I don’t deny the problems with this country. I vote to try and make this country better. Seeing the same posts about how horrible this country is gets old after a while. A majority of Reddit and this site would agree with the flaws of the US. The people who really need to hear this stuff aren’t on here.
The thing is, America (many Americans anyway) are continually screaming at everyone online about how America is the best country in the world and everywhere else is a shithole - despite very few measures supporting that.
If you insist on telling everyone you’re the best, when you have so many serious flaws, people are going to mock you for it.
You mean you vote to feel better about yourself, to try to sweep any guilt or bad feeling under the rug, and you feel upset when you get reminded electoral politics means jackshit in the US (and in most liberal plutocraties)
Pointing out flaws in the country shouldn’t be seen as a personal attack or critique. Many of the victims of America are it’s citizens (e.g., the incarcerated).
Nationalism just twists the government into our personal identity to manipulate us. Making fun of the government/system is healthy.
This isn’t “Americans dumb” content, which attacks the actual citizens and understandably may weigh on someone.
There’s a difference between “America has serious problems,let’s get to work fixing them” and “America is inherently evil and can’t be saved (and you’re an idiot at best, a right-wing plant at worst for thinking otherwise)”. The former fires people up to start making progess, the latter shuts people down or causes them to tune out of politics altogether.
And to be blunt, this particular meme feels like it’s falling more in the second category than the first, at least to me.
I take it as “America has good ideals that it should live up to.”
Might be pollyanna-ing… almost certainly am, but I’m trying to take this Independence Day to appreciate what we’ve got, what my ancestors came to this country for, and that the maintenance of it, and the realization of its ideals, is a lot of work we’ve got to do yet, and will always be with us.
I don’t deny the problems with this country. I vote to try and make this country better. Seeing the same posts about how horrible this country is gets old after a while. A majority of Reddit and this site would agree with the flaws of the US. The people who really need to hear this stuff aren’t on here.
The thing is, America (many Americans anyway) are continually screaming at everyone online about how America is the best country in the world and everywhere else is a shithole - despite very few measures supporting that.
If you insist on telling everyone you’re the best, when you have so many serious flaws, people are going to mock you for it.
You mean you vote to feel better about yourself, to try to sweep any guilt or bad feeling under the rug, and you feel upset when you get reminded electoral politics means jackshit in the US (and in most liberal plutocraties)
Pointing out flaws in the country shouldn’t be seen as a personal attack or critique. Many of the victims of America are it’s citizens (e.g., the incarcerated).
Nationalism just twists the government into our personal identity to manipulate us. Making fun of the government/system is healthy.
This isn’t “Americans dumb” content, which attacks the actual citizens and understandably may weigh on someone.
I’m extremely happy to see a real conversation happening. This is actually worth reading, and not just another idiotic shouting match.
There’s a difference between “America has serious problems,let’s get to work fixing them” and “America is inherently evil and can’t be saved (and you’re an idiot at best, a right-wing plant at worst for thinking otherwise)”. The former fires people up to start making progess, the latter shuts people down or causes them to tune out of politics altogether.
And to be blunt, this particular meme feels like it’s falling more in the second category than the first, at least to me.
I take it as “America has good ideals that it should live up to.”
Might be pollyanna-ing… almost certainly am, but I’m trying to take this Independence Day to appreciate what we’ve got, what my ancestors came to this country for, and that the maintenance of it, and the realization of its ideals, is a lot of work we’ve got to do yet, and will always be with us.