鴉PieFedThose who live outside of the US, what's something Americans aren't ready to hear?
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return2ozma@lemmy.world
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return2ozma@lemmy.world
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Many, if not most, of us are jealous of other countries, though. Really, this is only a hard truth for the MAGA crowd, and even that is (I think) largely the fault of the nationalist propaganda that's been shoveled at us since we were kids.
As an American, I agree with you, though - the US is in no way a 'strong democracy', or much of a democracy at all. It may once have been, but it certainly hasn't been the case for a long time.
Back in 1780s the US constitution was an absolute marvel of progressiveness, but today, it is increadibly outdated and keeps the US political system back from making progress.
We're like the 40-year-old still wearing his school jacket and talking about winning state.
But we’re really a used car salesman trying to get you to finance a clapped out Nissan Altima with 128k miles, failing clear coat, and a dented bumper.
Four touchdowns in a single game, go Bundy!
Not most unfortunately, that I learned a couple months ago. Most think their squalor is somehow peak civilization
No shit, what American thinks either are true?
Has been a joke for like 30 years now
You haven't met much of the rural population, have you?
This. Conservatives have poor media literacy. They don't understand that they're the punchline in stuff like that. They miss the point of stuff like RoboCop and Starship Troopers and unironically like those movies for the action and don't even recognize the social commentary. They watched Team America and guffawed into their 24 packs of light beer at every shallow joke without recognizing that the jokes were intentionally shallow to point out what an idiot would think is a good joke. It's like the TV show in Idiocracy. The real joke is below the surface.
I used to watch Colbert Report with my dad and it took him years to realize that it was a parody mocking him often personally. My dad was not a dumb man. The conservative bubble is hard to pop. Its like a Stockholm syndrome victim sympathizing with their attacker.
There are different dimensions of dumb.
It blows my mind that when Colbert got his new job he had people coming up to him for years saying they liked his old show better.
They liked his old show, The Colbert Report, better. When it was clearly satire.
Literally the opposite...
Where are you see conservatives talking about how great America has been under Bidnen?
Like, you put zero thinking into your comment, just like you assume the people you're "dunking on" do.
You're a different side of the same coin, that's never meant opposites, you're th same thing.
Just neither sid bis smart enough to figure it out, and both think only the other side is dumb
The irony is rooted in reality, much like the stereotypes.
I've received quite a few hostile reactions when critiquing the US, including idiocy like "FU we have a bigger military" from blowhards.
There are, unfortunately, enough bad apples to spoil the bushel.
Believe me there's no shortage of people who know that were not the shining city on the hill, unfortunately we're drowned out by pandering patriotic country music and gunfire from mass shootings.
This clip from the Newsroom sums it up perfectly.
Man I forgot how good that show was
I like the clip, but IMO they basically bailed out in the end by all the nonsense quoted from the ~3:25 mark on.
Jeff basically makes it sound like the US used to be incredibly self-aware, humble, kind, and well-administrated, but I think what most Americans don't choose to understand is that since the very settling of the continent, it's been a highly fraught, contentious situation, much of it characterised by greed, cruelty, violence, intolerance and self-righteousness.
Now yes, from what I understand of history, under FDR we more or less hit a peak of being a well-run, progressive country, on the level of many modern Euro countries more or less, but most of that was specifically in response to the utter disaster of the Great Depression and the need to adjust powerfully, swiftly and accurately. Meanwhile, IIRC during his presidency, there was in fact a right-wing movement intending to remove him by underhanded means.
So I like the hopefulness of the clip, but in the end I also find it pretty typical of Americans being largely unwilling to understand the hows and whys of the nation, going back to the early 1600's.
Eh, sorry for the dang essay. :S
I mean, we generally know the first part. The second isn't really a surprise either.
Then why do you sound like you are
Because thats what you've been brainwashed to think the world wants, so thats what you hear
lol
What? We have two right wing parties to choose from! Is that not enough? Should we make three right wing parties so you feel we are better represented?
Yeah, most of us in the U.S. don't think this way. This is just republicans, and they aren't really here on Lemmy.
Most "third world" or "developing" countries aren't that bad, and there are places in the US far worse than the median developing country.
Also most people in most places do not want to go to the US, even to visit much less immigrate. It's generally either the worst of a particular society or those specifically harmed by the US previously and feel their chances are better off with the abuser instead of in the abused country. It's not a wanted destination.
Trump has a famous line whining about America only getting immigrants from the "shithole countries". Wonder why, dude.
And us "shithole countries" receive some immigrants from USA that put to shame the worst we could send back, only they call themselves expatriates.
Haah. Never thought about it but this is very true.
This was a MASSIVE eye opening shock to me. You watch NCIS or any pro military show and they'll pan to Baghdad or anything middle east and you'll see crumbling buildings or warzone with a sepia filter. I was got smacked when I saw a real skyline photo of Baghdad, and istanbul, and most cities. Our media is dead set on continuing the thought of these empty deserts
That's wild, from Europe Istanbul is quite well known
I honestly had no idea they had electricity. That's how bad the propaganda is
You're kidding me
Wish I was friend, thought it was all single story white stone housing. We were told America is number one, never saw a skyline or how big it was.
There is a book called Factfulness where they talk about presenting the UN scientists their own data and surprising them at the standard of living in many third world countries. People's ideas of third world countries is based on what they were like in the 50s, but many are catching up to the developed world in leaps and bounds.
Everyone i've known who wanted to go to the US was interested in making easy money by scamming people. That's the type who admire the US.
I'm not sure where you're from, but at least in the Middle East that's not the case. It's a very desirable immigration destination here (less than Western Europe, though).
See the last part of the second paragraph for that. Victims of the empire paradoxically tend to want to immigrate to the empire believing they'll be better off there than in the country that empire targeted.
That's... not related at all though. And not all of the Middle East was subjected to (overt) American imperialism.
The UN General Assembly Human Rights Council 2018 report on USA's poverty and human rights is a pretty quick and clear overview which makes it clear that parts of the USA are just undeveloped:
http://undocs.org/A/HRC/38/33/ADD.1
Your population is essentially being farmed by corporations.
Nothing new to that. In 1886 case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the US Supreme Court declared that companies are people too. With the same rights — under the 14th amendment.
But without the responsabilities I bet.
And the option to be thrown in jail.
Whether or not they're subject to the death penalty seems to still be undecided in the court of popular opinion.
The court has spoken : only the rights.
Vasectomy safe. No wage slave renters coming from this guy.
Universal health care is better than whatever you have, for 99.9% of the people 99.9% of the time. And it always was. And always will be.
We know. Even if some of us don’t want to admit it.
