Damn kind of thought this would be an uplifting post.
I would probably say your movie and tv show industry, im not going to comment on the the actual conditions for writers, actors, people who work in the industry (out of my expertise), the output is pretty amazing. No other country has produces the sheer content and quality of media you do.
Hey, that’s a reasonable and kind response. I appreciate it!
This was unexpectedly wholesome. Thanks homie.
the lgbtq+ rights in your country seems amazing compared to my own
they are being eroded fast tho
check literally any LGBTQ+ focused news site
No they aren’t. They are being eroded in red states, blue states are expanding them.
Hell, San Francisco has a UBI program that’ exclusively for LGBT folks.
There’s absolutely some federal bills eroding LGBT rights, particularly for trans people.
Does that mean American citizens shouldn’t be proud of the advances made in LGBT rights?
Fighting actual domestic tyranny brought upon by big corporations.
Not US here. I sometimes think that Americans are nice individuals, generaly speaking, but they are collectivly ferocious.
Americans are radically different depending on what region, and social class, of American you are interacting with.
But that’s true of any country. Every country hates and is embarassed by the poor uneducated douchebags, and loves their elite well-off cultured population.
UK has way more chavs living in shitty places with bad economics, than it does ‘posh’ people with nice accents living in London. USA is no different.
For some additional geographic context: The United States is roughly the size of Europe. A little larger if you include Alaska, a little smaller if you don’t. The entirety of England is roughly the size of Illinois.
As a Canadian, I find average Americans are friendlier than average Canadians (experience through the West Coast, Orlando and Texas)
But your mileage may vary: I am white
It’s very easy to disparage a nation state due to the actions of their government and forget that there are good people everywhere that are well intentioned and trying to do the right thing. The No Kings protest movement is a good example of that. Building solidarity movements with humane values is the way we change society for the better.
All hope is false, unless engineered, built action by action. You want hope? Build it.
Who are you talking to?
The U.S. is a very nice place to live.
still? have you been anywhere else?
I’m not the parent commenter. But I’m Chinese and I can confidently say that living in the United States for your average citizen is far more comfortable than living in China.
You can say all you want about how unfair the US economy is to the average working-class citizen but at the end of the day, it’s still a high-income country, and we have running water, electricity, unfiltered Internet access, good public sanitation, and reasonably-modern housing. There are some villages in China that I’ve been to with a total of six electric plugs, toilets that need to be flushed with a bucket, a barely-working 3G cellular connection, and where you can’t drive faster than 20 km/h without destroying your car.
Don’t take these things for granted, because you don’t know what it’s like to live without them.
I know this is going to sound bleak or dramatic, but I feel like the US is on a trajectory to a situation that is worse than what you describe.
I’ve spent time in this type of regional area in SE Asia, with very limited and rudimentary infrastructure.
It might be hyperbole to suggest that the US is becoming a dystopia, but it’s not hyperbole to list the multiple complex unsolvable problems.
There are some villages in China that I’ve been to with a total of six electric plugs, toilets that need to be flushed with a bucket, a barely-working 3G cellular connection, and where you can’t drive faster than 20 km/h without destroying your car.
Go on Baidu and look up 广州市麦地西街 (The one in 白云区, 梅花园 area)
Look at the street view (too laggy for me so I can’t screenshot it rn)
That’s the neighborhood I used to live… dirty af… urban hell lol… never had internet till my family emigrated… it was 2010 and I had no idea how to use the internet and my US-Born cousins treated me like some peasant lol
Yes. The U.S. is a very nice place to live compared to the majority of other places in the world.
There are several websites about current good news, some of which is happening in this country right now.
In October 2025, following pressure from United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered cities across the state to remove LGBTQ+ Pride crosswalks and other road markings that “advance political agendas” and “ideologies.”
Abbott cited safety concerns and violation of state and federal guidelines as reasons to invoke the measure, which required cities to comply within 30 days or risk losing transportation funding.
…
But, in the meantime, the new, colorful sidewalks do not violate any local regulations, and Kaur and McKee-Rodriguez hope they signal an ongoing commitment to LGBTQ+ Pride in San Antonio.
Hi. Random straight guy here.
looks at picture
…not sure why anyone would have an issue with this.
