Americans: Brainwashed or Ignorant?

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Before I begin, please don't anybody take this topic the wrong way. I don't hate America, I'm an American too and I do love my country because it's my home. But I'm smart enough to realize our country does have problems, unlike most people I know.

See the thing is a lot of Americans seem to be very clueless when it comes to their country or the world. Our country is labeled as an "Equal Country", yet people are still discriminated against like homosexuals. Our country claims to treat our POWs with more respect then the other countries, yet we have incidents like Abu Ghariad where hundreds of Iraqi prisoners were raped, tortured, and wrongfully executed by American soldiers and CIA agents. Most who were either not charged or served a very minor sentence. Our people also still seem to think every country in the world is still dirt-poor with an evil government that treats their people like crap, yet they refuse to learn that countries like Japan and Germany have developed a lot better since the World War days and that the people have just as much freedom and happiness as us.

My problem is that it seems like everyone I know in America refuses to accept this stuff. Especially my Mom, who I always thought of as very modern and intelligent until recently. Now any time I bring up the bad stuff our country has done like Abu Ghariad she gets mad with me and tries to convince me the world is lying because they're "Jealous of our Nation's freedom". She somehow thinks all the news in the world that says anything bad about our country is made-up lies. Like when I told her about Abu Gharaid, she tried to convince me that the soldiers were helping the raped people and some evil scheming reporter took pictures to make it look like we were the bad guys. I doubt she's even seen those macrabe photos or would even want to...

Or like when I tried talking about how our education system was seriously failing. Once again that was all the "Evil countries" making up stats about us to put us down. She tried to say our education couldn't be failing just because we're a powerful rich nation. She tried to convince me she's just wanting me to "Think for myself", but it seems to me like she just wants me to follow the sheep mentality she has fallen victim to.

She's not the only one who has this mentality. And I've been labeled as an "Anti-American" and hated just because I refuse to live in denial and pretend everything in our country is great and that we've done nothing to deserve the hatred from other countries we have recieved. Why is it that so many Americans are this way? This can't be good for our country's future in my opinion.

Last edited by GreySun369 on 04 Aug 2010, 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I say brainwashed.

Americans or often misinformed or ill informed. But that is a remedial problem. Go to alternative news sources for a better picture of what is going on both in the country and in the world.

ruveyn

They make a pledge to their damn flag. Of course they're brainwashed.

I really worry about my country's future. Our government has already started falling into corruption and is taking advantage of the fact that its people either don't know or don't want to know what's going on in the world. I have this deep feeling that things are only going to get worst in the future. I hope once our country hits rock bottom and the people get their heads out of the clouds that we can start truely being a better country.

The US tries to portray an image as the beacon of freedom, and many of it's citizens have been sold on that. But these facts will always remain:

- The US is a country run by regular people, like any other, and will never be above having problems.

- The US is a very powerful country, and maintaining that power sometimes requires cruel, selfish, and ugly actions.

I love my country too, but anyone who can't realize these facts has been brainwashed.

It is not starting to fall into corruption. it has always had an element of corruption. But these last few presidential regimes have been massively corrupt and it seems to be getting worse.

Well that's true, I don't mean to make it sound like we've been nothing but perfect until recently. Sorry that I came across that way.

I think no country has ever been perfect. Every country has made mistakes, and it's important for the governments to realize that and strive to be better.

Given the amount of resistance and that the propaganda victims of the cold war are pretty much running things right now (baby boomer scum), it's no surprise that such brainwashing is taking hold within the media into the general populace. Saying stupid things like that Obama shouldn't apologize for the country to other countries (while they actively deny we torture or condone it since the "terrorists" are subhuman anyways or say it's because our safety is important enough).

As an American I've noticed this as well. I'm getting so sick and tired of the obama conspiracy and this hatred toward liberals or whatever political spectrum you lean toward. I'm not saying that there isn't the same going on with the repubs but it's like you automatically get the label Obama sympathizer or stincko pinko if you show any amount of symapthy toward another country or immigrants. I'll never forget the overall comments coming from the americans about the flood in pakistan. I felt sorry for many of the innocent lives lost and everytime I'd get a reply from some idiotic american telling me I must be ret*d or something since the flood was helping to flush away the terrorists. I'm also seeing the same attitude toward poverty. There's this attitude that if you're poor you're just a lazy ass who doesn't want to get a job. You would think American's would get it through their head our economy is going down. I know a couple of people who lost their jobs who are having a rough time. There just seems to be so much division going on both financially and politically. I don't feel comfortable telling anyone where I lay politically anymore. I've gotten a lot of nasty emails.

