Read on Twitter
Flag-waving patriotism is bollocks, but so is hating on one's home country just to be cool.
No nation's people has a monopoly on decency or in cruelty.
Judging people based on national identity is as absurd as judging them based on race, gender, sexuality or height.
No nation's people has a monopoly on decency or in cruelty.
Judging people based on national identity is as absurd as judging them based on race, gender, sexuality or height.
And I'll openly hold my hands up and say that I have, on various occasions, been highly critical of the US, but that's often in response to Americans who demonise *all* Europeans. And it's also a reminder to anyone who thinks the US, for all its many virtues, is perfect.
Still, I'd probably distrust any American who *didn't* take some umbrage at my occasionally one-sided criticisms of the US.
As well as the Trail of Tears, transatlantic slavery, and various illegal wars, the US is one of the most successful democracies in the world.
As well as the Trail of Tears, transatlantic slavery, and various illegal wars, the US is one of the most successful democracies in the world.
And a country that is a genuine melting pot of various races, religions and ethnicities, that has thrived on welcoming many of the world's 'tired, poor huddled masses' escaping tyranny, poverty and oppression elsewhere.
It's also a country that, for all its systemic racism and its increasing wealth gap, is still one of the few places in the world where almost anyone, no matter how disadvantaged, can become a success, assuming they have the drive, will and determination.
That's not to dismiss the very real impact racism, sexism, ableism and classism has on the life chances of Americans, but it is to say that the attitude and overall ethos towards social mobility is much more positive than one finds in many European, Asian and African countries.
In many of these countries, there is a centuries old caste system, literal and figurative, that is dedicated to preserving a hierarchical system that limits the number of people who can become doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians and successful entertainers.
Whilst the glass ceiling is, alas, very real in the US, especially if one is Black or a woman, access to at least the entry level of those aforementioned elite careers, is much more open and broader (whether one pursues a scholarship, an internship or a sponsorship, for instance)
And this relative lack of snobbery, and general willingness to promote and encourage ambition, is one of the intrinsic values the US must continue to preserve, and, in the case of POC and women, continue to expand.
