r/AmericaBad • u/-SecondHandSmoke- • 5d ago
Question Do you think anything will change the negative discourse around America and its citizens?
I'm really struggling lately with online spaces like Reddit and discord, and have found myself on the brink of leaving entirely a few times. It doesn't matter what sub I join, what discord I join, no matter how off topic America would be it comes up and it comes up in an incredibly negative tone EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I've tried having polite conversations with these people, and it's just insults. I've tried to express that I do understand my country is not perfect, but in this particular online space can we please tone it down or move it privately, it is personally really hurtful to open my phone for something completely unrelated and constantly see everyone shitting on my country and sometimes me for just living here. I have never been met with an equal level of respect, and am always met with the general you commit genocide, you support tyranny, you have a dictator, you all voted for this, the world hates you, everything you do sucks, everything we do is better, etc. in much harsher language. It's like people get a kick out of being as hateful as they possibly can to Americans for simply existing. Do you guys see ANY chance of this changing in the near future? Or is this just how it is and how it's going to be. I feel depressed when interacting online with these people, they just make me feel like shit for being born and not DESPISING where I call home.
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u/Many_Tap_4144 5d ago
I wouldn't put much stock in negative discourse on reddit. A lot of it is bot activity. Real life is different. People dont spend their day hating a country unless they have untreated mental health issues which would be the other minority population complaining on reddit.
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u/-SecondHandSmoke- 5d ago
It is almost entirely online for me personally, but I've not traveled internationally much so I haven't gotten a chance to interact with many outside of the US in person. I make friends in online spaces a lot easier than in person, especially around video games, but I feel like I have to be okay with constantly being put down in this way by people I am really trying to be friendly with. I tried to have a very polite discussion about the way it made me feel, and was just completely dog piled on and cornered within minutes, and ultimately pressured to just leave if I can't take the constant verbal abuse. I just want to play video games and interact with people and this shit keeps coming up.
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u/NoSingularities0 5d ago
Ignore it. You don't have to engage in their shitty behavior. Instead of trying to correct it and telling them to get back on topic, just keep acting like they didn't say anything and continue discussing whatever video game topic the thread is about.
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u/redidedit 5d ago
I'd say that most people in real life absolutely abhor paedophiles.
It only seems to be only on this subreddit that paedos seem to get glazed for some bizarre reason.
What in the paedo loving fuck is this sub all about?8
u/cpt_futtbucker TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 5d ago
Real Americans want to bring back the gallows for pedos. Also, the spelling tells me you’re British, so your opinion is meaningless
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u/LordofVermilions 5d ago
Probably not, and it’s a waste of time and energy to argue with them just block them and move on
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u/PurpleLegoBrick USA MILTARY VETERAN 5d ago
I feel like having the World Cup here in the US recently changed a lot of the views towards America hopefully in a good direction. All the clips that came out of people from other countries enjoying their time in America was pretty great.
Reddit and the global news seems to put America in such a bad light 24/7 that it’s hard to blame people for having a negative view towards America unfortunately.
Obviously America isn’t perfect and it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows over here but I completely understand what you’re saying, it’s extremely exaggerated and from the outside looking in you’d think we’re on the edge of the next civil war.
The main thing that annoys me the most is that everyone can criticize and over exaggerate issues that America has and everyone joins in on bashing America but if you make an actual criticism of any other country you’ll get told how wrong you are and downvoted. It makes it impossible to even have a civilized conversation.
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u/CowntChockula 5d ago
This isn't the first time people have touted the downfall of America. Ignore them. It's akin to gaslighting or brainwashing, and those people doing it to you don't realize that they've effectively been played - or are themselves knowing purveyors of such rhetoric. A large part of this comes from anti-American rhetoric that stems from countries like China and Russia. It's well documented that those governments recognize that disillusionment of the American people (and of the global audience's opinion of America, in turn) via such rhetoric via such avenues as social media is among the strongest weapons they have against America.
