this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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United States | News & Politics

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[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 34 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I don't want to go on a rant, but every time we say we've changed since the 60'/70's/80's/etc I ask okay, did the perpetrators of crimes back then be made to pay for their crimes? How can we say we've changed if we allow people who committed those crimes to walk scot free? This extends even to crimes committed against foreign nations; if we don't prosecute the guilty, how can we say we changed? It's just making excuses and protecting the guilty.

Now it's all coming home to roost.

If you want to close the chapter on this crime or that, you must prosecute the guilty, or else you create the conditions like today where people shrug their shoulders and go on with their lives. The Iraq war was a crime, was anyone in government taken to court for it? The boarding schools for indigenous people was a crime, did anyone get taken to court for it? The experimentations on people was a crime, did anyone get taken to court for it? Bush Senior's response to shooting down an Iranian passenger jet and murdering people was "I'm not an apologize for America kind of guy", and LIBS were defending him when he died. On and on.

We don't have a culture of holding politicians to account, and now when it's a politician we all hate, we feel it. We spent decades saying "that was in the past" and now we're seeing what that actually means.

[–] Fancy_Gecko@lemmy.ml 27 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

do most americans believe that their ruling class ever gave a shit about them ?

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Seems like a lot of Americans genuinely believe they live in a democracy.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Worse, it's the Temporarily embarrassed billionaire -Most Americans think they are or will one day be apart of the top 10% of the top 1%. They don't get that upward socioeconomic mobility has stalled out in the past twenty years.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah there's a lot of that going on too.

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[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 12 points 3 weeks ago

people thought communists and communist adjacent people were loonies for believing that the liberal democracies were oligarchies masqueraded as democracies, so yes Americans actually believed it.

[–] Typotyper@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Seriously, I think they have a huge sense of entitlement but can't understand they've done nothing to earn it. Culturally they get bombarded with USA USA USA is number one. They high five themselves and then stop looking at the world, news. They font notice Asia working hard to improve their economies, quality life, education, inventing tech or mastering existing tech. Their parents had a good life so they should too. Not realizing the boomers prospered because the rest of the world had been bombed to shit in WW2, while the US economy never lost a building. Well Europe rebuilt, communism died, China settled their internal issues (mostly) and they all are building new things. While american investors look for more return on their investments. That USA USA chant was the wool being pulled over their eyes

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[–] LowResBeer@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago

At this point its just pathetic. And frustrating to watch.

[–] LowResBeer@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Are americans waking up and smelling the shit in their bed?

Unfortunately, I expect nothing to come from this and americans to continue not learning their lesson.

[–] curiousaur@reddthat.com 7 points 3 weeks ago

Its up to you.

[–] CyberMonkey403@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Problem is, they'll blame it all on trump and foreign influence. Russian, Israeli, doesn't matter. It'll just be "bad actors", not "terrible system"

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago

I think a lot of it comes down to the foundational mythology of the US. The whole shining city on a hill, the idea of American exceptionalism, and the reverence for the Constitution are all designed to cultivate the belief that the US is the Platonic ideal of human society, and that nothing better is possible.

So when people see the social contract start to fray, their gut reaction isn’t to question the system itself. Instead, they look for nefarious outside agents who are trying to undermine the perfect society the US is supposed to be. That’s why the narrative of Trump being a Russian puppet was so popular. It’s easier for people to accept that he’s an agent of a hostile nation hellbent on destroying America out of envy, than to see him for what he is: an opportunist who is a direct product of the system unraveling from within.

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