Proud to be American....

[Chunky Von Waffles]

Where if your not like us then get the ()&)$(@*)@() out....

Please note this is what I personally view is occuring and happening to people in my country. May or may not be similar or even relevant to you. Please excuse any offensive material or such as it is not my intention.


I for one am not proud to be labeled an American where I live with those who preach hate upon those who are different, be it gay, lesbian, or those who have just different views.
I dont have much time to write as much as I would like, but I just wanted to get SOMETHING out of my system...
Everywhere where I look, if you are different or think differently, people will stop at nothing to make you look bad, preach towards you, and oppress their morals, their values, and their perfect rules upon you.
More like Land of "Internal Oppression", rather than Freedom.
Bible "Humpers" who misinterpret it completely preach out to the world as if people are actually listening.
"No I don't want your Bible, please get it out of my face!"
ATHEIST!! BURN IN HELL!! o.o

Here's one comment that stuck out to me during some over-reactive chat discussion of gay rights in the U.S.
Hundreds of hateful, religious, and other were just blindly hammering their insults and preachings, and this ONE stuck out the most.
And it was titled the same as this topic title.

"Man, this country is fucked up...maybe all of you people can make a list of Do's and Dont's of this country one day.

1.) Read your bible 24/7 and misinterpret it and then preach to the world like people are listening
2.) Agree with all of us or be deported and burn in hell because WE say so
3.) All men are created equal...pffft no, must be very religous, arrogant, and an overall jackass.

This country has come a long way since its formation, and guess what, we're a LONG way from where our founding fathers wanted us to be.
Why do you think we came here and founded a nation in the first place? I'll tell you that their intention wasn't to create a "free nation" which included hateful and wrong guidelines, rules, and values from ONE religion, party, or mindset.
You can't see that your telling fellow citizens, and HUMAN BEINGS to rot in hell, preach them misinterpreted garbage, and deny them as many rights possible?
Your turning your "heaven" into a place where MANY people honestly wouldn't want to be even near if people like YOU are going there apparently.
"mwuhahahha we are going to heaven! You are going to hell because you voted for equal rights!"
"Uhhh sure...you go to your heaven, i'll just step over here....""



I myself...do not..do not..care if you are Atheist, Gay, Lesbian, ANY religion, ANY political party, ANY race.
EVERYONE should have equal rights. Religion should not directly interfere with our country's politics.
And honestly I agree with that guy's post, I would be scared if I was to go to Heaven and encounter the fanatics who preach hate upon everyone else.

And while this turned into some thing with religion, it's not entirely really.
Plain arrogance, ignorance, and idioticy ( word check? ), plays a HUGE role as well.
Sadly it seems that most humans are set to "follow the crowd"...their family and friends setting a child's mind to oppress all who are different from their perfect world.
"Oh, hes gay, he's going to rape me",.."Oh, shes lesbian, shes gross and mean."
It's just NOT right, what's going on now.

Anyways...sorry about this, just had to get some out...

 

[Zephyr]

It's not just an American problem though you hear more about America in other countries as well because it's easier to point out faults in others than yourself.
That's also precisely what is wrong with the people you talk about on a more local scale. It's just so easy to lay the blame on whatever group then take a good long look at yourself.

Maybe the US has a lot more folks that are more vocal about their beliefs, however ridiculous they might be, because of the freedom of speech and how its upheld. You can pretty much say anything you darn well please.
It's a damned if you and damned if you don't situation because taking away that freedom would hurt others as well.
Freedom is great but be prepared for certain a-holes to flap their mouths as well, just be very careful when politics start to mirror those sentiments...

 

[Swissdictator]

Maybe it's the part of the country I'm in, but Homophobia is (slowly, sadly) going the way of the dodo in Wisconsin... except perhaps in the northern and southwest parts of the state.

I *am* proud to be an American, I enlisted a couple years ago, but was sent home from basic for medical reasons (related to my sunken chest).

I consider myself as 'conservative' or 'very conservative'. However, I also define liberal and conservative differently than most. I don't care about sexual orientation, race, religion, political affiliation etc. I care about attitudes.

The attitudes I object to is that of leeching off society (and this exists in the upper, middle, and lower classes). Be it someone living off the government (outside of those who work for the government one way or the other), or the rich kid living off their parents money (with no ambition to do anything relevant)... it sickens me. I want people to at least DO something with their lives. Be it being a scientist or an electrician, as long as they have some sort of purpose in their lives. Even raising a few kids, perhaps to do more than they were able to, is respectable. Yes, I do consider being a parent to be something of a job.

