Before I begin, I'll give some brief stats:
Ethnicity: Black
Age: 18 Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee (moved to Germantown when I was 11, although no one here really considers it separate from Memphis).
Travelled to: the majority of the states (there are only a few like New Jersey and Montana that I have not visited) and big/popular cities (Los Angeles, NYC, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, etc.) Interests: I really love geography and learning about other cultures and have an intense desire to travel and live in other countries and experience what they have to offer. Thanks to what the US is offering, I want to live elsewhere permanently and revoke my citizenship at some point in the future. I'm an American, and I can say wholeheartedly that I loathe this country and what it's about.
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The nationalism is atrocious. It's so pungent to the point where it's jingoistic now; the militaryesque pledges that you're indirectly, and sometimes directly pressured into in schools on a daily basis for 18 years is a form of brainwashing. Why am I standing towards a flag? Why am I reciting this pledge? How the hell is standing towards a flag supposed to pay respects to the veterans that fought for this country? Is standing in front of my refrigerator supposed to help world hunger?
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The prejudice is atrocious. This country is hailed for its diversity and yet we don't get along with each other, even people within the same ethnicity. I'll use blacks as a first hand example. A black person is discriminated against for a variety of factors, in my experience mostly for your behaviour and your appearance (skin tone). If you act "white", or in other words be proper, make good grades, not act like a hood rat, etc., you're already an outcast. And skin tone is another thing too. Dark-skinned blacks are discriminated by lighter-skinned blacks, which are discriminated against even-lighter skinned blacks. It never fucking ends. And while on the subject of blacks, let me talk about this:
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The over representation of blacks is disgusting. No other minority (asians, hispanics, latinos, semitic people, etc) get any representation here. Any discrimination against them is ignored while discrimination against blacks is put on the front news paper nationwide. I'm aware this is due in part that blacks have had a longer history in this country, but it's really sickening to see this hive mind among blacks; they don't acknowledge the struggles other minorities go through. It's all about ME ME ME ME ME, what BLACKS are going through, not what other MINORITIES are going through. Racism in this country has and still is one-sided. If you want a more in depth insight on this, click here
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The political correctness is absurd. I often find white people are so scared to talk to blacks because they're afraid of offending them. They're scared of saying something "racist" to them to the point where they sometimes avoid us all together because of the hypersensitivity that's placed on them. Whites are very uncomfortable talking about race due to blacks blaming them for an array of issues (which is very misplaced), mainly for slavery (which is ironic, since they seem to ignore that Africans were the ones who allowed the slave trade to happen to begin with--and not all white ethnicities participated in slavery either).
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The education is awful. Public and private alike (I've been to both for multiple years) is packed with absurd amounts of infodumping. The US has a sluggish ranks in education and I believe this Speed Runner-like curriculum is due in part of trying to catch up with other countries on an intellectual level. Conclusion: by the time you come out of school, you don't learn anything except the bare essentials.
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Loads of Americans are ignorant. We have this mentality that "MURRICA IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD" and with that type of mindset we ignore other cultures and its people in the process. The assimilation culture this country has created a clusterfuck of a culture, something that can barely be called a culture in itself as it has no...passion. Nothing. It's just specs of random cultures often misused and appropriated. People have to drop their culture in order to fit in as well, which I am extremely displeased with. It hinders diversity culturally in this country. No one is interested in anything multicultural either, despite this country's "culture" being founded upon that. Americans do not like learning new languages; according to censuses it is reported that 20-25% of Americans--obviously immigrants--speak a second language at home. And outside of California and New York--the two places where a great deal of the diversity is, seeing anything multicultural is weird. Even seeing people speak second languages in my home state is weird.
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Adding on, I don't like how Americans have arrogant attitudes towards other countries. We learn at a very early age that America is important and so is our language, and so we don't take the time to learn about what goes on outside of America. This is perhaps why Americans are labeled as stupid, since we don't take the time to learn about anything that's not discussed in America...which isn't much (see the education bit). I also dislike how when travelling abroad, Americans do not take the time to learn the language of the country that they're in. I find that extremely disrespectful how you come on their soil and expect them to cater to you. Now I see why areas like Quebec and countries like France has such negative thoughts about English being spoken in their country. If you're in France--even if your French is choppy--speak it. Go back to America if you're hellbent on speaking your language.
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How we shout to the hills about our freedoms, yet America doesn't have many. If you check statistics, America has pathetic rankings in freedom of press, democracy, etc. And America is most certainly not the best country either: has atrocious rankings incarceration rates, infant mortality, crime, overall peace/satisfaction, etc.
People say I'm crazy for wanting to leave this country and I don't get it. I'm the only person I know who actually is not satisfied with the way things are going, despite statistics showcasing the decline of this country. The American Dream is dead, yet people still seem to think that it's alive. No, I don't want to move to California. No, I don't want to live in NYC; I don't want to fucking live in a shopping district. Whenever people suggest me places to live it's always in the United States, as life does not exist outside this country. That's always the impression I've felt when people talk about the US, as if it is the centre of the earth and everything outside of it is toxic and inhabitable. I've been scolded for wanting to move to other countries, saying that I'm a nut and stupid for wanting to do so, but I'm really am taken aback by no one else actually seeing what's going on in this country. The opportunities are dying, and this country isn't what it used to be anymore. It's gotten way out of control and is past the point of repair. I'm young and have time on my hands. I've lived in this country for almost two decades, why am I going to spend the rest of my life here when I have the world to explore? Why do I get called crazy by fellow Americans for wanting to even TRAVEL outside of America? I don't get it at all. I'm not proud of being American; if anything, I'm ashamed that I live in a cesspool of ignorance like I am now. I'm not proud at all of being American and I hope one day that I can revoke my citizenship (when I gain citizenship of another country) so I can remove this stain from my identity.
And for any con arguments against revoking, the only family I care to visit is my parents, my sister, and a few of my mother's siblings (in particular one aunt). I can easily come in the United States, especially if I'm coming from countries like Canada or Australia, and get a 90-day travel visa. If anything the revokation has benefits, since U.S. citizens are taxed on all income worldwide, regardless if it was earned in the United States or not. Since I plan to live in multiple countries, this is something worth considering so I don't have a third-to half my income taken by the U.S. government for money that wasn't even earned in their country.
Submitted February 25, 2016 at 06:30AM by CRIMEWIRE http://ift.tt/1OvUDhA changemyview
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