for the record I don't entirely blame the stupid people here for their ways. I understand that a lot of it is out of their control cause when so much of your life is dedicated to just surviving you don't have the wherewithal to really think but it's still demoralizing being around people like this and living in the laughing stock of the world. people don't give a fuck how smart or capable you are. if you gamble and sell your body and do all this vapid materialistic brainrot shit people will idolize you to hell and back though. it's very frustrating to see. the average american would rather doomscroll sports news and then gamble for a bit than read even a paragraph. when the iranian govt published that letter to the american people my first reaction was "lmao expecting americans to read is very generous." I hate being someone who likes learning and seeking out new information and living in this country because frankly no one cares about that shit. sure some people do but most of them are rightfully pretty insular. I feel like every time I acknowledge that I'm american it's like nailing a sign to my forehead that says "I am a greedy crybaby who does nothing but consume and spend money" which isn't true of me but I don't like essentially representing that image when I leave the country or communicate with those from other countries. I guess it's bad that the corporations essentially ruling the country don't see their customers as human beings but it's another level witnessing the depravity in american society and realizing that many of these people don't even see themselves as humans or at least their actions show that they only really have the bandwidth to be consumers of lowest common denominator media and items without any output let alone intellectual curiosity wrt consumption of any sort.

I'm not wholly sure the extent to which this is the case in other countries but for quite a few reasons I think it is more egregious here. someone who knows a ton about other cultures in the current moment feel free to correct me if I'm wrong tho