Poll: What's wrong with America?

[QuirkyTambourine]

This is something that's been bothering me for a pretty long time, about the time that I became aware that there's much more to the world than the little northeastern corner of the US that I live in. There's a TLR version at the bottom of this post.

Why does America continue to disappoint me? I grew up with my American history classes, the ones on stuff we've invented, global issues we've solved, wars we won, all that stuff. What happened to all of that? This really isn't an "AMERICA F*** YEAH!!" rant, it's much the opposite actually, we I'm quite disappointed in what I see in society today. We brought the world the telegraph, the wrench, the revolver, the first assembly line, and countless others. We were a big part in winning WWII (I'm saying that as delicately as possible to avoid all of my fellow European, Canadian and beyond Escapees from flaming me to pieces) and all that great stuff.

What happened to all of this, and what do we have to show as the pride of our society today? We don't have any major exports aside from tourists who are apparently really easy to spot, we're seen as fat, whining, pushy loudmouths who are so used to instant gratification that we don't know the value of hard work (I was called just this by my grandfather years ago over something I don't remember, minus the fat part, he was right though) All in all, it's just embarrassing to be American sometimes. From what I've gathered, we have a horrible image in the world today, partly our doing, and partly because we're currently partaking in a war that doesn't have a clear justification as to why we're there.

Between the whole anti-Obama faction decrying everything that the man does (Fox News and the shouting town hall meetings and such) and a very publicized broken governmental system, it's not easy to find things to be happy about. We constantly have Senators and Representatives become involved in scandals. These are our highest elected officials, and to say that they're human and make mistakes is one thing, to say that flying to Argentina for a mistress on the state taxpayer's dime falls under the purview of humanism(?) is totally another. Maybe this whole issue I'm having is not totally with the American people, maybe it's with the government who has enable the people to come this way. Or at least to let me perceive them this way.

I'm not embarrassed to be American, I love my country, a bit short of jingoism, but I still love it. I'm just embarrassed by what we've become today. I'm incredibly proud of what we've managed to achieve in less that 200 years, but it seems like we're still chewing the fat instead of innovating the world. Sure we've got the absurdly progressing Silicon Valley projects making computers faster and smarter, but I can't find much else to be happy about with us right now. What do you guys think? Am I right at all? Being melodramatic? Or totally wrong.

I'm having trouble figuring out what I should be proud of as an American anymore. It's easy to fall back on the history books to look for justification, but I want to find something recent. Maybe it's just

Spoiler: TL;DR version here!

I feel that America really has no image in the world today, and that it doesn't do much to deserve a good image anyways. What do you guys think?

 

[Curtmiester]

I have a question: Why do so many people complain so much about one country?

 

[Neonbob]

I was going to say "I'm not in charge" in reply to your title, but nooooo.
You just had to say something else.
Well, fine.

I think that there are individuals, who are associated with america, that do great things for all of mankind.
But their actions are overshadowed by the people with political power, military power, and media power.
So the really good things really aren't heard of outside of their circle of beneficiaries.

 

[Souplex]

I think the problems stem from our culture of entitlement.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

I have a question: Why do so many people complain so much about one country?

I actually think that it's because, well at least in my experience, that...alright I'll use "I", I was raised to believe, from all of our history books, that America is the shit! And now that I'm older and have actually seen what things are like, that it's not like that at all. It's unfathomable for a 10 year old to think that any country other than the Middle Eastern ones hate us, and that people from the Middle East can actually like us.

 

[Eternal Entity]

I have a question: Why do so many people complain so much about one country?

Probably because said country is responsible for quite a lot of horrible things in the world. The fact is, we're the biggest oil importer, and we're the biggest food importer. This leads to people rightly thinking that Americans are fat. The last I checked, the average American weighed about 300 pounds. We're gas hogs, and, for the most part, we spend gas on a commute that could be done by bike or foot.

 

[Christemo]

their politicians (besides Obama and Lincon), hollywood, disney. yeah, i could go on for a LOOOONG time.

and so what if you´ve won wars, war is a bad thing. also, America started the Iraq war.

 

[black lincon]

We're the worlds Gilligan.

 

[ScarlettRage]

I have a question: Why do so many people complain so much about one country?

cause we have nothing better to do then complain.

Spoiler

i like Obama...
i think that he's acually try no matter what everyone else is saying about him.
people are also going to doubt him because he is the first African-American president.
its going to happen..

stuff like that is going to happen because us as humans are going to complain because we are a bunch of retards..
i have lost my faith in humanity because of it.. (if i even had it before..)

 

[Reep]

The only American export i know of is in the entertainment industry. Tv shows, majority of games and Hollywood.

Aside from that, i don't think there are any other exports.

