Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom revolves around an old school news anchor whose rant about the decline of America goes viral. The rant is classic Sorkin, the kind of monologue you want to memorize and repeat the next time someone talks about American exceptionalism...
"And yeah you, sorority girl, just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know. And one of them is there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world".
"We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force and number four in exports".
"We lead the world in only three categories. Number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies".
"Now none of this is the fault of a 20 year-old college student but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the worst period generation period ever period. So when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about".
