I’m continuously confused about why they think they are free, or at least uniquely free? What does the moon even have to do with that supposed freedom?
What they said is a line from a song we are made to sing as children. They don’t really teach us about life in other countries, we have to do that ourselves if we happen to be curious.
Yep. From kindergarten to 6th grade we had to sing that along with a myriad of other similar songs.
By the time I was around 13 I started to realize how weird it is and I began questioning everything I had ever been taught. Growing up, my parents made me go to a Catholic school every Wednesday evening so I had been taught lots of incorrect and distorted information. Eventually I began skipping class and I would walk around town and do whatever and that is the first time I actually felt free.
To conservative Americans the word “freedom” doesn’t mean the same thing that it means to you and I. That’s the simple short explanation for your confusion. It would require a much longer discussion to really unpack why that is and how it intersects with ideology.
It makes me sad because one of the aspects of my country of which I am actually extremely proud is the fact that we landed people on the fucking moon. It’s sad because this feat was accomplished by a bunch of really smart, educated people with a solid grounding in science (and TBF a few literal nazis here and there) not by a bunch of inbred dumbfucks who think driving around with a big flag sticking out of their enormous pickup truck is somehow making a contribution to America’s greatness - and whose whole existence is fundamentally built around rejecting science and education and being smart.
That’s very definitely not what they mean at all. American conservatives, the kind of people referenced here, are anti-government except for the military.
Propaganda is why they’re deluded to the levels they are.
Americans are by and large poorly traveled and unaware of exactly how badly they have it in America. Something like 1/2 of Americans have a passport, whereas Canada which is right next door is 2/3-3/4.
One of the weirdest things about that is they seem to be proud of it.
This is only true if you look at the country as a whole. Break it down by state or even region and you’ll see that entire parts of the country are more like Canada in terms of international travel, while others are unusually provincial for citizens of an industrialized democracy.
If you live in a middle class neighborhood in a big west coast city, for example, chances are good that you and all of your neighbors have traveled overseas extensively. It’s also very much a class and educational division and of course that plays out in a variety of other ways as well.
Yes. This is what I’m pointing out. Americans are intentionally ignorant about the world and don’t see a problem with this. They’d rather stay home, sit in the lazy river at the water park stuffing their faces and drinking bud light than going and seeing the great museums of Europe, the history of the middle east, the artwork and dance from Africa or the beauty of somewhere like Bali.
6 flags sounds awesome though. Foot long hotdogs are where it’s at I hear.
And we can travel thousands of miles and still be in the USA. I don’t blame US Americans for not traveling outside of the USA, we have a wide range of vacation destinations that people travel from various parts of the world to visit. People could literally teavel only in the USA their entire lives because we have so many places of interest.
However, we could use cultural diversity to fully understand what we’re not being exposed to.
I’m continuously confused about why they think they are free, or at least uniquely free? What does the moon even have to do with that supposed freedom?
I don’t think they’re trying to make a logically rigorous argument
Propaganda
What they said is a line from a song we are made to sing as children. They don’t really teach us about life in other countries, we have to do that ourselves if we happen to be curious.
You were made to sing that song? Gross!
Yep. From kindergarten to 6th grade we had to sing that along with a myriad of other similar songs. By the time I was around 13 I started to realize how weird it is and I began questioning everything I had ever been taught. Growing up, my parents made me go to a Catholic school every Wednesday evening so I had been taught lots of incorrect and distorted information. Eventually I began skipping class and I would walk around town and do whatever and that is the first time I actually felt free.
It’s normal for young children to have a music class, usually this is primarily a ‘fun’ class and includes a lot of chorus singing.
This was one of the songs sung in the class when I was a kid.
Propaganda plus having the intellectual capacity of a middle schooler while being assumed to be a reasonable person
If Americans knew how good life can be then they wouldn’t settle for such a shitty country. So from birth they are lied to about having good lives
It’s not even healthcare, imagine the poorest country you can and there are places like that there
They’re just getting defensive because someone dared to criticize the U.S., that’s all.
Stop it or they’ll start chanting their country initialism again.
To conservative Americans the word “freedom” doesn’t mean the same thing that it means to you and I. That’s the simple short explanation for your confusion. It would require a much longer discussion to really unpack why that is and how it intersects with ideology.
It’s a big part of our culture, it’s even in our theme song
Yep, accurate.
Which was a drinking song - appropriately.
It makes me sad because one of the aspects of my country of which I am actually extremely proud is the fact that we landed people on the fucking moon. It’s sad because this feat was accomplished by a bunch of really smart, educated people with a solid grounding in science (and TBF a few literal nazis here and there) not by a bunch of inbred dumbfucks who think driving around with a big flag sticking out of their enormous pickup truck is somehow making a contribution to America’s greatness - and whose whole existence is fundamentally built around rejecting science and education and being smart.
Decades of Red Scare propaganda “just look at how unfree they are”
They mean their government is free to do whatever the fuck they want.
That’s very definitely not what they mean at all. American conservatives, the kind of people referenced here, are anti-government except for the military.
Anti-government except for one of the biggest aspects of the biggest government there is…
it’s not what they mean but I’m saying that’s what it actually comes down to
Propaganda is why they’re deluded to the levels they are.
Americans are by and large poorly traveled and unaware of exactly how badly they have it in America. Something like 1/2 of Americans have a passport, whereas Canada which is right next door is 2/3-3/4.
One of the weirdest things about that is they seem to be proud of it.
This is only true if you look at the country as a whole. Break it down by state or even region and you’ll see that entire parts of the country are more like Canada in terms of international travel, while others are unusually provincial for citizens of an industrialized democracy.
If you live in a middle class neighborhood in a big west coast city, for example, chances are good that you and all of your neighbors have traveled overseas extensively. It’s also very much a class and educational division and of course that plays out in a variety of other ways as well.
I don’t currently have a valid passport; I haven’t felt a need for one.
America itself is so big that I can spend my life visiting different parts of it and never run out.
Having a passport and traveling intentionally just feels like an unwanted hassle.
International travel is an amazing education that you cannot receive domestically.
I just don’t see the value versus the effort I guess.
Yes. This is what I’m pointing out. Americans are intentionally ignorant about the world and don’t see a problem with this. They’d rather stay home, sit in the lazy river at the water park stuffing their faces and drinking bud light than going and seeing the great museums of Europe, the history of the middle east, the artwork and dance from Africa or the beauty of somewhere like Bali.
6 flags sounds awesome though. Foot long hotdogs are where it’s at I hear.
It’s mostly because we’re poor and can’t afford to travel. Don’t act like everyone is like that, please.
And we can travel thousands of miles and still be in the USA. I don’t blame US Americans for not traveling outside of the USA, we have a wide range of vacation destinations that people travel from various parts of the world to visit. People could literally teavel only in the USA their entire lives because we have so many places of interest.
However, we could use cultural diversity to fully understand what we’re not being exposed to.
You can have all the cultural diversity that you want, you just have to get the politicians to agree that immigration is actually a good thing.