That's not what I meant. It's not just about news, it's about everything that makes the country what it is. There is a reason 64% of Americans repeatedly say the USA is the greatest country on earth, yet they don't have a passport and have nothing to compare it to. It is because their entire life they have lived in a propaganda bubble. And even for those with a passport, a 7 day holiday in Mexico or France doesn't count.
Huge
Kudos for that realization. National pride is silly. Each and every one of us could have just as easily been born in Sri Lanka, but by sheer luck we were born elsewhere. Though, I do hope theking is reincarnated and is reborn in Calcutta.
What is it they say, fight for your planet, not your country.
Eh, that's not the same. It's great you travel and see things outside of your borders, but living outside of those borders 365 days a year and living among people not catering to tourists, is a different experience. Tourists always see sunshine and rainbows, as they are supposed to. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just a holiday and everyone there is paid to make your stay pleasant. You want a wake up call, go hitch hike across Indonesia or India. Tell them you're from Canada and sit back and wait for the US bashing to begin.
I don't consider myself American anymore other than the fact they still own me, as I still have my passport for the moment. But I am now an outsider looking in at America, instead of just an American living abroad. Look here on GFY at all the Europeans and Canadians who jab at the US. It's for a reason, and usually justified. It's just incredibly difficult to support a murderous war machine who kidnaps and tortures people and holds them without charge, while spying on their own citizens, authorizing drone strikes, bailing out banks and big business while people suffer and lose their homes, while the homeless increase in record numbers on the street. At the same time they keep building prisons, dress the police in military gear and give them war wagons, confiscate weapons during emergencies, grope children at the airport, and generally exert overwhelming force for just about everything. Sorry, I can't support
any of that. That's just not who I am or what I want to be part of. That isn't what the USA was supposed to be.
I'm not comparing the USA to North Korea, so don't take this as such, but when North Koreans defect, they have to go through 6 months of re-education in South Korea before they can be set free with the rest of the people. They have been propagandized since birth and don't really know what is true, what is false, what is real, what is not. They have to re-learn everything. On a much, much smaller scale, and through their own realization, the same thing happens to many US expats after they are gone long enough. You're obviously on the right path and you question a lot of things already, so I have no doubt you would be one of those guys if you moved out, and would see your country with new eyes after a few years. And chances are, your POV wouldn't be a pretty one.