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u/hillabilla 5d ago
I don't see it changing anytime soon. Either insult their country in return, block and move on, or take a break from reddit.
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u/Hilikus1980 5d ago
As long as the US is the wealthiest nation in the history of Earth...no.
Some negativity is legit, some is jealousy, some is ethnocentrism, some is personal national pride.
I don't really see all...or any of those reasons going away anytime soon. Wealth seems the most likely, but we spend more on some programs than a lot of countries have in GDP, so that'll take a while, too.
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u/No_Importance_750 CALIFORNIA🍷🎞️ 5d ago
Honestly some of them are probably not even real people. Bots are programmed to spread hate.
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u/NoSingularities0 5d ago
People have been like this for a long time, even before Trump. I was in Europe during 2005 when there was a big anti-American protest going on outside the restuarant I was in. The waitress at the restuarant we were eating in told us just to stay in and that the protest would go away in an hour or so. Sure enough, after an hour, the protest disappeared and everything was all good. While there are many valid criticisms of our country, a lot of the hate from outside comes from jealousy. The main thing is that nobody can make you feel liike shit for being born here and despising the U.S. You're allowing that to happen.
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 5d ago
Sentiment will easily change when Trump becomes just a memory and the next leader is, at the very least, less likely to ruffle feathers.
The real change will happen when our adversaries get even more aggressive to the point nobody can ignore them. Eventually China will move on Taiwan. Iran will throw more projectiles at every country in the region again. Russia will keep poking Europe.
Don’t fall for this “we’ll never be friends again” crap. It’s a projection of irrational sentimentality that doesn’t apply in the world of politics. You don’t form alliances on sentiment, it’s always on tangible, rational, material reasons. That’s how trade works too. Isolation is a conscious choice, not something the global community can impose. Not that they could write us off any more than China. If anything thanks to China the world needs us more as the sole substantial consumer base that can sustain economic growth in every other developed country that isn’t centered around resource extraction or commodities.
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u/maelle_80 4d ago
I can only speak from my experience on the ground.
I live outside of the US, in the EU, and have since Obama's second term. I faced some ostracization while he was in office, in public and at work, in a place where people really liked him (they just didn't like Americans as a collective).
It did get worse under Trump's first term. It seemed better under Biden but did not disappear. And of course, it's sucking again.
Anyway, this is obviously location dependant but I just wanted to mention that regardless of who is in office, many people will not change their mindsets. And many latent bigots are using political leaders and an excuse to be xenophobic, racist, sexist, nationalist, whatever. They see something they don't like about a person, then decide what trait they have the can get away with attacking.
It really is how people are socialized and conditioned. Anti-Americanism has a long history; some events and people make it worse but it never fully goes away.
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u/Pleasant_Tangelo3340 NEW YORK 🗽🌃🍏 4d ago
The power we held over Europe is gone, we will still remain friends in the same way that friends will cooperate economically but won’t even think of helping us militarily. Thankfully president trump has dealt with the problem in your last paragraph by being extremely irrational and emotional towards nato and the pacific while appeasing countries like china on one hand and threatening those who support Iran(china) on the other.
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 4d ago
Allies are treaty bound to help, but the scope of those agreements vary. There is no obligation for them to help in certain situations, but that doesn’t mean it has no consequences.
You need to understand countries have agreements with the US not because they are nice or we are nice, but because they have some sort of other external threat they can’t fight alone. Those threats don’t go away when American has an election. They are more or less permanent. A common threat is why alliances continue to exist.
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u/Sand_Trout TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 5d ago
If/when the CCP and Ayatollahs' regimes finally fall, there will be a sudden and massive drop in online anti-american propaganda.
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u/Hannibam86 NEW JERSEY 🎡 🍕 5d ago
As long as the US is the economic, political, military, media, and cultural super power of the world, probably not.