This is absolutely true, but I do think that a lot of Americans *are* in fact ready to hear this. There is just a lot of money and power involved. And those with money and power don't want to change it since it won't improve their lives. There's also religion involved. And many Republicans are religious and have been fooled into thinking that universal healthcare is all about allowing abortion.
But, then who makes money ? It just doesn't make sense !
Yeah, anyone with a brain knows this... So, like, between 33-66% of the country.
We can't understand how millions can vote for a senile, convicted sexual predator as president....
Dude half of us don't understand it either.
It's amazing what decades of defunding education will do when you mix it with a healthy dose of conservative talk show TV and social media algorithms.
I dunno, i understand it pretty well. Lack of education, lead paint/gasoline, nationalism, fascism, racism, sexism, economic disparity, lack of healthcare to deal with neural degeneracy common in trump supporters, and finally lower borth rates among the more educated. America is a shithole, and has been for the past 40 years at least. Until we finally grow a spine and start "adjusting", things are going to continue getting worse until were all dead and the olligarchs own everything. Then theyll move on to fucking the rest of the world (harder than they already are)
Was with you to the last bit. What does it mean to "grow a spine and start 'adjusting'"? Why is "adjusting" in quotes?
a metaphor which means "get our shit together"
Great, thanks. I want to know what OP *actually wants us to do*. I hate the situation we were in and I sure as shit didn't vote for this asshole the first or second time, but other than voting and trying to survive what exactly do you want us to do to "get our shit together".
Less than half apparently..
I guess it's much less than half.
About 1/7 are less than voting age. Another 1/7 or so voted for the oompa loompa, and another 1/7 voted against. So actually, about half of the population just doesn't vote because they're a different type of idiot.
I do hate it here, for what it's worth.
Welcome to every election, not just presidential and not just a Republican or Democrat problem. Trump is disgusting but Seattles former mayor was way worse and didn’t get a peep nationwide.
And Chicago, and New York, and...
I’m just glad our poor congressmen can legally insider trade, think of the children!
And insider trade of children, and if anyone thinks it's just Matt Gaetz, let me sell you my nfts.
How is you not understanding that the fault of the Americans?
The original question was not "what bad thing are Americans guilty of?"
Okay, well, how is it that Americans aren't ready to hear them not understanding something?
Hah! Let's make a list of the countries where leadership of that ilk has never existed. (We'll just ignore that most of them did not allow elections.) Won't take much paper.
Needing two jobs to survive isn't a good thing.
International rankings of the US are abysmal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_the_United_States
Peace:
"Vision of Humanity 2024 Global Peace Index ranked 132nd out of 162 countries"
...yup. sounds about right. We've been at some kind of war for pretty much the entirety of our existence...
Well at least you're good at....... losing wars, I dunno
The winning or losing was almost always secondary. The main thing is to spend a load of money on wars. We've never failed at that.
Military skill was a use it or lose it thing. I wouldn't be surprised if all of the wars that the US has been fighting have been intentional, specifically in order to maintain skilled soldiers.
Government spending in the Military Industrial Complex is the point.
An able
militiamilitary is a side effect.Destabilizing other countries and exploitation of natural resources and cheap labor, in order to maintain USD and military hegemony. That's why.
It's n.1 in total wealth though, that's great!
/s
Your gun worship is killing you.
For what it's worth, the majority of the nation doesn't worship guns. But the very small minority that does, like... They worship them a lot.
This one is far more complicated than non-americans think. I've spoken to people outside the country, and they tend to only listen to the really dumb democrats when it comes to this issue.
You can't close Pandora's box. There are 393 million guns in the hands of civilians here. If you have a crazy neighbor with a gun, you kind of have to go get one yourself. That, or devise another method of viable self defense. The cops won't help you, not in virtually any situation.
Better shoot him too, before he shoots you.
The other realistic option is that he shoots me empty handed. No one is going to take his gun and no one is going to save me in time.
Doesn't seem like having more guns fixes that then.
Well I can't go back in time to preemptively stop them from getting a gun in the first place, I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for that situation.
Funny, though, that there have been working methods of reducing the number of guns in civilized countries in the past.
But somehow every gun-toting American is totally convinced that reducing the amount of guns on the road is technically impossible,
Those countries don't have the culty gun fetishism we do.
Affordable healthcare
Public transit
Civilian oversight
Prisoner rehabilitation
Universal income
Free education
Separation of religion and state
Wealth taxes
Law enforcement accountability
Environmental regulations…
Please adopt me.
I cringe every time their president or other politicians are talking about god. It's unbelievable how backward the US are in this regard.
“God bless America”? Imagine what that would look like.
Not America.
Where is this magical place?
Scandinavia.
Was guessing so. Thanks for your reply,
Varies state to state and city to city, but my city has the majority of that list… plus the freedom of speech is nice. When I read the news about people in Europe going to prison for comments online but getting slapped on the wrist for violent crimes I’m baffled.
Oh really? I would like to know which city is that so I can confirm, but I seriously doubt you have most of that list since that's regulated on state or federal level.
Also we have freedom of speech in Europe, but you obviously can't incite violence, the same is true in the US, going online and trying to get people to bomb a building filled with gays or immigrants is hate speech and will get you arrested in most civilized countries.
I gut upvoted you because I want to confirm your point of view, it resonates with me. But you are asking the guy to doxx himself for an internet argument, besides maybe where he lives isn't so bad and he wanted to express his sentiment.
Yes, I don't expect him to answer, even though just naming a city where you lived or have lived before is not doxxing yourself, it is personal information that I understand someone not wanting to share.
That being said, his claim was that his city had most of a list of things, you can't make that claim and not expect to divulge the city, he could have hidden the fact that it was where he lived or had lived before by saying "X city has most of that" which would have allowed him to give verifiable information about his claim without doxxing themselves. But as it is it sounds like the person who swears he has a girlfriend who lives in another country and has natural blue hair, but no one has ever seen her.
The thing is that the US also does not have 100% free speech.
You can absolutely get arrested in the US for shouting "FIRE!" In a crowded area.
Regarding punishment for violent crimes seeming low in Europe, that is mainly due to us focusing on rehabilitation rather than revenge. However change is comming, we are moving to longer punishments.
If I got to decide, we would have a system where we focus on rehab for the first X times a person commits a crime, when it has been shown that the person does not want to change, then they are put in containment prisons, they are less nice, and focus on containment firstly, rehab secondly.
The small brained “you can’t yell fire in a movie theater” argument so we don’t have free speech is the intellectual equivalent of Jeff Bezos is poor because he drives a ‘93 Honda civic.
