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[strange headache]

Dear Americans,
You used to inspire the world.

Your culture, a beacon of freedom and democracy stood like a bulwark against authoritarianism and oppression. As you stood on the shoulders of giants, the cultures that inspired your roots, the ancient Greeks cradle of democracy and scientific thought, the Roman Empire, the renaissance and enlightenment, you far surpassed them all. You explored space, landed on the moon, invented modern cinema, created music that would rouse the minds of generations to come.

From the free thinking immaterialistic Woodstock hippies, to the work hard party hard materialistic attitude of your Wallstreet yuppies, I f*cking loved all of it. From Abba to Zappa, from left to right, everything had something worthwhile to offer. Your country was a true melting pot of cultures and ideas, of free thought and hard labor. You had some many amazing things to offer, so many great artists, intellectuals, politicians, scientists, musicians and movie makers, far too many to count. You were proof that freedom and democracy just worked, you instilled the rest of the world with optimism and the hope for a brighter future and a better mankind.

So let me ask you this: Where has it all gone?

Modern American culture has become so safe and pussified, it has turned into a global laughing stock.

Form a European perspective, many of us have grown to dislike your cultural offer. Your overbearing concern with being as inoffensive as possible has robbed your cultural output of any inspiration. Your corporatism has crippled your artistic expression, as market shares and focus group testing have slowly evaporated your soul. Mediocrity is celebrated as our children dance to computer generated and auto-tuned songs. Movies, games and books are meticulously screened for even the slightest of insensitive and "problematic" content. Your classics are butchered for the sake of "modern audiences" and your movies have nothing to say anymore as your cultural industry churns out one remake after another.

In short, your culture that was once so uplifting has become destructive and bitter. There's no beauty to be found anymore, nothing that would lend wings to young minds. No movies, no music, no games that would kindle our fantasy. Maybe it's a sign of what's to come or maybe it's just an expression of your economical decline, a generation that was promised great things only to see its hopes and spoiled dreams shattered by recession. I don't know...

It's such a shame, your culture used to be the great unifier, now it has turned into the great divider.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Sir this is a Wendy's.

Spoiler

Just because a particular culture doesn't appeal to you does not mean it doesn't appeal to anyone. You are just mad things aren't like they used to be.

You are basically just "Old man yells at clouds" here.

 

[jason10mm]

This is because America stopped making stuff just for Americans and now tries to sell stuff designed to be minimally palatable to the entire world.

 

[SuperBabyMethod]

ABBA isn’t American

 

[funkygunther]

ABBA isn’t American

we’re off to a great start

 

[CAB_Life]

You can’t be excellent, or seen as excellent, when you elevate mediocrity and mental illness.

 

[*Nightwing]

$28.5 trillion in debt = fuck you money

 

[Nobody_Important]

You can’t be excellent, or seen as excellent, when you elevate mediocrity and mental illness.

Who is elevating mental illness?

 

[AJUMP23]

WE released Twitter and everyone in America became scarred of being cancelled by a vocal minority.

 

[BarringGaffner]

Obligatory.

 

[Alebrije]

Dear Americans,
You used to inspire the world.


It's such a shame, your culture used to be the great unifier, now it has turned into the great divider.

 

[strange headache]

ABBA isn’t American

True, but it had to rhyme with Zappa
Should have mentioned Bowie, Freddie, BB King, Joplin, Hooker, Waters, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and all that other good stuff.

Although I'd say your disco culture made them great and known to the world.

 

[Punished Miku]

Greeks > Romans > British > Americans > Chinese

Hopefully they can make some worthwhile art while standing on our shoulders. It's your turn now buddy. Make us proud.

 

[funkygunther]

True, but it had to rhyme with Zappa
Should have mentioned Bowie, Freddie, BB King, Joplin, Hooker, Waters, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and all that other good stuff.

