Why are we Americans such masochists?!

[FarLeftFist]

Or possibly sadists?! Either way, we are such glutton's for punishment. We avoid such obvious answers to obvious questions and problems.

For example, everyone is scrambling and scratching their heads to try and figure out our deficit when the answer is so obvious: End the wars, increase tax revenue.

Everyone is pondering how we can have a healthier more productive Nation for all citizens when the answer is (Duh!): Single-payer.

Everyone seems baffled by how we became a country with a HUGE income inequality gap when analysis and past history shows us: lower taxes on the rich create such scenarios.

Everyone is looking for someone to blame as to why we have slipped in the education ranks when: No one can afford college/higher education.

Everyone wonders what we can do to explore alternative energy when the answer is right in front of our face: Invest in research.

Everyone wonders why we have mass poverty when: all of these factors tied together point to an inevitable decline of an Empire.

WTF is wrong with us that we never go for the obvious? We've become our own worst enemy. What is it holding us back from just doing these things? Is it the Constitution? Are we allowing a 200+yr old piece of paper dictate our citizens fate even if it makes people suffer? Maybe that's not it, I don't know. But something is holding us back from just being normal rational thinking human beings.

Why are we incapable of just stating the obvious, it's as if there are certain things we just can't say or do because it violates some kind of strange political religion? An invisible evil force working against us. Or is it this weird notion of something being "un-American"? Like our narcissistic pursuit of having to be better than everyone else leads us to believe that no other country could have thought of a better system than the good ole USA?

"Oh, France has universal HC, well that's stupid because it's socialism and socialism is un-American!". Uhhh, meanwhile they have the #1 healthcare in the world and the greatest quality of life. I don't care what you call it, "socialism", "communism", f**k all the labels, can't we just do something that works and admit when we're not the best at something then work at making it better?

Can't we just for once do something that makes completely perfect sense and is ridiculously obvious? All the answers are right in front of our faces and it's as if we are constantly trying to figure out a solution to our problems but our solutions are limited to only a certain 'pre-approved-by-I-don't-even-know-who' set of options.

What the hell is wrong with us?!

Oh yeah, it's the corporations, stupid.


Edit: I'm sick of manufactured patriotism and corporate worship. Patriotism would be doing what's right by our citizens, the one's who vote. I'm sick of the corps spoon-feeding us this idea of patriotism, as if free-market trumps all, even life, humanity, and the environment.

[applegrove]

1. There is masochism there too. If you get hit again, and again, and again, as the gop base

as been tormented with fears of "socialism" or "swift boat verterans" or "redistribution of wealth" you'll become a little masochistic. So some are sadists. Some are masochists. Either way they are addicted.

[FarLeftFist]

4. It's ridiculous. "Redistribution of wealth" should not be a dirty phrase. It should be an

Obvious answer to a growing social problem.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We have

70% wanted single payor. That's why we're truly masochists and people are in the streets.

[FarLeftFist]

6. Yup. If 70% of anybody wanted anything then give it to them. That's what democracy looks like.

[FarLeftFist]

3. Oh, and another example, high unemployment: WPA program. Duh!

[FarLeftFist]

5. World hunger? Give them FOOD! Teach them to harvest. Introduce irrigation. BOOM, problem solved.

[FarLeftFist]

7. Climate change? Tax polluters. Don't worry if they're forced to invent cleaner systems ;)

[FarLeftFist]

8. Concerned about Wall St corruption? How about some regulation. Not rocket science here, America.

[Tsiyu]

13. Sometimes it's overwhelmingly frustrating

when you realize how simple it could be...yet how the greed of a few trumps the very real needs of the many.

It's like four siblings buy a hundred acres together. One sibling finds oil, buys a well, makes the other siblings do all the work to extract the oil for very little pay and no benefits, destroys almost the entire 100 acres to get at the oil, then gets all the profits which he uses to build a castle, while the other three siblings are told that, since he bought the well, he owes them nothing.

They are left to build shacks out of whatever they can scavenge....


That's how our system works today.


Edit to add: and the three poor siblings get the property tax bill....

[Gregorian]

9. Drunk on laziness.

We're all fed our information. It would be one thing if those doing the feeding had our best interest in mind. Americans don't typically do the research. They are lazy in that they are busy living. It's more than lazy, it's selfishness. The life doesn't extend outside the home/house. Work, come home. There has always been that individualism that we boast about. That individualism is costing us dearly. It is what gave the corporations there power. We simply gave them our money to give us back what they thought would be in their best interest, not ours.

