Top 10 Reasons Why the United States Isn't the Greatest Country

The Top Ten
1 They had the segregation of blacks

The inconvenient truth is that most other countries were and are far worse regarding segregation than the US. Besides the well-known issues in Germany, strong segregation existed into modern times in Canada, China, Norway, and numerous other nations. Not to mention the deadly segregation that exists right this very minute in almost every Muslim nation, and results in death for anyone found where they should not be.

Had? America is still one of the most racist countries in the world. And the more they talk about how they are accepting of everyone no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. is just making the problem even worse. There are so many examples of racism in America EVERY DAY. I am not saying every single Americans is racist, obviously that is NOT the case but just look at how many african-americans get killed by the police. Point made.

This is an issue of a temporal political and morality issue- not intelligence. The sad fact is most of the world at that time was not amenable to blacks. Additionally, in Africa- there is anti-black racism. One notable example is Botswana and Zimbabwe Africans in current South Africa, or Africa's current black-on-black slavery.

Every nation that has ever existed has it's own story with racial prejudice. We don't care about what happened in the past.

2 Some Americans are racist

Americans are racist but in the southern states not the northern. The rednecks in the south are way worse than the north. I knew a kid from the south and he bullied me. By the way I'm British and I live in the UK.

Nowhere near as racist as Europeans, who also tend to be very anti-Semitic. The UK did not even pass the Race Relations Act of 1965, until after seeing that the US had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Racism is global. Thank God you are not a Dhalit caste in India- where you are considered "untouchable" and not possessing a soul. USA has some lukewarm racism.

Racism exists anywhere. Some Isalms are racist against non Islams. Some British people and French people are racist because they think they are above other races.

3 Women didn't even get to vote until the 1920s

Well, think about Switzerland. They didn't allow women to vote in general elections until 1971!

It's almost a hundreds years later right now that women are still voting to this day!

They have it now don't they? That was the past, women are fully equal here.

This is in the past. The US has improved. They weren't the greatest country, but they are now

4 The Japanese-American internment camps

That one I agree, but honestly, some countries did much, much worse, America kind of had a right to freak out, but they kind of freaked out too much.

Years of supreme shame when US decided the Bill of Rights did not apply to some, and interned some of their finest and most upstanding citizens. One of the US Army's most highly decorated troops was comprised of mainly Americans of Japanese descent. The 442nd Regiment. Singularly the most decorated unit in US warfare, with the 4,000 men who initially made up the unit in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 2.5 times, 14,000 men served, 9,486 Purple Hearts, 8 Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honour.

During the same World War Two time period, Japan did not exactly handle it in a better way, they rounded up all the people of Chinese heritage living in Japan, and shot them.

It took 40 years just for America to say sorry to them.

5 Some Americans are close-minded

SOME! SOME! Don't judge the whole of the us of a based on SOME! Look, if I say Hitler is evil, it would be true, but if I said the whole of Germany is evil because of some stupid Nazis and Hitler, that would be false, so don't judge a country based on some people.

Though the rest of the world agree the Earth is Helo-centric- revolving around the Sun- the Americans firmly believe the universe revolves around the USA. Less than 12% US citizens have a passport and have travelled externally from the Land of the Morbidly Obese.

Of course minorities of other countries are closed minded, and the majority in many countries, but it's the "in" thing to be mean to America.

A small minority of Americans are close-minded? Sorry, but that statement is incorrect. A MAJORITY of Americans are close-minded.

6 Americans are dumb

There are people in every country who are dumb, it's inevitable, but honestly... what really counts as dumb? And hey, how did you come up with that result?

I would mostly agree but Americans are the people who vote for Clinton because she is a girl and Trump because he speaks his mind also the voter turnout isn't very high. And about that Einstine and Edison thing, I'm of the opinion Edison was a fraud I've learned about him trying to steal or taking credit for the works of others I'm not sure what he did and didn't do and Einstine was German.

Not to mention they only have a life expectancy of 78 years while canada's life expectancy is 81 years and japan 83 years pretty sure. Either than that america has the lowest life expectancy if you compare Canada USA and Japan.

Americans are not educated enough. This is my honest opinion. Their education system is terrible. I think they really need to work on it. And for the people saying that americans invented cars, airplanes etc., great job, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't expand your knowledge about various topics not just cars and planes.

7 Only a few Americans recognize the Armenian Genocide

This is false, the Armenian genocide story has been taught in many US high-school history courses for over 50 years.
Besides, this item should be be a criticism of Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world that perpetrated the mass killing.

Commonly taught in college class in general history, and some American colleges even have an entire full semester class about it.

I know this is a stupid reason, but come on! How can so many people not know of a genocide other than The Holocaust (and maybe the Rwandan Genocide)?

Disagree. This is a political issue which has little to do with intelligence.

8 Americans are stereotyped the most

If Americans are the ones being stereotyped often, this indicates that the problem is with the people who are doing the stereotyping, not a problem with the Americans.

A typical American person from a European's perspective: fat, redneck people who eat BBQ, watch NASCAR all day, and shoot things with guns.

They are stereotyped to be fat. Also it is kind of true. About 70% of Americans are obeise and 30% are average and healthy and 1% are underweight.
I'm Canadian.

Yeah, 'cause it's not like the Americans themselves stereotype other countries. So really, the Americans deserve it.

9 There is an obesity problem

No, they don't, well they do, but it's not that common, I grew up in China, and when I came to America in 5th grade, I was the 'fatest' person in class, when I was 'average' in China.