Bowie, Waters and Freddie aren’t American either

 

[Star-Lord]

Gather round, kids. Settle down now. And no hitting. I’m going to tell you a story about the way that Pres. J Biden, Sr.’s lamentations are so churlish in conception and so quixotically oblivious to the inescapable facts that they might easily be mistaken for a send-up. Although the pressing need for addressing the legitimate anger, fear, and alienation of people who have been mobilized by J because they saw no other options for change is acknowledged here, the main focus of this letter regards J’s desire to produce a new generation of brown-nosing racketeers whose opinions and prejudices, far from being enlightened and challenged, are simply legitimized. Certainly, J thinks it’s good that his anecdotes misdirect, discredit, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize his rebukers. It is difficult to know how to respond to such monumentally misplaced values, but let’s try this: It amazes me how many sniffish poltroons believe his bletheration about how he is a voice of probity. It’s decidedly true that There’s a sucker born every minute. Believe it or not, a few hotheaded, silly mobocrats actually want him to don the mantel of revisionism and extend his power until it surpasses anything ever heard of in the monarchies of antiquity. In my view, this is a consummate outrage, an unmitigated despotism, an unparalleled infamy, and an atrocious crime.

My usual response to J’s scribblings is this: Most pundits are uncertain about the magnitude of the threat posed by J’s verbalisms. However, such a response is much too glib and perhaps a little undiplomatic, so let me be more specific. J’s jeremiads serve only to make people increasingly obscene. At some point, we’ll reach an obscene event horizon where everything in the universe will be obscene. At that point, it will no longer matter that whenever J announces that hanging out with pesky perjurers is a wonderful, culturally enriching experience, his mercenaries applaud on cue and the accolades are long and ostentatious. What’s funny is that they don’t provide similar feedback whenever I tell them that J might punch down or slag off anyone who so much as thinks about challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations sometime soon. What are we to do then? Place blinders over our eyes and hope we don’t see the horrible outcome?

J uses his influence to call for a return to that which wasn’t particularly good in the first place. Okay, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but for all of you reading this who are not ignoble head cases, you can understand where the motivation for that statement comes from. Although I, hardheaded cynic that I am, embrace a true diversity of views—religious, political, and otherwise—his view that he is a protective bulwark against the advancing tyranny of parvanimous, scornful authoritarians is nothing less than drugged-out. Let it be stated here, now, and forever, that I have no set opinion as to whether or not the confluence of extremism and Stalinism in his accusations ensures a swirling river of discontent upon which he so peremptorily rides. I do, however, obviously avow that I hope and wish for a day in which J is picked up and taken to either prison or an asylum—whichever is closer. I also wish that more people would realize that if J can’t stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.

My vision that some day, people everywhere will inspire widespread hope and determination is an inspiring dream. Unfortunately, reality always awakens me and reminds me that Dadaism is dangerous. J’s obsessive-compulsive version of it is doubly so. I will not quibble with J as to whether or not like a cuckoo leguleian, he will sincerely blitz media outlets with faxes and newsletters that highlight the good points of his slimy writings. Instead, I’ll simply state that it’s entirely reasonable at this point to conclude that barbarous troglodytes have exerted care always to use high-sounding words like scientificogeographical to hide J’s plans to obliterate our sense of identity and leave it at that.

Because we have the determination to see the truth prevail, we must never forget that there’s long been a specter of fetishism floating throughout our society. However, no one has ever given it a national megaphone—until now. In particular, by changing this country’s moral infrastructure, J has made it perfectly clear that he’s exceptionally eager to represent Heaven as Hell and, conversely, the most wretched life as paradise. His insuperable acrasia is partly to blame for that, but another part of the story is that if I were to compile a list of J’s forays into espionage, sabotage, and subversion, it would fill an entire page and perhaps even run over onto the following one. Such a list would surely make every sane person who has passed the age of six realize that J has employed a number of primitive schemes to convince the public that gin-swilling proponents of savagism are the most oppressed people in our society. Most recently, he’s turned towards tugging on people’s heartstrings rather than engaging their brains. His hope is that by telling sad stories about the impacts of stoicism, people wil forget that recent events have taught J nothing. He still maintains that he serves as wisdom to the mighty and succor to the brave and refuses to accept that he has been forcing his secret police to crush national and spiritual values out of existence and substitute the contentious and fusty machinery of misoneism. This is manifestly unacceptable as it victimizes not only J’s secret police (as abhorrent as they may be) but all of us. I have now said everything there is to say. So, to summarize it all, we are now living in a post-ideological age.

