The US has been drunk on the delusion of how noble and benevolent we consider ourselves since World War II.
We like to conveniently forget that at the time, many Americans looked up to the Nazis and were embracing eugenics. We were legally sterilizing subjective "undesirables," often without their knowledge, and we had no plans to do shit until the Axis, already steeped in conflict, decided to attack us directly from half a world away, committing one of the greatest self-inflicted tactical blunders in history thankfully.
America is all about subjugation, exploitation, and genocide. It just got a propaganda team to soften the way in which it talks about it since the mid 20th century.
At the end of the day, that's the magic of America: bullshitting. Lying. To ourselves and others. From "all men* are created equal" (Only applies to wealthy Caucasian land owners) to "manifest destiny" (genocide the people that already live here because its our destiny) to "separate but equal"(even apex American bullshitters couldn't say this one with a straight face) to "turning the bull loose"(get back to work slaves, this isn't a society) to "don't ask, don't tell" (we refuse to accept you as a human being, but hey come die gruesomely so our greedy fucks can access foreign oil markets). Our bullshit machine runs so deep, we are a nation capital exploitation farm that practically doubles as a religion.
The Boston massacre was basically an anti-police riot that turned into a police shooting. The police were acquitted of the murder, which lead to more protests and an eventual revolution. Anytime someone says "real Americans support the police," I point back to that.
As an illiterate American, I could not read that meme and it's only by chance through random mashing of the keys that I was able to craft this response.
They can read it was about taxes but they won’t get to read about the colonies being pissed about fair treatment to the Natives for their help in the 7 years war (fair is relative: read it as respecting their borders and claims to America)
Saddest thing among Americans is that they've been brainwashed into thinking they were the good guys in the revolution.
The revolution occurred because Britain took on a massive amount of debt to save Americans from the French and Natives. Britain wanted Americans to pay them back, but Americans just said 'no' and that's how we began fighting for our independence.
Our ancestors are shitbags. Plain and simple. "Opportunity" and "laissez-faire" are so important to American culture because they revolve around the idea "if you can get away with it, do it."
Opens history book on Europe/Asia/Africa/South America, etc. insert literally any place in the world. Wow! I'm funny on Lemmy! So dumb, good people in every country in the world. And just about every country has done unspeakable things to get to where they are today. Most of the time it's not because the good people even want to be involved it's because the rich make it happen. Blame the rich...they are the problem in every country.
There is a crazy amount of cognitive dissonance in this thread. Show me a single other modern society that didn't have serious and deeply ingrained racial and societal problems from the start. We can only move forward and do better, which is happening slowly. Put a magnifying glass on any country's past and you'll drum up all sorts of nasty shit. But people just love to shit on the US so here we are