And laziness is a hard narcotic to kick. Laziness in the sense that e pluribus unum doesn't mean anything. Out of many comes many. We're not united. I've got mine jack.

I think enough of the old people are dead, and enough of the young ones are grown up enough that things might be changing. The hype isn't being bought any longer. We're talking about the issues, suddenly. Finally.

The sad thing is we've got some extremely serious shit going down. This is a party that is not going to easy to clean up. Carbon dioxide concentrations are like our hangover. It's the result of our fucking around while we should have been taking care of our world.

[Prophet 451]

10. I always wondered that

Looking at you from across the pond (I'm British), your country looks just plain cuckoo. The USA hates it's poor, all but worships it's rich, is completely fucking insane about taxes and governs by soundbite.

I have a theory about why. Henri Tajfel proved that the simple act of dividing people into groups (or them dividing themselves into groups) automatically causes people to discriminate in favour of their ingroup and against their outgroup even if the actual differences are minimal or even completely random. It's automatic. We can train ourselves to see beyond that but we can't stop it happening in the first place. This is called Social Identity Theory (remember, this is science, so "theory" is as close to a law as it gets).

You're aware that a certain amount of politics is tribalism. How much varies from one individual to the next but, at some level, party politics is about cheering your side on. What seems to have happened is that the right has exploited both tribalism and SIT to ensure that the only thing their supporters care about is that their side wins. Doesn't actually matter what they stand for, just which letter they have after their name. When you combine these two theories with the fact that the USA has a huge, very powerful right-wing media complex, this causes the right's "useful idiots" to actively reject and fight against any attempt to enlighten them. So what you end up with is government by soundbite. Socialism, boo; capitalism, yay; government, boo. And so on. A more enlightened mind recognises that capitalism and socialism are simply sets of tools to be used to manage an economy but in the USA, capitalism (and specifically, unregulated capitalism) has become some kind of political religion that all must bow too. Socialism becomes demonised (and let's not even get into how the right have conflated literally every form of leftwing thought with socialism) and so, you end up with a public political debate which, from here, looks very like the McCarthy era HUAC. An entire set of political tools are ruled off-limits.

Forgive me if that didn't make much sense, it's 5:30 in the morning here.

Inidently, don't think I'm saying that the UK is immune to this stuff. We have it too, it just takes a slightly different form here.

[flamingdem]

14. I always wonder what Europeans think about the USA

It's embarrassing that our country has lost its way due to the Republican tribe.

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. The republicans have very purposely been using psychology upon us,

the psychology of abuser/victim. They've been framing us as weak and powerless since or even before Carter. They've dominated the conversation by stealing it. They've had us feeling like abused spouses unwilling to seek change out of the fear that it could be something even worse...so we stick with them.

Not any more.

Just look at the news that 650,000 Americans switched to credit unions last month. Someone somewhere has to have noticed that ;)

[Tsiyu]

12. Why the overwhelming masochism in the US?........1) Shame

and 2) the Middle Man (or Woman)



1)WE are a very shame-filled society.

You must feel shame if you don't have what the Jones have, if you care about the wrong people, if you don't conform to rigid gender roles, if you're the wrong color, if you're the wrong religion, if you're too smart/too slow/disabled/sick/pick your difference.

The normal human trait is to want to belong to the group. When the media - and bigmouth bigots in your circle or community - tell you you should feel shame for your differences, your needs, your status, some people take it personally and don't think they deserve any better. The shaming effectively shuts them up into mute acceptance even against the worst injustice.




2) The slimeball Middle People (Filler People) who want to stand between the producer/laborer and the consumer/industry and pass the money from one to the other, skimming their cut off the top, certain they deserve it, because after all, they're wearing great shoes and driving cool cars. (The ones who call themselves "money creators" lol) They add exponentially to the cost of goods and services and greatly depress the wages of those who actually toil. They tend to be sociopaths with identity issues. They tend to be of the "shaming" type and they are lazy as pond scum.



WE get people realizing each one has value and deserves a decent life (survival, hello?) and fire all the Filler People and we might have some self respect and an end to this ridiculous self-defeating masochism.




My $ .02