To be an Un-American American

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

[Inks] this place.   We all grow up (us North Americans who don't live in Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean anyway) with this ing narrative.  Land of opportunity, pick up your bootstraps, American Dream... Bunch of ing bullsh**t.  I know what happened, I know why, but I can't help but look at it with some kind of overarching despair that is behind it all and shed a tear now and again. 

Today I woke up at a good friend's house because he was nice enough to grant me a couch to crash on after I went out and got drunk with some friends last night.  The dude has been through the ringer.  Breakups, layoffs, depression, anxiety... You name it.  And what a double edged sword of crap to get this morning.  I go to Wawa and out of the kindness of my heart and buy him a pack of cigs.  Because that gives him a bit of relief in what has been a depressing existence.  And OF COURSE I get a nanny state mofo from my hometown asking me questions.  Upon explaining the sitch, I get another mouthful of right wing American crap about how my friend just has to pick himself up and "make it work".  This friend of mine can't make it work.  He hates it here and he's stuck here.  This failing empire of capitalism where everything goes to those who were granted it all and nothing is left for anyone else.  He just wants to have a nice little plot of land to raise a family and die in peace.  No, you can't even die in peace anymore, because the hospitals will scoop you up and try to extend you for 10 more years and then charge it to those you left behind.  Everything is profit.  Everything.  Human decency does not exist in our country.  Small pockets of kindly religiouses and over-zealous latte liberals do some very nice work.  They at least try.  This is a failing battle.

This place sucks.  I don't want to make this seems like a HockeyDude hearts opebo post; but America is "the Bad Place".  What is there left that is not over-indulgence?  Or profit?  Or exploitation?  At some point in our history, we decided that we should run our country as a whole akin to a group of teenaged girls competing for the hunk on the varsity football team.  Cheat, , screw, and demean everyone else to make your life.  And we will commend the winner despite the despicable path they took to get there.  Because... Ya know... Bootstraps.  And those of us eho try to make it better?  Just the nerds looking in from the outside, knowing the vapid and superficial nature of it all; never a chance but still understanding the system in which we exist makes it the goal. 

I should move to Sweden and get some meatballs.

[/rant]

[Türkisblau]

Please move to Sweden.

[J-Mann]

Don't move to Sweden.

But -- legitimate question: how are you trying to make it better? I'm not really a bootstraps-picket-fence-American-dream kind-of guy, but I recognize the power of personal choice and responsibility. How are you trying to make things better and being stifled by the structure that exists?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Don't move to Sweden.

But -- legitimate question: how are you trying to make it better? I'm not really a bootstraps-picket-fence-American-dream kind-of guy, but I recognize the power of personal choice and responsibility. How are you trying to make things better and being stifled by the structure that exists?

Thank you for your extremely polite response, Jesse.

I am just frustrated.

-I am frustrated with a country where the Indiana "law" is even being discussed
-I am frustrated with the rich getting richer despite a liberal President
-I am frustrated with Calif. installing SPIKES to deter HOMELESS people
-I am frustrated with people saying that atheists are the morally bankrupt people despite what I just said.

I'mfrustrated, bro.  That's all.  I see better things and I want better things.

[Mechaman]

Don't move to Sweden.

But -- legitimate question: how are you trying to make it better? I'm not really a bootstraps-picket-fence-American-dream kind-of guy, but I recognize the power of personal choice and responsibility. How are you trying to make things better and being stifled by the structure that exists?

Thank you for your extremely polite response, Jesse.

I am just frustrated.

-I am frustrated with a country where the Indiana "law" is even being discussed
-I am frustrated with the rich getting richer despite a liberal President
-I am frustrated with Calif. installing SPIKES to deter HOMELESS people
-I am frustrated with people saying that atheists are the morally bankrupt people despite what I just said.

I'mfrustrated, bro.  That's all.  I see better things and I want better things.

Hey man I feel your pain.  But moving to Sweden is not suddenly going to make things better.  For starters you would probably have to become fluent in the language, which we all know is a real bitch.  And secondly I hear that Scandinavian social democratic paradises are actually not very friendly towards foreigners (they largely work because of "I have mine, now bugger off!").  Which I guess is about the best way I know of to say that if you are looking for a bunch of bad apples in any place you are bound to find them.

