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
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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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!
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 away
And 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 USA
From 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 say
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.
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?
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.
Take heart: There are far more of us than there are of them.
what did you use to be proud of?
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.
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.
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!
I don't know. You (as an American) are in a better place to judge that than I.
What I do know is this: people are people. And for every rotten son of a bitch, there's someone else, quietly, moving heaven and earth to do good - both in big ways and small. If we're going to tilt at windmills, we may as well tilt at windmills together.
And sometimes it's the same person. That's what people really fail to get. Everyone is capable of good and evil, often at the same time.
Their need to demonize others as totally evil largely a product of their own fears that their evils will be discovered.
If the "melting pot" actually does it's thing and reduces how many differences we see between ourselves and others, then... maybe kinda good?
The melting pot is no longer fashionable idea. You're a racist if you suggest immigrants should assimilate by today's standards.
I know. And it blows
I remember as a kid they showed us so many nostalgic images of Ellis Island and talked so much about the American dream. Now they're so strict on immigration that ICE is killing US Citizens.
Not an American, but I hear you make good blood clots. Bigly good blood clots. Some people say: the best. So let's put our hope in that. Let's make the blood clot great again.
I would probably say your movie and tv show industry, im not going to comment on the the actual conditions for writers, actors, people who work in the industry (out of my expertise), the output is pretty amazing. No other country has produces the sheer content and quality of media you do.
Hey, that's a reasonable and kind response. I appreciate it!
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Used to be proud of the US? Why? Because of what? The many wars they started all those years, the inequality, mass shootings, crimes against humanity in the incarceration system and with immigrants, still legal slavery (when incarcerated), the corruption, or the abuse of power on the world stage? Because that's been happening at least since the second World War. You know, when they dropped not just one but two nukes.
I really want to thank you for making it easy to find you and block you.
really appreciate it.
thanks!
Everywhere there are good people doing good things with the best of intentions - people doing art for the love of the art, actually taking care of natural areas for the love of nature, helping others because they don't want others to suffer rather than as some "charity" grift to make money or make others think they're good people, and so on.
They're just not in power in the US and, IMHO, don't add up to anywhere close to being the majority of people.
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