“If you talk about corruption, the entire world, the America, has no corruption? [It is] the most corrupt in the world,” he said in a Dec. 13 broadcast on Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV.
We are probably the only country in the world where the government and mainstream press lie about everything.
You’ll get a strong arguement from Australia about that.
Yeah, it’s argument.
I doubt it. Like the US, much of Europe is bankrupt, and the governments of those countries didn’t’ get that way by being honest with their citizens.
Maybe the most corrupted, since it started from a place of perhaps least corruption. But corrupt compared to China? Maybe Chan longs to move back.
“New Zealand offers the highest level of human freedom worldwide, followed by the Netherlands then Hong Kong. Australia, Canada and Ireland tied for fourth spot, with the United States and Denmark tied for seventh, Japan and Estonia tied for ninth overall. The lowest-ranked countries are Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Syria.”
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=19171&terms=freedom+index
I wonder how one would quantify political corruption though, in the sense of politicians saying one thing before an election and then doing the opposite. Or politicians or government departments trying to hide information, obstruct freedom of information requests, etc. For example, if an economic statistic is headed in the wrong direction, the government of the day may decide simply to no longer publish it.
Or if a climate statistic is headed in the wrong direction, the government who pays the Bureau of Meteorlogy might like it to become unavailable to the inquiring general public.
Happened here in Oz with old temperature data sets.
Here are some further articles related to the new freedom index study:
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/01/17/classic-civil-liberties-canada-ranks-fourth-globally/
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/01/15/peter-foster-david-suzukis-andean-fantasy/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/08/beijing-controlled-hong-kong-topped-canada-in-a-human-freedom-ranking-how-is-that-possible/
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I voted against a federal party because of what they said they would do, and they won the election and did the opposite. They said they would get rid of the GST, and bring back the hidden, domestically produced products only manufacturers tax, which was the old system that no longer made sense with the new Free Trade Agreement with the USA, then later NAFTA. There have been a few other example as well.
In Australia it is illegal to offend anybody on spurious race related grounds.
The government has plans to make this even worse.
Without a basic charter of rights anyone who thinks Australia is a free country is kidding themselves.
Any government that has a majority in both houses of parliament is omnipotent – at least till the next election.
BUT that only changes the masters – it does not enhance or protect basic freedoms of which freedom of speech is the most threatened due to the power of the net.
What do I read here. Don’t we trust our governments and press anymore. That sounds like conspiracy theories to me.
http://www.health24.com/news/Mind_Psychology/1-930,72516.asp
Would you like it if someone with a paranoia has an assault hammer ? Your neighbour talks about conspiracy theories ? Do you know if he has hammers in the house ?
Don’t even think that the climate data has been and is manipulated !
What happened to Barcelona?
Busy with other things than football.
http://youtu.be/JQVqtN9dgGU
My neighbour, Robert Pickton, killed 50 women. I am not making this up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton
Perhaps you should watch JFK the movie (even RFK junior now says his dad and his uncle were killed by US black ops) or study Edward Bernays if you really want to understand “Mind Psychology”.
How come if the MS media says Al Quaida, the Palestinians, Ruskies or Chicoms did it, whatever it is, then people like you say it’s not a conspiracy theory, but if non Western media says the good ol US, Israeli or UK or Australian Govt did it, (Abu Ghraib, UAV killing US citizens, assassinations, etc) then it is a conspiracy theory?
I suppose you reckon WWE is real wrestling too?
I think people get fed up being constantly fed bullshit by vested interests, whether that happens to be politicians seeking power, or the media selling hysteria. Then someone comes along and declares if you question the crap you’re being fed, you must be a conspiracy theorist…
They try to make the competition exciting again. Less and less people were watching the games.Sponsors don’t like that. Of course it also could be climate change.
The corruption in America is primarily found in urban areas. Chicago, my birth place, for example, is the corruption capital of the USA IMO. Many of my childhood and school friends that became Chicago politicians ended up in jail for taking bribes or skimming public funds. They weren’t corrupt when they were kids but to become a part of the Chicago Machine requires that you be corrupt to fit in. When everyone else is fleecing taxpayers and taking easy money, there is pressure for you to do the same and It’s hard to resist, and your career will go nowhere. In Chicago it’s endemic and pervasive with a long history.
Chan’s exposure to the USA is primarily the film industry and big cities so I think that is where he draws his experience with corruption here.
If Jackie Chan wants to reduce corruption in the US, he can start by giving El Presidente a swift karate kick to the groin. That is where his brain is actually located.
Hoisted variant: Indictment of the West on charges that are based on Western culture. Corruption is a Western concept, just business as normal elsewhere. Like accusing the U.S. of “women’s rights violations,” when no one else outside the western world gives a rat’s rear end about “women’s rights.”
I was on a flight to Baltimore last year, and was sitting in front of 2 US executives and a corporate representative from China. They were speaking loudly and it was interesting listening without any of the guilt. The US execs asked the Chinese rep which country has the most red tape, and in which country was it most difficult to do business. Without hesitation the Chinese rep said that there could be no doubt, that it is the good ole US of A.