tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post711365416145969376..comments2024-03-14T04:13:52.274-04:00Comments on Lost in the Pond | British accent. American life.: 8 Crucial Things the USA Could Learn from Scandinavian NationsLaurence Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12273049523024052213noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-40300584275821357872015-10-12T11:27:03.334-04:002015-10-12T11:27:03.334-04:00I knew some people would immediately go on the def...I knew some people would immediately go on the defensive after reading this, despite you confirming that there is no political or social agenda attached haha. <br />A bit concerned that CaliforniaKid thinks New Zealand has similar rates of religiosity as the US.<br />Good read :)Tragic Visionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01648859571115200093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-48237433036187872022014-05-11T02:15:49.532-04:002014-05-11T02:15:49.532-04:00Also, if irreligiosity was related to a region'...Also, if irreligiosity was related to a region's or nation's standard of living, quality of life and intelligence and the more irreligious a nation or region is, then the higher the standard of living, quality of life and intelligence, then Eastern Europe should be a utopia with among the most intelligent peoples on earth...but it isn't.CaliforniaKidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903496560326756608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-56244436164395018082014-05-11T02:01:35.587-04:002014-05-11T02:01:35.587-04:00To be objective and unbiased, you can't have 2...To be objective and unbiased, you can't have 250 years of slavery and oppression and expect African Americans to have the same standard of living as the rest of the nation only 50 years after the height of the Civil Right's Movement nor can you have endless illegal and legal immigration of the poorest of the poor from third world countries and expect them to assimilate in just a few years, however...You're comparing relatively small and homogenous nations to a very large and diverse nation...You're simplifying "standard of living" and "quality of life" through a highly subjective perspective and ignoring many factors, subtext and nuance...African Americans and Hispanics suffer about 3 times the poverty rate of Asians and white Americans:<br /><br />http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/<br /><br />However, these stats were made after the Great Recession...In 2000, the poverty rate for whites was as low as 8%, 22% for African Americans...<br /><br />Massive poverty among certain minority groups has lead to high crime rates for those groups...The per capita murder rate for African Americans is more than 17 per 100,000 and more than 15 per 100,000 while the per capita homicide rate for whites is similar to that of Canada:<br /><br />http://projects.wsj.com/murderdata/?standalone=1#view=all<br /><br />Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also ranked along with Scandinavian nations with overall quality of life and standard of living however, they have similar rates of religiosity as the U.S. where large majorities of the population believe in a God and an afterlife...The standard of living of a nation and how intelligent their people's are, is independent of the religiosity of that nation...Both Canada, Australia and New Zealand scored far above the PISA averages and far above Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the U.K. as well as had among the highest percentages of the populations holding university degrees, in the world, yet these were very religious nations: <br /><br />http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-10-most-educated-countries-in-the-world.html<br /><br />The U.S. scored along with the Denmark, Norway and far higher than Sweden in overall test scores for math, reading and science...However, a closer look at U.S. PISA scores broken down by race and region reveals how the socioeconomic background of students effects the outcome of the scores...<br /><br />http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/12/overall-pisa-rankings-include-america.html?m=1<br /><br />http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/12/pisa-by-state-by-race-massachusetts.html?m=1<br /><br />Western Europe has only experienced relative economic prosperity, stability and peace since the early 1990's while the nations of the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand already experienced such peace, prosperity and stability since the end of WWII, yet while Western Europe held a lower standard of living than these nations, they were already relatively much less religious than the mentioned "anglosphere" nations...this includes much of Scandinavia, which was relatively poor compared to the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand...Just because Scandinavia has recently experienced such wealth, prosperity and stability, and so happen to be very irreligious, they all of a sudden hold the world standard and it's their irreligiousness that makes them have such a high standard of living and quality of life? If this was the before the 1990's, it would be the religious nations that held the high standard while secular Western Europe would not be held as a model considering all the problems across the continent at that time...All places have their ups and downs...nations rise and fall, religions come and go but change is a permanent feature of human societies, progress and growth...and a nation's success is independent of it's religiosity...CaliforniaKidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903496560326756608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-66342208987791152312013-10-26T18:45:50.050-04:002013-10-26T18:45:50.050-04:00Except the population in the USA is way more diver...Except the population in the USA is way more diverse than all those Scandinavian nations combined so you can't really compare things like education or religion. Nothing to learn there from them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-84405790987384491432013-10-16T19:35:46.931-04:002013-10-16T19:35:46.931-04:00You only have to read "The Girl with the Drag...You only have to read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" to realize that they drink a shit-ton of coffee.Kaleyhttp://ymuchomas.comnoreply@blogger.com