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Originally Posted by Glice
I agree with Chabib - it's very easy to relativise the situation in your own country - for instance, I can easily say, "Well, at least Britain isn't as bad as America"...There are pros and cons to both, of course, but I think it's important that patriotism isn't blindly jingoistic but actually a defence of what is good about your country. It's all to easy to look at the various wars and famine all over the world and pick up a 'at least it's not me' mentality, but this is just lying down and taking it, which is the most apathetic and apolitical thing you can do.
*Edit - didn't see the other two pages... the left is a reactionary shambles... yes.
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The problem I see in America is what most outside of the US see: ungrateful, arrogant, spoiled, self-centered Americans.
Alot of this is because the world sees what the US is capable of doing yet our country does not do it. This is clearly shown in our society how we interact with eachother and especially how we take American ideology and demonstrate that in foreign countries. For example: alot of nations see that the US does have alot of money, yet we don't contribute the percentages that smaller countries do according to their economy.
Alot of my cousins who are Japanese always say the US has so much to be thankful for and that Americans are "greedy" & "spoiled" because we have these luxuries. My french inlaws say the same thing. Infact when it comes to "business" my french inlaws talk about how fucked up the French gov't is when it comes to business & taxes and I would be willing to say that majority(I'm willing to say atleast 75%) would rather work in business in the US if they had the opportunity or could rather than France. This is just what my french brother in law tells me, who is a financial investor for high-profile European athletes.
What I find interesting is that you normally won't hear immigrants complain about how "shitty America is" because they left a more "shitty situation". I know alot of Chinese, Korean, Germans, and Japanese and it was only the Japanese(about half) that really wanted to go back to Japan after they were done with school. Almost all the Chinese/Taiwanese/Koreans said they'd prefer to live in the US. Why? Simple: opportunity to live a better life.
It's really only Americans who have not experienced life outside of America for large periods of time who complain the most about the gov't & America in general. But this is just my observation based on experiences and not the absolute in every case.
I think we have it easy here in the US. We really do. I think if you honestly feel that you have it very hard and that the Gov't and everything about America is wrong, I think there are millions of people in Colombia, North Korea, China(I know many chinese & koreans btw), and many in Africa and Middle East who would kill to have the opportunities that we have.
I think where I disagree with chabib is the case of opportunity. I view America as a huge opportunity unlike any place in the world. People all over the world come to America to go to college here because our college system/education is incredible. Many come here just to start business, especially in design because design pays much more in America than it does in Europe and even Japan, which is why you're seeing more and more European designers coming to the US to open shop and start their own business.
I've lived in Japan half my life and that I'm grateful for that, but listening to all my cousins and inlaws from Japan and France, they keep me grounded & remind me that I should not complain about anything. BTW, 2 of my cousins went to college here in the US(one in Oregon St and another at Columbia U).
As far as policing is concerned, I don't think we'll ever feel totally comfortable with police because the laws are not really made for people to "defend themselves"(only in certain cases), so we have to rely on law enforcement. Just like anything, we want it now...we want it perfect or else I'm going to bitch to no end.
Police brutality is horrible and I despise it. But, I do think it's not an "American" problem but a "human" problem because it happens everywhere. You can't blame a french policeman smacking a 10 yr old girl and say, "It's America's fault". Police brutality is a social problem, not an American problem.
Our country is so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget there's a world outside America. That's why when we go to other countries, Americans "expect" things to be "perfect" because that's just how we are...we "expect" things to suit our needs because we are used to getting our way whenever, wherever. THAT is why most countries hate American tourists. American tourists for the most part don't understand that things may not go your way and you can't bitch and complain.
Take European law for example. In America, if something does not go our way, we sue. If someone says something about our mother, we sue. If we buy shoes that make our feet hurt, we sue. If we rob a cabbie at gunpoint and he runs me over, we sue.
Europeans do not believe in suing as much as Americans do.
We complain way too much in our country. I think we have a right to complain about things and I myself complain about things, but I think there are things that some of us complain about that are misguided onto an easy target: gov't & state. Which is why I don't think it's really fair to blame police brutality on "gov't & state". You give a human a badge, of course a power trip's going to happen. This is wrong, but that's just human. It's a social/human issue, not a "state/gov't" issue.
There's alot more to police brutality than to just say, "bad cop...case closed".
I myself tend to look at: 1. why did the cop hit the kid? 2. What is it like to be a cop?
I don't see things in "black & white", which is why alot of people on this board misunderstand me completely. What I do is I look at all the angles no matter how much I oppose an angle. It's much smarter to know "your enemy" than to just go in "war blindly".
I don't like police brutality, but I do understand why it happens.
I think it is necessary to question our gov't at all times. I believe it is the patriotic thing to do considering our country wouldn't exist unless we broke away from British rule. I could not agree more about questioning our gov't.
We will always strive and want better. There's no getting away from that. If I had a job paying $200,000/year, I'd be complaining and wanting $300,000/per year. Nothing in the world will ever be perfect, certainly no gov't will ever be perfect. I don't think we should just sit on our hands and say, "oh well, atleast it's not that bad", but at the same time I think we all should follow others around the world and just understand that we all can't have our way all the time.
I personally just want to enjoy my life while I'm here and that just won't ever happen if I am always finding something to complain about. There are a million and one things in the world to complain about, I just don't have the energy to tackle all million of them.