If there's one nationality that I've noticed Americans hate on the most, it would definitely be themselves. Almost every day, through my family mostly, I'm hearing about how America is full of stupid sheep. But what's even more bizarre is how much everyone seems to want to cling to this belief.
God Bless America seems to be a perfect example of this overbearing "Us vs Them" mentality.
No, no, no, no, no. Not only is this way of thinking flat out wrong, it's also unnecessarily depressing if taken to its logical conclusion and leads to this annoying pessimism and pride that's almost worse to put up with than the supposed mass stupidity that they seem to see in most everyone. You know why television is showing such massive line-ups of stupidity? Because it sells. Simple as that. It doesn't matter how many people they have to ask on a street to get a stupid answer for example. They will get it and they will promote it as if that idiot represented whatever group of the day the News was doing a "report" on.
And that's just one thing. Jersey Shore? I bet it got a lot of views because most people were just laughing their face off ("Wow, just watch this. SOOO funny.") or watch it to make themselves feel superior ("OMG, did you see what that dumb whore x did? That was so pathetic. I would never do that..."), not because they empathize at all with any of the characters.
Personally, the more I really look, the less I see of all these supposed stupid sheep running around and the more I see of actual, you know, PEOPLE. And not just that, good people. People who are complex and have struggled just as you and I have. People who have hopes and nightmares. People who are just trying to live their lives. Sure there are idiots around. There are jerks. But when you begin to see how little they really are, they soon begin to fade into the far background. You begin to understand and appreciate other people. You want to meet them, get to know them, and help them. And this is the mentality you should be striving for. Not one of negativity and pessimism but one of positivity and understanding. And I guarantee when we see that, our lives will be so much better for it.
