So, I feel like we have this discussion every year any more. I kinda hinted at my stance responding to the israel issue on columbus day and taking pot shots at both the super pro west/America can do no wrong crowd, and the literally hates america and has to constantly circlejerk about how crappy it is crowd, and I'm kind of sick of it.
I haven't been really hardcore like "pro" America since becoming a liberal. I always felt that mindset to be stupid and immature because obviously our country isn't perfect, and we should be honest about its flaws. Some people can't hear anyone even remotely criticize america without thinking we hate them, when I'm more in the Al Franken camp of liberals have a more mature love for america where they speak honestly about its flaws because they want it to be better approach. While conservatives have this weird "loves america like a 4 year old loves their mommy, if you dare say anything bad about mommy you must be a bad person" approach.
The problem is the modern left no longer has this "mature love" approach and the far left now literally does seem to hate america reflexively. And we see these culture wars play out around this time of year as people start talking about the evils of christopher columbus and the pilgrims, and it's like...can we not?
Like, this stuff was interesting the first time i heard it. Like oh gee, we didn't know that these guys were actually really crappy to the native americans, that's horrible, thanks for bringing it to my attention. But now after watching this play out virtually every year since like 2016 (the realigning year) it's like...okay can we stop? You guys are literally just as annoying as the conservatives crowd.
And it's not just actual figures that are crappy we do this too. We crap on some of the greats too. We crap on the founding fathers for owning slaves. We crap on Abraham Lincoln for wanting to ship freed slaves back to Africa. We crap on FDR for internment camps and offering concessions to racist whites to make the new deal happen. And it's like nothing is ever good enough for the modern left. And honestly, nothing IS good enough. These guys have turned on me. They now attack Bernie at times. It's ridiculous. I did not leave the right to deal with this crap. The Al Franken approach of "lets have a serious discussion to make america better" thing is fine, but this whole anti columbus day, anti thanksgiving crap is just an America bad circlejerk. Most people engaging in it arent doing so because they want to improve america. it's just valid circlejerking and virtue signalling about how much america sucks. For these people, the anti american sentiments have the same value for them as those who engage in the obnoxious "america is great and you're a commie if you disagree with it" style virtue signalling does for the right.
And honestly, I'm just over it. Yes, America is flawed. yes, we did bad things in the past. Can we move on now? The thing about confronting the past is we need to confront it, and THEN heal. We need to learn the lessons, but stop dwelling on this crap. The left thinks its being edgy with "did you know that the white colonists were bad?" crap. But it's like, yes yes, we know, now please shut up already. You're making the right stronger.
Seriously. The far left. The right, two sides of the same coin. The reason im a centrist is because i approach the sane middle ground of being able to entertain an idea while also seeing the very obvious nuance with it. I dont jump to extremes mostly. And sadly, the more this modern culture war goes on, the more I end up just being part of this weird apathetic center that is terrified about the amount of polarization within our society and wants people to shut up. Seriously im pretty much convince the SJWs and alt right are two sides of the same coin and are nearly as bad as the other. It's just mindless tribalism that is driving insane levels of political polarization in our society, and its kinda scary because both sides represent a very real illiberal threat that could undermine the fabric of our free society.
Im not saying we have to be Al Franken's 4 year old in loving america, but can we stop being like the other 4 year old tormenting that 4 year old by reminding them about how bad america sucks every 5 seconds? Seriously. It's old. it's immature. Let's shut up and move on. I just wanna have a nice dinner with my family and plan my christmas purchases this time of year. I dont care about the origins of the holiday and who is right or wrong. yea yeah yeah, something something settlers and turkeys, gobble gobble. I dont even freaking eat turkey on thanksgiving (well okay, maybe a little that my neighbors brought over...). I either eat italian food or i go to a buffet. I dont really celebrate a traditional thanksgiving. For me this is just that weird holiday a month before christmas where we all eat dinner with our families and then start getting ready for christmas. And christmas isnt even about jesus or mangers for me. it's about winter, fancy lights, and of course, conspicuous consumption under capitalism.
Like take it for me, the ex christian who celebrates christmas. Sometimes a holiday is just a holiday. Sometimes i can enjoy things for secular reasons, and like having a day off for a day's off sake. Yes, some aspects of america's history sucks. I just hate dwelling on it in a circlejerking fashion. Sometimes america got it right. Heck despite my own complaints over the years of america, i think it still did more right than wrong. Even when i complain about it it's still like in the 90th percentile of all countries (keep in mind if America is 20th at something and there are 200 countries in the world, we're still 90th percentile, we're just not literally the best like we act like we are). Im mostly criticizing it compared to its peers (other liberal democracies that got their crap together slightly better than we do). Compared to wide swaths of the world it's still a better place to live. And yeah. Again, not saying our past didnt suck, I just dont see the point in belaboring the point. There's a balance to be had.
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