I’m more confused/concerned why there’s a series of traffic cones turning a 2 lane road into a 1 lane road without any obvious reason why.
Also, holy shit! That’s a lot of random solar panels! Someone call that phone number, and ask them what they power.
Cones might have something to do with those tents on the right. Might be an event at a venue.
The old design has the rainbow across the crosswalk, which actually does go against traffic safety standards, so the reason for it gaining the attention to get removed may not have been valid, but the actual removal reason was. And to show faith, they just redesigned it to meet standards. Here’s the original design:
Wait, what safety features are unmet? The white lines are the borders of the crosswalk, and the half white line is the stop line for traffic at the intersection.
What’s it missing?
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/resources/crosswalk_marking_selection_guide.pdf, Page 22. It’s not one of the official crosswalk selection options. Page 23 talks more about how decorative options fit into it and how it should be low contrast.
Never saw this aerial view before neat! Tbh I do like the side walk more tho. The street one i find quite distracting/disorienting. And a crosswalk isn’t where I want to invite distractions.
The flag switch is badass.
The reason for the cones is just out of frame at the top.
I was not expecting a literal rainbow road.
Wow, that flew under the radar. An entire city that has solved poverty, crime, health issues and homelessness to the extent they can spend time and money on this performative bullshit. At least the city lawyers will eat well.
This is actually one I didn’t know about. A small gesture, but a pleasant one. Of course the only story that made the front page was the one that sparked outrage when it was originally removed.
When the Idaho legislature banned Pride flags on public property to punish the City of Boise for flying one at city hall, the mayor and city council adopted the Pride flag as the official city flag. Best part, city hall is two blocks away from the state capitol building, so the bigoted fucks get a nice view of it when they’re at work 😊
No
We’ve always excelled at terrorism.
Let me tell you the good news: we’ve always been fascist, racist, bullies. This admin is just not covering it up at all. Glad you’re awake now my guy.
yea that was really good news. I ment so a small part of me can be proud again to be American?
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We’re finally learning that it indeed sucks to suck
Why would you be proud to be American?
It was founded on cruelty, and never improved.
The civilised world has always sneered at the US, and for good reason
No reason ever to be.
You don’t think there are any good reasons to be proud of being an American? Why not?
Usually it’s considered pretty stupid to be proud of things you didn’t have a hand in. Why be proud of where you were born, when it was just random chance? I can see being happy or feeling privileged to be an American - that at least suggests what you’re appreciating is that it benefits you. Saying you’re proud implies that being from the USA is some sort of moral success and it’s just not.
I’m sorry but this is incorrect.
Pride is not necessarily personal achievement - sometimes it’s identification or belonging. Our belonging to a group might be random chance, but endorsing the qualities of that group, shaping and participating in that group afterward are all active.
And frankly, no one needs to prove their pride to you. You’re not any kind of arbiter over whether people “deserve” to be proud of something.
Best of luck to you.
I’m proud of being gay. Are you saying I shouldn’t be?
I don’t know if you want to call it something other than pride, but I’ve never learned another word for what I would feel if John Brown had been my grandfather. It’s not my achievement, nor would I feel entitled to it in any way, but it would make me feel warm and grounded. My actual grandfather was a wife beating alcoholic, and I feel shame about him, even though he died before I was born and I had nothing to do with this.
I think that’s pretty common, even if it’s not logical, which happens a lot with feelings. I know several people whose parent(s) died when they were teenagers and in a period of tension with each other. All agree that the others shouldn’t feel any guilt for being normal teenagers when their parents died, and that the other parents knew they were loved, but most of them still feel as though they themselves had wronged their parents because of their teenagedom.
“Usually it’s considered pretty stupid to be proud of things you didn’t have a hand in.” Is it stupid to be proud of a friend when they accomplish something you didn’t help with, just because they are a part of your life and you want to see them succeed? Could that not be extrapolated out to pride in one’s country when it accomplishes something, even if all you directly contributed was your tax money? “Why be proud of where you were born, when it was just random chance?” Because the place I was born creates the circumstances in which I was raised, forming the environment that shapes my values, worldview, and culture. I don’t think I should feel like I deserve credit, but why not have pride in knowing that I have the opportunity to carry on the legacy and work that accomplished pride-worthy things in the past?
