What constitutes an advanced society

Living in the U.S since 2015 has got me thinking, what criteria does a nation have to meet for it to be defined as an advanced society. Many Americans like to think that they’re living in the best nation on earth, simply for the fact they are the richest and most powerful. However, money and military might doesn’t exactly buy you a free and fair society.

The following is a questionnaire to ascertain whether or not you live in a country that has a basic tendency for compassion and uses its wealth for the greater good. If you answer yes to all five of the following questions, then I’m sad to announce that you will be denied membership to the advanced nations club. 

Does you country lack universal health coverage, i.e. is healthcare a privilege not a right?

Does your country still use the death penalty? (Reminder to Americans, even though some states have abolished this barbaric practice, it still remains mandated at the federal level)

Does your country have a reputation for mass incarceration?

Does your country have a death by firearms epidemic?

Does your country have an infant mortality rate on par with underdeveloped nations?

Note: If I answer these questions by personal experience I will have a glowing report card on America (I for one leave my door unlocked and go out all hours without any fear), but I know full well that I’m one of the lucky ones largely due to life’s lottery.  Many in this country still incur many hardships due to being brainwashed by the American Dream, which is a false promise peddled by the wealthiest 1%. If you haven’t figured out already, the U.S. is the only advanced nation on earth that answers yes to all of the above. if you need further evidence, just take one look at the Global Livability index, no American city ranks in the top 30.

Citizens of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Western Europe (places that can actually answer no to all five questions, or at least get 4 no’s) are well informed on America’s shortcomings, which brings me to my next point. There’s a favorite pastime among civilized nations to laugh at America as a basket case, mainly due to the fact of its arrogance at thumbing its nose at others and boasting about its wealth. You’d think you wouldn’t need America in your life, after all, it isn’t doing a good job at acting like an advanced nation, yet everyone (not only the aforementioned places) is glued to one form of American product/service on a daily basis. Look around, chances are you’re at McDonald’s staring at your iphone while scrolling through facebook, twitter, checking gmail, streaming on youtube and shopping on amazon. If you’re one of the billions worldwide addicted to American brands, then congratulations, you’ve just become an accomplice in making Americans think they are all that. 

Here’s a suggestion for the civilized world, start boycotting all things from a nation that is anything but a first world nation, maybe then Americans might understand that just because American influence is everywhere doesn’t mean their lives are all that. In fact, American brands might gain five star adulation overseas, but their populace is living anything but a five star lifestyle. Who knows, one day Americans might tick the no box in answer to one of the above questions, which is still not good enough, but a start. The odds are still in favor of pigs flying before Uncle Sam ever answers no to all five questions.

Once we get all this sorted, Americans can finally back-up their claims for being the be-all and end-all, and non-Americans can finally use American brands knowing that it comes from a nation that lives up to its billing as a global superpower. We’ll never see this in our lifetime, but wouldn’t it be great if one day those outside the U.S. didn’t spew hatred towards America via American products, and if Americans stopped boasting about themselves while simultaneously being oblivious to the world around them.

Rising above ignorance one blog (vlog) at a time

Message to my readers from far and wide on the pristine shores of White Rock Lake, on this the fourth anniversary of the inception of Global Editorial.

Best way to start your day (besides a sneak peek at GE) is by taking in the scenery from one of the great museums of the world. Named after Ross Perot, a true Dallas pioneer, founding father of Silicon Prairie and former Presidential candidate.

Four years of Lone Star living by tweet

As our attention span grows ever smaller, I've been advised to shorten my rants to increase followers. Personally, I think the death of opinion is when we have to cram our views into 280 characters, but I'm here to prove the leader of the free world has nothing on my tweets, that's right, I have the ability to formulate sentences with proper grammar and spelling, which obviously disqualifies me from holding higher office.

The past 1461 days or as they say in the classics: wasting 10% of my life in God's country have been a beauty! My little nugget of wisdom (in tweet form) on this glorious day.

Today marks the start of my 2nd term as a Texan. Living among rednecks (Lone Star liberals included, as they make Canadian conservatives look progressive in comparison, apologies to America's 14th most liberal city, Austin) for the past four years has provided much comic relief.

If you can name all the famous points of interest without resorting to the internet (I'll allow you to use this mural as a guide) you will be bestowed honorary citizenship to the Republic of Texas.

PS. For those into short film, here's a 74 second clip from the heart of Texas. Warning: the following is rated ECT, as it contains Extreme Crime Talk.

Bursting the California and Texas Republic bubble

It’s only apt that on this the 243rd Birthday of these United States we check in on the state of the states, particularly the two chunks (California and Texas) that dominate the economic, political and social fabric of this vast land.

As a proud globalist I have no attachments to the place I reside in physically, so the following will offend my fellow Texans (last I checked, they firmly believe that they are the chosen ones). Every year the U.S. News & World Report unleash their Best States rankings, it largely dispels all the myths that the parochial crowd boast about, yes, Texas you’re a basket case.

