Damn kind of thought this would be an uplifting post.
Nationalism tells you your nation is what to be proud of, but that’s dangerous and manipulative.
Instead, focus on the people. You can be proud of the people who are protesting, people who are running secret grocery runs for people hiding from ICE, people promoting progressive or scientific thought in threatened educational spaces, and so on.
There are still plenty of us left in the US, some against our will, and you can still be proud of them for still trying when so many others have given up.
This is true wisdom.
There are several websites about current good news, some of which is happening in this country right now.
In October 2025, following pressure from United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered cities across the state to remove LGBTQ+ Pride crosswalks and other road markings that “advance political agendas” and “ideologies.”
Abbott cited safety concerns and violation of state and federal guidelines as reasons to invoke the measure, which required cities to comply within 30 days or risk losing transportation funding.
…
But, in the meantime, the new, colorful sidewalks do not violate any local regulations, and Kaur and McKee-Rodriguez hope they signal an ongoing commitment to LGBTQ+ Pride in San Antonio.
Hi. Random straight guy here.
looks at picture
…not sure why anyone would have an issue with this.
I’m more confused/concerned why there’s a series of traffic cones turning a 2 lane road into a 1 lane road without any obvious reason why.
Also, holy shit! That’s a lot of random solar panels! Someone call that phone number, and ask them what they power.
The old design has the rainbow across the crosswalk, which actually does go against traffic safety standards, so the reason for it gaining the attention to get removed may not have been valid, but the actual removal reason was. And to show faith, they just redesigned it to meet standards. Here’s the original design:
Never saw this aerial view before neat! Tbh I do like the side walk more tho. The street one i find quite distracting/disorienting. And a crosswalk isn’t where I want to invite distractions.
The flag switch is badass.
Wait, what safety features are unmet? The white lines are the borders of the crosswalk, and the half white line is the stop line for traffic at the intersection.
What’s it missing?
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/resources/crosswalk_marking_selection_guide.pdf, Page 22. It’s not one of the official crosswalk selection options. Page 23 talks more about how decorative options fit into it and how it should be low contrast.
Cones might have something to do with those tents on the right. Might be an event at a venue.
This is actually one I didn’t know about. A small gesture, but a pleasant one. Of course the only story that made the front page was the one that sparked outrage when it was originally removed.
I was not expecting a literal rainbow road.
Why oh why does their website only allow one line for headlines. There is no way to scroll to see what is there since all you can read are 3 words.
The only difference between now and what it used to be is that the mask has been taken off of US politics. Who you see in Trump and the entire Republican administration is who this country has always been. Regardless of whether it’s Democrat or Republicans, they’ve always been war hungry, serving only the CEOs bankers and Wall Street while tossing us occasional table scraps, so we didn’t get too loud in our grumbling.
The only effort that Democrats have put in is trying to put that mask back onto US politics and back to business as usual. Once the mask comes off it can’t be put back on.
Edit sp
“It was real. I’d seen it. I’d seen it in reality.” • The mask of humanity fall from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone – everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed." And then you see it. As it strangles and beats your friends to death… the sweetest, most courageous people in the world." “You see the fear and power in its eyes. Then you know. That the bourgeois are not human.”
Disco Elysium?
Da Comrade
Hell yeah. I need to do a replay one of these days.
Here’s my favorite quote:
"TRUE LOVE IS POSSIBLE ONLY IN THE NEXT WORLD—FOR NEW PEOPLE IT IS TOO LATE FOR US
WREAK HAVOC ON THE MIDDLE CLASS”
That’s not entirely true. We had a brief period after WWII until the 70s when the middle class actually existed, the rich were taxed at 91%, and unions had leverage. This has eroded quickly since the dawn of neoliberalism.
Not a historian, but wasn’t that boom hugely from war profiteering and the fact that none of the bombs went off in the USA? Our factories were all spun up and ready to go while most of Europe was rebuilding. Oh, and the decimation of German and Japanese industrial or technical powers.
But to your point, many graphs showing how much wages have flattened disproportionate to production do show that the period in question was a better time for the average worker.
Yes absolutely. Also not a historian, but AIUI that’s probably the largest factor in the overall boom for the US economy at the time.
I didn’t mean to claim that the US was ever a peaceful nation. The best I could say is that the US sat out from the world wars until they had both (1) a way to sell war to the public and (2) a clear financial interest. Post-WWII, every US war has been a bullshit war.
I also don’t mean to sound positive about capitalism. My only real point was that for a brief period, (white) workers actually had an OK social contract with the ruling class. It didn’t last long at all in the grand scheme, and was probably a fluke, not real evidence that capitalism works.
We are in agreement
Middle class does not exist, that’s a tool of the oligarchy to divide the working class into subsections, to give those higher up someone to look down upon. It reinforces individual over collective
MLK jr and the civil rights movement are just as much a part of America as Jim Crow and slavery. ICE is America but so is every protester fighting it. Lincoln is America. The KKK is America. Trump is America. Luigi is America.
