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aswanson

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This sounds like a direct quote from Soldier in TF2.

Lol

Unfortunately based on the other replies President Ben also invented sarcasm and it was never exported back to Europe.

The story of Franklin's role in the history of Physics almost never gets told properly.

The PBS Mechanical Universe series did a good job with it, given that they only had 25 minutes to work with.

https://youtu.be/N72oYRZvFzA

Very funny. America is nowhere near "the oldest nation on earth".

Denmark has existed as a unified country since the 8th century AD [https://japan.um.dk/en/about-denmark/denmark/history]

San Marino since 301 AD [https://www.timetravelturtle.com/visiting-san-marino-oldest-...]

and many others.

Let's make revisionism fun: "Asterix in the USA" (1994 film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_Conquers_America

> Very funny. America is nowhere near "the oldest nation on earth".

So you're agreeing that it is indeed the greatest nation on earth?

It was sarcasm. One clue that a non-American might not get is that Benjamin Franklin was never president.

I know that, you noticed the first two words were "Very funny"?

The rest of it was directed at other people who genuinely believe the claim.

The rest of it seems to have missed that the original comment was sarcasm.

No, to repeat, the rest of it was addressed at the non-empty subset of readers who genuinely believe the claim. I love you telling me repeatedly what you assume my intent was, especially when the assumption was wrong. You could try it a third time.

Dangerous times for sarcasm

An elegant weapon, for a more... civilized age

It's a little odd for a nation that invented democracy and freedom to have human chattel slavery as a government policy in checks notes 1863.

Freedom and democracy for some people at the expense of others wasn't exactly a novel invention, you could look back to other slave societies like ancient Athens for it.

Ben Franklin invented the US, not freedom and democracy. The distinction is important.

Ben Franklin invented distinction, both with and without a difference.

America had to invent freedom and democracy because Europe had no idea of those concepts.

That is probably how Ben Franklin would describe it too, depending on the audience.

Also, football. The real football.

You mean hand egg

Amusingly, football was created as a way to keep people from killing each other after the Civil War.

That's why the game resembles warfare.

Looks like rugby with more protective gear.

It is the greatest nation if you believe in Locke and human flourishing.

The 20th century fundamentally changed the structure and nature of the US, and has since just been war, empire and fleecing the poor, the middle class and soon the rich.

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