Yet that is exactly your argument, that only the US has free speech because Europe puts people in jail for online comments, without regard to what those comments are, it's the equivalent to saying the US jails people for speaking in the movie theaters in the fire example.
Free speech doesn't not mean freedom from consequences.
Example. If you tell someone to kill someone else, and they do it, you will be charged with a crime. Free speech means that you can voice your views, and the government (not private corporations btw) is not allowed to restrict it. That's why you can still read Luigi's manifesto, or the Unabomber's. It's why you can still publish and read the Articles of the Confederacy, or the Anarchist's Cookbook.
Have you just come here from 9gag?
The main reason US can and could ever delude itself into being great is for having a ridiculous people-to-land/resources ratio. There is nothing inherently great about how the US does things, it just seems that way because you can do whatever you want if you have essentially infinite resources compared to everyone else.
Also, they are geographically isolated which kept them out of most destructive wars.
Yeah the US only became....
... The US.
Because of the World Wars.
Europe, the then-seat of every worldwide empire, was killing itself and dragging all of Asia and Africa down with them.
The Americas in general were "safe". Isolated from this chaos. Every country in the New World got a boost from the wars.
.... But the US had a nation that was a. Fully Independent b. Relatively Stable and c. Rich in resources -- So they basically got a decade-and-change of time to develop themselves while everyone who had previosly been rich and powerful was getting fucked, and by the time the dust settled, they were the top dogs just because they were lucky.
Yeah, in addition to having a super-endowment of natural resources, remember that we also stole the labor of about 20 generations of Africans to help turn that into wealth.
True, but that isn't really very unique to the US
Of course! The part that Americans don't want to hear is that we are wealthy *because of* that theft of labor. It's not just an immoral peccadillo of our ancestors.
We've been converting that over to latinos, still shit pay but less chaining people to things.
Yeah, and the right side of our government is now trying to cover up and bury that entire segment of our history. It's absolutely insane what they are doing.
The people who worship it are also the people who screwed it all up. It's like a failed experiment that needs to be reset. The freedom that everyone speaks of is mostly just one person's way of taking freedom from another.
Honestly, speaking as an American, there's kind of endless examples of us doing most things *worse*. Healthcare, democracy, workers rights, our "justice" system, incarceration... The list goes on and on.
The U.S. is an oligarchy.
Luigi knows
No, no, we know that one.
We obviously know this.
Half of your country doesn't.
Half of the country doesn't know what an oligarchy is.
It's not half. Though, you could say only a third of us seem to care about the fact.
59% of eligible voters participated in the last election. Trump actually lost votes compared to 2020, but THAT many people didn't show up last November.
American cars suck.
Hard agree, as an American. Honda and Toyota destroy our local companies in pretty much every regard other than maybe regulation dodging.
Can you even call our local companies "local", they're all assembled and built in mexico anyways.
Now that you mention it, I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese companies manufacture more cars in the US than US-based companies.
Not sure about more, but I remember a story from a while ago that Honda or Toyota had the only NASCAR car entirely manufactured in the US.
My brother works for one of those “local” companies and was still calling it local even though he had half a dozen plants in Mexico he was responsible for tooling up
Ford is one of them that actually majorly is in the US. Fuck Dodge though
Dodge! I love their looks, but they've had disproportionately bad transmission problems since I was a kid. :)
Preach. Some of the worst engineering in the industry over the last 40+ years.
Brought to you by Daimler, Fiat, and Stellantis.
Not if we ban all the competition! Capitalists hate competition.
Americans are 100% aware of this. I've never owned an American car in my life.
For millions of United States Americans, the so called "American Dream" is achieved in Mexico. They're often illegal immigrants. They often have mental health problems. They gentrify our cities and are entitled as fuck.\
Pot calling kettle and all, but I do wish they'd go back to their own shithole country. They have demonized my country for decades and have weaponized the cartels to feed their own addictions. Most of the problems here can be tied directly to their humongous drug problems.
Yankee go home. The United Mexican States is tired of your shit.
And half of them won't even bother learning Spanish. I'll never give someone who immigrates due to hardship a hard time about learning the language, but privileged fucks who go to exploit a lower cost of living or whatever often just end up in expat bubbles and don't know more than a few words of the local language even after years despite having that privilege of time/money/resources to learn it.
So are there any good ones? Learning Spanish and giving back to the community? Just curious. That’s what I plan to do when I move out of here, learn the language and do volunteer work, etc.
Spot on about the gentrification bit. Entire town populations have shifted from local people to the self called expats and snowbirds. Just look at Chelém, Mérida, San Miguel de Allende, Tulúm, Cancún and many many more including most upitty neighborhoods in México City (Condesa, Roma, San Angel).
I had no idea we had people illegally immigrating that much. Bet they're the type to use the word "illegals" pejoratively.
The level of nonsensical nationalist propaganda in the US is maybe only second to North Korea's.
You made me think of my buddy from the states visiting me in Toronto 2010-ish laughing at the Canadian flags they sometimes saw flying from people's houses and other buildings. I asked her what struck her so funny about them and she blanked for a second. She said, "It's just weird seeing so many flags that aren't American... Like, this is a country too... um." We had a brilliant talk about flag-waving patriots for a bit, but seeing that glitch was really interesting and I've never forgotten it.\
That said, I had plenty of teachers growing up and know tonnes of educators now who'd totally be into forcing students to salute the Canadian flag and pledge allegiance to their God & Country every morning. The only thing stopping them is legislation preventing it, not national identity.
If there's one thing the US is great at, it's exporting the most stupid stuff they can come up with. At the moment, unfortunately, it seems to be politics.
Yeah kids reciting the pledge of allegiance is honestly psychotic.
Probably 3rd behind China
I honestly think the US and China might be neck and neck
Both are empires Both are very concerned with both their outward image and with what the peasantry is up to, lest they get too antsy.
And both have very advanced technology and a very well developed media ecosystem at their disposal.
They both probably push out about as much propaganda by weight.
I'm actually not sure how it compares to Israel. Might be close too
Despite his severe back problems, Luigi mangione is the only one of you who has a backbone.
That's on education. We are plenty violent it's just hard to know where to put it.
Ummm..... Follow the money?
You wasted your chance as a hyper-power. The Soviet Union had fallen and the world was essentially yours but you did nothing with it. Now India and China are rising powers and you are going back to being a regular super-power.
I mean...what did you want us to do? Invade Europe?
