American Exceptionalism: Why We Can't Have Nice Things

@ScubaMySteve

[whyamimrpink]

What I like about this channel is how Stephen brings up culture as it drives many policies. I took an international business course for my MBA and culture was basically 3/4 of the course. We looked at Hofstede cultural dimension and looked at different nations. Culture plays a large role on how a nation functions.

[ScubaMySteve]

What's up everyone?


Second: This was originally going to be a much longer video, but i decided to split it in two

Three: thanks for watching! I forgot to use my pop filter hope you didn't notice.

[stickjohnny]

Your particular brand of well thought out and carefully put together video essays is an oasis in a scorching, inhospitable desert at times.

[cryptocrush-]

And I’m over here just trying to figure out what species of shark that is floating in the background. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[jackstone]

America is exceptional, the constitution and your rights. compared to Europe. culturally aswell as it's the most diverse country inn the world, and lastly America is the only western country that focuses on individualism rather then collectivism.

[steelfist]

Christ that outro just punctuates the video so perfectly.

[nocteyes]

I like your comment of how the Left and the Right view American exceptionalism and how it can go too far. The Left views American Exceptionalism as chauvinistic and can be rather dismissive of the nation's merits while the Right views it an achievement of our history and can be overzealous in its defense, or at worst dismissive of our sins.

[reacher]

Damn man... I really wish you would do more content. I'm always impressed with your take on things.

[chaunceystewart]

I would argue that Taiwan had the best response to the COVID 19 pandemic. They closed their border to China on January 23rd. I remember coming home from work and saw the Taiwan government issuing a warning to the people to avoid traveling during Chinese New Year. Yes, wearing masks is a part of Taiwanese culture. Especially for people driving a scooter, which are most people's primary means of transportation. At least where I live in Kaohsiung, which is the second-largest city in the country.

[TheRealSheoth]

Love your videos man. I always expect your personal thoughts about a topic when they hit my sub box. We need more people like you in the political conversations around the world.

[davidgallego]

Another very important factor is that each country has a different definition of what counts as a COVID death. In the US, the CDC counts any person who died WITH COVID (and “with COVID” doesn’t even require a positive test). Other countries like Italy are only counting deaths FROM COVID in which COVID was determined to be the cause of death and not just a co-morbidity

[ryankvopka]

Man you're on point as always. Now I'm a conservative nationalist so I'm not a libertarian like you, I agree that the US culture of individualism is a reason why the Pandemic hit the US so hard. I always ask people this question when they say "Trump should've shut down flights sooner and we should've quarantined sooner" (which there is a case to be made about the flights) "Would you and the rest of the country be willing to stay in quarantine and stop going to school or work to support your family at the potential risk of getting a virus that has only infected 100 people?" And every person I asked that too said no they wouldn't so unfortunately this was inevitable whether or not flights were shut down sooner rather than later

[sanjeetraghuwanshi]

Love it or hate it but you do have to give Americans credit where it's due and that's certainly true about their attitude towards growing power of govt. and their defense of liberty.

I mean i'm form india and after independence in 1947 wr went full socialist till 1990 when we went bankrupt and had to open the economy and that process has continued till date however still the govt. has a lot pf power over people's lives.

Knowing that socialism has completely failed and private property rights is the way to go you'd expect the people of india to rise up and demand privatization, deregulation on large scale however we have been mentally trained in such a way that whenever govt tries to privatize the public sector enterprises there is always a group of people who see this as selling of public property as if govt is selling their own personal property.

[JacksonHighlander]

They (japan) also lockdowned hard when they had like 50 cases for 7 days in a row, even in places like Tokyo.

[settame]

I know this is Monday morning quarterbacking but I would have said the same thing a year ago. The difference in response between the US and most other countries came down to testing criteria and reporting differentials. It also played out that areas with highest compliance were the hardest hit, and areas that weren't hard hit became hard hit 2-3 weeks after their compliance went up. This would actually be an argument for keeping karaoke bars open.

[scotaloog]

Thoughts on large protests during the pandemic? Do you think they had an impact on the amount of cases?

[Themrcesar]

I think the health aspect of Americans played a huge role on how hard the virus hit us. My parents are old and they contracted the virus but they eat healthy like 80 percent of the time so they barely got a light cold. My friends who got it however are in their mid 20's and they eat about 90 percent unhealthy and are fatties so the virus hit them extremely hard. A little PSA if you get the Rona drink ginger, lemon, and a sprinkle of cayenne tea. Helps clear out the crap from your lungs. :)

[cheataofdoom]

I agree with your observations 100%. I'm not a fan of state mandated mask wearing, even though I started wearing a mask back in late March. I pointed to Asian countries when people would ask me about mask wearing during the early stages of the pandemic, and how I believe mask would be worth while for social conditioning for viruses in the future. I'm currently fence-sitting on the effectiveness on face coverings, leaning toward the position that if it's not medical grade, it's not super useful in an indoor environment. Therefore, I end up sympathizing with individual acting in defiance of mandatory ordinances.

I understand with personal liberties there comes a cost to effective community protection for upholding the individualist. I guess that means I succumb to the ideals of American Exceptionalism meaning my beliefs will not always be viable for confronting any and all adversities. Another great video Stephen with some humbling revaluations!

[candian]

Slowly becoming one of my favourite youtubers for politics. Wish you posted more often!

[moonman]

You have to be the most spot on dude on the net