 

[CAB_Life]

Who is elevating mental illness?

Or is this just one of those idiotic "LGBTQ people are mentally ill" viewpoints.

Oh do shut up, I am LGBT. Just want to point out that you’re the one who took that to it’s conclusion.

 

[poppabk]

True, but it had to rhyme with Zappa
Should have mentioned Bowie, Freddie, BB King, Joplin, Hooker, Waters, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and all that other good stuff.

Bowie not American, Freddie (assuming Queen) not american, Hendrix is american but had to move to England to get his big break.
Maybe part of the problem is that you don't even know what is 'american culture'

 

[strange headache]

Bowie, Waters and Freddie aren’t American either

Bowie lived and produced his music there. Muddy Waters definitely is American. Queen is English, but you share much of the same cultural background, so it's all fair game

Bowie not American, Freddie (assuming Queen) not american, Hendrix is american but had to move to England to get his big break.
Maybe part of the problem is that you don't even know what is 'american culture'

Eh maybe I should have said "English speaking culture", but I wanted to keep it simple. My bad.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Oh do shut up, I am LGBT. Just want to point out that you’re the one who took that to it’s conclusion.

My apologies then. It's just pretty much everytime I hear "mental illness" come up when it comes to topics like this it usually goes that direction in my experience. I'll edit my post.


What did you mean then? Who is elevating mental illness?

 

[DeepBreath87]

Who is elevating mental illness?

Or is this just one of those idiotic "LGBTQ people are mentally ill" viewpoints.

It’s funny that you would make that assumption purely on your own. Would not narcissism have been an easier assumption to make? But no. You went with LGBT people are mentally ill instead.

 

[funkygunther]

Bowie lived and produced his music there. Muddy Waters definitely is American. Queen is English, but you share much of the same cultural background, so it's all fair game



Eh maybe I should have said "English speaking culture", but I wanted to keep it simple. My bad.

thought you meant Roger Waters, whoops

 

[Nobody_Important]

It’s funny that you would make that assumption purely on your own. Would not narcissism have been an easier assumption to make? But no. You went with LGBT people are mentally ill instead.

Already covered why, apologized, and edited the post. Try to keep up.

 

[O-N-E]

It’s funny that you would make that assumption purely on your own. Would not narcissism have been an easier assumption to make? But no. You went with LGBT people are mentally ill instead.

These are classic NI maneuvers.

 

[strange headache]

Oh do shut up, I am LGBT. Just want to point out that you’re the one who took that to it’s conclusion.

And this mindset is one of the reasons why American culture is in the state that it's in.
Nobody_Important was so frikkin' ready to pounce on that.

 

[DeepBreath87]

Already covered why, apologized, and edited the post. Try to keep up.

You have to actually learn and adjust your behavior for it to mean something.

 

[AJUMP23]

Bowie lived and produced his music there. Muddy Waters definitely is American. Queen is English, but you share much of the same cultural background, so it's all fair game



Eh maybe I should have said "English speaking culture", but I wanted to keep it simple. My bad.

The British Queen is German.

 

[CAB_Life]

My apologies then. It's just pretty much everytime I hear "mental illness" come up when it comes to topics like this it usually goes that direction in my experience.

I'll edit my post.

Appreciated. For clarity, Twitter and social media act as megaphones for subcultures, rage and freakish behaviour that would otherwise never be proliferant enough to be heard let alone normalized. I.E. Incels, extremists, hyper-sexualization, pedos. On that last point, there’s a shockingly large blue-check mark push toward normalizing child sexualizaton in general.



I just read another, much darker series of suggestions from an NBC contributor the other day who is actually part of a pedo-normalizing not for profit now. I’ll see if I can find that. None of this is normal behaviour or something that should even be discussed outside of a session with your therapist.

When you have a society and technological tools that encourage/enable the worst of human behaviour, this is what you get.

 

[strange headache]

The British Queen is German.