Don't get me wrong, America's always had this sturn old fashioned attitude toward eachother's political spectrums. But what the hell is going on? I know Obama hasn't made the best president but there's a lot of this conspiracy against him and anyone who doesn't agree with the conservatives.

Now being that this is a PPR forum, I realize I may not be correctly ellaborting myself but I'd sure like to know what the hell is going on. There's this overwhelming cloud of despair. Even with jobs, it's like no matter how hard you work or where it isn't enough to live on.

I've made do without a lot of stuff and I try and be greatful but it's hard. I would rather be in Sweden or the U.K. where healthcare wasn't such a huge issue. My uncle has a cancer on his lung and he says he can't afford the cost of full treatment.

Speaking of poverty, our country is developing the same mentality as Europe did during the Medieval Ages. That if you're poor and homeless you must have done something to deserve it. Everyone assumes that all homeless people are just drug-addict drunks that are too lazy to get a job and will do something horrible to you if you speak to them. It really makes me sick that for the "Richest Nation in the World", we still have a high population of homeless people who are ignored or treated like crap. We do little to help them, and the Soup Kitchens and Overcrowded Shelters are not enough.

I also hate how people tend to blame all our problems on whatever president is currently in office. People don't realize that the president can't do crap. All his job is, is to sit in the White House and take the blame for everything wrong in our country so people will look the other way at the ones causing the real problems. He may want to or even try to change our government for the better, but there's so many dicks in the other parts of our government who refuse to let him do anything to actually help the country. Plus the president usually has no idea what's going on with the rest of the government. Like with Abu Gharaid, Bush literally had no idea the US millitary was torturing Iraqi prisoners and there could possibly be other prisons doing the same thing right now but we don't know because of people like the CIA who lie to us about it and then rationalize what they do when they get caught by trying to say it was to protect the country. The president is really just a tool used by the rest of the government and nothing he says really matters.

Nonsense. A statement of adherence to law and custom is hardly brain-washing.

ruveyn

Agreed. It's not the fact that Americans are patriotic that makes them at fault, it's the fact that most either have no idea about what's going on in the world or refuse to learn. Even people in our own government are like that. How can you run a country properly if you don't even bother to learn about the countries like who are your allies and enemies?

It's OK to be patriotic and love your country, but most people honestly don't give a crap about the government as long as they're safe and happy. It won't last that way forever.

Except for that "under god" bit that they added in 1951. That was pure propaganda brainwashing so as to draw a line in the sand between godly america and ungodly soviet union.

I think its a bit of both. There are a lot of ignorant Americans who won't acknowledge any viewpoint other than their own as having any legitimacy. If any at all is ever wrong, its blame the other guy. Blame a conspiracy.
Americans are brainwashed also in that they still can't get it through their heads that both major political parties are controlled by rich corporatists who really don't give a damn about those under them. They only want your business and nothing else. They don't care if you have health care or affordable housing.

I admit I don't have much faith left in the American political system. I tried to believe in Bush, he let me down. I've tried to believe in Obama, but he hasn't done much better.
Seems like Americans are more interested in fighting each other's shadows than doing the right thing anymore.

If these are my only two options, then I will have to say, "ignorant," but I do so with reluctance.

Ignorance carries connotations of wilfulness that I don't think are appropriate. I think the real picture is somewhat more complex.

1) Americans (and Canadians) are being let down by the public education system. Government is starving public education systems of resources, and learners are being ill-served. Some learners who are completing secondary school are doing so with only marginal literacy and numeracy skills.

2) Americans (and Canadians) are being let down by news media. Public policy is complex, and it is only a very few journals that are able to present a carefully considered review. Television continues to be a prime source of news and opinion, and is the medium that is most susceptible to external pressure. As a result, a significant amount of television reporting is focussed on the sound bite.

3) Americans (and Canadians) are being let down by government, which continues to control, package and manipulate information.

For the bright, inquisitive, interested person, there are ways to overcome these impediments. But for the typical individual, there are probably more pressing concerns.