The Newsroom - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

6 days ago

2 min read

This is one of the finest clips from any American series

The Newsroom - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

Sorority girl: 'Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?'

Will McAvoy:

"It’s not the greatest country in the world. There’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world.

We’re 7th in literacy,

27th in math,

22nd in science,

49th in life expectancy,

178th in infant mortality,

3rd in median household income,

Number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports.

We lead the world in only three categories:

number of incarcerated citizens per capita,

number of adults who believe angels are real

and defence spending,

where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies.

Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! Yosemite?!

It sure used to be… We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed… by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

That, my friends, is the opening scene in the pilot episode of HBO's Newsroom. Aaron Sorkin's marvellous writing makes this show one hell of a quote-fest, making you cheer, laugh and cry everytime Will utters those quixotic words penned down by one of the finest Hollywood writers.

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