As an American, I can think of a few things we shouldn't have done. The whole debacle in Iraq comes to mind. A few trillion dollars pissed away. Thousands of American lives lost. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead. All for Iraq just to end up a puppet state of Iran. We've also destabilized the international system, particularly the trade system, that we built up in the first place. We've repeatedly violated our own trade agreements so many times it's not even funny anymore. How could we have used this unique historical opportunity for the betterment of the world? Here's one idea.
In an ideal world, the US would have used its hyperpower status to truly advance democracy around the world. We would have taken this opportunity to once and for all finally drive the last nail in the coffin of global authoritarianism and dictatorship. In our timeline, we looked past the CCP's human rights abuses and let China into the global trade system. We did this because our corporations got greedy and wanted to make bank in the Chinese market. We gave in to their greed at the expense of global human rights and our own long term national security. Now we've turned the government of China (which has morphed into some horrible amalgamation of communism and fascism) into the most capable manufacturing power on the planet. It didn't have to be this way. We could have told China, and everyone else. "Democracy first, then trade. We're only interested in trading with and enriching fellow free nations."
After the Cold War ended, the US was ascendant. The economic power of us and our allies was unmatched. The US, Europe, and allies dominated the world economically and militarily. Imagine in a different timeline if we had used that power to peacefully advance democracy worldwide. Imagine if after the Cold War, the US international policy became:
*"We allied with dictatorships when necessary during the Cold War to contain the USSR. That is no longer needed. From now on, we're happy to open up markets and trade with anyone, as long as they are a liberal democracy. You want to join the global economy and get rich? Give your people freedom. Petty dictatorships can remain poor and undeveloped, thus limiting the amount of damage they can cause outside their borders. We'll give food and medical supplies to nations in crisis, even those ruled by dictators. But full economic integration will only be done with fellow democracies. We will not trade with tyrants."*
That is the kind of visionary approach that a hyperpower like the US could have taken to really make the world better. You don't need to invade countries to have an influence on them. And this really does represent a lost opportunity. The time immediately after the fall of the USSR was the moment when the free and democratic countries were at the absolute peak of their economic power. But since we allowed China into the WTO and opened up trade with them, we have created an industrial juggernaut that is ruled by an absolute dictatorship.
At the end of the Cold War, the democracies could have banded together and used their utter dominance of the global economy to push for further democratization around the world. There just wasn't anyone else to trade with for many advanced consumer and industrial goods. But now? That kind of strategy wouldn't work. If all the democracies tomorrow insisted on trading only with other democracies, the various dictatorships around the world can now just keep trading with China.
TL:DR: After the fall of the USSR, democracy as a global force was at the absolute historic peak of its power, both economically and militarily. If the US and allies had really brought their full economic and cultural power to bear, they could have attempted a last final push to ensure democracy reigned everywhere. Even without invading anyone, we could have used that immense economic power to at least attempt to throw down the last of the dictators and to bring democracy to every man, woman, and child on the planet. Instead, we tried to line our own pockets and ended up creating a monster by turning communist China into the workshop of the world.
Why would the U.S. have started trying to expand democracy after the Cold War? They were willing to support anti-Democratic coups in Iran, Syria, Brazil, Iraq, Bolivia, and probably dozens of others I'm forgetting. America was promoting capitalism during the Cold War, not democracy.
Sure. You're correct, but irrelevant. That's why I said "in an ideal world." In an ideal world, what kind of actions could the US have taken immediately after the Cold War to make the world better for everyone? Obviously the Cold War was more about advancing capitalism than advancing democracy. Hence us forming alliances with dictators, as I mentioned. But in an ideal world, with capitalism triumphant around the globe, the US would have at least used its hyperpower status to push hard for democracy globally.
You're calling for the USA to brutally repress and dominate the world, that's not Democracy.
The USA could also have stopped China manipulating their currency exchange rates. This is artificially making their exports cheaper and boosting their economy. Simultaneously this is exporting their economic imbalances to the global economy and destablising other countries, typically manifesting as manufacturing declining and 'service' based sectors becoming more prominent than they should be.
Yes, there were a whole series of things that could have been done. But looking back, it seems obvious now that helping China to get rich was a poor decision. A wealthy and more industrialized country is simply a far more serious geopolitical threat than a poorer one. I'm glad that the Chinese population have been able to pull themselves up out of poverty. But in terms of our own national security and the security of democratic countries everywhere, enriching such a brutal dictatorship was a terrible mistake. Without its economic explosion, China wouldn't today be on the brink of potentially invading Taiwan, and they wouldn't be serving as the main economic backer for Russia's war in Ukraine. In our world, wealth is power, and power is wealth. And by trading with the CCP, we magnified their power many fold.
God, you Americans are so selfish
Typical American: "what we did wrong was not be *even more* brutally repressive to other countries".
Its sad that I am old and cynical enough to think your entire TLDR paragraph is targically absurd. Of course we'd never do those things. I used to think such things could happen.
I was thinking the haning chads and the spinelessness of dems did us in. If Al Gore would have won! But I guess the history goes deeper.
Maybe France...
Casual French bashing
"Nobody ever says Italy"
They tried, even had some monopoly bills printed.
Edit, because it's apparently not a very well known story.
Avoid military action without the expressed endorsement of the UN Security Council, for example, bombing of Yugoslavia.
That's a great example of something they *shouldn't* have done, not some they *should* have done. Believe me, there's plenty of intervention that I wish the military and intelligence communities *hadn't* done, but the way the comment is framed, it seems like this person is implying we should have done *more*, not *less*.
It's about how it should be done. Whether there should be more or fewer interventions is moot. It's about building a world order where nations don't feel like usa is untrustworthy. Maybe through a rules based process like UN security council.
Good. Living in a super power seems to suck period, because super powers care about ideology and power, not people. Do we need "hyper?"
I think its just power. No one gives a crap what the peasants think. Why should they? Our elections are stage managed so we never have choice. We dont fund winning elections either-- corporations do. What do they have to fear from us?
NOT that I don't think you're mistaken, but at the same time, India & China are about as @(*&#-ed as it possibly comes when it comes to being considered 'super-powers.'
Well, I mean they are all fucked up super-powers now. My main point was that there was a period of like 20+ years where the USA literally ruled the world but didn't do anything with it.
I am curious on what you mean by 'didn’t do anything with it'. What should had the USA done in that time?
Reinforce the international order of economic cooperation guided by a rules-based system underpinned by the UN,
Instead there were just foreign adventures in the Middle East and a lot of navel-gazing internal politics about climate change/denialism. You could have set a template for all countries to follow instead of inventing "rolling coal".
Billionares, Hollywood, Reagansim, War on Drugs etc. Including the things you said it seems they did a lot actually.
Yeah, I get you...
One thing that totally kills me is how the US just *screwed* with so many other nations over the years, mainly for profit, etc.
