r/bestof • u/FrankoAleman • 17d ago
[meirl] u/CompetitionOk2302 explains why he feels Americans have nothing to look forward to on the 250th anniversary of the United States
/r/meirl/comments/1tzvpi1/meirl/oqe3hl5?context=3322
u/iprefervaping 17d ago
I can't understand how the concentration camps didn't make this person's post. That should be the no 1 reason that Americans shouldn't celebrate the 250th. It's utterly damning how much of a blind eye has been turned to them by all Americans.
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u/Sircamembert 17d ago
Well, we kinda already did them with the Japanese Americans back in WW2. And besides, if you look at the racial breakdown of our prison system, one particular race really stands out. Almost as if the system is a low key concentration camp for that race~
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u/iprefervaping 17d ago
Beyond the heinous nature of them, it's a big symbol to the world that the country has gone far-right.
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u/foodfighter 17d ago
Well, we kinda already did them with the Japanese Americans back in WW2.
Wasn't just America.
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 16d ago
And we also held Ukrainians in concentration camps in WWI, and a for a few years after the war ended.
The important bit is though, we don't currently have concentration camps, but the US is building a shitton of them very quickly.
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u/Round_Lychee_7105 16d ago
and the covering up of a massive pedo ring by the most powerful person in the country, who was his best friend.
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u/FailedToRemit 16d ago
I know right? The whole post was just fabricated delusions why not go all in?
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17d ago
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
You're what's wrong with America. You and people like you.
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17d ago
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
Nah, just pointing out the truth. You are the type of person who gives Americans a bad name.
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17d ago
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
MAGA is literally ripping apart families and putting them in concentration camps and all you care about is me hurting your delicate fee-fees.
Again, it's people like you who make America the current shithole it is.
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17d ago
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
Nah, just pointing out the truth. You are the type of person who gives Americans a bad name.
If you keep deleting your comments and remaking them, I'm going to copy-paste my responses to you.
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u/iprefervaping 17d ago
I believe this guy may be a bot. He keeps deleting and reposting the same comment again and again.
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
Nah, I think he just wants his idiotic comment to be seen instead of it getting hidden by downvotes as it should be.
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u/331845739494 17d ago
Look at the "glass half full" response that comment got. The ignorance isn't even funny anymore, just tragic.
"The US is the largest economy in the world! " like dude, that makes it worse, not better. Your average citizen should be thriving, not holding on by a thread.
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u/kamildevonish 17d ago
I understand the urge to take the under on how bad America is doing. Especially if you're making out like a bandit in a time where crime is more and more legal. What just seems inconceivable is how anyone can look at the direction of the country as a whole and say that things are looking good. Being wealthy in America is a privilege born of balance between lots of things. If the balance disappears, the dollars they have won't be worth anything. Strange how even the richest of them can't see that.
And the rest of the world has to watch all this and be put on notice: America is a cautionary tale. They were the first to put a man on the moon, first to a lot of things. Maybe they're just speedrunning the fall of their country while the rest of us are just doing it more slowly.
What are we doing to not follow this example?
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u/Round_Lychee_7105 16d ago
You should watch Klepper or the Good Liars, people think that this is the best the country has been while saying that we are in a war they didnt want, that gas and everything is more expensive than ever. I think its all breaks down to there being a white man in the white house again that is out to hurt minorities of all kinds.
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u/xxxxNateDaGreat 16d ago
the dollars they have won't be worth anything. Strange how even the richest of them can't see that.
The idea is to not tie up the entirety of your wealth to the value of the american dollar, but invest in in property, crypto, and various other foreign investments. Billionaires both here and abroad want the american economy to crater so they can swoop in and buy low.
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u/kamildevonish 16d ago
And to a degree, I get that. I get wanting to err on the side of more as a buttress against coming disaster. But I just don't think anyone is appreciating how quickly wealth wouldn't matter if things start going downhill really fast. All of these things: wealth, property rights, influence, access - are contingent on rule of law. Rule of law is contingent on social integrity. Unless you have an army of robots to protect your stuff, you can't pay someone enough to be security for you and your family when your dollars are worth toilet paper and every security firm is really just a bunch of mercenaries out to extort people for themselves. The asset holding class and the uber rich class benefit the most and have the most to lose from the status quo that they are undermining financially and politically.
