THe Chinese? Fair and balanced? What do you base that on?

If this question were placed in the context of laws and culture, I'd have to go with the Canadians. We have social values that mirror those of Europe, but we have an army that actively participates all over the world. But despite the "socialist" tag that some Americans will accuse Canada of being, Canada is for a strong free market too. Gays can marry, pot is legal, crime is very low, no death penalty, and even more diversity than America. The cost of a good education has risen dramatically these last 15 years, but compared to America, not even close.

If America were to do away with the death penalty, they would finally join practically every other industrialized nation on that issue, and they would be even more balanced and fair. The other big strike against America is the wildly unbalanced position it took in going into Iraq.

*chuckle*

Canada does indeed sound like a decent place to live, but a very far left viewpoint on politics and social issues is not necessarily the definition of a "fair and balanced" place. What is life like for conservatives there? My impression is that your tolerance is quite selective.

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Well since the current government of Canada is conservative, Tim, I would have to say that we are far from "far-left" as you erroneously categorize us. We are a very diverse, tolerant and cosmopolitan country. Vancouver is usually rated as the best city to live in in the world, most recently by the Economist magazine of England.

BBC NEWS | Business | Vancouver is 'best place to live'

Toronto has been recognized by UNESCO as being the most ethnically diverse city in the world.

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...and the same article also points out that Canada was the FIRST country in the world to have an official policy supporting multi-culturalism

LA Riots and regular police beatings to the contrary?

On my experience.

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I think as several posters have already stated and alluded to, it's rather difficult to be objective as cultural bias always plays a part. That being said, 'open mindedness' is less encouraged in some cultures, as is freer media. It doen't mean that some individuals won't grow up questioning the system, but it means it's likely there will be fewer that will do so.

Probably because they do not make such comments as yours.

I would have to say America, however. Due to the cultural diversity. Yes, our government may be completely unreasonable in most cases, but a fair amount of us can debate without killing each other.

To Americans, it may be a "very far-left" view on politics and social issues. But to them, it may be conservative. International politics are FAR different from our own domestic politics. Think of it this way:

Our Politics:
International Politics:

International politics range from the very far-left (anarchism, you might say) to the far-right (ultraconservative, fundamentalism, etc...). The political range of the United States government is nothing like the International political playing field as a whole. To the rest of the world, our far-rights and our far-lefts are merely centrist.

In my travels, it seems the average people of any nation seem to be balanced in their opinions. Aside from religion, basic norms and morals triumph.

You can say that again and again. It is one of the two core values in Confucism to stay balanced and adopt a middle way. In case of politics, every nation has its own interests, so u cannot judge this question by each country's political agendas. So, it is too simplistic to say Canadians, Australians and Northern Europeans are the most balanced. The political interests of these countries have the luxury to be balanced, which does not mean the people in these countries are balanced.

Those countries historically influenced by monotheist religions can hardly be balanced. Both the "liberals" and "conservatives" in those countries have their own sets of "values" and they can hardly be flexible and understand that no "value" is universal panacea. European countries, North America and those Muslim countries are all basically the same and belong to this category. Japan before WW2 was also in this category. Also, those countries who have almost pure race are always racists and extreme nationalists, so Japan after WW2 and Korea are in this category.

With racial diversity, those countries historically influenced by religions with multiple gods, like China, Thailand and India, have much more balanced philosophy. Africans are also options.

CTV.ca | Canada tops world popularity poll, Israel is last

According to this BBC survey, Canadians are the world's most popular citizens, followed by the Japanese and French. Americans are near the bottom.

Thats an interesting comment and almost a mirror of the way many australians feel about americas government and media. Really I find many americans are surprised when they come to australia to find that we are pretty much a social democratic country and far from the racist redneck way we seem to be perceived by many people in the rest of the world.
I find Canadians to be the most open minded in discussion though and once heard them described as "frozen australians". I have also found that my personal political views which are pretty well left wing are closest to many Canadians I have encountered both in real life and the internet. Americans are the most polite though I have found and most readily overlook insults.

As for british people, having spent 4 months in London made me observe that they're about as fair and balanced as french people. Which is not a compliment.

I don't know about Irish people, but thank God English people are more intelligent than their media. English media include some of the worst that can be found in democracies.
Now this looks like a fair and balanced view. So the fairest people are from netherlands.

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well, I don't know about a fair and balanced NATION ... but I am definitely the most fair and balanced person in the entire world - and anybody who disagrees with me should be lined up and SHOT!

I personally think that French people are more humble, modest and less obnoxious than British people, especially when it comes to drinking.

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