The Band, dude

 

[CAB_Life]

Gather round, kids. Settle down now. And no hitting. I’m going to tell you a story about the way that Pres. J Biden, Sr.’s lamentations are so churlish in conception and so quixotically oblivious to the inescapable facts that they might easily be mistaken for a send-up. Although the pressing need for addressing the legitimate anger, fear, and alienation of people who have been mobilized by J because they saw no other options for change is acknowledged here, the main focus of this letter regards J’s desire to produce a new generation of brown-nosing racketeers whose opinions and prejudices, far from being enlightened and challenged, are simply legitimized. Certainly, J thinks it’s good that his anecdotes misdirect, discredit, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize his rebukers. It is difficult to know how to respond to such monumentally misplaced values, but let’s try this: It amazes me how many sniffish poltroons believe his bletheration about how he is a voice of probity. It’s decidedly true that There’s a sucker born every minute. Believe it or not, a few hotheaded, silly mobocrats actually want him to don the mantel of revisionism and extend his power until it surpasses anything ever heard of in the monarchies of antiquity. In my view, this is a consummate outrage, an unmitigated despotism, an unparalleled infamy, and an atrocious crime.

My usual response to J’s scribblings is this: Most pundits are uncertain about the magnitude of the threat posed by J’s verbalisms. However, such a response is much too glib and perhaps a little undiplomatic, so let me be more specific. J’s jeremiads serve only to make people increasingly obscene. At some point, we’ll reach an obscene event horizon where everything in the universe will be obscene. At that point, it will no longer matter that whenever J announces that hanging out with pesky perjurers is a wonderful, culturally enriching experience, his mercenaries applaud on cue and the accolades are long and ostentatious. What’s funny is that they don’t provide similar feedback whenever I tell them that J might punch down or slag off anyone who so much as thinks about challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations sometime soon. What are we to do then? Place blinders over our eyes and hope we don’t see the horrible outcome?

J uses his influence to call for a return to that which wasn’t particularly good in the first place. Okay, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but for all of you reading this who are not ignoble head cases, you can understand where the motivation for that statement comes from. Although I, hardheaded cynic that I am, embrace a true diversity of views—religious, political, and otherwise—his view that he is a protective bulwark against the advancing tyranny of parvanimous, scornful authoritarians is nothing less than drugged-out. Let it be stated here, now, and forever, that I have no set opinion as to whether or not the confluence of extremism and Stalinism in his accusations ensures a swirling river of discontent upon which he so peremptorily rides. I do, however, obviously avow that I hope and wish for a day in which J is picked up and taken to either prison or an asylum—whichever is closer. I also wish that more people would realize that if J can’t stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.

My vision that some day, people everywhere will inspire widespread hope and determination is an inspiring dream. Unfortunately, reality always awakens me and reminds me that Dadaism is dangerous. J’s obsessive-compulsive version of it is doubly so. I will not quibble with J as to whether or not like a cuckoo leguleian, he will sincerely blitz media outlets with faxes and newsletters that highlight the good points of his slimy writings. Instead, I’ll simply state that it’s entirely reasonable at this point to conclude that barbarous troglodytes have exerted care always to use high-sounding words like scientificogeographical to hide J’s plans to obliterate our sense of identity and leave it at that.

Because we have the determination to see the truth prevail, we must never forget that there’s long been a specter of fetishism floating throughout our society. However, no one has ever given it a national megaphone—until now. In particular, by changing this country’s moral infrastructure, J has made it perfectly clear that he’s exceptionally eager to represent Heaven as Hell and, conversely, the most wretched life as paradise. His insuperable acrasia is partly to blame for that, but another part of the story is that if I were to compile a list of J’s forays into espionage, sabotage, and subversion, it would fill an entire page and perhaps even run over onto the following one. Such a list would surely make every sane person who has passed the age of six realize that J has employed a number of primitive schemes to convince the public that gin-swilling proponents of savagism are the most oppressed people in our society. Most recently, he’s turned towards tugging on people’s heartstrings rather than engaging their brains. His hope is that by telling sad stories about the impacts of stoicism, people wil forget that recent events have taught J nothing. He still maintains that he serves as wisdom to the mighty and succor to the brave and refuses to accept that he has been forcing his secret police to crush national and spiritual values out of existence and substitute the contentious and fusty machinery of misoneism. This is manifestly unacceptable as it victimizes not only J’s secret police (as abhorrent as they may be) but all of us. I have now said everything there is to say. So, to summarize it all, we are now living in a post-ideological age.

