Posted on 07/13/2012 10:34:52 AM PDT by SLB
Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. You still love him. But you don’t want to be around him.
This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. The United States is my alcoholic brother. And although I will always love him, I don’t want to be near him at the moment.
I know that’s harsh, but I really feel my home country is not in a good place these days. That’s not a socio-economic statement (although that’s on the decline as well), but rather a cultural one.
I realize it’s going to be impossible to write sentences like the ones above without coming across as a raging prick, so let me try to soften the blow to my American readers with an analogy:
You know when you move out of your parents’ house and live on your own, how you start hanging out with your friends’ families and you realize that actually, your family was a little screwed up? Stuff you always assumed was normal your entire childhood, it turns out was pretty weird and may have actually fucked you up a little bit. You know, dad thinking it was funny to wear a Santa Claus hat in his underwear every Christmas or the fact that you and your sister slept in the same bed until you were 22, or that your mother routinely cried over a bottle of wine while listening to Elton John.
The point is we don’t really get perspective on what’s close to us until we spend time away from it. Just like you didn’t realize the weird quirks and nuances of your family until you left and spent time with others, the same is true for country and culture. You often don’t see what’s messed up about your country and culture until you step outside of it.
And so even though this article is going to come across as fairly scathing, I want my American readers to know: some of the stuff we do, some of the stuff that we always assumed was normal, it’s kind of screwed up. And that’s OK. Because that’s true with every culture. It’s just easier to spot it in others (i.e., the French) so we don’t always notice it in ourselves.
So as you read this article, know that I’m saying everything with tough love, the same tough love with which I’d sit down and lecture an alcoholic family member. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. It doesn’t mean there aren’t some awesome things about you (BRO, THAT’S AWESOME!!!). And it doesn’t mean I’m some saint either, because god knows I’m pretty screwed up (I’m American, after all). There are just a few things you need to hear. And as a friend, I’m going to tell them to you.
And to my foreign readers, get your necks ready, because this is going to be a nod-a-thon.
A Little “What The Hell Does This Guy Know?” Background: I’ve lived in different parts of the US, both the deep south and the northeast. I have visited most of the US’s 50 states. I’ve spent the past three years living almost entirely outside of the United States. I’ve lived in multiple countries in Europe, Asia and South America. I’ve visited over 40 countries in all and have spent far more time with non-Americans than with Americans during this period. I speak multiple languages. I’m not a tourist. I don’t stay in resorts and rarely stay in hostels. I rent apartments and try to integrate myself into each country I visit as much as possible. So there.
(Note: I realize these are generalizations and I realize there are always exceptions. I get it. You don’t have to post 55 comments telling me that you and your best friend are exceptions. If you really get that offended from some guy’s blog post, you may want to double-check your life priorities.)
OK, we’re ready now. 10 things Americans don’t know about America.
1. Few People Are Impressed By Us
2. Few People Hate Us
3. We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
4. We Are Poor At Expressing Gratitude And Affection
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
7. We’re Paranoid
8. We’re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
9. We Are Very Unhealthy
10. We Mistake Comfort For Happiness
*********************
Throughout history, every dominant civilization eventually collapsed because it became TOO successful. What made it powerful and unique grows out of proportion and consumes its society. I think this is true for American society. We’re complacent, entitled and unhealthy. My generation is the first generation of Americans who will be worse off than their parents, economically, physically and emotionally. And this is not due to a lack of resources, to a lack of education or to a lack of ingenuity. It’s corruption and complacency. The corruption from the massive industries that control our government’s policies, and the fat complacency of the people to sit around and let it happen.
There are things I love about my country. I don’t hate the US and I still return to it a few times a year. But I think the greatest flaw of American culture is our blind self-absorption. In the past it only hurt other countries. But now it’s starting to hurt ourselves.
So this is my lecture to my alcoholic brother — my own flavor of arrogance and self-absorption, even if slightly more informed — in hopes he’ll give up his wayward ways. I imagine it’ll fall on deaf ears, but it’s the most I can do for now. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some funny cat pictures to look at.
