Fedigrow

America is advertised to us and everyone else as a place of near unlimited freedom. But a lot of us are learning this may or may not have been true once, but many aspects of our society are getting exposed as something else, and it's quite recent for us. We see officials becoming openly corrupt. We see police turning on citizens while protecting the wealthy. We see people being told they are not allowed to see certain doctors. We see people trying to make their brand of religion law. We see blind eyes turned to genocide. These things we were taught were un-American. These were only things done by despots. So why now, do we see them at home? Our Republicans were traditionally the ones that were preparing to combat any threat of dictatorship. They hated Russia and other authoritarian governments. They were all for the rights of individuals. But many things have happened since World War 2, and now all of that is backwards, and we see near half of our country is talking like the authoritarians were right all along.

We just aren't ready to cope with all this that we could be one of these despotic countries, and it's very scary in a way we aren't used to. Especially as many civil rights here aren't much more than 50 years old. Women have only been able to vote for a hundred years. Equal rights on started for black people in the 60s and we haven't even gotten that far on that yet. Rights for LGBT+ people are very new. It seemed we were on a pretty good trajectory to become better people, but the ones who did not like it seem to have hit their limit and are fighting back very hard, and now have the upper hand in almost every part of our government.

Good and evil don't know our borders. We have many people here, probably the majority, that would love to help people in your country and around the world. I'm sure your country is full of mostly good people too. Yet while the individuals seem to be good, something seems to corrupt us as institutions. One trans activist I listen to was recently discussing her neighbors after a massive flood in one part of our country where many people were stranded or died. She said her neighbors have all the Trump and company signs and if asked would probably say they don't approve of her being trans. But she also said she didn't feel they were any immediate danger to her, because at the end of the day, they lived together, and she felt even though they weren't comfortable with her being her, she didn't think it was to the extent that they would just sit back and watch something bad happen to her. She said the same that even though she hates their politics, she doesn't want to see them die, she just wishes they would grow out of their hateful beliefs. If we had some kind of civil war here again, much of my family and of my girlfriend's family would be on the other side, and I can't even begin to imagine that.

We are just people like you. We feel powerless at home, let alone across the planet. I would give everyone a home and safety and food and the freedom to be who they want to be if it were within my power. I don't understand how a person could put wealth or fame or power above wanting to do good for their fellow people. But we are all given just enough to try to keep us from revolting. Some people do want to kill gay and trans people here though. Some do want to impose religious law. It's insane to me that anyone is still stoned or beheaded these days while we are sending probes to the ends of the solar system. It seems like the 2 things should be so exclusive of each other that we could be this advanced yet so backwards at once.

To people reading this news of these things going on around the world, it's generally only going to be done by people here who do care at least a bit about what is happening to you there. It's just causing us to see something in a reflection of ourselves as a country that we weren't expecting to see, and you show us a glimpse to our possible future, and that takes it from learning about someone else's predicament into something a bit more self-centered, but more immediate to us personally that we may not have been prepared for.

I'm not glad you have to take risks to maintain an outside perspective, but I am glad that you do. It's important to have things flowing in and out from everywhere. We learn what each other are experiencing and how we are trying to deal with it. While we may not be able to always cooperate as states, there is nothing that can stop us as individuals. No state will last forever. Greece, Rome, Spain, England, Turkey, Mongolia, whatever empire you look at once seemed it would last forever. One day nobody will care about the US anymore either. A lot of bad happens until then, but all we can do is keep doing the best we can to be good people.

I'm glad I was able to help you find another perspective. Talking with people who have taken the time to explain things to me is how I've learned the most about people in other situations. The world can feel small sometimes, but as a white person from the country, even the lives of my coworkers of color from the nearest city can be so different from my own. There are many stories we will never hear, so I want to hear all of the ones that people take the time to share with me. It is how we grow, understand, and hopefully avoid making some of the mistakes of our past and present over again in the future. Sometimes spending some time, patience, and a little effort is the best thing we can do for each other.