The whole developed world has an obesity problem.

Also, is there such a thing as a second-world? There seems to be only first and third-world countries. Just curiosity!

People should never get so lazy with there own body to the point where they start getting obese. The fact that so many Americans are obese is a big problem.

The USA has been improving a lot on this, and now Mexico is now officially the most obese nation on earth, with the UK now catching up to be equally.

10 America is most likely to get into war with another country

I don't agree that America should keep sticking its noses into other countries' affairs, but I do have to justify its involvement in WW2. Many historians legitimately argue that if America hadn't joined the Allies in the fight against one of the most evil forces in history, then the Nazis would have won. Britain was, for much of the early war, the only country openly at war with Nazi Germany, and Britain was fast running out of money. America's involvement (in this one instance) was very justified to bring an end to such an awful tyranny.

Many people are in total agreement that the US should not get involved in other countries' squabbles, for instance when the US went to war against Saddam Hussein just because he took over Kuwait, and especially we should have stayed away when Germany took over Poland in 1939, and France in 1940, because they would have worked it out on their own eventually.

Yeah right, it is totally wrong to say that things would have worked themselves out when Germany invaded a bunch of European countries. What would have worked out was the Poles, the French, and all the rest would have agreed to allow the Germans to take over their countries, or they would have been killed.

Stupidity and short-sightedness are mistaken for good old US corporate greed and war profiteering- as old as US Civil War. Smedley-Butler wrote an excellent pamphlet "War is a Racket" in 1930's, but sadly it has fell on deaf US ears since then.

The Contenders
11 Americans are some of the rudest, most obnoxious people anywhere

Europeans you mean, they think that everyone shoots in the US and forget the fact the Europe started WW1 and WW2. It's either that they never go to rural areas or they are just jealous that we are bigger and more powerful then them, and some countries in Europe would not exist without The USA. Remember that New Zealand shooting? Shootings can happen everywhere and even in Europe, what a surprise.

Spoiled obnoxious brats. I am canadian who lives in Alberta and I was with my family and grandparents in british columbia and I thought what was the difference between canadians? Are their difference in manners too? is what I asked. My brother was like the american version of our grandparents would be rude. And that is fact.

In a country with 315 million, there are bound to be lots of pretty much every kind of person, but having traveled to a lot of different countries, I have found that you almost always receive what you give out.

I will let you know that we are not rude or obnoxious, we just don't sit around and sip tea all day. We have fun and live our life to it's fullest.

12 Americans still practice Capital punishment
13 Poor health care system

What is you can't afford health care. What about those who were born into poverty and don't have the right resources to take care of themselves and/or their family. It should be free but for select people.

14 There is an absurd amount of income inequality and nobody cares

Income inequality doesn't matter. What does matter is poverty. You shouldn't be concerned if someone is richer than you. You should be concerned if you are poor.

No. The top 1% are really rich, but both America and Britain are some of the only counties with a middle class

15 The border problem with Mexico

There is no border. Half the population of my town are Mexicans. And we have a crappy Mexican restaurant. And my school know need a Spanish speaking teacher. Millions of illegal immigrant get in the country. It is all apart of Obama's plan to ruin america. I will move out of this country as some as visible before it become the United States Of Mexico. We are already in debt and we can't handle this. Most of them get money from the state. We are not the best, deal with it. The immigrants can invade this country.

This a huge problem, and the only solution seems to be very tall fence, and more border security.
The US welcomes over 1 million LEGAL immigrants per year, more than the UK, Germany, and France combined.
If we allow basically anybody and everybody to come in, the resources and infrastructure can't handle it.

The only problem with this border is that it is in the wrong place. The US stole a large chunk of Mexico. If this land was returned to its rightful owners then the problem would disappear.

Build the wall already!

16 The Americans think everyone must do everything the exact same way as them.

It gets annoying being corrected because you spell 'color' as 'colour' or even for pronouncing words. There are lots of videos on YouTube where Americans tell people that 'kilometre' is pronounced 'kill-oh-mee-ter' instead of 'kil-o-meh-ter' and if you pronounce the word the 'incorrect' way you never been to school. I pronounce 'kilometre' as 'Kilo-meh-ter' and most people I heard say it also pronounce it that way, including math and science teachers I've been taught by.

The majority of us folks who don't live in America have to keep reminding those dumb individuals that:
1) There's no correct spelling for 'colour'.
2) There's more than one way to pronounce 'kilometre' correctly.
It gets annoying, but at least it proves how bad the American school system is.

17 Americans practiced slavery

Americans have enslaved Native Americans which lead to African Americans do I have to go on?

18 Rampant gun violence and high murder rate

Literally you don't live in a war-torn country, so why do you need an AR-15 to "protect yourself"?

Banning guns won't solve anything. Britain has a higher rate of gun violence than us, and they banned guns

19 To believe in God is thought of as scandalous

You know, America is one of the least religious countries. In some countries the concept of Atheism doesn't even exist

This is just plain untrue.

20 Terrible education system

This I agree with

21 People hate Justin Bieber and want to send him back to Canada

Yet they have Miley Cyrus Nicki Minaj Rebecca Black. Do I honestly need to name more?

22 Dollar is printed by private companies

Excellent point sadly not understood by most.

23 People who don't succeed in life are considered lazy and un-American.
24 Americans are greedy

Even though I'm American, their greedy.

25 America has the world's highest incarceration rate
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