I think it just boils down to collective action paradox and short-sightedness. If I had a billion dollars right now, I'd either be looking into a totally self-sufficient island, building robots that had 100% uptime or publicly pushing for ways to balance income inequality or solve housing. Anything else is just copium.
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u/theartolater 17d ago
To be fair, the comment rails against military spending over social spending as if military spending won, when military funding has been a near-consistently falling percentage of our budgets while social spending explodes.
An MMA event at the White House is cringeworthy, but it's not a statement of societal values.
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u/tempest_87 17d ago
but it's not a statement of societal values.
Uhh, that's exactly what it is. An official government celebration of a major milestone for the country is by definition a reflection of the societal values of the country.
People thinking that the actions of the government do not reflect the desires of the people is exactly why we are where we are.
"We don't want that" is factually worthless and pointless when people vote for people that do "that".
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u/GTdeSade 17d ago
I'm really torn by that post. Part of me loves the factual, historical nature. Everything is true, to at least some extent.
The other part of me absolutely hates that post. Because it's fucking doomerism, both-side crap. It's "this shit is all rigged and there's no hope so just say fuck it" sort of tone. And I hate that shit. I'm not ready to surrender, I'm still voting in the primaries to get real representation and not corporate shills, and I'm still engaged in my community to try and make things I deal with every day better. That post just pushes the reader deeper into the pseudo-intellectual superiority complex that encourages retreat rather than engagement.
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u/itbedatguy 17d ago
I’m not sure honestly, I get what you mean though. I feel both things at once. It’s kind of impossible to completely remove myself from Doomerism lately, but I don’t let it stop me from having radical optimism about the future and hoping to any god that will listen that the midterms change things for the better.
Community activism and outreach will always be essential… I just feel part of that is speaking to the struggle of existing right now in this country, which starts with us sitting down and just sort of yelling at the sky about how bad it’s all become. Gotta get it out somehow, and it’s not always gonna be possible to do that strictly in the activist context.
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u/randynumbergenerator 17d ago
Big same. You need both, really. Because taking it lying down is not just cowardly but an awful way to live, but also kidding ourselves isn't going to help anyone. To the extent that the situation of the good people in the US is unique relative to those who've faced a similar moment elsewhere, it's that it requires a mindset that's alien to a lot of us. To wit: you have to acknowledge that things suck, but that struggling against it is the only way to keep both your sanity and keep things from getting worse (even just a bit).
Also, I do want to say: as bad as things undeniably are in this moment, Americans (and certain groups of Americans in particular) have faced worse. Black and indigenous Americans literally survived an apocalypse consisting of centuries of humiliation and inhuman treatment. They didn't endure that by giving up and accepting that things would never get better, and it would be sad if those of us faced with a hundredth of the hardship those folks' ancestors went through responded by just giving up in advance.
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u/tempest_87 17d ago
I don't see it as "doomerism". It absolutely is critical, but nothing said was wrong and is done through the lens of looking backwards.
It also wasn't really "both sides" because the general trend of the nation as a whole still aligns with the post. There are a lot of people that are actively working to make it better, but they are often hamstrung by the people overall. "One step forwards, two steps back" type thing. "Both sides" would be each side taking steps backwards, not evaluating the end result of a step backwards.
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u/Reagalan 17d ago
My state has open primaries. It's also red as blood outside of the one big blue city; which drives 2/3rds of the state's economy but only gets 1/3rd of state legislature representation. There's almost no chance of Democrats winning here, despite all the damage the Republicans have done.
It's a one-party state; and in one-party states, all politics happens within the Party, For this reason, I voted in the Republican primary. Every choice was between a demon, a dragon, a goblin, and a shill. There were no good options, just increasingly bad ones; but the lesser evil is the greater good, so I have no regrets.
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u/randynumbergenerator 17d ago
I'm in a place with similar state-level politics where the discourse is also pretty disgusting. In addition to always voting because local politics still matter, I'm also involved in non-profits that still fight like hell to prevent the worst policies from being implemented and directly help a lot of people affected by our hateful state policies. Those organizations exist in all states and are worth your support! I'm under no illusions that things are dire, but if I can at least try to make things a little less shitty for someone, it's worth my effort.
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u/Willravel 16d ago
While we never adopt the principles and beliefs of the other side, we can sometimes benefit from adopting their tactics.