Same as every super-power in existence ever. Maybe ...it's just a super-power thing?
In a general way, likely yes.
But in a specific way, for example when you look at Jeff Daniels' Newsroom speech to the college audience, there's a 'squeaky-clean,' treacly level of nonsense that's long been attributed to the US, that simply doesn't jibe with reality. It's got some parallels with the English Empire nonsense, but not necessarily so much with other super-powers. That's the difference.
They did plenty with it: they brutally repressed the globe to create unimaginable profit for their ruling class.
The main thing Americans need to hear but aren't ready for: you aren't better than India or China as super powers, in fact, you're worse than China.
What do you mean? The people who benefited the most from the collapse of the Soviet Union are the people still in power. I'd argue they did an excellent job setting up the Western hegemony to worship billionaires and empower themselves.
What, did you think the U.S. was going to do something good with that power?
American capitalists needs other countries to get rich too so we can sell them shit. If those countries stayed rural and backwards who would buy our wares.
They made some billionaires and created the "tech" world as we know it. There are achievements, but they are lackluster and half assed... apart from the billionaires thing. They knocked that one out of the Park.
Thank the stars for that! We don’t deserve it.
As an American, I'm gonna barge in with my loud opinion, 'cuz that's what we do. Here's something which people living elsewhere might not know that Americans aren't ready to hear:
Automobiles are luxury toys and fashion accessories, and we shouldn't base our entire lives on them. No, the car industry didn't make our economy strong; it took off after we already had a lot of extra wealth to burn after becoming a world economic powerhouse. We can't afford to keep wasting all that wealth on them as the world starts to burn, and half of our citizens sink into poverty.
Ironically the ability to not have a car is also flex on wealth in the US because you would have to be able to afford to live and work in a region that is incredibly limited and expensive. In most of the US cars aren't luxury toys, they're a needed appliance and many employers will refuse to hire you without one.
That's 100% due to government policy. Those places are highly desirable places to live as evidenced by the high prices, but they are limited in supply only because it's illegal to build new ones. We used to build efficient places out of economical necessity, then for the usual reason (racism), we codified an extravagant, wasteful built environment as the default, or only, option.
Cars are still luxury toys, they're just required by law.
Nowhere is a car required by law ..lmfao
That's not exactly true. While yes, the car isn't required but there are zoning restrictions on density of housing and mixed use spaces making the car needed to accommodate.
I'm going to stipulate here that you don't get to have it both ways, to say that a car is both essential to American life, but not required by law. See, it's laws that shape the human environment to make one essential: Parking minimums, building codes, zoning, lending standards, driver's licenses as default photo ID, and so on.
If it's laws that make cars required to live, then they're de facto required by law.
Okay, but they aren't *literally* required by law. You're just making a case for them being a necessity not everyone truly wants.
Plenty of people don't own vehicles, and they are not getting in trouble with our legal system for simply making that choice.
Quite a few people buy cars just because they need to get places and there's not good alternatives. Otherwise why would cars like the Sentra or CRV exist? Just making it so those folks don't need to buy one would do a lot to make cars more luxurious and fashionable.
Those are fine examples to prove my point. Even the low-end, just-get-around cars have climate controls, entertainment systems, and plush seating. They're about more than utility, just getting from one place to another. For the CRV, the web site for it really wants to sell the image of adventure, like driving one means you're ready to head out on road trips, and listen to the Bose sound system while doing so. The base model is also 190hp. The Sentra is 149hp, and over $20,000 base price. Compare that to the Ford Model T, at around $6,000 (inflation adjusted). That was 20hp. Twenty horsepower, no air conditioning, no power steering, no Apple CarPlay, and people drove them across the continent.
Anyway, I just got home from some errands, and while out, I saw a guy driving a big, shiny, white Ford Model F truck, and wearing a cowboy hat. There are no cattle ranches in Wisconsin. Also, it's January and he wasn't wearing a coat; he doesn't plan to go outside. The car one drives is totally a fashion statement. Driving a low-end car conveys a message about you, just like wearing off-the-rack versus bespoke clothes. Even Warren Buffett's econobox is a statement.
And that's leaving aside the assumption that getting from place to place has to involve a car.
People also used to sleep in houses made of sod with mud floors and wood fire heating. But we don't now because that's not very nice, despite it being incredibly energy intensive to light, heat, and cool a whole house and refrigerate parts of it and have thinking machines just to play games on.
I want cars to be luxurious and fashionable but not necessary. I think it will lead to cars that look and drive better, and fewer people on the roads will make driving more fun.
I'm with you on that last bit. The problem that we have with cars is the way that almost everybody is forced to use one for every trip to go anywhere, or at least forced to own a car for many trips. We can't sustain that economically (I believe that car ownership is a financial burden for around 1/4 of Americans, and our infrastructure rates at D+ nationally), ecologically (climate change is only part of it, the direct ecological destruction is also enormous), and even psychologically (the loneliness epidemic). I'd be over-the-moon if everybody had a choice of a convenient alternative to a single-passenger car for any trip that they wanted to do, with cars as the luxury alternative.
I like how you cite cars which are fairly reasonable options when the Mitsubishi Mirage exists.
I was gonna mention it but thankfully it's been discontinued
I have one of those! Its a manual!
I thought about getting one but then I watched the crash test of a pickup hitting the side and read that they have the most deaths is any vehicle.
I sorta feel like getting hit by a pickup in anything is a bad time but I will say it is a very small car and very light.
Tell me you live in a tiny country without telling me...lol
Is this one of those canned arguments that Americans are programmed to pop out when somebody questions the car-based lifestyle? Okay, then, if the United States is so big, then shouldn't we have room to build amenities closer to where people live, so we don't need to drive everywhere for everything?
lol
They are also necessities, unless you have a very specific job in a large, or otherwise very specific city. Their adoption has created expectations, particularly amongst employers.
Necessities? How did humans survive for 200,000 years before their invention?
A while ago I watched a live stream of CSPAN (I think?) where the House failed to form a government for several consecutive days. The way the entire process started with a prayer, and the many references to religion throughout, is just as disturbing as the personality cult around Stalin. That whole gang is fucked in the head.
100% accurate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_religion
The USA is neither the best country nor the worst country. It's just one of the countries.
From all the comments, this is one of them
c
ountriesSorry, but even anti-America types seem to believe in American exceptionalism anymore. It's just that instead of believing we're some shining city on the hill, they believe we're The Great Satan(tm).
the American was not ready to hear what he heard
Yes, you really need to rewrite that constitution of yours and declaring something "unconstitutional" doesn't win you an argument, it makes you look like a brainwashed idiot. Just saying.
