What is with all the blind flag waivers on ATS lately?

This is my first rant, so cut me some slack if it drags, or has bad punctuation, or misspellings, or anything else trolls like to point out.
I have noticed lately a massive amount of blind ignorance on ATS whenever a subject pops up that involves the US military, or the US defense systems. Why do people automatically assume that the US has all these super futuristic weapons, while assuming that every other country on the face of the planet has nothing?
I have seen claims so outrageous I had to assume that the person was just joking only to realize later in the conversation that sadly they were not. Do some members just check their brains and logic at the door when entering any thread discussing these topics? I have seen some of the cheer sessions get so outrageous that it's hard to imagine these people actually believe some of this stuff.
To clear things up. I guarantee the US does not have in it's arsenal "Invisible force fields".
The US does not have super weapons so great (other than nukes) that they can take out an entire country in one fell swoop.
The US does not have "invisible drones"
The US does not have "tractor beams"

And to sit here and argue the fact that our military has the latest and greatest tech and nobody can compare, my question is why not? Do you think that everyone outside the US is snivelling morons that can barely tie their own shoe let alone have a rational thought? Sorry, but lets face facts, some of the greatest minds did not originate from the US. There is the possibility that countries outside the US might have new tech that we are unaware of that is greater than our own. Hell given the corruption in our government the last 20-30 years we might have sold it to them!
My point is just because the US is number one now, doesn't mean that it will always be. It also doesn't mean that it is not possible for other countries to have technology that may rival or exceed our own. I am tired of the blind cheer sections that are all "rah rah go US military the greatest force in all the universe". Wake up and accept the fact that we might not be the biggest, and smartest kid on the playground anymore.

To make it clear I am very pro US, I am a flag waiver, but not a blind one.

/end rant
Let the flaming begin

reply to post by SpaDe_


I'm not sure but it could have something to do with this.

U.S. Military Spending vs. World


With our military spending around 700 billion and our closest competitor (China) being so far behind, I suspect we have a lot of things "under wraps." I don't think we know everything about other countries so I wouldn't assume we're invincible. But we definitely spend enough to be known as the "World Police" for a reason.

Btw, nice banner!

Maybe it is because pics like these show up.

reply to post by EagleTalonZ


Yes it is a striking banner is it not? And I understand that we spend billions on defense, but that is just funding. Money doesn't always = intelligence, although I'm sure it helps buy it.

reply to post by SpaDe_

And to sit here and argue the fact that our military has the latest and greatest tech and nobody can compare, my question is why not? Do you think that everyone outside the US is snivelling morons that can barely tie their own shoe let alone have a rational thought?

It's a good point.

However, it isn't due to brainpower. It's due to defense spending. We spend more on our defense than most other countries' entire GDP! (and I'm not talking just little countries here)...

Our tech status is a DIRECT result of how much money we've put into R&D over a significant time. Simply put, no other nation has even come close to what we have overall, though, through espionage, some do pretty well copying...

Then again, it may surprise you, for instance, that the equations that enabled stealth flight actually derived from a Russian scientist's publication. At the time, the Russians simply didn't see the application.

And I understand that we spend billions on defense, but that is just funding. Money doesn't always = intelligence, although I'm sure it helps buy it.

You'd be amazed at what throwing a lot of money can do towards solving problems.

reply to post by EagleTalonZ


I was looking into the graph you posted and yes the United States spends a very large amount of money on the military. I do not see it as a complete picture of the GOVERNMENT spending on Research and Development within the private sector.

Also I found this site that shows that The U.S. only uses 19.3% of its entire budget on military. in comparison to the 45.7% the UAE spends on the military from ITS entire budget.

Source: www.visualeconomics.com...

China, with its spending on your graph, is spending 18.2% of their entire budget on military. Thats only a 1% difference in total budget spending.

The U.S. spends so much because the budget is so large. It is no wonder we are going bankrupt.

reply to post by Agarta


It's not a question of percentage, but total billions... Compare THAT figure, which doesn't even include a black budget, etc.

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Agarta

 

It's not a question of percentage, but total billions... Compare THAT figure, which doesn't even include a black budget, etc.

Thats kind of what I am saying, sorry if it came across as against you. I was simply trying to show the difference in total budget spending, in order show the mass amount of spending.

Like you said above it doesn't include black ops and I said It doesn't include Government spending on Research and Development. Both of which sky rocket the spending in the graph.

Well when you print the money, I guess it really opens doors for bigger spending. And I completely agree - those reports don't even come close to the actual numbers being spent that we don't even know about.

Would be great if we had a invisible barrier between US and Mexico

Pity it dosent exist along with all the other stuff of Sci Fy