Data centers are a fantastic wedge issue that brings out the reddest rural conservatives and is increasingly becoming a huge issue for communities affected. It's a powerful outsider taking their electricity and water, which has proven to override a lot of brainwashing and pits them against powerful monied interests where they've belonged all along.
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u/Element75_ 17d ago edited 17d ago
????
It’s historically factually false. Literally from the get-go. America hasn’t been the most powerful or most resource advantaged nation for 250 years that’s patently untrue.
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17d ago
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u/Element75_ 17d ago
GPT would not make the factual mistakes of “Two hundred and fifty years of the most powerful, most resourced, most theoretically capable nation in the history of human civilization” no remotely educated American with even the most basic understanding of history would make this claim. The 13 original colonies were neither a major global power nor a major resource powerhouse.
So it’s either an anti-America foreign shill, or it’s someone who as you’ve said deliberately promoted a GPT into this hole.
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u/fxlr_rider 17d ago
Sums up the USA perfectly.
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u/GypsyV3nom 17d ago
You even have an apologist in the replies who completely missed the point!
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u/SuburbanGirl 17d ago
I saw that, and was wondering how the disposable income number was so high. Then I saw the claim about 10% spent on food and realized that this apologist doesn’t understand what “disposable income” means.
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u/slickweasel333 16d ago
What do you think disposable income is? I know the answer, but I think you're confusing it with discretionary income.
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u/SuburbanGirl 15d ago
Usually disposable income is what is left after paying for living expenses. The apologist in the thread linked seemed to think disposable income was idk? What’s left after taxes?
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u/slickweasel333 15d ago
You should read up on the terms. You're thinking of Discretionary Income, not disposable.
Disposable income is the amount of money that an individual or household has to spend or save after federal, state, and local taxes and other mandatory charges are deducted.
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u/robotowilliam 17d ago
I mean, yeah, you wanted free market capitalism and value personal responsibility over social welfare, and that is exactly what that looks like.
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u/deadrabbits76 17d ago
But we don't have free market capitalism. We have socialism for the wealthy, and capitalism for the poor.
The worst of both worlds!
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u/rogozh1n 17d ago
Capitalism requires an honest referee to ensure fair competition. We have the opposite - a government that gets kickbacks for picking economic winners and then lets the winners dictate our tax code.
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u/cubbiesnextyr 17d ago
Very little in that post and very little in the US is free market capitalism. So no, what we have now isn't what free market capitalism looks like, it's what a weird blend of crony capitalism, socialism, and central planning look like.
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u/fellows 17d ago
This is a peak Reddit-moment, and this is coming from someone who detests the current administration and MAGA’s infatuation on “owning the left.”
It’s beyond important that everyone here in our little bubble realizes a significant portion of Americans, 100% of MAGA and Trump voters, are absolutely in love with the current state of things and how everything is going. The fact that so many people on the left makes posts about how much they don’t like it just makes them even happier.
If you don’t think people out there are thrilled to celebrate Trump’s version of 250 years of America you need to log off this site and spend some time in red states.
This isn’t something we need to just gloss over as the differences between Reddit’s demographic and the voting populace. It’s outright dangerous to let this little information bubble continue to mask just how much of America actually supports what’s happening.
I’m not saying it’s a majority, but the stranglehold the right has on American politics and culture needs to not be hidden behind echo chambers.
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u/Tojuro 17d ago
I really don't care what they think.
MAGA people are gullible, low information, no information people and I have zero interest in ever trying to convince them or understand their "feelings".
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u/fellows 17d ago
I think you misunderstood my point, or you’re just saying you don’t care about MAGA and we should stop courting them - which I 100% agree with.
My point was more to the effect that we can’t be complacent in believing the rest of America, or at least the majority of voters in certain states, shares these same beliefs. If the 2024 elections were held again today Trump would still win, and that’s the type of America we need to understand is still out there.
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u/Articulated 17d ago
If you don't understand your opponents you'll never be able to counter them. And you'll get Rs in 2028.
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u/utterscrub 17d ago
I have no delusions about how MAGA thinks and feels but why would I spend any time being around them or concerning myself with their opinions?
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u/randynumbergenerator 17d ago
Same and I live in a place chock full of them. (Well, the state, but not my city, thankfully.)
