Ask Lemmy

When the police told me to kill myself

Since time immemorial,

When I was having my "what'd you learn at school today?" check-in dinner conversation with mom, and I learned the European settlers did not, in fact, peacefully move in and fairly share the land with Native Americans. :|

When Dementia DonOLD was elected. I went from being proud to being embarrassed.

The reality started to crumble in 4th grade. I had a history book that covered the "main" wars for the US. Chapters on WWI and WWII had sizable "causes for conflict" and those sections for Vietnam and Korea were much much smaller.

9/11 was just a few years after that moment for me. Seeing people around me laughing at the thought of "revenge" by bombing other people endlessly was a major crack. Farenheit 911 was the absolute "we're not the good guys" moment for me. My idea of patriotism shifted. I stopped believing that America was great, and started believing that America can be great, but it's gonna take a lot of work, work that half of my fellow Americans are unwilling to do.

That narcissistic fake patriotism never resonated with me. Don't get me wrong, I love my country and the people in it but I wouldn't tolerate a person that was "me first" because it's obnoxious. I think the reason people latch onto it is to feel better about themselves. It's like racism. People like to imagine others beneath them. It takes no effort at all on their part

When Bush 2 assumed office. Or, if not then, when all the bullshit about Iraq got going. I was for sure ashamed of my fellow citizens with the gd Freedom Fries and rah rah bullshit.

9/11. My first thought when watching TV that day was 'Bush did this'. Now maybe he did or maybe he didn't, but it's clear as day the US was just itching pass the Patriot Act and go to war. Every year since then has shown me this country's government couldn't give a shit about poor and downtrodden people in other countries. In fact, the US is doing the trodding, and the poor of this country are also in its sights.

At least we still have social programs here, which is good thing, but it feels like something left over from when more people cared.

I really, really wish the US would get the f out of the Middle East, stop arming Israel and begin making reparations. Unfortunately, those of us wanting peace tend to be meek (up to a point), which isn't a bad thing. Meek people can be strong enough to build a more stabile society, but a lot of unfortunate things are going to have to take place first.

When I started playing PubG. All those people shouting 'China #1' can't possibly be wrong.

When I graduated from college. I was fed the, "work hard, go to college, live well" spiel. I worked hard, I went to college, graduated with honors.

All I have to show for it is debt.

I work a job that's... Fine, but I also cry most days because of the misery of it. I haven't gone to a doctor in years because I can't afford it. I can barely save (I have, like, $100 in "savings"). I will likely never be a home owner, and I will most likely have to work until I die, which breaks my spirit the more I think about it.

On less personal note, when I got to sit at the "grown up" table in regards to politics, I quickly realized that (most) people in government either don't give a shit or actively work against the peoples interest. I hear of other countries with their free Healthcare and education, workers rights, pensions, and I weep with envy. America is like a third world country in a first world mask.

When I was living in Japan and felt more "free" than in the US. "Land of the free" is such a load of shit.

Right after they told me that they would blow up the world to prove it.

That was a fairly shitty 8th birthday.

Iraq. Or maybe it was just meeting other folks from other places and realizing I’m more of a person than an American because while they may do things a bit differently over everywhere else they’re still just people over there. I grew to love my country in a “well it’s my home and I think we can make it better” way.

Though it may have been around my teenage years when the climate started collapsing and some dumbass motherfucker in congress brought a snowball to work to argue that climate change isn’t real. And not too long after the alt right started organizing and by the gods I learned some damn shame in my country over that bullshit.

1984, when I moved to Jakarta.

Around 7th or 8th grade

Reading A People's History of the United States put that on my radar. I hadn't given the idea any thought until a college course assigned this book. I was educated in a standard American public school during the Reagan and Clinton eras, complete with Pledge of Allegiance. The standard schoolbooks omit a lot of atrocities and smooth over the ugly reality.

Whatever legitimate criticisms you lay on it, Zinn's takedown opened my worldview and intensified my pre-existing anti-authoritarian streak.

9/11 happened shortly after and by then I considered Bush an illegitimate president. I watched him wage an unjustified war, and with the whole of our bloody rampage across the globe that clicked neatly into place. "America #1" is a sick joke.

Realizing that being trans isn't a disorder or a"problem" and that being myself is important regardless of the stigma.

It's been downhill for Amerikkka sense then. More I learn about this country the more i absolutely hate it.

Growing up in western Washington does it to you automatically. No one I know has ever felt that way.

Learning actual US history, for starters.

Its kinda hard to ignore the healthcare problem. That always stank of corruption.