The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is legitimately the best in the world and other countries wish they treated disabled people as well as America
other countries wish they treated disabled people as well as America
Sorry to be a downer - the ADA itself is very good, but it’s not the only factor in determining quality of life for a disabled person. I’m disabled and my country’s equivalent of the ADA is about 90% as strong, but access to disability benefits (i.e., money) is much much stronger in my country than it is in the US. I used to be pretty active in disability forums, the whole benefits system in the US sounds fucking nightmarish for disabled people.
You really don’t realize how much had been done to support people who have difficulties walking, hearing, etc. until you travel in Europe or Asia with someone who needs assistance. Walkable cities are great if you can walk, but you don’t notice the lack of wheelchair ramps unless you need them yourself or are traveling with someone who needs them.
As an American, the ADA is definitely something to be proud of.
Seems like more people are getting involved in direct action (against ICE). Starting around the time of Bernie’s primary campaign in 2020, I’ve noticed the amount of people getting involved in mutual-aid-type stuff slowly growing. The US has been “helping” Ukraine with “lethal aid,” though it’s debatable that’s the best way to help, and it’s probably more about enriching arms manufacturers and making sure Ukraine is perpetually indebted to the US.
Most reasons to be proud of america were lies from the beginning. Try to find other stuff to be proud of. I hear carpentry is pretty cool. Good luck!
I’m not American… but I am Scottish/British and I’ve never quite understood the whole being proud of your country thing.
Unless one is a hypocrite it’s always been clear to me that if you’re going to be proud of all the good shit your country has done you’ve also got to be ashamed of all the bad shit.
And with a few centuries of colonialism under the UK’s belt (and before anyone says different, no, Scotland very much partook and benefited from it) I seriously don’t have the emotional fortitude to feel that much shame.
Feeling pride in your culture? In your community? Fine. But in your nation state? A bunch of administrators with delusions of grandeur wrapped in a flag? I’d argue that’s unnatural because nation states in no way played a role in our evolutionary psychology.
Maybe I’d feel different if I was born in a wee inoffensive country somewhere… but I hope not. Nation states are pragmatically necessary but I don’t think we should be getting too invested in them.
Today all the things are gone
I’d worked for all my life
And its hard to start again
With no children and my wife
I’d rue my cursed stars
To be living here today
'Cause the flag now stands for serfdom
And freedoms been taken awayAnd I’m ashamed to be an American
Where folks pretend their free
And I won’t forget, the men who lied
Who took that life from me
And I’d gladly stand up
Next to you and regain her still today
'Cause ain’t no doubt I used to love this land
God help the USAFrom the lakes of Minnesota
To the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas
From sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston
And New York to L.A
Well there’s disgust in every American heart
And it’s time we stand and sayRecently, the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, the George Floyd riots, and Minneapolis pushing ICE out are magnificent examples of people coming together.
This isn’t uniquely American. But Americans can create community
I was never nieve enough to think we are all equal. But I did think we where making progress in that direction and maybe we still are. But these last few years have been heart breaking
Well the good news is that few of us are anywhere close to trumps orbit, there are still plenty of us doing good work making our communities a better place for everyone, even if some of us voted for trump tbh. A lotta bad but a lot of good too. And it’s always good to have your passport up to date
I am an American, I’ve never been “proud” of my country, pride is something weird. The United States still generates the most electricity from nuclear power, and we’re starting to build more now, that’s something good.
AmeriKKKans are excellent at protecting rich pedophiles!!
The protests in Oregon and Minnesota show that we are still America despite the MAGA separatists attempt to destroy us. And although this current chapter sucks hardcore, we now see our neighbors and “friends” for what they really are.
The separatists really thought they could just steamroll us. But, it didn’t go according to plan. We also scare the whole cabinet enough that they are living on military bases because they literally fear for their lives.
MAGA is eating itself alive which is the only outcome of a movement based entirely on hatred and destruction. So, we are showing our resolve. That’s the undercurrent that shows we still have some good left in us.
wait till november before doing a victory lap
This is pretty big. It’s better to know your enemy than have them lurking in the shadows. They are loud and proud right now and we won’t forget that shit in 3 years. Your orange god won’t be in power forever and then what are you going to do for the rest of your life?
Focus on midterms, my friend.
Don’t think about 3 years. Think about 6 months.
The pessimist in me says the same thing that happened for many Confederates and Nazis: Forgiven and allowed to return into the folds of society, to fuck over humanity again.
I would like to be wrong. It is my desire to see them overflowing baskets and filling cardboard caskets.
although the thing is America can’t recover unless the supreme court is delt with, and democrats won’t do that, so the decline will just continue until it breaks
This is my hope, we understand them better than they understand us. And if civil war broke out the anti vaxers will learn what has killed the most soldiers throughout all history.
