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What it would be like to have pride in my country?

Cooky

Veteran Member
I live in an area dominated by crazy liberals.
To me, this is interesting. So they believe some
awful things. I just go to work on them.

Me too... :D

I just keep it to myself though. I enjoy my surroundings regardless, probably because I'm typically an optimist, though not 24/7... Just most of the time.:)
 

Quetzal

A little to the left and slightly out of focus.
Premium Member
I live in an area dominated by crazy liberals.
To me, this is interesting. So they believe some
awful things. I just go to work on them.
Living in an area dominated by crazy conservatives, for me, is very uncomfortable.
 

Quetzal

A little to the left and slightly out of focus.
Premium Member
Could you be in a temporary funk?
It has been a reoccurring theme in my thought process over the last year or so. I really think COVID redefined how I view my countrymen, government, and culture.
 

Cooky

Veteran Member
It has been a reoccurring theme in my thought process over the last year or so. I really think COVID redefined how I view my countrymen, government, and culture.

I think COVID's got me down too... I've been finding myself down in the dumps a little more frequently lately.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
I am watching a UFC event tonight and it is common to hear fighters talk about their country and are proud to be where they are from. I like to fantasize about what that would be like because my country (the US) is a real piece of ****. A place where the likes of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Lauren Boebert get elected on purpose.

If I traveled abroad, I would lie about where I came from if asked. I do not see any justifiable reason to be proud of being from here. We have no identity, our politicians pander to the lowest common denominator, we terrorize nations from half a world away via drone strikes, we let legislation be bought by the highest bidder, we allow our school kids to get shot up multiple times a year, we watched as a pandemic ripped our population apart, we let our countrymen go into insurmountable debt for basic medical treatment, etc etc etc.

If I could, I could leave and never come back. This place sucks.
Bad stuff can happen, even in a good place. Yes, ridiculous politicians can get elected (happens in Canada, Britain, Australia, and...well, pretty much everywhere else) from time to time. But ask yourself whether, by and large, over the long haul,, some honest folk also get elected and unfathomably, carry the day. I think that they have just done that -- even though there are still some loons (an Q-Goofs) in the mix.

You can run away -- yes, that's always an option. (As an orphan kid, I was a well-known runner -- but they always knew how to find me...I'd find the first railway tracks and turn right...what a twit!) But instead of running away, why not be involved enough to try and fix it. It actually can be done -- and has been, over and over again, if you just look.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
I am watching a UFC event tonight and it is common to hear fighters talk about their country and are proud to be where they are from. I like to fantasize about what that would be like because my country (the US) is a real piece of ****. A place where the likes of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Lauren Boebert get elected on purpose.

If I traveled abroad, I would lie about where I came from if asked. I do not see any justifiable reason to be proud of being from here. We have no identity, our politicians pander to the lowest common denominator, we terrorize nations from half a world away via drone strikes, we let legislation be bought by the highest bidder, we allow our school kids to get shot up multiple times a year, we watched as a pandemic ripped our population apart, we let our countrymen go into insurmountable debt for basic medical treatment, etc etc etc.

If I could, I could leave and never come back. This place sucks.

You can run but not hide/ lie about
where you're from. Everyone knows an
American accent.

Even me, in Europe they called me an American.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
If I only look at America in terms of our current politics (broadly defined), my views are very close to @Quetzal's.

Things change when I look at America in other ways. For instance, I have anything but contempt or even mere displeasure for my family and close friends. I'm actually grateful for the lot of them.

For instance, one of them owns a business employing 200 people at slightly better than average wages and salaries for comparable jobs elsewhere. He's been lobbying his Representative and Senators for years trying to get a national minimum wage of $15/hour that would allow him to give raises to his lowest paid workers without forcing him to jack up his prices above his competitor's prices. To me, he's in the same vein as most Americans I personally know.

I'm reasonably happy even with the majority of the American people, so far as I know anything about those unwashed wretches. And, though nobody seems to notice when I now and then show it, I don't see how it would be fair to condemn most of Trump's supporters. Criticize, yes. But condemnation is a step further than I think is warranted for people who are basically being human. To me, human nature is a universal constant -- meaning condemning what Trump supporters do is the same as condemning what Biden supporters have it in them as an unrealized potential to do. Were I to indulge in such broad condemnation, I'd feel downright schizophrenic. There are no Good Humans versus Evil Humans in my book. Gallop down that rabbit hole fast enough and you won't be able to stop even when you come to committing genocide.

To clarify, condemn behaviors, but at most critique natures.

Beyond all of the above, I love the land itself, most especially the Colorado wildernesses. If I've got a 'mental home' when it comes to thinking about America, it's located somewhere half up a mountainside overlooking the San Luis Valley, listening to the coyotes calling to the late sun, and waiting for the night.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
No. I didn't fit in when I lived in Indiana, I couldn't thrive there, didn't feel safe being me there, and I hated it there. It sucked. I hate it, loathe it, will never be moving back.

That's how I feel here. As long as we live here, we will be to ourselves. And I don't care for that.

How did you choose Californistan? Sometimes I think I'd like to go to Michigan. I enjoy the scenery, the lakes are deeply moving for me, and the experiences I've had with people there have been very positive.

I was in a car wreck there(I wasn't driving). People stopped. Strangers helped. Witnesses told the police what happened. That doesn't happen in my neck of Iowa. Everyone gawks from a distance.

And I remember everyone cautioning me about Detroit. I ended up at a bus stop in the middle of the night. Rough looking character approached me. Told me he liked my pants. He saw I was upset(about something else). We had a good conversation. That doesn't happen here either. People ignore you, no matter how distraught you may be.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Did any duels in the fields outside Paris result
from them calling you that?

No coup de Jarnac needed.

Why would I mind people knowing I was
resident in the USA.

Its not perfect, its not like anyone experts
when they first arrive.

For one -

Some mighty spoilt and neurotic
people there, spitting on a place so
many millions of less fortunate people
would do anything to get any chance at
all to be there.
Hiiigh class freaking problems those
Americans have!

Put up the vid of willy singing "promised land".
 

Audie

Veteran Member
That's how I feel here. As long as we live here, we will be to ourselves. And I don't care for that.

How did you choose Californistan? Sometimes I think I'd like to go to Michigan. I enjoy the scenery, the lakes are deeply moving for me, and the experiences I've had with people there have been very positive.

I was in a car wreck there(I wasn't driving). People stopped. Strangers helped. Witnesses told the police what happened. That doesn't happen in my neck of Iowa. Everyone gawks from a distance.

And I remember everyone cautioning me about Detroit. I ended up at a bus stop in the middle of the night. Rough looking character approached me. Told me he liked my pants. He saw I was upset(about something else). We had a good conversation. That doesn't happen here either. People ignore you, no matter how distraught you may be.

Don't hope for good Samaritan in China.
Not happening.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
You can move to USA and be an American.

You could never ever be Chinese.

Are there Americans?

If you ask someone in the US what they are, you usually hear about their genetic roots.

The only person I've ever heard say they were American was my ex, and the context of the sentence was "I'm an American; I like donuts."

Is that all there is to this culture? Not that donuts are a bad thing, I suppose...
 
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