10 Things Americans Don't Know About America

My friend shared this on his timeline and I agree with all of this sooo much.

 

Hmmmm I was hoping for some positive fun facts instead of all the negative sides. Still though, I can't disagree.

 

Like Apple I Agree 100% with all this shit because it's true, i know the U.S. isn't as "badass" as everyone in the world sees it as. Politics involve corruption, government tries to control, and we are unhealthy. I think this is a wake up call for America to get it's shit together, because this crap just can't be flushed own any longer. The only thing i can relate to is SUPER FRIENDLINESS : -) and being paranoid.

 

I knew about all of it.

 

I knew all that. But then again, I'm not american.

 

I've read this article before.

I disagree with 3. since there ARE a lot of smart Americans out there (maybe I'm just a rare exception?)

6. I don't think a LOT of people think that, but I do know people who think this.

Everything else I do agree with. Trust me, I don't act like this, and am highly intelligent and cultural aware of things I'll be a good representation of America if needed

 

Nothing really stood out. Honestly, I knew the majority of it. That's why as soon as I get out of the house, I'm going to travel as much as I can and most likely end up living in another country. Sorry America.

 

I was well aware of all of that, but I find it hard to believe anybody could have learnt much from that. It seems really obvious.

 

I knew all this,

only because it's been posted elsewhere before.

 

Uh yeah I don't think Australians are impressed just because your American, we also aren't impressed with America itself. That "Whoopdie-fucking-doo" sums it up right there. You have three kinds of Aussies, The ones who think Americans are arrogant twats, the ones that like you and think your accents are awesome and then you have the ones that think your arrogant twats and but like you anyways. XD lol. Not sure the UK is that impressed either.

Semi jokes aside, I think America does need a big reality check however I don't think all those points in the article apply to everyone and can also be applied to other counties too. The guy who wrote this article while has some good points, seems like a total douche imo.

 

I live in Republican hell, and this was an editorial in the local paper last week:

"I'd like to take this opportunity to say 'Happy birthday' to an old friend of mine who won't be around much longer. So here goes. Happy birthday America. You were the best thing ever to happen to the world until the Democrats took over and murdered our country. We'll miss you, America."

So Canada and Mexico are going to share a border now? Is that how that works, because I missed that in geography class.

"The best thing ever to happen to the world?" Tell that to the 400,000 innocent civilians killed in Vietnam during a 20-year war we fought for no good reason. Tell that to all the Japanese people with Leukemia and birth defects almost 70 years after we dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tell that to the families of the 500 unarmed civilians who were lined up and shot at point-blank range by American troops, who also gang raped and mutilated the bodies of the women in that village. Don't believe me? Go to Wikipedia and put in "My Lai Massacre."

Say were the greatest country in the world to the more than 123,000 innocent civilians killed in Iraq, an 8-year war we fought based on not just one lie by George Bush, as if saying Iraq had weapons of mass destruction wasn't bad enough, he then landed on an aircraft carrier and said, "Mission Accomplished" and the war carried on for another 7 years.

Tell that to all the Japanese-Americans who were kidnapped by the US government and forced into internment camps during WWII. And tell that to the 2.8 million people who died in the Korean War, another war fought over an irrational hysteria over communism.

Anyone who buys into this "American Exceptionalism" just doesn't know their history.

 

Holy shit, that makes a ton of sense. It's kinda sad really.

 

While I agree with much of it, the author is still speaking from an awfully privileged position. It's not talent and intelligence that determine your place in America -- it's sheer, dumb luck. If you're born rich, you'll most likely stay rich. If you're born poor (like me), well, you'll probably stay poor. Also, to imply as he did that the cause of such mental illnesses as depression is a sense of entitlement and an inability to confront unpleasant things is both inaccurate and offensive. (I have my own ideas about why mental illnesses seem more common in developed countries in general than in the rest of the world.)

I also think the ending was a little too pretentious and simplistic. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the United States ceases to exist as we know it by the time I die, but to place the blame for such a change on cultural failings lacks historical perspective. If a given country truly did fall every time it was accused of cultural decay, not one would last more than a couple decades, if that.

 

That video is what I've been saying to my classmates for the last 3 years. They were shocked when I told them I wanted to move to New Zealand because it was better.