I also hate this attitude where people who disagree are basically a heretic. I say heretic as the words "racist", "un-American", and countless other words can be used to destroy people the accusation is enough, and can't be disproven. This, currently, is coming more from the left. Though the right has done this quite a bit in the past too.

I also hate the insanity in politics. Again, I feel more of this coming from the left currently (though again, in the past the right was more guilty of this). If you disagree you're any one of the already mentioned "heretic" accusations. Also this trying to destroy public figures' reputations be it Bush, Palin, or Obama, drives me nuts. What the hell happened to respectful discourse?! I've gotten harassed for being a conservative on a college campus (to be fair this could effect my observations). I've been told very matter of factly I knew nothing about history because of (inset policy position here), at which point I tell them I have a degree in history... and they only took the general ed course! I come down on conservatives doing the same thing.

Also this attitude I see propping up where people have all these entitlements, etc. Be it from the government, parents, whatever. That's the real greed in this country. People being felt they are 'owed' something. The only case I can see this being legitimate is education, including higher. Simply because helping people get an education can help build a better future... in other words we do get something out of helping them.

Overall my attitude is very Roman, especially on immigration. All I care about is 1) You pay your share of the taxes. Documented or not, if you're paying your share of the taxes, I'm at least content and welcoming. 2) You wish to be a contributing member of society. Even if that's a (sadly often mistreated) migrant worker, you're at least contributing something. 3) You're not planning some sort of harm. All three expectations are rather easy to meet!

Do we have problems in our country? Sure, what country doesn't? The fact that in the long run we're on the right track, is what I look at. I acknowledge the mistakes my country has made, but I do not gloss over the good either. Despite our problems, and perhaps because of our continued efforts to grow, I am proud to be an American. Do I think other people should be proud to be (insert nationality here) a lot of people should be, yes.

 

[Dr Know]

Maybe it's the part of the country I'm in, but Homophobia is (slowly, sadly) going the way of the dodo in Wisconsin... except perhaps in the northern and southwest parts of the state.

I *am* proud to be an American, I enlisted a couple years ago, but was sent home from basic for medical reasons (related to my sunken chest).

I consider myself as 'conservative' or 'very conservative'. However, I also define liberal and conservative differently than most. I don't care about sexual orientation, race, religion, political affiliation etc. I care about attitudes.

The attitudes I object to is that of leeching off society (and this exists in the upper, middle, and lower classes). Be it someone living off the government (outside of those who work for the government one way or the other), or the rich kid living off their parents money (with no ambition to do anything relevant)... it sickens me. I want people to at least DO something with their lives. Be it being a scientist or an electrician, as long as they have some sort of purpose in their lives. Even raising a few kids, perhaps to do more than they were able to, is respectable. Yes, I do consider being a parent to be something of a job.

I also hate this attitude where people who disagree are basically a heretic. I say heretic as the words "racist", "un-American", and countless other words can be used to destroy people the accusation is enough, and can't be disproven. This, currently, is coming more from the left. Though the right has done this quite a bit in the past too.

I also hate the insanity in politics. Again, I feel more of this coming from the left currently (though again, in the past the right was more guilty of this). If you disagree you're any one of the already mentioned "heretic" accusations. Also this trying to destroy public figures' reputations be it Bush, Palin, or Obama, drives me nuts. What the hell happened to respectful discourse?! I've gotten harassed for being a conservative on a college campus (to be fair this could effect my observations). I've been told very matter of factly I knew nothing about history because of (inset policy position here), at which point I tell them I have a degree in history... and they only took the general ed course! I come down on conservatives doing the same thing.

Also this attitude I see propping up where people have all these entitlements, etc. Be it from the government, parents, whatever. That's the real greed in this country. People being felt they are 'owed' something. The only case I can see this being legitimate is education, including higher. Simply because helping people get an education can help build a better future... in other words we do get something out of helping them.

Overall my attitude is very Roman, especially on immigration. All I care about is 1) You pay your share of the taxes. Documented or not, if you're paying your share of the taxes, I'm at least content and welcoming. 2) You wish to be a contributing member of society. Even if that's a (sadly often mistreated) migrant worker, you're at least contributing something. 3) You're not planning some sort of harm. All three expectations are rather easy to meet!