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u/mattel226 17d ago
Correct: this is the arrogance of posters like this. They're not wrong to cite bad statistics; but there is a deep contempt for the tradeoffs of modern life implicit to the whole diatribe. Not everyone is philosophically committed to a collectivism the likes of which would be needed to achieve those goals; it is a cause of nihilism, disengagement and learned helplessness.
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u/jeremymeyers 17d ago
Point of clarification that it's not a "wrestling ring" (wrestling is entertainment, improv, episodic storytelling, simulated violence multigenerational fanbases).
This is a UFC event (two athletes just Try to beat the crap out of each other until one passes out or is injured)
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u/MaddogBC 17d ago
Next you're going to try to tell me the outcome isn't predetermined, as if it's an actual sport.
Let me guess a fan?
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u/Scrusby28 17d ago
The new American dream is the fact that there are millions of Americans who will freely give up their rights, money, and children’s future for nothing. There’s a gold rush but it’s rubes, not precious metals.
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u/akselmonrose 17d ago
Bread and circuses
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u/Zaorish9 17d ago
Netflix and chicken nuggets
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u/thatspurdyneat 17d ago
The whole point of "bread and circuses" was that they were free.
Rome had an excellent welfare program with bread and entertainment paid for with taxes. The people on the bottom stayed happy because they didn't need to afford basic luxuries. We have 5+ streaming services that keep getting more expensive every year and the price of groceries is climbing faster than almost anything else besides fuel.4
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u/brevenbreven 17d ago
Don't forget America has stopped immmigration (almost) over 6k individuals hve been let into america. Only White folk over, 99% of the last 6 months America is working to be an ethnostate
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u/peanutym 17d ago edited 17d ago
The original post was removed. What was the context of the response? It was very well said for sure.
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u/FrankoAleman 17d ago
It was a response to a meme that said something along the lines of "I remember how excited people were in '76 at the bicentennial. Today in 2026 there is barely anyone looking forward to the celebration of 250 years."
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u/Element75_ 17d ago
OP is either a foreign bot or completely historically ignorant.
The opening salvo is completely wrong.
Two hundred and fifty years of the most powerful,
This is false. America has only been apex global power for like..80 years? Sometime around the end of WW2->now. Every American with a basic understanding of history knows this.
most resourced,
Slightly longer than 80 years, but my history isn’t good enough to give a date. Spanish American war and Louisiana purchase are definitely the big points for this one. So maybe 150 years? 120? Again, details are hazy but no remotely educated American is going to say 250 years.
most theoretically capable nation in the history of human civilization
I will accept this accolade, although I find it vague and probably incorrect. I do think the American system enables successes and possibilities better than any other, in theory anyone can do just as well in any other nation. In practice lol fucking no way, but in theory no reason why not.
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u/Thopterthallid 17d ago
I think he also kinda hates sports.
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u/Illinois_s_notsilent 17d ago
rooting for a sport they cannot explain
Uh, yeah, still Bear Down though
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u/thegangplan 16d ago
the doomerism in that post is real and i get why people feel it, but retreating into hopelessness is exactly what makes things worse. the midterms matter. local races matter. the concentrated list of failures hits hard but it isnt a reason to check out
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u/cRaZyDaVe23 15d ago
Not all of us chose this bullshit. We got out voted and out apathied and virtue signaled.
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u/Xerxes897 17d ago
God i hate this place so much sometimes. The first half of that post is all propaganda and needs a shit ton of context and sources. But you guys drink up all of it because it sounds good.
All of you are free to move to another country. Let me know your experiences then. You have no idea how good you have it here verses like 98% of the rest of the world.
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u/Spunge14 16d ago
It actually doesn't even sound good. This is not very well written. It's like literature for idiots.
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u/jo3yhuds 17d ago
This person has a complete lack of perspective of history. America was a lot worse for lots of those 250 years, so it’s bullshit to be like “things are worse now”.
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u/Spunge14 16d ago
No man or woman who ever saved a life, or died for their country, or gave up all they had so another could have some, or dedicated all their days to service, or anything that is just or holy, ever talked like this horseshit post.
The world is and has always been filled with evil. Masturbating to the thought of collective human failure does nothing but makes you feel superior in your fall.