All I can say is go to his “man-something” website and browse around until you get to the picture of him by his clock, man stuff or something.....that man is a queer waiting to happen. I’m 62 years old, but I KNOW I could drop his ass with one punch.... there ain’t no man alive that primps that much, vogues that much, poses that much that ain’t queer.
The most important thing american don’t about america is...
1.. America is NOT a democracy... never was and is not now..
** That democracy is Mob Rule by Mobsters and no democracy has ever yet been democratic.. and that Democracy is a lie.. Democracy is a political disease with socialism as a symptom..
** any list that does not have this information on it is merely disinformation.. or even agitprop.. true also partially of this thread..
What the heck is “PostMasculine.com”??
Great post! Thank you for that.
‘We this’, and ‘we that’. The irony of the author deriding American ignorance and unhealthiness and so forth while generalizing and stereotyping them is noteworthy.
Time for a rethink, Skippy.
What is it about liberal douchebag writers that causes them to project their own discoveries/failures/foibles/prejudices onto other people, or in this case, onto 315,000,000 other people? Don’t lump me into your bad experiences. I am not your alcoholic brother. How does this fool know that “Most” Americans don’t “know” these things? I’d venture a guess that most Americans are busy with their own lives and concerns, and make absolutely NO effort whatsoever to parallel-think with the author. Just another attention whore with a pencil and a fool who will publish his screeds.
Which is a major reason I would usually score with foreign chicks, they were impressed that I would know anything about their country...it's true, it works.
Boy, you can say that again!
“ha ha, this doesn’t describe America, it mostly describes LIBERALS!”
I don’t give a rats ass about what the rest of the world may or may not think about the USA.
We subsidize the drug pricing in the rest of the world. IF there was not the potential for the profit made in the US , drug companies would not invest in the research to produce these drugs.
Also, the main reason health care is so expensive in the US is the ability to sue the drug company, hospital, doctor ,dentist, bar tender , etc. for millions of dollars. Ask the orthepedic surgeon in Columbia what he pays for malpractice insurance. This is why we need tort reform.
“6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us”
I agree Singapore, Switzerland, Barbados, Grand Cayman, BVI, Bavaria, Austria, Bermuda, Quebec City are all very nice. I have been to all of them. That is why they are some of they MOST expensive places in the world to live.
However, the slums of Rio are a lot worse than the slums of Boston. Almost ALL of Africa is a sh#thole. Most of Asia, with the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong, and a few other places in Thailand are sh*tholes. There are also places in Asia that are as about as close to paradise that exist on this planet. Many of these places people are very poor. Most are illiterate.
The fact is we are the land of plenty. Also, last time I checked , we were not a democracy. We are a constitutional republic.
We subsidize the drug pricing in the rest of the world. IF there was not the potential for the profit made in the US , drug companies would not invest in the research to produce these drugs.
Also, the main reason health care is so expensive in the US is the ability to sue the drug company, hospital, doctor ,dentist, bar tender , etc. for millions of dollars. Ask the orthepedic surgeon in Columbia what he pays for malpractice insurance. This is why we need tort reform.
“6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us”
I agree Singapore, Switzerland, Barbados, Grand Cayman, BVI, Bavaria, Austria, Bermuda, Quebec City are all very nice. I have been to all of them. That is why they are some of they MOST expensive places in the world to live.
However, the slums of Rio are a lot worse than the slums of Boston. Almost ALL of Africa is a sh#thole. Most of Asia, with the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong, and a few other places in Thailand are sh*tholes. There are also places in Asia that are as about as close to paradise that exist on this planet. Many of these places people are very poor. Most are illiterate.
The fact is we are the land of plenty. Also, last time I checked , we were not a democracy. We are a constitutional republic.
If you left out some of the leftism, you'd be left with, "...I'm a prick..."
So you are NOT suggesting that the author is homophobic?
Do us all a favor and don't bother.
Hit it again
PRECISELY.
Gaw. Someone finally gets me, around here. ;)
Come on! To hit it that hard, I’ll need my buddy Laz.
I think it's a blog about what happens to a transsexual after the operation.
I think it's a blog about what happens to a transsexual after the operation.
Is that after an "addadictomy" or a "cutitoffamy"? The surgical jargon confuses me.
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