All the rules have been exposed as toothless and being reliant on acting earnestly in good faith. It really doesn't work in a partisan environment and it wasn't built for a two party system.
Yeah, that's what happens when a bunch of slaver bros make a pact to violently enforce their disgusting privilege.
Yeah fuck people having rights.
“The constitution is a list of rights”, says anyone who’s never read the actual constitution, and just skips straight to the stuff that was amended to it.
rights are won with your life, everything else is a privilege that daddy (government) allows you to have
Freedom of speech is pretty good though.
This comment is unconstitutional.
But it's the new bible!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_religion
Yes! with any discussion, Americans are more concerned whether it's inline with the founding fathers' intentions, than if it makes sense in today's world. They should focus on finding the best solution, not the most constitutional one. Every idiot running around with a gun is a bad idea in a modern city. Maybe it made sense 200 years ago on a farm. But let's not live in the past.
We exist as much as you do. You're not the main character.
Say that to the aliens who are going to make first contact with us.
In either New York or Los Angeles, because those are the only places that exist, clearly
Any day now right.
[email protected] for USA questions
Yeah depending on where you are or how close you are to the US, the media really has an ability to centrist all stories and news as if it’s pertaining to America some how.
*Just because people don't care about something doesn't mean it's not important.*
Stop polluting up all our shit. Fuck you.
bit rude innit, not much I can do on my own :(
If you're talking about the climate, it's not just us. But we sure excel as sucking don't we?
Your traffic laws are weird.
Overtaking/passing on the right
4 way stops and whoever comes first can go
No strict right of way when coming from the right
Right on red
Grinding all traffic in all directions over multiple lanes to a stop when a school bus stops
At least the last one I can understand a little with the nearly non-existent pedestrian infrastructure.
I'm so confused here.
The right lanes are the slow lanes - we overtake/pass on the left, and you are advised to stay out of the left lane unless you are passing. This makes sense because you need to slow down to exit the freeway, or in case of emergency, you are closer to the side of the road to be able to do so.
How else are you supposed to deal with 4-way stops? In my state it's first arrival goes first, however if two cars arrive at the same time the car on the right proceeds first. It's not that complicated, and I'm not sure what's wrong with it?
And I'm not at all sure what you're referring to regarding coming from the right? Coming from the right in relation to where?
By always respecting the second rule. There are no 4-way stops here. If an intersection does not have signs the vehicle on the right always has priority. No exceptions.
The problem is that people have different views on who came first but there are no different views on where right is. If there are any disputes there can be no arguments on who came 20 milliseconds earlier, instead you can just look at who had the right of way.
Uh, we do have a rule about right goes first...
In a four-way stop, if you arrive at the same time then the one on the right goes first and if you’re across from each other then the one going straight gets the right of way and the one turning goes after otherwise it doesn’t matter if both are going straight.
Otherwise, if you have two people arrive at a four-way stop and one is clearly there before the other then the winner gets the right of way to keep flow of traffic going rather than waiting for the other to stop and go just because they were on the right side.
We don’t have a ton of roundabouts/traffic circles here but it works the same as it would in Europe.
Doesn't matter who got there first, person from the right gets right of way even if he came later. You approach the intersection with caution and make sure you can stop to yield should anyone come from the right.
In the US I believed it's legal to pass people from the right if they are driving to your left. That's illegal here, you can only pass from the left.
It's also illegal to hog a lane, you must always use the right most lane when it's free, unless you're passing.
Yeah, that's a HUGE problem here.
You should see us a roundabout! 😉
This varies by state, but I think I most of them are setup so that you don't have to stop if the road is divided, or if there are more than 4 lanes (so 2 lanes for each direction, plus a turn lane in the middle, you don't have to stop). As always, check your local laws, and when in doubt, signal and stop.
Edit: to clarify, the oncoming lanes don't stop, the lane behind and adjacent to the bus still have to stop.
Lol sorry what? It's even worse than I thought 😂
There are 50 states in the USA. They generally have the same rules of the road but you are being an idiot if you think that all states have the same laws. Does any other coalition in the world work like that?
No, even in Europe there are small differences in rules and signs even.
A note, not all states operate this way, but the concept of 'right of way' is going away. Judges do not like the idea of someone feeling privileged enough to make a situation worse. In general, they want to implement fail-safes and not fail-unsafe situations.
Edit: To add - we've actually had this for a while, it's called 'failure to yield'. The switch is actually being more driven by emergency services making things worse, which is kind of relieving given the general sentiment. Unfortunately it's just another phrase for the same thing, semantics....but if you do go to court, you're better off presenting who failed vs who's entitled.
I think I have seen this and been confused by it. Does it mean that nobody should assume they have right of way? For example, having right of way isn't necessarily an excuse for being in an accident because you didn't give way to someone driving badly.
If a person didn't yield at a sign saying they should, and caused an accident as a result, they are demonstrably at fault.
Pretty much, the only caveat I'd add is the assumption of 'right of way'. You can have situations where road conditions were unusual but drivers are not certain to all the conditions. The involved parties can all assume they have the 'right of way', when in reality the best option would have been for everyone to yield until conditions ARE certain.
I'll give a personal example: I once came upon an accident on a bridge, and the cop cars were already on the scene. It was night, raining hard and the cop cars were facing the oncoming lane with headlights set to high. I couldn't see anything past the cop cars, so I slowed down from 50 to 25. As I passed, I briefly saw a shadow of a person and heard them say "SLOW DOWN". I still have no idea how close I was to hitting them, but they must have been very close to hear them thru the rain and sirens. I should have gone much, much slower, maybe even stopped. Fortunately, nothing bad happened, but I had assumed that since the one lane was open that it was ok to use. I don't know why the cop cars oriented themselves in a way to blind oncoming drivers, but had something happened, the fault would have ultimately been mine regardless.
Another example is parking lots, so many accidents occur at busy locations. People forget how you are not supposed to block ingress (to prevent traffic backing up into the street and making things worse) and get road rage because they can't leave. I've seen people try to "squeeze in" and end up blocking an entire lot because they can't move. One side will say "zipper" (ie: "my turn for RoW") the other will say "right of way", and parking lots are notorious for not having any signs.
Edit: and ofc, old ladies who think blinkers give them RoW
Edit2: an example for cops: blowing thru red lights without making sure intersections are clear. To be fair, everyone should yield to a cop car in the performance of their duties, but this doesn't mean cop cars get a free pass for RoW and can plow thru full speed, damn the consequences. They still have to take safety of others in mind and yield if required.