Don’t get me wrong, 10% of my life has been spent in the Lone Star State and due to my skin tone I have had no issues that have negatively impacted my life. In fact, I have felt a lot safer here than anywhere else I’ve lived, but that cannot erase the fact that Texas has an abhorrent firearms slaughter rate of 12.1 per 100,000. Let me put it another way, Japan has a homicide rate of 0.28 per 100,000. Furthermore, here in Dallas we've already had some 110 murders in the first 6 months of 2019, whole nations in the advanced world won't see that number in years. However, I know all too well that as humans we must walk in the shoes of others, and that’s when the self-proclaimed Texas moniker of being god’s land is trampled on.

There’s much talk in these parts that California is a communist state and Texas is a paradise for freedom, well let’s just take a look at the rankings from key indicators on where the two states driving America stand. Reminder to folks at home, if both these states were separate countries they would rank in the top ten largest nations by GDP. In other words, we globalists must take note.

Crime & Corrections: CA 23/TX 33
Economy: CA 21/TX 34
Education: CA 4/TX 15
Fiscal Stability: CA 42/TX 12
Health: CA 7/TX 37
Infrastructure: CA 32/TX 33
Natural Environment: CA 5/TX 40
Opportunity: CA 49/TX 39

Now I get what you’re saying, how can those lefty Californians with 11 million more inhabitants trounce capitalist conservative Texans. Simple answer: one state actually cares for ts impoverished. I’ll count to three for the naysayers to use their go-to line: how come California has a huge homeless problem? That comes with the territory of allowing corporations to dominate, which defeats the California is anti business doctrine. Basically, where talking about America here, there is no such thing as real progressive thinking, everything is about money. Heck, look at Seattle, they love to bang on about their liberal hippie credentials, yet it gave birth to Amazon (openly bash unions), Microsoft and Starbucks hardly independent companies that stick up for the little guy.

Here are the overall rankings (Northerners, make sure to boast about these ranking when a Southerner laughs at you over long winters)

1. WA  2. NH  3. MN  4. UT  5. VT
6. MD  7. VA  8. MA  9. NE  10. CO
11. WI  12. NJ  13. FL  14. IA  15. ND
16. ID  17. GA  18. NC 19. CA  20. SD
21. CT  22. KS  23. DE  24. HI  25. NY
26. RI  27. OR  28. MO  29. MT  30. TN
31. WY  32. ME  33. MI  34. AZ  35. IL
36. IN  37. NV  38. TX 39. OH  40. KY
41. PA  42. SC  43. OK  44. AK  45. AR
46. NM  47. WV  48. MS  49. AL  50. LA

Leaders in each category (CA and TX are nowhere to be seen, so much for their arrogance)

Crime & Corrections: NH
Economy: CO
Education: MA
Fiscal Stability: TN
Health: HI
Infrastructure: OR
Natural Environment: RI
Opportunity: NH

Make sure you memorize this list, so when you encounter an ignorant resident of CA and TX you can quietly whisper: you ain’t no top 10 material. 

Denmark falls short of the progressive trifecta

The $64,000 question leading up to the June 5th Danish general election was if the Kongeriget Danmark (Kingdom of Denmark) would get back to maintaining an egalitarian society proud of it's safety net or continue down the anti-immigrant nativist influence that began in 2014 when the far right Danish People's Party (DPP) won the European Parliament election in Denmark by securing 27% vote. If that was a shock, it then won 21% of the vote in the 2015 general election, becoming the second largest party in the Folketing (Parliament for those struggling with Danish).

The results are in...I can confirm that the land of Lego has still somewhat upheld Europe's love affair with racism, thus giving the likes of Viktor Orbán some relief. The surge in 1939 types holding European governments to ransom is still alive in Denmark, albeit in bizarre circumstances. You'd think the far right made gains in the election, however, the two main parties both went to the polls on an anti immigrant platform as a means to snuff out extremists, which ended up working, but it just ensured that the main parties would continue a more acceptable form of racism, the incremental variety (change a law here and there to make life harder on foreigners without all the Nazi salute baggage).

Seeing as immigration was not a cause for contention, the election was a referendum on which party would maintain the cherished Danish welfare model. The Social Democrats squeaked home (taking 91 of 179 seats in Parliament), ensuring their leader Mette Frederiksen becomes the youngest Prime Minister in Danish history at 41. The center-right Liberal party (having led for 14 of the past 18 years) takes home 80 seats.

The second positive from the vote was the Danes support of climate change, 57% of voters want the new government to make this a priority. It's a rarity in Europe these days to have a positive election outcome without some caveat, and so Denmark sis its part to live up to this pattern. You could say: two out of three ain't bad. Denmark still leads the world in ensuring a safety net for all and is understand climate change is a reality, yet for all that they still condone passive aggressive racism, sounds very Scandinavian to me.

For now, I urge all my readers to place a total ban on playing with lego (if you're above the age of 10 this should be a given, apologies to adults with lego fetishes), until such time the Danes give the middle finger to racism. The ban also applies to pastries, so no apple danish for you with your morning coffee.