Disregarding "the American dream" what's some stuff about America that still makes you proud?
I'll go. I'm still proud of every American who has held in there through these 8 years and not given up on turning things around. We know what it is to live free and despite all the obstacles ahead there is still places that you can experience it.
I agree, the majority of Americans are decent, not racist or various forms of genophobic, and resisting as best they can. The government and media has merged into a monster. ii looks huge and scary; that's by design. If you give up hope, they have won.
Despite this anti-immigrant push from the far right, we are very accepting of immigrants in general. If you've lived in the US for a while and speak English, we assume you are American and we consider you to be American. You don't even need to have citizenship to necessarily be considered American by the average person. You just have to have been here for a while. This is much more open and accepting and than the vast majority of countries are.
The pockets of blue areas that still would beat up nazis.
I know my fellow Philadelphians will beat an open nazi. And I have literally never seen a nazi in like 10+ years in Philly. Philly has 40+% of Black population (who are not fans of nazis), and Harris won by double digit percentage points, there is no chance someone can openly be a nazi wearing the swastica armband or doing the salute on a busy street around here and not get beaten.
Also, despite the ongoing autocrazation, I can still access any foreign website I want to, so at least the "free speech" aspect is still not totally gone (but if the republicans don't get stopped soon, this is probably going away 😖).
I know where I live this is true, too, because just a couple years ago some Proud Boy Nazi bastards were holding a "protest" in our city, and like 3 times more people showed up to yell at the shit heads and counter-protest their "protest." With how often I see MAGA hats, stickers or trump flags out here, it was a pleasant surprise seeing how many people were against these shit stains.
You're damn right we will. Go Birds.
I'm proud that a man can overcome extravagant wealth and luxury, a low IQ, a criminal record, extreme narcissism to climb all the way to the top to become the worst leader in history.
Forrest Trump.
It's sad that you could be talking about one of two people
Truly inspiring!
I'm legitimately struggling to answer this right now. I have little pride for nations in general, and none whatever for ours at the moment. I have plenty of pride for individuals and groups that are trying to do the right thing, but there's nothing unique to America in that regard.
^ this. I’ve lived in other countries. Lots of Americans would benefit from traveling or living abroad. Nationalism is silly, and gets weaponized by the ruling class.
Even though there is a tsunami of hate, more than half the country is outraged and truly wants to defend those being targeted. I'm still proud of that, it's the propaganda that affects the 30+% of the population that really sucks...
Remember: the entire population doesn't vote. Roughly half of the voting population chooses this hatred.
I guess apathy is slightly better than hate, but it's kind of hard to be proud that so many people see all this hate and chose to not vote.
Let's not ignore all the efforts Republican governments have put into making it much more difficult for certain communities to vote
The apathy is definitely aggravating as well is the "both sides are terrible so I'm not participating at all." My mom is one of the latter for sure :/
We have had and currently have some incredible authors artists and musicians who make beautiful and brilliant things that reflect the spirit of the average American far better than the handful monsters who have power over us
That's not to say other countries don't also have fascinating and ingenious creators and cultures too, just saying that ours are the thing I like most about my country
Some things I'm proud of:
I think it's easiest to be proud of your country and fellow citizens when you start interacting meaningful with your neighbors with an open mindset, regardless of their world view.
Funk music and brownies. I make both often! Very very good stuff.
My hobby is genealogy. Almost every generation seems to have someone in the family that endured significant hardship but made it through. The most recent one I found was a young child burned to death in a barn fire. Others are kids orphaned by flu or other illness. I always find that one person that could have quit - but didn't. Americans seem to have a recessive resilient gene. It comes out only at dire need. This can give us great hope these days.
The cities and states fighting back and keeping some sanity in these time. Best I got. I mean given our history we really need to be the best we can to make the best of ourselves that we can to justify our existence and we have been failing hard for ugh. Most of my life now.
We know what it is to live free
If you’re white-cis-het-male, and obey all gender norms, obviously. Oh also rich.
Being rich doesn't allow you to live free. It allows you to live in excess.
Living free is about being able to be who you are. Some people get the short end of the stick in our culture but they get basic freedoms many around the globe never get to experience. Yes, it is declining but there are plenty all around you that have experienced it.
It's kind of interesting that America does this thing where we punish ourselves.
And by punishing ourselves I mean the rich people bond together to torment the poor people by flaunting their wealth and exacerbating their poverty until the poors scream and struggle.
Typically this happens while natural disasters are also happening like the dust bowl or when earthquakes, fires and plagues beleaguer the nation.
We do this in order to make ourselves feel better in the long run by overcoming that and returning to a point where the rich people are not bonding together so tightly and the poor people are not so oppressed that they would rather die than continue living.
We are pretty good at that, and it has sustained this economy for at least the last 120 years.
But aside for that, I'm proud of the fact that the poors persevere, and that eventually the rich will unmake themselves, and we will inherit the earth.