I don’t know what this is but I love it.

 

[TransTrender]

In my opinion the decline of USA culture and increase in overall degeneracy probably started around the end of Clinton's second term and ramped fucko-crazy with Bush II the Return of Bush.
I'm not saying it has anything in particular to do with those specific people, but the way the discourse in this country started breaking down 98/99 is where I think the decline really took hold.
The problem is, in the absence of the USA as a world power, the baddies are stepping in to fill the void and that's bad for everyone. To some this may be a wet dream 'cuz fuk amerikkka' but buddy, the alternatives are soo, soo, soo much worse.

 

[TonyK]

I recently saw "Nobody" and it's a very American old school action movie. So, all is not lost yet.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Appreciated. For clarity, Twitter and social media act as megaphones for subcultures, rage and freakish behaviour that would otherwise never be proliferant enough to be heard let alone normalized. I.E. Incels, extremists, hyper-sexualization, pedos. On that last point, there’s a shockingly large blue-check mark push toward normalizing child sexualizaton in general.



I just read another, much darker series of suggestions from an NBC contributor the other day who is actually part of a pedo-normalizing not for profit now. I’ll see if I can find that. None of this is normal behaviour or something that should even be discussed outside of a session with your therapist.

When you have a society and technological tools that encourage/enable the worst of human behaviour, this is what you get.

Oh that. Yeah you will find no arguments from me on that shit. Between social media and celebrity culture the power dynamic in society has decidedly shifted to an unhealthy place. Useless celebrities and YouTube personalities have more power and influence than just about anyone short of a world leader. With a Instagram post they can send a stock price tumbling or skyrocketing for example. *cough* Elon *cough*


Social media, reality tv, and similar nonsense has taken the American dream of a self made success and turned it on its head. Instead of working hard, smart investing, inventing something, or starting a business in order to achieve success people now try to be famous or to be controversial. You have kids wanting to grow up and be YouTube stars instead of wanting to be Astronauts.


This kind of societal change has come a huge amount of positives though to be fair. It's just that the negatives have been pretty costly.

 

[Mistake]

Twitter isn’t real life, and a lot of content is being produced by people that think it is. Things will bounce back, they usually do. I imagine this is the current generation’s version of the 70’s, plus internet

 

[strange headache]

You have kids wanting to grow up and be YouTube stars instead of wanting to be Astronauts.
This kind of societal change has come a huge amount of positives though to be fair. It's just that the negatives have been pretty costly.

There's nothing positive about wanting to become a "youtube star", an influencer or bleating your opinions on twitter. Social media does not reflect real life and is hugely detrimental to the innovative force in your country.
If anything, it leads to a further dumbing down of the population as most are ill equipped in dealing with misinformation. Coupled with a nasty educational crisis, social media is only exacerbating the decline of American culture.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Twitter isn’t real life, and a lot of content is being produced by people that think it is. Things will bounce back, they usually do. I imagine this is the current generation’s version of the 70’s, plus internet

There will be some measure of bounce back, but some of the changes in the last 20 years aren't going anywhere. They are just a permanent part of society now.

 

[AJUMP23]

The Band, dude

I know....I just want to Pile on.

 

[Nobody_Important]

There's nothing positive about wanting to become a "youtube star", an influencer or bleating your opinions on twitter.

I never said there was anything positive about wanting to become a YouTube star. That's why I listed it as a negative in my post.

 

[strange headache]

I never said there was anything positive about wanting to become a YouTube star. That's why I listed it as a negative in my post.

Then what positive societal change has been promoted by social media that would outweigh ostracism and its pervasive culture of fear?
If anything, social media has only accelerated the cultural decline of the west.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Yeah I mean you cannot really read anything in genre fiction anymore unless it is at least 10+ years old. It is all bland garbage.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Spend four days in the real world not Twitter and you’ll know what America culture is.

 

[jason10mm]

To further your point TransTrender , I think the rise of 24 hour news media that "chose sides" really accelerated a divide that didn't really exist before. Sure politicians qeapinized abortion, gun control, and immigration against each other, but I don't think the "my team and I blindly support all their actions/your team I universally hate" concept was nearly as pervasive.

