[maxxxxx]

I have lived in Germany and the US each for years and for months in several other countries. From the outside or on a short visit all countries look homogeneous. Only after a while you see the subtleties. From that perspective I don't think the US is any different from other countries. Maybe other countries are in agreement on things that are contentious in the US but then they have other issues that never get discussed in the US. In short, the US is nothing special. It's a country like every other country and should be treated as such.

[Erlangolem]

I disagree, but I can’t see the value in pitting anecdote against anecdote. If you want to believe that the US’ history, geography, and demographics make it essentially the same as (to use my examples) Iceland, Japan, and Sweden, I doubt that I could change your mind.

[maxxxxx]

Look at where this discussion started. It started from someone talking about the Viet Cong and the US. Then you said there is no such thing as the US because it's so big and diverse. In this context the US has to be seen as one unit or how else can you describe a war?

As far as Sweden goes I bet the people living north of the Arctic circle have little in common with people living in Stockholm.

[Erlangolem]

To this day, many are maimed and killed by US land mines in the region, and the US does not give a shit.

My point is that’s it’s incorrect to speak of 330 million diverse people as collectively not giving a shit. I stand by that.

[maxxxxx]

Then never talk about any other group like "the Chinese", "the Russians" or "the Nazis" again either. Because these are also millions of diverse people too.

[Erlangolem]

Then never talk about any other group like "the Chinese", "the Russians" or "the Nazis" again either. Because these are also millions of diverse people too.

One of those things is not like the other, two of those things are kinda the same. Nazism is an ideology, a movement, so I’m going to move past that red herring.

The rest though, good advice that I try very hard to live by. I’m not sure at what point you decided that I was arguing in favor of something else. It would be downright stupid to assume that the lives and views of someone raising ducks and pigs on a small farm in an outer province of Chins bears much resemblance to the life of a high-level beaurocrat in Beijing. Some teenager with no future or hope in the outskirts of Moscow isn’t like a grandmother in Novasibirsk, or an oligarch in a penthouse.

By the same token, don’t assume that the US is some magically homogeneous group of people who don’t care if a Vietnamese child is blown away by a 50 year old mine.

Edit: Because apparently it must be said, The US Governmemt != “The US” in the same way that the Chinese Communist Pary isn’t “China” and Putin isn’t “Russia”.

[stelonix]

You're suggesting there isn't an ideology moving the US government? Every country has an ideology, a doctrine or something like that, and independently of the sheer number and diversity of its population, what's ALWAYS discussed when someone mentions a country is its government and its policies, including foreign policies. You're bringing a no true Scotsman to the table, which is a fallacy. From its foreign policy on Vietnam, the US does not seem to "give a shit" as the OP said.