When was America Great?

[Scot Dutchy]

I call it straight theft. He pinched everything and never paid a dime.

[Hermit]

Not so fast. Who really leads the world in science?

https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/n ... in-science

You need nearly a dozen European countries combined to match or surpass our output, and with engineering, fuhgeddaboudit.

[Scot Dutchy]

Quantity over quality?

[Sean Hayden]

One of my favorite history teachers, favorite teachers ever really, was in Germany following WW2 looking for rocket tech. He was an interesting man.

Anyway, I'll see your rocketry and raise a microbiologist:

Maurice Ralph Hilleman (August 30, 1919 – April 11, 2005) was an American microbiologist who specialized in vaccinology and developed over 40 vaccines, an unparalleled record of productivity.[2][3] Of the 14 vaccines routinely recommended in current vaccine schedules, he developed eight: those for measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria.[2] He also played a role in the discovery of the cold-producing adenoviruses, the hepatitis viruses, and the potentially cancer-causing[4] virus SV40.

He is credited with saving more lives than any other medical scientist of the 20th century.[5][6][7] Robert Gallo described him as "the most successful vaccinologist in history".[5]

[pErvinalia]

Yeah but America is shit.

[Hermit]

One of my favorite history teachers, favorite teachers ever really, was in Germany following WW2 looking for rocket tech. He was an interesting man.

Anyway, I'll see your rocketry and raise a microbiologist:

Maurice Ralph Hilleman (August 30, 1919 – April 11, 2005) was an American microbiologist who specialized in vaccinology and developed over 40 vaccines, an unparalleled record of productivity.[2][3] Of the 14 vaccines routinely recommended in current vaccine schedules, he developed eight: those for measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria.[2] He also played a role in the discovery of the cold-producing adenoviruses, the hepatitis viruses, and the potentially cancer-causing[4] virus SV40.

He is credited with saving more lives than any other medical scientist of the 20th century.[5][6][7] Robert Gallo described him as "the most successful vaccinologist in history".[5]

You're missing the point. Listen to Tom Lehrer's introduction to his ditty. He speaks of "the great, enormous superiority of American technology, of course - as provided by our great American scientists, such as Wernher von Braun". The point is that your nationalism is misplaced. von Braun was just one of thousands of foreigners scientific, technological and engineering practice in the USA benefited from, and those foreigners did not just come from Germany. Another American giant of science, Nikola Tesla, for instance, was born and raised in Croatia.

Turning to Hilleman now: Yes, he was born in Colorado, but look at the name. His father's name was Gustav Hillemann. His mother was born Anna Uelsmann. How American do those names sound?

Also, Maurice Hilleman worked for most of his life at Merck & Co, a German pharmaceutical company (started by an apothecary, , Friedrich Jacob Merck, in the town of my birth, Darmstadt, Germany anno 1668) that was expropriated by the US government during WWI.

Finally, pErv is right. Whenever I get depressed by our current, disgustingly backward Australian government, I turn my thoughts to the nation that elected Donald Trump as its head of government and feel a lot better.

[pErvinalia]

Can't say I feel good when I think of the state of American society/politics. Affects the world too much.

[Sean Hayden]

How American do those names sound?

Very American actually. I was shocked to see you rely on names like that! This is America, heaven help you if you're ever required to take roll!

[pErvinalia]

When are we going to make Germany great again?

[Sean Hayden]

What kind of name is that, Franch!? Yes sir. Where you from? Mississippi sir. Bullshit, you're Franch now.

[Hermit]

How American do those names sound?

Very American actually. I was shocked to see you rely on names like that! This is America, heaven help you if you're ever required to take roll!

I should have seen that one coming, what with the USA's enthusiasm for expropriating anything they like - and rejecting as foreign any natives they dislike. It shouldn't surprise anyone, for instance, that Trump told Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, three of who were actually born in the US, to go back to the countries from which they came, and that his adoring supporters promptly chorused "send 'em back".

[Sean Hayden]

Wait, so your nonsense about names becomes my mistake?

--//--

[Hermit]

Wait, so your nonsense about names becomes my mistake?

--//--

Remember what I just said about US appropriation and expropriation?

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[laklak]

That's the whole point of the country.

Similar to Oz.

[Hermit]

That's the whole point of the country.

Similar to Oz.

What is? Nationalism?

Not a particularly good point.