Tearing down "American" culture was necessary to an extent because it corralled minority (primarily black) voices to a somewhat narrow, but still successful, viewpoint. But I feel that now the pendulum has swung waaaaaaaay too far and ALL American institutions are getting ripped down for no good reason and are definitely not getting replaced by any kind of functioning substitute. The fire is burning out of control and not many are trying to put it out.

 

[BigBooper]

Abba wasn't American.

People got mixed up on what the term melting pot means.

 

[strange headache]

Abba wasn't American.

People got mixed up on what the term melting pot means.

That a couple of Swedes could make their big break in the US and become a global phenomenon is the very definition of a cultural melting pot.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Then what positive societal change has been promoted by social media that would outweigh ostracism and its pervasive culture of fear?
If anything, social media has only accelerated the cultural decline of the west.

It has raised awareness around pervasive societal issues that otherwise had been pushed to the back or ignored. It also brought about accountability towards those who otherwise had none. For example celebrities and politicians who might have gotten away with some shady shit in the past because the lack of instant news and information are now held to account. It's given a voice to people that might not otherwise have one which is obviously a double edged sword, but that has been a positive more than a negative in my experience. It's also allowed people to stay more informed on a variety of issues. They can follow the news as it happens in real time in it's raw uncensored form instead of getting a watered down version on the 10 o'clock news. They can get instant access to the facts from experts rather than relying on second hand versions of it from their nightly news or radio. They can see the videos and hear the recordings of events uncut and uncensored. It's pure unfiltered information for better and for worse.


And there is a lot more specific positives to go in to, but there is no politics allowed so I can't cover them. So there have been plenty of positives to go with the negatives. The positives have been great, but the negatives have been horrible. Two extremes of an extreme change. It's pretty fitting to be honest.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Toxic femininity.

 

[Prison Mike]

True, but it had to rhyme with Zappa
Should have mentioned Bowie, Freddie, BB King, Joplin, Hooker, Waters, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and all that other good stuff.

Although I'd say your disco culture made them great and known to the world.

Bowie?

English
Freddie?

English

 

[strange headache]

Spoiler

Just because a particular culture doesn't appeal to you does not mean it doesn't appeal to anyone. You are just mad things aren't like they used to be.

You are basically just "Old man yells at clouds" here.

Oh that must be why half your country has grown to despise your own cultural icons such as Star Wars. It also explains how foreign entertainment, such as Manga, is outselling your own on your home turf.

It has raised awareness around pervasive societal issues that otherwise had been pushed to the back or ignored.

You really believe that crap do you?
Social media campaigns are nothing but blind uninformed witch hunts that promote highly reductive views and lead to extremist thinking. No hashtag has ever changed the world for the better, as the truly powerful really to not care about a few online zealots screeching into the virtual aether.

 

[SuperBabyMethod]

True, but it had to rhyme with Zappa
Should have mentioned Bowie, Freddie, BB King, Joplin, Hooker, Waters, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and all that other good stuff.

Although I'd say your disco culture made them great and known to the world.

I see your point.

I love ABBA btw, lol

 

[strange headache]

Bowie?

English
Freddie?

English

Who produced the Labyrinth? Hollywood!
Who f*cking invented Rock? You Yanks!

Does that non-important lapsus on my part really take away form the central premise of this thread?

 

[Nobody_Important]

Oh that must be why half your country has grown to despise your own cultural icons such as Star Wars. It also explains how foreign entertainment is, such as Manga is outselling your own on your home turf.

Jesus fucking Christ


People don't hate Star Wars. They don't hate the newest movies because of some kind of stupid cultural shift. They hate the newest Star Wars movies because the movies were shitty money grabs. Meanwhile stuff like the Mandalorian and the animated show were huge hits. The original trilogy are still considered classics even by those who hate the new stuff.


Also who fucking cares if stuff like Manga or anime is popular? Appreciating the cultural products of other countries does not mean your culture is weak or shitty. Americans love Mexican food for example. Does that mean our own cultural dishes are shit?


What a bizarre example to try and reach for to try and prove your point.