Despite having done things that seem dated in other countries, you guys did plenty of good
Just look at all the technological innovation coming from your country that saved a ton of lives (yes you have a spud healthcare system, but these innovations will help humanity for the rest of its existence, they cannot be taken away)
Yeah like tomahawk rockets
Don’t forget the Big Gulp
And RoundUp!
Yeah, Bayer owns that one now though. No good things come when Germans start borrowing bad ideas from the Americans.
If you’re a birthright citizen, why would you be proud over something you did nothing to achieve? It’s also not your fault, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of either.
It shakes out a little differently if you’re naturalized, but only marginally. That naturalization test isn’t much of a barrier.
Well, you freed the slaves that you had enslaved. I mean, their descendants anyway.
I guess the answer is yes. Some small part of you can be proud to be American again. All you have to do is not think about it too hard, and you could try yelling “Silver Bullet” and shotgunning a Coors Light every now and then. That could maybe act as a stand-in for pride, anyway. C’mon buddy, it’s
notthat bad…In all seriousness, individually Americans are pretty good people. Well, a few of the ones I know personally anyway. That’s like a couple of baker’s dozens! That’s something!
The US is the only western country where slavery is still legally practiced.
I would suggest you focus on outgrowing the need to be proud of your nationality. It’s not necessary to be able to wave a flag happily to live a good life, do good things with your time, and appreciate others who are doing the same.
The second you try to take this to the level of the entire country, and specifically the nation-state itself… now you’re into a whole mess. The US has a lengthy history of atrocities, toppling democracies, massacring innocents, dominating weaker groups… just don’t go there.
A trick is to acknowledge that there’s many alternatives. You can choose to be proud of your state, county, or simply just say “yeah my country is a cunt, so what?” And realize pride of your country doesn’t impact whether or not you’ve been a good, nice, or kind person.
Any nation that still ends official messages with “god bless America” and whose primary power projection has been weapons for centuries, is still a shithole. You’re not saying “allahu ackbar” because your religious extremists use a slightly different book.
Pretty much this, my friends and family thought I was being negative. But now, a few either, don’t like admitting it or they act like I’m a wizard.
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Gave*
With the near-complete dissolution of USAID, expect that number to drop dramatically. Unless it’s for Israel.
USAID was nothing but a tool of imperialism and regime change. The US creates the circumstances so that they would need aid. Aid that comes with strings attached.
I mean America has plenty of industries the rest of the world depends on. Unfortunately, a lot of the good takes involve ignoring a lot of the bad ones that helped obtain them.
Don’t be proud of your country, be proud of the societies you are willing to participate in and contribute towards. If you don’t find yourself living inside a good one, go and search it out.
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I’m not American… but I am Scottish/British and I’ve never quite understood the whole being proud of your country thing.
Unless one is a hypocrite it’s always been clear to me that if you’re going to be proud of all the good shit your country has done you’ve also got to be ashamed of all the bad shit.
And with a few centuries of colonialism under the UK’s belt (and before anyone says different, no, Scotland very much partook and benefited from it) I seriously don’t have the emotional fortitude to feel that much shame.
Feeling pride in your culture? In your community? Fine. But in your nation state? A bunch of administrators with delusions of grandeur wrapped in a flag? I’d argue that’s unnatural because nation states in no way played a role in our evolutionary psychology.
Maybe I’d feel different if I was born in a wee inoffensive country somewhere… but I hope not. Nation states are pragmatically necessary but I don’t think we should be getting too invested in them.
I’m an American, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I can imagine being proud of one’s country’s institutions. When a nation actually pulls off democratic republicanism, it’s something to be proud of. When a nation’s institutions protect civil rights and promote egalitarianism, it’s something to be proud of because that takes a lot to set up. Ultimately, a government is something built by a community and shaped by a culture. The people at the top would like to fool you into believing that government is a clash of wills between politicians, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg.
Although our highest offices have been corrupt for a long time (always?), Project 2025 dismantled many of our proudest institutions.
Yea but I heard a story about a carpenter and the job almost killed him.
Actually it did kill him. But he recovered.
Which country are you from?
