always does good, in the world, that it is the beacon of liberty and freedom."
Howard Zinn

"The United States is a society in which people not only can get by without knowing much about the wider world but are systematically encouraged not to think independently or critically and instead to accept the mythology of the United States as a benevolent, misunderstood giant as it lumbers around the world trying to do good."
Robert Jensen

It is not just the BBC’s surveys which show this. Nor is the US one of the most dangerous, it is THE most dangerous. The fact that most Americans believe otherwise, and can feel comfortable in either comparing living in the US to living in some third-world country US leaders and official press have designated as an official enemy (along with manufacturing all manner of self-serving accusations of their evil and our goodness – a ‘straw man’ argument, a false argument), or in their suggestion that their more concerned and more critical fellow citizens ought not exercise the rights enshrined and protected in this nation’s founding documents and ideals, is a tribute to our remarkable system of indoctrination, and the effects of propaganda. Joseph Goebbels was essentially correct when he said:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

I know that very few people born in the US have a passport, and even fewer have ever LIVED in another country. How can they say that the US is best? Many countries safer, cleaner, have higher standards of living, can spend more time with their families, have health care and pensions, and have practically eliminated poverty and homelessness. Rising above the living standards of a slum in Haiti, or in the ruins of Baghdad, or any country after US economic policies loot them, or the US military has finished destroying them (as if the US could ever finish), is hardly an achievement, and is certainly not a worthy barometer for America.
Why not hold the US up to Sweden’s standard of living, for example? They don’t have ‘terrorism’ there. I wonder why not.

I am embarrassed sometimes to hear the ignorance and disrespect with which so many of my fellow citizens speak. But hatred, like critical thought, is learned behavior.

"Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism.... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all others."
Emma Goldman

Answer 3

I haven't seen the BBC survey but I have seen others on our crime rate. After years of living in the U.S. and abroad, I don't think I am far off the mark when I say that we are one of the most violent societies,certainly among the civilised industrial ¨western¨nations.
Our streets are dangerous,our parks are dangerous,our schools are dangerous. WE are dangerous and we know it which is why we are all armed to the teeth.
Thousands of children go missing every year and are never found.
I NEVER feel safe in our country the way I do in Europe or Australia.
ADDITIONAL NOTE AND AFTERTHOUGHT: Not having seen the BBC survey I had assumed it referred to the domestic scene.
If the question is ,are we dangerous to others,the answer would have to be yes. We have the most powerful armed forces and weapon stockpile the world has ever seen and the ability to reduce our planet to a cockroach haven. We have stood by and let our right to decide( how this might is to be used) be taken out of our hands. Our elected representatives in Congress no longer decide but the President and a handful of cohorts in his cabinet employ our force as they see fit.

Answer 4

Since the press is on right now to force the world to submit to our authority and the neocons are willing to use preemptive military strikes to achieve there objectives, I would have to say that the U.S. belongs at the top of the list. If I were the leader of a nation I would be making alliances and preparing for the day when the U.S. starts camping out on my border.

It amazes me how quickly people are to invite us to leave our country just because we voice our disapproval in the direction our government is taking and the tactics that they are using. We can be americans and love our country without being fascist imperialists who want to rule the world.

You ask some great questions that provoke both thought and debate. America needs all of the patriots like you we can get right now. Thanks!!

Answer 5

You fail to state what the survey asked. Dangerous how? I fail to see how the USA is more dangerous than militant Muslims. Or maybe they are not classified as a nation. It seems to me they are responsible for much more of the deaths in Iraq than the USA, and if they would quit attacking things would calm down rather rapidly. We, as United States Citizens, are not responsible for those killed by suicide bombers, the suicide bombers are responsible.
Did the survey question ellicit only the responses they wanted to hear?

Answer 6

Excellent series! Aside from movies and very few shows, the only TV I can stand to watch is The History Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, etc.

Answer 7

It's a survey, Dude ! This usually reflects the opinion of the people asked the question.

In the states when a survey taker wishes to steer an opinion in one direction or another, he will pick a zip code that will offer a certain opinion. As an example, if a survey taker wants strong opinions about Hillary, from females, he will target a black neighborhood. This seems to be where most of Hillary's female support comes from !

Answer 8

The BBC LMAO!!!!!

I would love to see what the questions were, how they were asked and how the pollees were selected.

Yes the US is dangerous to Britain because they are being shamed into action instead of isolating and appeasing in the face of terror.

Must be driving them nuts.

Answer 9

Sort of, I find it odd how some will trot out the number of troops that are killed in the current conflicts when the number of murders in the US on a daily basis is actually much worse. When you think about it, it's pretty sad that soldiers in war are safer than some folks walking down the streets of N.Y.C. or L.A.!

Answer 10

Yes, a danger to other countries and our own. I've never seem so much corruption and criminal behavior by my own government as I have seen in these past 6+ years. Illegal preemptive attacks; questionable presidential elections that mirrors Mexico's; illegal US torture camps around the word, billions of dollars going to private contractors in Iraq that we have no say in; criminal negligence when in comes to letting aid in to disaster victims (and letting victims out of the area as free Americans); and the the list goes on.

Answer 11

Oh absolutely. We're loaded with nukes, military hardware, and a huge army. And we're definetly among the stupidest.

When you blend stupidity with power, danger is an understatement.