Edit: Ok, please stop quoting me, i realise there's a lot more exports. I just listed those that i thought of really quickly.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

What's wrong is that there's a bunch of people who just wanna get as much as they can for themselves. Let's call them Group A.

Then there's a group that just wants to complain about how everything sucks because of Group A. But they won't make an effort to improve anything, instead they get off on feeling like they are the only ones who notice suffering, so that makes them better than others. Let's call them Group B.

Then there are nice people who want to help everyone. These would be Group C.

The combined efforts of Group A and Group B completely overshadow the impact made by Group C.

This is what's wrong with America (and every other place on Earth).

 

[FROGGEman2]

I know what's wrong with America:

That they invade a new country every 14 months!

Well, that's actually a complaint about George Bush. But you guys did vote for him! Just teasing, I know that you are all individuals, but Republicans are evil. If anyone contests me, I will just give them that fact.

Under the George Bush adminastration, they invaded a new country every 14 months!

I mean, holy shit! Fourteen months!

 

[KampfVerein]

Let me be the first to say (with no seriousness whatsoever):

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU CAN GIT OUT!

 

[FROGGEman2]

The only American export i know of is in the entertainment industry. Tv shows, majority of games and Hollywood.

Aside from that, i don't think there are any other exports.

You're kidding me. Food, furniture, food, brands, etc.

There are quite a few, my friend.

 

[RebelRising]

This reminds of when Henry Kissinger visted a Chinese diplomat on a vist (forget the name and position); Kissinger asked the diplomat:

"What do you think the long-term effects of the French revolution will be?"

The diplomat shurgged his shoulders and simply replied:

"It's too early to tell."

Let me reiterate that: for the oldest civilization in history, 200 years is still "Too early to tell."

That being said, this is what America, a country I'm proud to be a citizen of, to be sure, lacks. We're just about two-hundred years old, and we made a big deal about creating a slave-holding republic thousands of years after the Greeks did the same exact thing. We've advanced too fast, and, again, unlike China, have been preoccupied with a national mindset that, especially in the last century, has been centered around Interventionism, while China has always been concerned with its own borders and maintaining absolute peace and stability within those borders. America hit the Mach 9 button and burned out before long. And now who has all of the U.S.'s cash bonds while we run almost entirely on credit in a considerable recession?

China.

We have an image problem because we're often viewed as a country that sticks its noses into other countries' business, all the while completely ignoring the erosion of sensibility, efficiency and responsibility in the domestic economy and popular culture and politics. I don't have a conclusive answer to the problem, but a good place to start is simply focusing on what goes on with the U.S. of A.

 

[chronobreak]

Is there anyone else that wishes the mods would step it up a little? I mean, we have a great community and good moderation most times, but 24 hours of abortion and America flamewars is quite a bit much.

 

[Cptn_Squishy]

Our politicians have read their own press clippings one too many times. And our media mocks people who show actual political courage (Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich spring to mind...seriously guys, Kucinich comes to a nationally televised political debate and you ask him if he believes in UFOs?).

That really is what hurts America more than anything: our media. Yahtzee's biggest complaint is that war games wank off to John Ford movies, forgetting that John Ford got his Normandy footage as a war correspondant when he picked up the camera after his cameraman was shot dead.

But our media has been like this for a long time. Father Couglin begat Joe McCarthy. Since then more and more neo-cons (who couldnt possibly misunderstand true conservatism more) have been saying that McCarthy was on to something, and theyve been picking up guns for no other reason than the fact that their guy lost.

And then they show irrational hatred for a president who wants to actually GET ALONG with the rest of the world instead of telling them to go fuck themselves and saying things like 'Goodbye from the worlds biggest polluter' as though the rest of the world would be amused by his cheekiness.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

Is there anyone else that wishes the mods would step it up a little? I mean, we have a great community and good moderation most times, but 24 hours of abortion and America flamewars is quite a bit much.

America flamewars? There hasn't been any on this thread...I was only opening a discussion on what America does that's good today, and why people's perceptions of America are the way they are.

 

[Deadman Walkin]

You're kidding me. Food, furniture, food, brands, etc.

There are quite a few, my friend.

I think what he is trying to say is they don't sell raw goods just finished products. For example because our government is heavily influenced by the oil companies here in Alberta (Canada) we dropped the royalties on the oil by 1 Billion, and we let them ship all the oil to the states. They then refine it because we don't really have to many refineries of our own, and then America sells it back to us for much much more. Interesting the way Oil companies work eh?

 

[hailmagus]

Let me be the first to say (with no seriousness whatsoever):

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU CAN GIT OUT!

THEY TUK ER JEBS!

Really, OP? Really? Unless your one of the people oinking on MacDonalds, or breathing more stupid into the air, don't lump yourself in with these fucktards. Just be thankful God gave you a superior brain. Unless you don't believe in a higher power... then thank your mom... and if you don't have one of those... than... fuck.