The thing about people is we like to make things simple and put things in a box, and not have exceptions. But that’s almost never true, and the US is a land of contradictions. We’re very good people, and we’re very bad people.
So yeah, it’s going down the drain, but it’s always been going down the drain. It’s also going to get better, and it always has, little by little. Hopefully we can weather this storm and rebuild.
This is a great take and I’m glad to read it! Thank you!
I like how you make your point, but the soft power of the US is over. As pointed out by others, the current administration is a sympthom, not an aberration.
US may have military primacy and the reserve currency, but neither can restore the loss of the appeal it had between post-ww2 and 2020. When tourists get deported after months of incarceration and we see videos of masked federal goons shooting people in the face, that is something else. When allying with the US gets you humiliation, threats, or even missle and drone attacks, that just does not seems like the smart move. So, respectfully, with friends like the US who needs enemies?
Wishing you best of luck getting your country back tough.
When I say things will get better, I’m hoping that’s for the people of America and the world, not the US government having soft power. I personally don’t want the US to be a super power anymore.
This has always been my point when people say “back in the good ol days” or “Make America great again” or any other nonsense about how it used to be better… this is pretty much the best it has ever been! Even with the dipshit in office at the moment, it has pretty much always been greedy dipshits in control… we are raising the best generation to date in terms of nutrition being provided, the most inclusive in terms of race/gender/sexual preference… all we can do is hope we continue to make gradual improvement. People have always sucked. The elite have always raped and pillaged the poor… but there is less of that now than any time in history… slavery and depravity have been a part of history since we started recording history. I just cross my fingers and try to enlighten the young in my field of influence to be good humans and hope that some day we might not be as horrible as we have always been.
Idk we’re back sliding a lot right now. Overturning row v and well, the rest of what is going on. I just hope we can move forward sometime and soon
Hell yeah! America is now the number one exporter in highly qualified workers!
The protests in Oregon and Minnesota show that we are still America despite the MAGA separatists attempt to destroy us. And although this current chapter sucks hardcore, we now see our neighbors and “friends” for what they really are.
The separatists really thought they could just steamroll us. But, it didn’t go according to plan. We also scare the whole cabinet enough that they are living on military bases because they literally fear for their lives.
MAGA is eating itself alive which is the only outcome of a movement based entirely on hatred and destruction. So, we are showing our resolve. That’s the undercurrent that shows we still have some good left in us.
This is pretty big. It’s better to know your enemy than have them lurking in the shadows. They are loud and proud right now and we won’t forget that shit in 3 years. Your orange god won’t be in power forever and then what are you going to do for the rest of your life?
Focus on midterms, my friend.
Don’t think about 3 years. Think about 6 months.
This is my hope, we understand them better than they understand us. And if civil war broke out the anti vaxers will learn what has killed the most soldiers throughout all history.
wait till november before doing a victory lap
It’s very easy to disparage a nation state due to the actions of their government and forget that there are good people everywhere that are well intentioned and trying to do the right thing. The No Kings protest movement is a good example of that. Building solidarity movements with humane values is the way we change society for the better.
The US consistently ranks among the most charitable countries in the world, being #1 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2019.
It’s promoting Europe and the rest of the world to come closer together with new treaties and trade. It’s a positive move in the next phase of global relations.
They better figure defense out too, China isn’t building a massive military for nothing
You should be proud to be human.
Not to be born within some imaginary line drawn on a map, in an area that later got “cleaned” as much as possible of everyone else not speaking the same language or worshipping the same god.
Pride comes with accomplishment.
Being human, being American, being male, being white, these are all accidents of birth. There’s no reason to take pride in any of it.
Bring born in to a disaffected class of people, being gay, or a person of color, and overcoming that adversity to any measure of success, that merits some pride.
But just being human? Anybody can do that.
I understand but I think we call pride also the sense of belonging to a chain of individuals that achieved growth of knowledge, rights, scientific discoveries and engineering results.
It is a meaning of the word that would easily lend itself to manipulation but also one that allowed individuals to contribute and to stand on the shoulders of giants.
In that sense, the highest level one would easily be being human.
Being American isn’t necessarily an accident of birth.
Almost everything about the situation you were born in to is an accident of birth.
As in, you had no hand in it. Your parents may or may not have had some say in the matter, but for the vast majority of Americans, they didn’t choose to be an American either. Any more than they chose the color of their skin or the texture of their hair.
If you’re the child of immigrants, or an immigrant yourself, then sure, be proud of the accomplishment. It was hard and they (or you) earned the right to be here. But for most of us, it’s just where we happened to be from.
Government might be corrupt as hell but at least culture of Mental Health acceptance is much better than Chinese culture.
I’m originally from Guangzhou, China, am naturalized and I overall like the US… at least more than China…
I just hate the corrupt politicians.
Also, so much entertainment stuff… movies, tv, are made in the US. Chinese entertainment is boring as hell (IMO)
Also: Usually those in the Entertainment industry lean relatively more left.
