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Obama's leather jacket

BB1

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Originally Posted by Listi
I've always had a problem with the "American Dream" alluding to the ability of the common man being able to succeed in American society... When in reality getting anywhere in American society definitely requires you to be very shrewd. The fact is, the average person is not very intelligent. And half of the population is less intelligent than your average person...
Yes, but American society is more likely to allow the shrewd to succeed, whereas in Europe there are more barriers which prevent their success. For example, without the right connections or family background it is difficult to get venture capital money in Europe in order to launch a new innovative business. This is why the US has always provided a disproportionate number of the successful new businesses in the areas such as Internet, computing, and other emerging areas and why the income level gap between the US and Europe continues to increase.
Originally Posted by Listi
I've mentioned it before that I feel like when I'm in the US, people in service businesses seem to hate their jobs and take it out on everyone else... As if they got shafted with a ****** life and don't deserve it. While I'm not sure how your average service worker thinks of themselves in Canada, whatever they feel like, it certainly doesn't reflect negatively in their demeanor during their jobs. Again, both cases have plenty of exceptions, Canada has its asshole service workers too, and I've definitely had meaningful conversation with some American ones. But it's the difference between these things happening on a weekly and monthly basis...
The idea that Americans are unhappy with their lives relative those in Europe or Canada is not accurate, despite this view being frequently preached in these other countries. Here's a recent Pew Global poll on the subject....
80-1.gif
I've never noticed a huge difference in the attitude of service industry workers in the US vs. Canada, but like anything it probably depends on where you look. The US is big and diverse and there are undoubtedly bad and good areas of the country. Canada is the nation most like the US in the entire world. Many Canadians I know like to explain to me how Canada is more like the UK than it is the US. However, one sociologist I read once said "If the US is a 0 and the UK is a 100 on a scale, then Canada would be a 20".
 

Makeshift_Robot

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Originally Posted by BB1
Obama is in good company-- Ahmadinejad favors the tie-less look too.

Well, sort of. Ahmadinejad doesn't wear a tie because, to conservative Iranians, a tie is a symbol of Western decadence. Which I can sort of see; while people are forced to make do with rags, our elite (or some pudgy chump at a wedding, either one) are looping a length of silk around our necks for vanity reasons. Not that that reasoning would get me to part from the YSL necktie I got for 2.50 at Goodwill, of course.

Obama doesn't wear a tie because youth and newness are integral portions of his image. I think that being president means you should wear the suit and the tie (and maybe a pocket square), but then again I am all about being ruled by an intellectual elite.

Man, what if presidents just dressed like people who wore suits every day? Throw in a double-breasted, a three-piece, tweed in the winter or seersucker in the summer... that would be fantastic.
 

blackderbyhat

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Originally Posted by Listi
The fact is, the average person is not very intelligent. And half of the population is less intelligent than your average person...

rolleyes.gif
 

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