I mostly second J-Mann's advice.  Sure, we would all like a Golden Fuckin' Parachute, but that is not how life happens.  You get good times and bad times regardless of where you are at.  It is all about how you choose to deal with the shit.  Your thoughts are not that much different than millions of other people in this country.  This country is not perfect and we shouldn't be blind to the faults that exist here, but frankly fuck your defeatist narrative Hockey.  We need people like you and the whole "I'M MOVING TO CANADA!" bullshit is not helping any sincere left wing narrative in the States.  I admit a lot of that is pure selfishness on my part: I love my friend and family and I don't want to leave them to a totalitarian theofascist republic just because I can't stand it's politics.

Just remember that without slavery there would've been no abolition.  Without the Gilded Age there would be no organized labor.  Without the Great Depression there would be no New Deal.  Without Jim Crow there would be no Civil Rights movements.  Would I have preferred that everything went right from the get go?  You damn right I do!  I don't think there are many on here who share the same view!  We all wish America was some super duper happy hippie paradise where everyone had healthcare, greedy corporations weren't paying out starvation wages, and stable employment is becoming a thing of the past!  But do not let the situation of the present make you depressed and put you down when the Undiscovered Country of the future is still ahead!  It is up to you to ultimately guide your future.

[/a fellow Left American]

[Free Bird]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxTbfeYdO0

[politicus]

And secondly I hear that Scandinavian social democratic paradises are actually not very friendly towards foreigners (they largely work because of "I have mine, now bugger off!").  Which I guess is about the best way I know of to say that if you are looking for a bunch of bad apples in any place you are bound to find them.

Islamophobia does not equate general xenophobia.

Scandinavian Islamophonbia would hardly be relevant for an American atheist (+ he is even White). And Hockey has secular liberal values that would be mainstream in Sweden, so he wouldn't offend (well, maybe the odd radical feminist, but mostly).

[Oakvale]

1. America is a dump, you are correct.
2. Mecha is correct - Sweden is also a dump, just in a different way. You would not fit in or be happy living there. A dying, xenophobic pseudo-social democracy is not the left-wing paradise you think it is any more so than a dying supercapitalist state is.
3. Everywhere is a dump, learn to live with it and stop caring about events that don't affect you. Deal with your own life, that's all you can do.

[politicus]

1. America is a dump, you are correct.
2. Mecha is correct - Sweden is also a dump, just in a different way. You would not fit in or be happy living there. A dying, xenophobic pseudo-social democracy is not the left-wing paradise you think it is any more so than a dying supercapitalist state is.
3. Everywhere is a dump, learn to live with it and stop caring about events that don't affect you. Deal with your own life, that's all you can do.

1. The Western world is not dying.

2. How do you go from the country that has taken more refugees per capita than any other in Europe and celebrates multiculturalism as an official ideology to xenophobic? 13% for a right wing populist party does not translate into general xenophobia.

[Mr. Smith]

3. Everywhere is a dump, learn to live with it and stop caring about events that don't affect you. Deal with your own life, that's all you can do.

This attitude is why so many suffer, it's epitome of "eff you, I've got mine/ am trying to get mine so piss off" that HockeyDude so vents about here. It's the very justification of the zealot to screw others over.

Wouldn't be a dump if that kind of attitude was sacked and people remembered "hey waita second, this is a human being, one way or another it will affect me eventually, so I had better do something". Especially in the case of a friend right there.

Maybe not much (we are limited after all), but something to make things better.

Mecha has it right.

[Cassius]

I basically agree with Oakvale here. Unless you're very wealthy or hold some position in society of power and influence, there's very little that one can do to 'change' anything not directly within your power. Taking a step back and recognising this reality is the key to being content and satisfied with your life. Life is essentially just one large bog that we all have to wade through; we get covered in mud, sh**t and slime, but ploughing forward is a lot better than sinking. Its a lot easier to do that if you remain focused on those problems directly pertaining to your own position, rather be than worrying about things you can do nothing about..

[Antonio the Sixth]

Weather apart, Sweden is still objectively one of the best countries to live in. Of course that doesn't mean it makes sense to move there.