I still think Americans are generally good, if they actually knew the truth and not just far-right propaganda. (I mean that’s just humans in general… people are easily manipulated by the evil few)
The problem is low voter turnout, first past the post, winner take all electoral college, gerrymandering, most important of all, the PROPAGANDA.
Americans in red jurisdictions… rural areas… those who never met a non-white person… have a problem with a distorted worldview…
Primary turnout is atrocious…
Right now my parents and their culture are smothering me to death… they hate the idea of medications and depression is not a serious problem in their eyes.
I appreciate the reality check. It’s not often that I get to see that perspective. Thank you.
No we’re at the end of an empire and the dawn of a new world. Our bases across the middle east will be abandoned. More will be emptied or destroyed. Our influence across the world will shrink more than it is now.
The states we have may stay. Alaska might try to break off and join Canada in 50 years. Hawaii might join Australia and New Zealand as well.
Unless we get a political party that will advocate for taxing the fuck out of the rich to invest in america via trains, healthcare and R&D.
Don’t get your hopes up.
Whatever may come, there is one sure thing: nobody will trust the US ever again. It may take the old allies a while to find their footing and they may still be dependant on the US. But that relationship will be more like that of the abusive caretaker vs abused teen. Biding their time until they finally can exit the dependance.
Alaska might try to break off and join Canada in 50 years.
I wish we would do that today. But unless the military and oil leaves the state, we’re still carpetbagged by southern evangelical morons. This state is solid red for now. And they think Canada is socialist because they think it’s bad and that’s all they know. We’re not going anywhere.
Is America fundamentally different today than in the past? Like others have pointed out, it’s not like we’ve got no skeletons in our collective past. Ask any indigenous person, a large percentage of black folk, or anyone who’s ever been considered “a foreigner.” The only major difference is that the same people who have always been assholes are feeling like they can operate out in the open.
But at the same time, the good that has always been true is still here. We’re a beautiful country, with so many ecosystems and climates, two beautiful oceans, amazing natural resources, and we’ve been pretty safe from wars due to our geography and having two pretty good neighbors.
Those being selfishly rich or power hungry have very loud voices these days instead of doing the same things while acting like so-called gentlemen, but they’re still a minority. Most people are just keeping their heads down and earning an honest living. Many are still doing great things like working on medicine, trying to repair our environment, raising and teaching our children, helping those in need, whatever you can name.
Maybe those that want to do evil in America want honest people to feel hopeless and to abandon holding on to what we have. That will leave it all to them after all. But I still love my home and my friends. I love our mountains, beaches, and wildlife. I love my America as much as ever, since I want this country to be the best it can be. But those who go around doing wrong in the name of this country, I want them to see justice more than ever too. We’ve survived the tyrants of America’s past for over 400 years, and one way or another, we can only move forward and hopefully learn from our mistakes.
We can be embarrassed or angry for how our country is being represented and managed, but barring a literal apocalypse, there’s still a ton of good left to find here between the land and the actual people who live here and cash this place home.
I don’t know. You (as an American) are in a better place to judge that than I.
What I do know is this: people are people. And for every rotten son of a bitch, there’s someone else, quietly, moving heaven and earth to do good - both in big ways and small. If we’re going to tilt at windmills, we may as well tilt at windmills together.
And sometimes it’s the same person. That’s what people really fail to get. Everyone is capable of good and evil, often at the same time.
Their need to demonize others as totally evil largely a product of their own fears that their evils will be discovered.
You’re getting a lot of the same comments in here, and I don’t feel like I need to add to the cacophony of voices decrying just how bad things have gotten (or, if you prefer, how bad they have always been and how they have only just now become more visible to us) so I thought I would chime in with one that still holds true today.
The United States has some of the best national parks in the world. If you are someone who enjoys nature and being in the great outdoors, whether that’s hiking, hunting, fishing, birdwatching, climbing, caving, exploring, etc. the experience you can get here really can’t be matched anywhere else in the world. We have the most diverse range of biomes anywhere on the planet - deserts, mountains, valleys, forests, badlands, swamps - you name it, we’ve got it and it’s probably contained in one of our many national parks scattered across the countryside - and the best part is that access is free for everybody.
Now, the big caveat, and one that kind of deflates this selling point quite a bit recently, is that a lot of the national park land and nature reserves are under threat right now by the Trump administration - there have been big moves by the executive to reclassify lots of federally protected land in order to expand oil drilling/fracking operations, as well as a push to force non-resident visitors to pay for entry, both of which are being fought tooth and nail by conservationists and environmental activists.
So, there’s something. We can debate on whether or not it’s a good thing to have national pride over things that we have little to no control over, but at the very least we can say we enjoy what we have now and take pride in the fact that our forebearers had the wisdom to use the law to protect the land and it’s precious resources and that we continue that effort into the modern era.
The United States has some of the best national parks in the world.
For now.
https://www.npca.org/articles/7044-parks-are-being-dismantled-before-our-very-eyes
Now, the big caveat, and one that kind of deflates this selling point quite a bit recently, is that a lot of the national park land and nature reserves are under threat right now by the Trump administration
Is there a way to jump start the mega volcano under the continent? I think we need a reset.
