No Stupid Questions

You have nuanced take on things. That’s a rarity here on lemmy. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if a few of the lemmunists show up to tell you how your take on China is entirely wrong.

And speaking of nuance- the overwhelming lack of it here is pretty much the answer to your question.

Strangely, people seem to hate when blanket definitions are used to describe them, while also seeming to love using them as a weapon against others when under the Manufactured Outrage spell.

For instance, I too voted for Harris, and I’ve been called a gEnOciDe suPpOrTeR, a bOoTLiCkEr, and. bLuEmAga™. Just for voting against a fascist.

Looking for a nuanced take here is like looking for it in a gradeschool classroom. It’s best not to take any of it seriously.

Because other people will blame you regardless, so it makes you wish you could avoid even telling them

When the rest of the world hates you for shit a minority of your country did, but succumb to generalized thinking and blame all Americans (looking at you, Europe), a guilt complex can be internalized.

I dont identify with my country. Im just a resource so they can collect taxes. I think their decisions are stupid and childish but its like watching babies trying to build a house.

Best you can do is to focus on your own life.

Why is it not our fault? Shouldn't we be responsible for our society? If you're not responsible for your Society then what incentive is there to change it? We should feel guilty. America's only the way it is now because we all failed.

Honestly, in this situation it's likely more performative than an actual feeling people have. It's a good way to acknowledge that someone isn't happy with the impact our country is having on the world.

Similar question pointed at you. I now understand it's wrong(though not sure why), but when asking an Asian American where their ancestors are from, they get offended and proudly point out that they're American. Why would you be proud to be an American? Or was I just a few years early in thinking that way?

Part of the social contract in America (at least... this is what I believed growing up here) is that we all kinda share in this thing we all have going. Like, let's say we get into a war. The government can (and does) ask citizens to join the military and fight and the reason that works is because we all kinda implicitly signed off on it. Yeah, sure, you had nothing to do with the country getting into a war. But because you participated in government, in the system, because we run this thing (nominally) by the standard of democracy and consent of the governed, everyone owns at least a small part of the responsibility for the country's actions. In the case of a war, that might look like joining the military and "doing your part". More commonly it looks like paying your taxes and still "respecting" the government, even if it's not the one you voted for.

Now, like I said, that's more than anything what I felt when I was a kid. Speaking personally, I'm in a very different headspace now as it relates to governance. I also feel like generally speaking all that's shifting, though I've very little to back that up save... gestures at the past couple of decades of American politics.

More to your question however, I think that the kind of social contract I laid out above kinda explains some of what you've asked. Even if you want to say it's purely performative, that's fine. But the fact that Americans are "asked" about how they should be governed implicitly puts the idea in our heads that we're responsible for what our country is doing. It's not just "some dottering old idiot at the top of the org chart decided this thing", it's we. America is doing this thing. Even if the truth really is that some dottering old fool made a decision out of personal ambition or greed. We get it drilled into our heads from a very young age that this is our government. And no matter how much you try to distance yourself from that... it still irks you, somewhere in the back of your head.

Maybe, at some point before I was born, that was expressed as a point of pride. I could see some folks being proud of what America was or what it stood for, once upon a time. Now though? I find it hard to believe that that mindset could find any other expression but shame. And weirdly, I believe that's true regardless of what your politics are. Different reasons are at play there depending on what your politics are, of course. But lately it feels like everyone's got some grievance against the government. Some reason to feel ashamed about what "our" government, what "we" are doing. Whatever that thing is for you, you don't want it being done in your name. But the central trick of American "democracy" is that you don't get to just walk away. Whatever is being done is being done "in your name" whether you want it or not. And it's been that way since before you were born.

A tangentially related correlate here is that I feel like a lot of Americans don't feel represented by their government anymore. I certainly don't feel that way, and I haven't since Obama was president. That was roughly back when I was young enough to uncritically believe some of the views I've expressed here. Things have changed a little bit. Anyways, the reason I bring this up is because part of what I think is going on is that the social contract is breaking down along the lines of nobody feeling like the government they have is actually representing their interests. Maybe, if this goes on for long enough, the social contract will change into something different entirely. Maybe this "shame" we all seem to feel will turn American society into something different than what it currently is, if it's given the time to do so. But, I can't really read the tea leaves on that one. All I know is things just can't keep going the way their going. Something's gonna break eventually.

American tech companies created algorithms that happen to boost videos and news articles of fringe/extreme occurrences that take place here. The mainstream news networks also prioritize content like that, for the same reason: It's very profitable. Boring news/content just doesn't make much money.

People who have never visited the US seem to have a very distorted understanding of what everyday life is like here. We display a pretty embarrassing caricature of our country for the world to see.

And to make things even more embarrassing, we made our government ridiculous, and made our politics become pop culture (yet also very tribal) over the last ~15 years.

They’re pretty tightly wound tbh

American liberals would sooner say that the nation is impure than that nationalism is pathological. Many of them literally identify with the state as part of or representative of themselves. Guilt and shame are American rationalisation staples, "I feel bad, but I'm not going to stop."

I think it's those who are tricked into thinking their votes are really determining government things who would directly feel at fault for america. Lot's of us know we are nothing more than powerless blobs whose only hope is for WW3 to just happen already so America can be forcibly changed.

Because we live here enjoying the fruits of all the evil/bullshit/indifference without doing enough to prevent shit or change shit (probably underhandedly excusing people doing nothing about it)

The whole I'm not at fault thing is believing the big lie. "I didn't commit the crime myself so does standing here and watching it happen really make me morally responsible?" Yeah it absolutely does. Its reasonably easy to help and your just unwilling to inconvenience yourself morally, mentally or physically.

Simply EXISTING here enables the machine that makes all the evil happen, and we feel that. And, without you accepting that being ok yourself, that would change and we are aware of that. But taking yourself out of that requires not enjoying life as much as other people or "everyone else" as it is sometimes thought

So its because people feel like they are taking advantage of the situation with our cheap goods made by slave labor and easy lifestyles built on the backs of 10,000 poor people and we figure we shouldn't be doing that. Kinda morally reprehensible no matter the justification we sell ourselves you know?

So, the situation sucks and yeah, that makes some people feel bad about all that (if youre not an ostrich person burying your head in the sand so you don't have to feel ashamed that is)