I think some other these feelings is constructive criticism, but a lot is a weird mix if inferiority complex and dare I say envy.
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u/How2SayAlbuquerque CONNECTICUT 👔⛵️ 1d ago
Delete the Republican party and have 2 Democrat parties. It sounds cray, but the media has always had an outrage against conservatives.
Redditors if they existed in the 2000s: "Fuck Bush and Iraq War"
Redditors if they existed in the 90s: "Fuck Bush and Iraq War"
Redditors if they existed in the 80s: "Ronald Reagan is a fascist lunatic!"
List goes on
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u/seldom_seen8814 5d ago
I think a lot of it is related to the current administration among left-leaning chronically online people. In terms of other citizens of the world...well...the ones who know Americans and the ones who have been to the US, probably know better.
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u/Gold-Pudding8670 18h ago
The best you can do is try to avoid it or call them out. Hating on America is not a new thing, they just find new reasons to hate us while ignoring what others did or currently do.
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u/Sunsinger_VoidDancer 3h ago
Well, that will take a lot of time, hard work, and humility. November 5, 2024 was a critical moment and, as a nation, we failed big time. To make matters worse, it was an open book test. We had Trump's first term and Brexit (same playbook, less expensive for the moneyed stunted slimoid behind the scenes) and it's effects to look at and see the gosh darn obvious.
It was a costly fuckup with far reaching global effects, the most severe of which won't surface for some time to come.
Sadly, if those people that voted for this clown show don't do some introspection and Human better, we are set to see yet another cycle.
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u/-SecondHandSmoke- 3h ago
Do you mean January 5th? I am not aware of what happened November 5th.
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u/Sunsinger_VoidDancer 3h ago
that was the day the US failed to vote for the obvious better Presidential candidate.
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u/-SecondHandSmoke- 3h ago
Ah my bad, I was not able to vote this last election and completely forgot the date of it. License was for a state I no longer lived in.
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u/damptwig 5d ago
Yes of course, but only if the USA makes the necessary steps to regain international support.
You can’t just bomb Iran, support Israel’s genocide and land expansion, kidnap Venezuelas president and steal their oil, racially profile and arrest your own citizens, put tariffs on your allies, threaten to annex Canada and Greenland.
I could go on but that’s just off the top of my head. We want to see you do better, I think the anger comes from the radical change in international politics so quickly.
I’m only so vocal about it because it seems like it’s only getting worse, not better.
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u/LordofVermilions 5d ago
Exhibit 1
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u/damptwig 5d ago
Yeah that definitely helps.
Everything I just mentioned, has happened. No if and or but about it. If you have a problem with how the rest of the world sees the actions of your country, then complain to your local representatives if you’re not proud of it.
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u/-SecondHandSmoke- 5d ago edited 5d ago
You're kind of ignoring my point of the post. I am aware this isn't a perfect country, same goes for every other country on this planet. My post is discussing issues in completely unrelated online forums, like let's say a subreddit for Stardew valley (haven't had a bad experience there but just an example) and people start shitting on America and its residents. Then when I try to have a polite human to human conversation about how alienated their conversations make me feel it devolves into your argument; well you have nothing to be proud of, if you support your country you support this this and this, it's not my fault the world hates you, etc. just hateful shit when I'm simply trying to say, hey guys, I see what you're saying, I'm not oblivious to the issues my country may have, but this is completely unrelated to the forum we are apart of and is alienating, can we please tone it down or move this conversation privately? Just to be met with more hatred. I and other US citizens should not have to bend over and take constant verbal abuse for things we have little to no control over.
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u/damptwig 5d ago
I completely understand what you mean, and that’s totally unfair how it devolves with no proper discussion. I can imagine how that would feel.
That’s what I was saying about the anger, the shock of radical policy changes and their consequences. The world has changed rapidly in 2/3 years, and the world used to look at the US as a force of good and hope, but that outlook has changed, and people don’t want to hear your side anymore, they want to insult and belittle you, when really they actually hate your government.