Edit3: because I've had the discussion before. Yes, it's semantics. RoW and FTY are the same thing. I'm only saying the phrase is being sunsetted, no Judge wants to hear someone say RoW. Some laws even use them together as "Failure to Yield Right of Way". The goal is to prevent the mindset of entitlement, to make sure the clarity of safeguards remain in place.
Interesting and also makes me want to clarify something. "Right of way" as in "I'm allowed to do this" is not what I initially meant. The concept I'm talking about is called "Voorrang van rechts" where voorrang means right of way, but as you can see it only translates half of it. "Van rechts" means "from (the) right". I just looked it up to get a proper full translation or equivalent, but all translations stop at "right of way", which simply is "voorrang". A language barrier if you will.
Generally illegal, some people do it still.
We get circles in high population areas, but not enough, I agree
This is actually in our traffic laws, just most are dumb enough not to be able to figure it out :)
Varies per state. (which is also stupid) It's like the circles, it's a density_safety/cost thing. If you don't have pedestrians, treating a turn with traffic as a stop sign can keep intersection costs down.
I'd also tac on abysmal public transportation, poorly maintained rail lines and horrible airport candor.
What does "strict right of way when coming from the right" mean? If it's up for debate there's usually either stops or yields, or road size rules (double yellow takes priority over local small roads)
When roads meet, whoever comes out of the street to your right has right of way. Signs can be put up to overrule this basic rule, for example when small side roads connect to a main road, but if for some reason no signs are posted, whoever comes out of that small road has right of way. Clear and simple.
USA could be, but isn't the greatest country in the world.
I'm definitely ready to hear this, have heard it, know it, and hope it changes. Under our current political system it never will. We're just an oligarchy in a trench coat at this point.
As an American, I'm not convinced we can be anything close to the greatest country. We are incapable of solving massive problems that should be abundantly obvious. And it's not just the government, it's also a huge number of dumb civilians that don't want to educate themselves on how our own systems are failing.
Many countries have hard material problems holding them back. The US doesn't. Abundant resources and fertile land, an existing vast and diverse economy, and a huge amount of wealth for investment. The US has more raw potential than any other country even now. The problem is people and culture. Lincoln was right on the money - no external threat can really undo the US. It will come from within.
Credit scores only exist in the US. Everywhere else just compares your income to your debt.
Edit: apparently there are several other countries with credit scoring systems. The more you know... The US system, at least, is still bullshit designed to stratify economic class not only individually but by gender and with generational impact.
What? We have credit scores in the UK. Used for getting mobile phone contracts, housing, bank accounts, credit cards, loans, etc.
Huh... Well assumptions and monoliths make fools of us all
The UK is just the "light" version of the US
Wrong, it exists in Europe as well (e.g. Germany)
That's a completely different thing.
Your Schufa Score is only relevant in very few cases, as long as it's not super super bad. Due to data protection laws, the data they're allowed to keep of you is very limited and thus the usefulness is much lower for businesses.
Schufa basically blackmails you into giving you their data: Not giving them access to ALL your data WILL result in the lowest possible score for your business, which has huge implications in regards to any credit.
No, they don't. Businesses just send their *negative* data to the Schufa.
I worked in that area for years, and unless you're actively trying to tank your score, the Schufa is almost useless for all sides, and maybe businesses only use them to filter the really bad cases.
You have not read my comment at all, have you? Not giving them your business data reaults in the lowest score. That's blackmail.
Informing it is not just a few cases. Not only does it impact things connected to a loan like Buying a house or a car, but also getting a mobile or landline subscription, a credit card and also more and more landlords expect you to show them a Schufaauszug proving a stable financial situation
Again, Schufa only really cares about negative data, they're not allowed to use much more than that.
That means, unless you have unpaid bills stacking up or relevant loans on your name, the Schufa knows hardly anything about you.
I've worked in that business. I personally looked at hundreds of datasets and for most people, the Schufa knows only that they exist and where they live.
There's a lot to criticize about these organizations, but the Schufa is by far not as pervasive as some here like to imagine.
Well, I've got a schufa GDPR data abstract which contains a lot of positive data as well. How many credit cards at which Bank and so on.
Also if schufa incorrectly adds negative entries to your dataset (e.g. due to two persons with the same name having the same date of birth), good luck getting the data straight.
Or if a debt collector enters an unjustified entry...
You obviously did but come in contact with any negative aspects of schufa while working with it, but these cases definitely exist, just check the results on Google...
I guess germans aren't ready to hear it either RIP
honestly, this is something I needed to hear. my family has been pretty anti-credit (dad was bad with money) and my own hatred for the system grew once I started working at a retail chain. to know this is just another part of the fucked up system kinda gives me hope I can either escape it or dismantle it
Hell yeah!!!
Australia is trying to bring it in though.
Canada too, but half the country wants to be the US so it doesn't really count.
Literally all of south and central America use credit scores, the fuck You are talking about?
Americans are some of the most unintelligent people on earth
I think humanity is a big dumb collective. Americans are just arrogant in our stupidity.
Speaking as an american. Hard agree.
They're also some of the smartest people on the planet. America is suffering the same problem we all are - right wing shitbags and hostile nations weaponising our stupid people through social media.
I do feel we're on a slippery slope though :)
And the most frustrating thing is it's not because we have to be. We literally choose to be. It's infuriating.
I agree we are number 1 in this regard, but other nations sure do their best to unseat us from our stupid throne.
Not everything is awful in the US.\
Lately I've heard a lot of Americans talk like their country is the worst place in the world. While you do have problems, being grateful for the positive things is also important.
Kinda hard to see it that way when for most people life is getting progressively worse.
Also, people born after 1990 have a lot of uncertainty going forward due things like student loans, housing costs and health care system that provides no coverage in event of catastrophic health event.
The only practical solution is to quit being poor and that's becoming increasingly hard as many people ate not able to achieve economic prosperity that they grew up in.
The very existence of this thread is proof.
"I feel bad for you."
"I don't think about you at all"
My situation makes me consider suicide on a daily basis. I am literally incapable of starting a family, or even starting my life. My friends are all in similar situations. I have no security in any form, and a broken bone or something breaking on my car means I just die. If things are worse elsewhere, they wouldnt be alive.
Yes, the quality of life elsewhere may be lower, but they also dont have as many issues as we do. They have a sense of community, less economic disparity, dont live 40+ miles from their job, presumably arent suffering from a lonliness epidemic that is massively spiking suicide rates among men despite being caused by men, etc.
Im not minimizing their issues, i recognise that I have access to clean water and other basic survival tools that they might not have. But we have societal issues that are just as damning. Our issues are different, but theyre just as bad.
