America is a big place. So is Europe. Everybody has something to be ashamed of. Nobody is perfect. National and regional virtues and vices are intrinsically multidimensional, and do not reduce to a single meritocratic scale. Is America "better" than Europe. Bottom. The question makes no sense, because the notion of "better" or "worse" does not apply.
I am from the UK.
Through time, both historically and more recently, my fellow countrymen have engaged in any number of ethically horrendous actions that disgust and offend my sense of what is right and proper. I don't want to be caught defending the concentration camps in 1950's Kenya. I don't want to be caught defending the (recent) off-hand murder of unarmed prisoners-of-war in Afghanistan.
By the same token, I am imperfect too. I don't want to be caught defending some of the things that I have done and said in the past.
There is no sense of righteousness driving this, just a generalised sense that the world is a slovenly place, and that leading a good, moral, conscientious life is beyond the abilities of most of us.
We all have a responsibility, as fellow human-beings, to support each other in our efforts to improve our world (no matter how futile those efforts might appear to be).
I am from the UK.
Through time, both historically and more recently, my fellow countrymen have engaged in any number of ethically horrendous actions that disgust and offend my sense of what is right and proper. I don't want to be caught defending the concentration camps in 1950's Kenya. I don't want to be caught defending the (recent) off-hand murder of unarmed prisoners-of-war in Afghanistan.
By the same token, I am imperfect too. I don't want to be caught defending some of the things that I have done and said in the past.
There is no sense of righteousness driving this, just a generalised sense that the world is a slovenly place, and that leading a good, moral, conscientious life is beyond the abilities of most of us.
We all have a responsibility, as fellow human-beings, to support each other in our efforts to improve our world (no matter how futile those efforts might appear to be).