Has ripping on Americans become the new American pastime?

I am very proud to be an American! I try to only surround myself with like minded people.

I’m proud to be an American.. and I don’t see anything wrong with picking at ourselves.. it’s our checks and balances.. our way of always trying to perfect things… happy people tend to complain about little things.. =D

what else can we do when we all keep voting for the same idiots over and over again even in a different body

many americans take everything for granted and dont realize how lucky they are. and, many like to bash the government but take no steps to change it. i say “THEN MOVE”.

what can one person change when the rest of the population is is brainwashed into thinking hey carbon tax is a smart idea , or hey lets bail out all the idiots that got us in this mess so they can keep there jobs ?

There are certainly characteristics I frown upon in American culture. We are the biggest consumers in the world as far as things that we don’t need. I think that the reason Americans get ripped on so much is because of our 37” tv’s and the abundance of overweight people in our country. Americas’ “waistline” continuously increases and people look for short cuts; diets, moving sidewalks, driving to your mailbox, etc. We are just fat, lazy slobs.

Of course this is all stereotypical but isn’t that what the world judges on? Stereotypes because of ignorance? It doesn’t matter what you really are if what everyone else sees is something different.

One of the time-honored privileges American’s have is Freedom of Speech, and many take that to mean complain, complain, complain. The is nothing wrong with a healthy amount of suggestions for improvement.

@YARNLADY of course, but I’m not referring to people making healthy suggestions; I’m talking about the people who like to sit around and bitch.

It seems like there is a lot of it and I hate to hear it.

I’m not proud to be an American. I live in Portland and think the Trail Blazers suck. Nationalism is stupid.

I honestly wish my parents had fucked in Sweden.

Jealousy, pure and simple. It’s a trend that will pass.

I mean, shoulderpads and tailfins went away eventually….

I don’t think so. I’ve been doing it for 45 years.

I guess it’s too late for you to grow out of it then…

You mentioned two different things in your original statement, Americans ripping on Americans, and being proud to be an American. I am very proud to be an American, and for that matter I am proud of what America is, our constitution, that we are a country of immigrants, that we believe in the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, that we understand the importance of separation of church and state, that you are not confined to the socio-economic circumstance you were born into, that you are not judged by your family name. We are not perfect at executing these ideals, but these are our ideals and hopefully are always trying to move towards the goals we have set for ourselves as Americans. Now, do I rip on some Americans, yes, when they are saying or doing something that flies directly in the face of what I consider American. Like that asshole Mayor in the town next to me who said we should go back to only allowing property owners to vote. I rip on him and the people who agreed with him.

George Carlin said “there’s just enough bullshit to hold this country together. If everyone told the truth, society as we know it would collapse!” Recent events have shocked people out of their complacency and now many can recognize that the reality of America no longer matches up with the American rhetoric.

Our reputation has gotten pretty bad, and it’s natural to want to distance yourself from something with a bad reputation. To people overseas it probably seems like we’ve crossed the line from patriotism to jingoism. Telling people, “I’m not like that, but most Americans are” only makes the problem worse. Instead of just letting a foreign person meet you and form their own impression, you’re telling them that most Americans are just as bad as they thought.

I think it doesn’t make sense to say “all Americans” for anything. Regions of America vary widely in culture, traditions, beliefs, and climate. It’s almost like they could be different countries. (In American Gods, Neil Gaiman’s protagonist Shadow takes a trip from small town northern Minnesota to San Fransisco and makes a remark about that. He makes a lot of interesting observations about the US in the book.) And then there’s the fact that we have such huge expat populations here, and we’re slowly absorbing their cultures as well. We’re not the first country, and we won’t be the last, where the government does something that many of the people are against. It just baffles me that people blame and distance themselves from other citizens, instead of trying to get to know one another and open a dialouge.

Barack Obama does….......................

So finally Americans have caught up with the rest of the world eh?!...... well on this one thing anyway!

I think some of it comes from acknowledgment that our global citizenry is not often what it should be. American foreign policy abroad has been driven by corporate interests. Shocking as it may seem, not every country is “Mad About the Mouse” or wants their kids eating McDonalds, drinking coke or Starbucks, or shopping at Wal-Mart.

More opportunities to travel abroad and interact with other cultures shapes a different perspective of who we are, and what we do outside of our own sandbox.

@PandoraBoxx, You’ve hit the nail on the head!

I was ashamed of being an American when GWB was president…now I am less ashamed of being an American but I can certainly be ashamed of others that are also Americans or anyone, really, when they do hateful and ignorant things – I am not other people