What I don’t like is European people in the Youtube comment sections spouting some smug smugworth copy and paste comment about how horrible the United States is and how it’s a goddamn utopia over in Finland or something. You know, you could be on a news article about a Fourth of July firework show, someone in the comments would say something like “God bless America!” and then James Hackett from England will go on a page-long rant about school shootings and healthcare.
There is a strong animosity towards the United States, not just from Europeans, but from young Americans and the rest of the world also. I suppose you could say it is a sort of counterculture, stick it the man sort of thing since the US has been the strongest world for a few decades now. But as you know I am a free-thinking contrarian, and so I would like to start my own counter-counterculture revolution. I think that this all started as a genuine criticism of America, and then spiraled into a bandwagon where the correct and rebellious way to think about things is to dogpile on America and start drooling over some Nordic country like Denmark. As if Denmark is some kind of heaven on Earth.
In class today some “free” thinker said that our grading system sucks and that we should adopt the UK grading system, where a 70%-100% earns you an A and 39% and below means you fail. Now, why is this system better? I don’t know, they never said. All they said was that it is better, and then acted as if the explanation was self-explanatory.
Here is unstated reason why they probably thought it was better: because the American school education is the worst thing ever, and Europe is literally paradise and does literally everything better.
That is something a lot of people like to say. “The American school system sucks.” Ask them why it sucks, and there is either no answer, or they talk about Finland. It’s always some Nordic country. And it’s always the people who don’t try in school who say this too. I don’t know what you expect to get out of a system you don’t put anything in to. When kids say that the American school system is bad, they just mean that they want to have an easier curriculum, or three days off a week, or only six hours at school.
To make it clear, I am not a US shill. I think the country has its problems. I think the country is too car-centric and you can’t walk to places like you can in Europe, for example.
But the way people make it out to be some sort of dysfunctional hellscape is absolutely ridiculous. I once saw some smug European say that America is a third-world country wearing a Gucci belt, and the amount of people I found agreeing is actually unsettling. It is one thing to say that the US is the worst out of the first-world nations, it is an entirely other thing to attempt to suggest that the US is comparable to a third-world nation. The amount of ignorance and blind rage you’d have to have in order to form this stupid of an opinion is actually impressive. It’s shocking how one can have so much hatred for a country across the ocean that does not play any role in their day-to-day lives.
Anyhow, enough about smug European people.
Sleepy Joe just handed out $9 billion to ease student loans. I saw this on the community post of this liberal news source on Youtube. I consider myself more right-leaning but I still use this news source because right-wing news is so cringe and I feel embarrassed to be using. Left-wing news is also cringe and makes me embarrassed, but I know nobody is going to get on my case if I use it unlike a right-wing news source.
I think it’s a nice gesture, what good ol’ Joe is doing for the country, but it does not remove the underlying cause of student loan debt, and millions more students will be racking up debt over the coming years, so this just feels like using a toothpick to break down a stone wall.
But you know, if Biden wants to pay off my loans in a few years, I’m not going to say no.
A lot of boomers are complaining that their tax dollars should not be used to pay for someone else’s degree. I think that’s fair, but there’s something nice about a society that supports one another. And it’s not as if Brandon is blowing the money on crack or something.
Basically, I don’t really care. Because I don’t pay taxes.
In AP Gov the teacher asked us what we think are issues in America. And this conservative girl went on an unhinged rant about Lia Thomas and how transgender people are ruining women’s sports. And there were some people looking at her like she just murdered someone. I personally did agree that biological men should not compete in women’s sports, but I do think the girl could have tried a little harder not to sound so unhinged about it. Even though I agreed I sort of winced and felt second-hand embarrassment as she started speaking.
Then I thought about it some more and I guess I shouldn’t feel so embarrassed about it. I don’t think certain topics should become taboo or that you should not be allowed to question things. Gender identity is a very large topic today and I had to do a whole unit on it in French class. And I admire the girl for speaking so brazenly about the subject.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hate liberals.