Learn from post war Germany. There is no need to be proud of your country. It’s all made up anyway. What do I have to do with 5 basketball players or 11 football players or whatever who just happen to speak my language? How can I be “proud” of their achievements? Doesn’t make sense at all
Take heart: There are far more of us than there are of them.
MLK jr and the civil rights movement are just as much a part of America as Jim Crow and slavery. ICE is America but so is every protester fighting it. Lincoln is America. The KKK is America. Trump is America. Luigi is America.
The thing about people is we like to make things simple and put things in a box, and not have exceptions. But that’s almost never true, and the US is a land of contradictions. We’re very good people, and we’re very bad people.
So yeah, it’s going down the drain, but it’s always been going down the drain. It’s also going to get better, and it always has, little by little. Hopefully we can weather this storm and rebuild.
This has always been my point when people say “back in the good ol days” or “Make America great again” or any other nonsense about how it used to be better… this is pretty much the best it has ever been! Even with the dipshit in office at the moment, it has pretty much always been greedy dipshits in control… we are raising the best generation to date in terms of nutrition being provided, the most inclusive in terms of race/gender/sexual preference… all we can do is hope we continue to make gradual improvement. People have always sucked. The elite have always raped and pillaged the poor… but there is less of that now than any time in history… slavery and depravity have been a part of history since we started recording history. I just cross my fingers and try to enlighten the young in my field of influence to be good humans and hope that some day we might not be as horrible as we have always been.
Idk we’re back sliding a lot right now. Overturning row v and well, the rest of what is going on. I just hope we can move forward sometime and soon
This is a great take and I’m glad to read it! Thank you!
what did you use to be proud of?
Being an immigrant nation
If this is a genuine question, then my answer would be: a whole bunch of stuff I was taught that wasn’t actually true.
The way American history was presented to me (and I assume lots of other Americans) in school was the rosiest tinted glasses version of our history that could possibly be constructed. We spent a whole lot more time talking about “breaking bread” with the native Americans rather than slaughtering them, and focused more on our early economic growth rather than the slaves on whose backs it was earned. Our involvement in various wars was characterized as “aid” or “ally-ship”, or even stepping in as the “savior” who made sure the good guys won. Our sociopolitical progress (women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights movement, etc) was framed as the goodhearted majority fighting against a smaller group of hateful bad actors, who all sort of magically disappeared whenever progressive legislation won out.
Simply put, it’s revisionist history designed to retroactively affirm all the “land of the free, home of the brave” shit, when in reality this is a nation whose economy was built on the backs of slaves from all over the world, and whose sociopolitical ideology has always been steered by a small group of cruel and cowardly men who want endless personal power and wealth, to the direct detriment of their fellow country-folk.
There are things I’m genuinely proud of. Like all those who came before me who made it possible for me to vote/get an education/walk down the street while black, female, and queer. There are great American artists, academics, inventors—all sorts of people who’ve made meaningful contributions to the world. Like any other people, we are not all the worst of us.
But holy shit the worst of us are SO worst. And they’re so loud, and they’re so rich, and they’ve stolen so many of our resources, and they’re doing so much fucking damage to practically everyone on earth, not to mention to the earth itself. And they’ve controlled the narrative for a very long time, have taught us (sold us) so much bullshit for so long that a lot of the things the average American is proud of are almost entirely fictional.
It’s… disheartening.
…and they’re so rich…
I hear ya, and I agree - but I think there’s a huge number of not-so-wealthy Americans who are just as culpable. People who happily empower the billionaire class, hoping to catch a crumb of their wealth. And I don’t claim to be different - when I was younger, I would have sold my soul for the right price.
The average ICE employee, for example, probably isn’t so different from younger me. When a young person without a college education is offered a six-figure salary - they will accept first and ask questions later. Any moral or ethical qualms are quickly overcome by the realization that their bank account is steadily growing every week. They can enjoy life instead of struggling. They can take care of their loved ones. Meanwhile, the screams of children become part of the normal workweek. It’s crazy but that’s human nature. We are cruel creatures.
Ignorance
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
Why?
They wouldn’t be proud if they weren’t ignorant
Why do you say that?
We are the very best arms maker on Earth!
The USA produces more military arms than Russia, China, Germany, and three or four other countries COMBINED.
That’s not even counting small arms. Firearm sales have TRIPLED since 2000.
Every state in the union is part of the arms industry, even Hawaii.
5.3 billion in small arms says to civilians.
The small arms market in the USA is so large it would be the 155th largest GDP if it was country.