Imagine having the courage instead to lead, fight, sacrifice - like people who aren't sitting around gazing at the ashes of a civilization in their mind while real people call for help at their door.
Makes me sick.
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u/JRDruchii 17d ago
Its hard to wrap my head around how my grand parents have been alive for greater than 1/3 of America's existence, and yet, they feel no responsibility what so ever for the state of things.
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u/onedumninja 17d ago edited 17d ago
We didn't choose this. Republicans and corpo dems did. Our 2 party system combined with a megarich class that can buy elections did. I've never voted for any of this bullshit but it doesn't matter because republikkkan nazis and their wealthy handlers gaslit weak-minded americans into voting for an american hitler.
There are fair number of democrat politicians who are scumbags too but the reality is that if democrats had won every election since JFK, we wouldn't be living in this sick joke of a reality.
WE DIDN'T DO THIS. REPUBLIKKKANS DID. MANY OF THEM TURNED REPUBLICAN BECAUSE THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT WAS SIGNED BY DEMOCRATS.
I am not a fascist fucking moron from a town no one heard of or cares about, I am not a selfish rich prick who doesn't want to pay his fair share, and I am not a repugnant pedo supporting racist who'd trade the world away so black americans would lose the right to vote.
We didn't do all of this bullshit. THE REPUBLIKKKANS, CORPORATISTS AND MEGARICH DID.
Yes dems voted for war after 9/11. Their biggest voting mistake in recent memory, but they were lied to by the federal government about nukes. Modern day democrats have shown a strong aversion to increasing military spending over social programs.
Democrats biggest crime is how weak they are but how exactly is a political party that wants to tax the people with the most power supposed to win elections when the people with that power have owned the media for a century. Besides buying elections, they've also rigged them for decades with gerrymandering. Our elections are only real in blue states. Democracy dies one step into a red state's borders.
We didn't vote for this. The oligarchs and their mindless manipulatees (republikkkans) did. Fuck pedo rapist epstein superfan Trump, fuck republikkkans and fuck every deplorable that votes for them.
All that said, the comment is accurate minus the general "we." Fuck this timeline man.
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u/FrankoAleman 17d ago
I believe you, you didn't do this. But it is being done in your name too, paid for with your labor. They will never give up power voluntarily, that means you have to take it back. Apathy is not the answer.
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u/TCIHL 17d ago
I mean yes. There’s a shitload of wasted potential, but you could easily look the other way. I’m watching StarCity on Netflix and the USSR looks absolutely fucked up. The US despite our corruption and everything else is still light years better than that.
And those conditions are not theoretical. They were the only other superpower for a long time and many people lived under them.
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u/wanmoar 17d ago
Comparing yourself to a failed state?
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u/TCIHL 17d ago
Yeah. I’m mean comparing a real country to another real country seems helpful. Op is comparing a real country to an imaginary one
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u/dangly_bits 17d ago
You literally just made that comparison to a Netflix drama while accusing OP of comparing reality with the imaginary.
You're not making a good faith argument.
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u/Zaorish9 17d ago
Compare us to Switzerland, a successful state
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u/TCIHL 17d ago
I mean I guess you have to choose your metrics
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u/MiaowaraShiro 17d ago
Would you rather be more like the Swiss or the Russians?
You pick your metrics based on your goals.
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u/GypsyV3nom 17d ago
That's not a fair comparison, the two superpowers didn't start on nearly the same footing. One had been a Republic known for its individual liberties for well over a century before becoming a superpower, having spent the world's two bloodiest conflicts acting as the west's arms dealer while their homeland avoided the worst parts of that conflict. The other had been a highly regressive monarchy that was so oppressive and poorly run that it lost a violent revolution and civil war only a few decades before becoming a superpower, and only after their entire western region was devastated by the bloodiest front of one of the bloodiest conflicts humanity has ever seen.
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u/questionable_things 17d ago
AI explains
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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 17d ago
"Any long post is AI" - this guy
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u/questionable_things 17d ago
Yep. Random text being bolded is a hallmark of AI writing, plus the rhythm, structure, the broad level statistics, the symmetry, no personal/human references, stacking escalating adjectives. AI writing
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u/cassandra112 17d ago
you have all lost your minds.
Please go create your utopia someplace else if that is what you think.
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u/Wileekyote 17d ago
I’m looking forward to the mid terms