Before I get downvoted to oblivion: is it better to have clean water yet freeze to death because your cant pay your electric bill, or not have access to clean water and yet have a community that is willing to help you through your tough times? Id say they both lead to death. Neither fulfills the heirarchy of needs.
I mean, depending on what part of the U.S. you are in, the water you're drinking might not actually be clean.
You shouldn't have to preface your statement with anything, living conditions in some American states are legitimately comparable to third world impoverished nations.
Don't let your dreams be dreams. Become a hero
*an hero
Seinfeld isn't funny.
I'm British and I think it's funny. Some of the more saccharine shows like US Office or Parks & Rec are not to my taste though.
The Office is another comedy series I don't understand. When it's not plain boring it's just cringe.
Man if you think the office is cringe, stay away from Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think I like the show because it makes me feel like I know how to interact with people (I dont)
....that's the joke
To put it in British terms, this is like hating Cats Does Countdown because they keep telling jokes instead of playing the game
I know. I'm saying it's a bad, unfunny joke.
That's cuz British comedy is drier than ur mums teacakes.
Isn't *universally* funny.
You mean Jerry or the show? Cause the show did have a great stretch of hilarity when new.
Jerry Seinfeld, the guy, isn't a funny comedian. And his show, about himself, isn't funny either.
Larry David, co-creator, head writer and EP for seven seasons, *is* funny. The character of George is a stand-in for Larry and if you watch with that in mind it becomes more apparent that Jerry is essentially playing "the straight man" to his funnier cast mates. Which is great because as you mention, Jerry's not very funny or relatable and comes across as a pompous dick most of the time.
Au contraire.
The show wasn't about Jerry Seinfeld and this comment showed us your lack of understanding.
The show often, and the cast itself, they found comedy in the mundane, the coincidences, the awkward situations we find ourselves in daily struggle that turn us into, well, human, and also assholes.
You know? Those unfunny dull bits of life that are characteristically devoid of drama? Im sure you get those as well in your life.
But, at the same time, if you asked someone: so what happens in Seinfeld (this awesome show you keep bugging me and others about), well they go to the restaurant and .... nothing.
It's a show, about NOTHING.
There is nothing to understand. It's not exactly a deep and complex series, and everything you just wrote can be understood by anyone with half a braincell and enough attention to watch one episode.
It just. Isn't. Funny.
Not in the least bit funny at all.
Donald Trump is the new US President, and you're responsible.
I've been disgusted and angry about it ever since election day ended. There are so many goddamn stupid people in this country. And the ones that voted for him as a protest? Or out of misogyny or party loyalty or some other stupidity? I hope they suffer the maximum negative consequences born from their choice. Just so goddamn stupid.
This clearly isn't the country I thought it was, and I have been giving the average population too much credit. Apparently, this is a country of hatred, selfishness, and stupidity.
So, I guess I'm just going to follow suit. I'm done giving to charity, and being kind to strangers. I'm just going to get all I can get while the getting is good, and to hell with everybody else. I'm a straight white dude, I'll be fine.
describes my time in the south well
Yankees who say the South is so nice or welcoming are gullible at best. *some* older folks will follow a sort of law of hospitality, but most everyone here is cruel and spiteful under whatever facade of niceness they may have. Being raised here really taught me how valueless 'niceness' is.
You are more correct than you even fear.
Consider this: almost half of all American adults cannot read beyond a fifth-grade level. This bars them from a lot of information and nuance, preventing them from making the decisions that best serve themselves, and forcing them to rely on conservative propaganda that has been explicitly dumbed down to obscure the fact that those choices will hurt them the most.
Very dumb picture. Hoping the people dragging us to hell get what's coming to them is normal and healthy.
Victim blaming. Nobody asked to be born under this evil slavemaster pact.
I'm sure if you took a second to think about possible solutions to this problem you'd find a way of making the necessary amendments to your country.
The 2A sure rings different when it maters
Well if you took a page out of France's playbook it wouldn't necessarily get to this point. At the slightest suggestion that they might have to work a bit extra or pay a bit more, they're out burning cars and building guillotines. As it should be.
Edit: also educating people on safe firearms use as a condition of ownership of a firearm actually goes a long way to reducing the deaths. Also guns aren't the only way of getting rid of people. Just ask the IRA.
I'd be more inclined to take responsibility if we had a more representative electoral system like STAR voting. Then more then 2 political parties would be viable, with no spoiler effect.
But we don't see the democratic party (self described democracy lovers) passing this much needed reform in states they control.
Perhaps the democrats enjoy yelling and screaming at people online and IRL that a vote not for (insert pro genocide status quo candidate) is a vote for Trump. They love it so much they prefer trump winning over having to compete for our votes.
The most painful thing about voting reform is that it was up for voting in multiple states. And most of them chose the objectively worse system we currently have.
People revel in their stupidity. I have to hold conversations with several family members regularly where my jaw hits the floor as they refuse to put even the slightest thought into the things they do everyday. Just today I tried to explain the simplest of ideas of a browser and they won't even listen.
STAR, or even the simple approval voting? They fall into the 'but one vote!' statement so fast that it leaves a crater.
None of that would have happened with a well-educated populace that could employ bullshit detection and critical thinking.
Hell, I doubt even conservatism in any capacity could survive as a going concern in such a society.
Your bi-Party system sux big d and I toxic to a real democracy
As an American. Hard agree. I long for a first past the post voting system reform
Capitalists hate competition
Yup we definitely already know this.
Here's one from the Middle East: Fuck your veterans. Y'all were right when you were calling Vietnam vets baby killers, and Afghanistan and Iraq weren't much better. And here's a corollary: Get the fuck out of the Middle East.
American here. Lots of us don’t want to be over there either. Seeing our tax dollars literally set on fire on the other side of the world pisses us off.
Another thing you may not be ready to hear is that the world holds you collectively responsible for the actions of your democratically-elected government even if you supported the other guy.
(Padme meme)
Lots of us don't want bases "over there" or in fact anywhere. The casual nature in which Americans think having bases in other countries all around the globe is normal and fine is highly alarming.
Not everything on Lemmy is US specific.
[email protected] shouldn't be limited to US politics. Same for [email protected]
Edit: from the sidebar
Please make US specific communities like [email protected] more active instead of bringing your local issues to every community
Or, hear me out, post the content you want to see instead of whining that other people aren't posting your preferred content.
First sentence in the sidebar of [email protected]
Or am I missing something?
You could always post stuff if you want to.
First sentence in the sidebar of [email protected]
Or am I missing something?
Be the change you want to see in... lemmy.world?
First sentence in the sidebar of [email protected]