[Deus Naturae]

Look man, i understand your frustration, but more government is not the answer. The Federal Leviathan has expanded pretty much non-stop since the 1950's and issues like poverty haven't gotten any closer to being solved, though the Feds have done a pretty good job of destroying the value of the currency, subsidizing special interests, mass incarcerating people for non-violent "crimes", starting wars, spying on us, and generally trying to control the way we live. The solution isn't to make people pay more in tribute to the IRS mafia which will feed their money into a massively inefficient bureaucratic apparatus which will likely waste their money, dole it out to special-interest cronies, or spend it on something downright evil.

Instead of subsidizing people's living costs (which can actually make it more difficult for people to escape poverty), why not look at the reason that living costs are so high in the first place? We can start with our inflationary monetary system which by it by very nature means that prices and costs will always be rising and is constantly robbing all of us except the few lucky enough to benefit from the Federal Reserve banking cartel. Also consider that the increased government spending you advocate would need to be at least partially financed by even more money printing. Our current monetary system simultaneously increases the cost of living while incentivizing people to take on debt, thus resulting in the huge number of people bogged down by credit card bills and other forms of debt.

You can also look at all of the retarded licensing regulations which can get you thrown in a rape cage for trying to start a business or trying to find a job. Rent-seeking occupational licensing laws simultaneously destroy jobs by restricting certain professions while also inflating the cost of the services provided by those professions. Plus on top of that there is just a general sea of red tape which costs the average household 23% of its income. There are also sectors where costs are particularly inflated (like health care) as a result of government regulation. I've already made several effortposts about that on this website so you can read those if you want. Point is, the problem isn't that we don't have enough government, it's that we have too much.

That's my two cents anyway.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The thing is... you are very, very American. Even your complaints about America are strikingly American. I doubt you would be happy anywhere else.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The thing is... you are very, very American. Even your complaints about America are strikingly American. I doubt you would be happy anywhere else.

Well no sh**t, Americans complain about everything and take everything good for granted. Including myself.

^^^^
I'm just as guilty, as is 99.9% of Americans.

[Deus Naturae]

Also, think about it, is there any time in human history that you'd rather be alive than right now? We basically won the chronological lottery by being born in an age with the technology, medicine, standard of living, and freedom (relative to past eras) of today. Plus, not only were you the top 0.1% in terms of being born in the best time period, but you were lucky enough to be born into the wealthiest 20% of people in that time period (evident by the fact that you live in America).

Not to downplay the massive amount of messed up BS that goes on the world, but with those odds, can you really complain?

[Oakvale]

3. Everywhere is a dump, learn to live with it and stop caring about events that don't affect you. Deal with your own life, that's all you can do.

This attitude is why so many suffer, it's epitome of "eff you, I've got mine/ am trying to get mine so piss off" that HockeyDude so vents about here. It's the very justification of the zealot to screw others over.

Wouldn't be a dump if that kind of attitude was sacked and people remembered "hey waita second, this is a human being, one way or another it will affect me eventually, so I had better do something". Especially in the case of a friend right there.

Maybe not much (we are limited after all), but something to make things better.

Mecha has it right.

Nonsense. If HockeyDude wants to waste his time worrying about sweep of grand Events during the slow collapse of the West he's going to be perpetually miserable. We're all individuals, and the only chance any of us have is to look after ourselves and our immediate situation and try to make a functioning life out of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Thatcher was generally wrong, but she was right about one thing - there really is no such thing as Society. It's a meaningless abstraction that we'd do well to liberate ourselves from.

e: If he wants to paint that as "fuck you got mine!" the fact that he wants to move to a Scandinavian country is downright comical.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Is he a socialist? Because Scandinavian countries are all socialist.

[RFayette]

I am not the biggest fan of Koch Industries videos in general, but treat this as a "Count your Blessings" kind of response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpLfQvRmf2E

[dead0man]

The thing is... you are very, very American. Even your complaints about America are strikingly American. I doubt you would be happy anywhere else.

Well no sh**t, Americans complain about everything and take everything good for granted. Including myself.

DING DING DING DING  we have a winner!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Is he a socialist? Because Scandinavian countries are all socialist.

Shut up.