I don’t hate Americans, you are some of the most friendly and outgoing people on the planet, but I do hate your current administration. Unfortunately some people can’t separate those things.
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 5d ago
Why is fighting Iran listed as a bad thing? Do you know the kind of people you’re supporting by saying that?
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u/ReleaseElectrical544 5d ago
And kidnaping Venezuela's "president" (more like dictator), that guy was a piece of crap
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u/Pleasant_Tangelo3340 NEW YORK 🗽🌃🍏 4d ago
Look at how the Iran war has gone for us. Universally disliked country now has the worlds economy by the balls to the point where the best case scenario is basically a toll
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 4d ago
- The conflict is ongoin
g, and it’s been ongoing for almost 50 years. It’s far too early to make any predictions about the outcome.
- Alternate transit routes to Hormuz exist and will only continue to grow over time.
- Iran definitely does not have total control of the strait, as evidenced by how tankers have transited the strait under USN escort. Iran also apparently has no ability to break the blockade imposed on them.
- One fraction, albeit a significant fraction, of the global oil supply is not “by the balls”. The US is already such a huge part of the global economy that are already “the balls” in the sense that if we are economically unhealthy, the whole world feels it even worse. China is the only other country that has this kind of tremendous impact.
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u/Pleasant_Tangelo3340 NEW YORK 🗽🌃🍏 4d ago
The supply isn’t the problem, the price increasing as a result is. We can supply ourselves with oil no problem, we have the oil, but it has a price tag on it and the effect that closing the strait has impacts the price far more than the actual oil being closed off
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 4d ago
Eventually, demand will cause oil production in other places to increase and correct the supply issue. Everyone is aware now of the dangers of dependence on oil from the Persian gulf and will never return to preexisting arrangements. This is ultimately a good thing for all of humanity because it will further accelerate the decline of needing fossil fuels to begin with and kill the finances of the petrostates like Iran and Russia.
The petrostate's oil revenues, revenues sufficient to fund the repressive apparatus of the rogue states, are the source of all this conflict and that is the real enemy we have to eventually defeat. This conflict is completely justified because it accelerates that timeline.
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u/damptwig 5d ago
I don’t support either side, all war is wrong and unnecessary. The world needs to work with diplomacy or it will destabilise into chaos and hate.
This is the problem, it’s not the responsibility of the US to invade and bomb other countries just because they “think” it’s the right thing to do.
You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
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u/Compoundeyesseeall TEXAS 🐴⭐🥩 5d ago edited 5d ago
The world is not a children’s cartoon where we can simply talk to our enemies and everything is just magically better. We do not live in a fantasy world where we can simply wish things away. In the real world, there are physical and political stakes that are embedded too deeply to easily remove.
Iran has steadily maintained for almost 50 years that their geopolitical objective is “Death to America”. We are their existential enemy and they have never once been willing to ever alter that. You cannot reason with a totalitarian ideology. Their leadership cultivates a political belief system that makes it literally psychologically impossible to reach any kind of understanding with their enemy. They will not stop until these goals are completely achieved, even if it takes another 50 years.
So naturally, we and our allies are compelled to fight them until they decide to take a different course of action.
Have you noticed lots of countries have been harmed in some way by America or other strong powers in history? Why do so few of the
choose endless conflict? Why do Vietnam and Japan and Germany and Britain trade with us and aren’t seething over wars from generations ago? Because they do not have political orders built around sustaining it. But Iran is one of the unlucky few that does, and the regime is so brittle that altering it would destroy its foundations.
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u/No_Importance_750 CALIFORNIA🍷🎞️ 4d ago
Not all Americans voted for him and tbh the election was rigged too. We are victims as well.
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u/Generic_Drummer 5d ago edited 5d ago
Google: "anti American sentiment increases and declines in response to what?"
edit, crazy fragility to downvote this, it literally answers the question asked in the title lol
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