Do we have problems in our country? Sure, what country doesn't? The fact that in the long run we're on the right track, is what I look at. I acknowledge the mistakes my country has made, but I do not gloss over the good either. Despite our problems, and perhaps because of our continued efforts to grow, I am proud to be an American. Do I think other people should be proud to be (insert nationality here) a lot of people should be, yes.

Well, w/r/t the "respectful discourse" thing, I believe that died when Aaron Burr shoved his ugly mug in politics.

I know I'm not an American, and therefore probably shouldn't be weighing in on this, but it could be interesting to hear what things are from a foreigner's P.O.V.

To put it bluntly and to quote Slayer, I've been watching "a fading nation crawl" for quite some time now. I know that America's political spectrum is waaay off in right-wing la-la land from a general European perspective, and that you're economic system is approaching a breaking point. There are some serious issues going on at your side of the pond, and it seems like your choices boil down to:

a) Vote Democrat! We'll gut your societal safety nets slightly slower than the other crowd and twiddle our thumbs!
b) VOTE REPUBLICAN TERRISTS GROUND ZERO MOSQUE OBONGO SECRET MUSLIM GRAAGH
c) Or vote third party. To quote Kang (or maybe Kodos): "Go ahead! THROW YOUR VOTE AWAY!"

Mind you, it's not that we in Europe don't have problems (I'm from Ireland, which is currently sinking faster than a lead submarine captained by the Kingpin) but when America sneezes the world catches a cold and all that.

 

[Sanai]

You americans have a crapload of freedoms. You are allowed to say what you want without fear of execution. You are allowed to be gay or lesbian without fear of execution. You are allowed to express political freedom without fear of being put in jail or being beaten to death with stones. You are allowed to fight against the law tooth and nail through the use of lawyers.
You may not have a perfect country, but hey, at least you don't live in Ethiopia where as a child your village would have been burned to ground, your mother raped, your father murdered and yourself kidnapped to be made into a kalashnikov wielding child soldier who would go on to do the same thing.

My point is, no country is perfect, but us people who live in western countries are better off in many ways.

Heres some more freedoms westerners enjoy:
Money for being old
Money for being unemployed
Money for being a drug addict
Money for being a divorced mother
Money for being pregnant
The freedom to say what you want, no matter how damaging or hateful it is.
The freedom to profess any belief you wish, even if it involves being a member of a white supremacist group or something like that.
The freedom to own firearms (america) even if its just for the purpose of feeling like a big, big man.
The freedom to impede the progress of law and justice to an obscene level (via the use of lawyers and etc)
The freedom to be female without having to be covered, escorted and used.
The freedom to climb as far or as low in society as you wish (in some countries what you are born as is what you die as!)
The freedom to consume far more than you need or deserve while others starve to death.
The freedom to waste your freedom where it really counts by being another mindless sheep.

 

[whtdwrf11]

I'm going to open this with it being directed at something Swissdicator says because honestly I'm insulted by supposedly sickening him by living off the governments money.

Now just to make people understand I'm not personally attacking swiss over that comment I'm one of those people who does live of the government money because I have disabilities so it's not that simple to just go out and find a job but if it was directed at say at people with really no problems at all then I do apologize for dragging that comment straight out and being insulted by it.

Anyways wanted to get that off my chest after I read it.

But I am proud to be an American as well even if some of the stuff I read in the news and stuff is honestly horrid sometimes with all the bad things but we have so many freedoms we get to enjoy even if sometimes people go too far with them.

 

[TobinRoss89]

Im very proud to be an American, we are a nation of arrogant assholes but... we have been that way since day one baby and we are not going to change. We really are not that bad but we do have our flaws and to quote Lewis Black " If it wasnt for us all you sniviling shits would be dead!! hahahah" Go go Lewis Black

 

[C'Thulhu]

Lol, this has been an interesting read and I figure I'll put in my two cents:

To simplify my view, I think much of America's problems come from our two party system. As I understand it, most other nations have multiple parties that are viable. Sure, certain parties will hold more sway than others at times but the fact that there are other viable parties is a good sign. Our two party system has gotten to the point where Democrats and Republicans are really the same party. They just have the same overall goals where they differ is on the details. With this system any reform is slow in coming, no matter how popular or obviously needed. A perfect example is the recently failed attempt to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, which is a ban on gays serving openly in our military. That repeal had popular support on both sides and yet it still failed.

I tend to lean liberal, but that's just based on my general stance of issues. Really all I do is follow my moral compass. I'm not saying being conservativism is less moral, I just don't share all those morals. I don't talk about it often because people always try to 'convert' me if you will.