Do American's have a false reality?

Do American's have a false reality?

For example - protests of 3,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq, yet you hear stuff all on the 20,000 kill each year in the US through gun related violence!

Huge arguments on abortion, but little real action to lift living children out of poverty.

Complain about Japan and Norway killing whales, the deforestation of the rain forest in Brazil all the while being the biggest polluters of the earth, air and sea on the planet - both on a total basis and on a per capita.

Claims to be the richest country in the world, but half the country seems to live in trailers or tiny apartments.

Rave on about being the champion of the FREE world - yet has the largest incarcerated population.

The USA - king of hypocrites?!

Any thoughts? Am I being too harsh or over simplistic?

 

I live in Australia too - and I know we have many issues in Australia - like not enough housing! But not too many DP members would be that interested.

 

Those two points you bring up are huge and I totally agree with them. Don't forget richest country in the world doesn't have universal health care system.

 

In Australia the problem is the next election, which will be chosen on the climate change or the economy. Climate change will win and labour will win. Inflation will hover at %6 and unemployment at %10. Labours economic management is terrible. So we will be a lot worse off then the USA is now and in the next four years.

 

I don't think the Americans have a 'false reality' as individuals. (if that makes sense). I do wonder, though, wether they may suffer from a slight sense of isolation from the world.

From my reading of US news media (especially TV news), 'foreign' coverage is very weak. Anyone relying on such coverage might end up with a rather insular - even ignorant - world view. (whillst being erudite and spot-on when it came to domestic matters).

I saw CNN World News a few years back, and the bulk of their 'world' news centered on American politicians or celebreties visiting other countries, rather than events in those countries per se.

Perhaps it has improved since then ?

Meow Purr.

 

According to Wikipedia, about 20% of Americans have passports.
( I can't post the story URL as I am too junior a member of the forum, but you should be able to google it easily).

Meow Purr.

 

I think we do have a false reality mostly because ofthe biased media sources. As mentioned by ships-cat, cnn news reporting on politcs and celebrities isn't really my opinion of what "World news" should be. I believe that we are shown things the government wants us to see and feel. I hope that a time will come again when the media will wake up and start talking more about issues instead of fluff! Its ironic how many new terror reports come out in the media during elections times, pretty conveinent huh? LOL

 

No, I'm a realist LOL I don't see it as doing my country a disservice, I see it as saying enough is enough and we need some major changes in this country. I could go on forever. Its not unpatriotic, its supposed to be the land of the free and we're allowed to voice our opinions, I just wish more of my governement would listen to its citizens and see that what is going on is NOT ok, I think our midterm elections proved this and yet our politicians are all wimps in responding to what we want.

 

US people dont have a false reality, its called having doble standards. (as all other countries also have of course, people are patriotic all over the world)

 

Let me make it clear that my comments are about the psyche of America as a society, culture and country. These are not views on Americans as individuals (I always use this disclaimer because Americans rarely seem to take a critical view of their country without getting all defensive).

I would say there is a large degree of 'national schizophrenia' in America at the moment. The rhetoric and the principles talked about are one thing, but the reality is sometimes the very opposite.

This has been displayed clearly through the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Many Americans think they are fighting against 'evil' and fighting for 'freedom, liberty and democracy'. But the reality is that the coalition was the aggressor and the 'evil' they talk about are people who are defending their country and taking part in their own civil war.

If china invaded America, American citizens would defend their country but according to the logic used in Iraq, that would make them 'terrorists'.

There is no freedom or democracy in Iraq, you can kill as many people as you think is necessary. Freedom and democracy will take decades of civil pressure before it will truly exist.

The same national schizophrenia applies to other domestic and national issues.

All of a sudden every country wants a nuclear weapon and Americans assume this is because they are evil and want to use it to attack other countries. But the real reason they want a nuclear bomb is because it is the only way to prevent an attack from the US. If only Iraq had a nuclear weapon, we wouldn't have invaded them 'by mistake'.

Then theres Iran. In 2003 Americans supported the invasion of Iraq because they were convinced it had intentions to use WMD. We now know that was a mistake, the worst mistake in US foreign policy ever.

4 years on and America is ready to make that same mistake about Iran. You've seen on CNN and FOX that Iran is making a nuclear bomb so it can 'destroy' Israel, right? But do you any of you know what evidence there is of this so called Nuclear bomb? Does it matter?

This national schizophrenia can been seen in domestic politics, where democracy has failed because politicians vote on behalf of their party instead of their constituents. Democracy has failed because every significant law/action has to be watered down and made impotent just so it can be passed.

Another issue is that Americans think questioning and doubting the president is unpatriotic, but the exact opposite is true. Laying back and letting 1 individual have his way with your country is very very unpatriotic. The government supposed to work for the country, not the country for the government.

Also, theres a difference critical between patriotism and nationalism.

-----------------------
blah ive ran out of steam

 

I'm from the UK and I was in the states for 8 weeks earlier this year, I was shocked at the 'news' reporting in America.

News of deaths of Iraqis, Americans, British and other soldiers is always reported in full everyday in the UK but the big news networks in the US just skim over it in 30 seconds. I guess real news isn't good for ratings.

The news is always about fires, road accidents, celebrity, political rhetoric and child kidnappings.

There should be a legal definition of the term 'news'. News is about comprehensive reporting of facts, not about ratings.

 

Yes, 98% of americans have false reality. I hope it will change!

 

Great post! That is right on the money.

 

The "elites" have been perfecting their thought control techniques for ages. They control the news except for parts of the internet. The average person, needing to actually work for a living, doesn't have time to decipher all their misinformation.