That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not
That's like comparing America's murder rate to El Salvador and saying it's perfectly fine. Instead, it should be compared to first world countries, and it's soon very clear that it's not OK and is a serious problem for such a prosperous country.[1]
> That doesn't mean you should compare the country to second and third world countries when analyzing if something needs improvement or not
He didn't say that the US didn't need improvement.
The US' diversity means that the comparison is complicated. In fact, when you compare the US apples and oranges to apples and oranges in other countries, you find that the US is doing reasonably well. You're seeing consequences of the fact that the apple countries don't have oranges.
We'd be happy to give some oranges to apple countries so they can show us how to do it correctly....
In the early 90s, East Palo Alto had the highest murder rate in the US. (I think that the wikipedia article is wrong - I remember a number significantly higher.) It's right next to Palo Alto, which has a murder every decade or so.
That's like comparing America's murder rate to El Salvador and saying it's perfectly fine. Instead, it should be compared to first world countries, and it's soon very clear that it's not OK and is a serious problem for such a prosperous country.[1]
This kind of comparison leads to apathy.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... (sort the list by "most recent", and have a look where the United States sits compared to the next first world country.