WTF is wrong with Americans?

[kristopher]

"Feel the Bern"

[HerbChestnut]

1. Great Post.

[yeoman6987]

31. The one thing I find amazing is that immigrants all over the world want to come to America.

Other countries not so much. Weird.

[fasttense]

34. Really?

Show me the statistics. Right now Europe has a very big influx of immigrants and in the US the percent of Mexican immigrants is zero.

So I'm starting to think this thing about immigrants coming to the US for freedom is just another lie. I think mostly the kings of Saudi and Dubi are coming to America. But everyone else, not so much.

[Utopian Leftist]

72. Yes, recent statistics

hold that fewer Mexicans are crossing into the US illegally, because they are just not finding work here as much as they used to.

There was a time when the US standard of living was desired worldwide. But that was largely a product of the gigantic Hollywood propaganda machine we have, which distributes visions on film of the glamorous lifestyle we all live here (sarcasm). And anyway, it hasn't been so for decades. American exceptionalism ended with Shrubya. We are now teetering on the brink of becoming a Third-world Banana-Republican wet dream. All it will take is one more republiCON administration.

[niyad]

41. a really good, lying pr campaign???

[artislife]

45. Boy are you wrong!

You have bought the American Exceptionalism lock, stock and barrel. People immigrate to all different countries for various reasons.

[Stargazer99]

52. You've been crap-I've talked to those (lower class) and they are bitterly disapointed

[uhnope]

81. The US is of course still very attractive compared to an impoverished dictatorship somewhere, but

Western Europe is also a prime attraction, and maybe even more attractive these days

[AllTooEasy]

47. Absolute BULLSHIT Post: Stop Over Generalizing like Right Wingers

I hate these "Americans are so Fucking Wrong" Shit. You know exactly what's wrong and it's Repukes! Instead of being specific and intelligent about you arguments, you go 'right wing stupid' and overgeneralize. Generalizing, especially about 400 million people from incredibly diverse backgrounds, is the first step towards all discriminations(sexism, racism, anti-semitism, etc.) The original creator of this cartoon couldn't be more stupid, because generalizing couldn't be more stupid.

Most Americans are not Repukes! Repukes having enough numbers, money, and the right to vote are the reasons why these problems occur. The original poster doesn't imply that something is fucking wrong with Repukes. No, it's all of us Americans. Bernie supporter, Hillary supporters, Obama supporters, American progressives, etc.

Take your generalizations and go to hell.

[kristopher]

53. If that's what you get out of the OP...

...you need a great big dose of common sense and a short course in government and international relations.

First, the OP is by a US group that is making a comparison to other nations.

About Occupy* Posters


If you use an Occupy* Poster on the street, please send photos! Send them to [e-mail] or upload them to Flickr with the tag occupydesign.

Also see: Frequently Asked Questions


ABOUT

Born of solidarity with the Occupy Movement’s grievances during its earliest September 2011 days, the straightforward, high-contrast designs and impact-filled visual messages of Occupy* Posters have helped change national conversations. Occupy* Posters has contributed hundreds of well-received visual messages to activists, numerous of which have become iconic images speaking to recent times.

Dozens of Occupy* Posters have gone insanely viral on the Internet, some with millions of shares. Some have also been featured on the BBC, Current TV, the Huffington Post, Upworthy, MoveOn.org, DailyKos, and more. Some even appear in brick-and-mortar museums, and one is in a major college textbook.

You may have also seen an Occupy* Posters work held high on a street near you.

Frequent interesting visitors to this site include the United States Senate and House of Representatives, major U.S. and international interest groups and organizations, as well as major Wall Street entities such as Dow Jones, Barclay’s, and Bank of America.

Second is that the OP lays out what our country is doing. OUR country; not the Republican's country, not the Democrats country - OUR country. IF you don't see that the 99% are ALLOWING this to happen by being sucked into irrelevant debates on issues that are secondary to our economic well being, then your CPU is clocking very slowly.

If you have any sense of shame, it should be fully activated by looking back at your behavior.

[dreamnightwind]

58. You're attacking the problem at the wrong level

Instead of attacking Republicans (they are generally worthy of attack, but as a population are as mixed as any other, some are willingly complicit, some are misled and propaganized by massive RW media infrastructure, some are just genuinely more conservative in nature and have human needs just like we do), you should be attacking the Republican's OWNERS.

That's the source of the problems listed in the OP. Many of those owners, or similar ones with a preference for Democrats, are owners of the Democratics. Every single item in the OP is that way because corporate interests want it that way. Recognizing that, and fighting it at that level, is the only way to get a society supportive of human needs as the nordic countries are described in the OP.

[BeanMusical]

59. "Generalizing, especially about 400 million people"

The United States population on July 4, 2015 was: 321 millions people.

[Human101948]

60. You forgot to include the undocumented immigrants...

They're everywhere! I think I saw one under your bed!

[BeanMusical]

62. Lol!

[whathehell]

74. Close enough...What's the population of the Nordic countries, again?

Anything like 321 million?

Nah, I didn't think so.

[bread_and_roses]

65. Democrats are calling for universal free education, health care, family leave?

Are they calling for - what is it, 80% of wages for UIB in Denmark? Are they calling for raising Social Security benefits for all? Lowering the retirement age? A genuine safety-net for those without jobs?

No, they are not. In fact, Democrats have been complicit - and sometimes the architects - in the slashing and bashing and of the paltry safety net we do have and the privatization and corporatization of public services and goods like health care and education.

So why the rant?

[Dustlawyer]

68. The Republicans AND DEMOCRATS, along with WE THE PEOPLE have allowed our electoral

process to be completely corrupted! Washington is awash in money, but only to the politicians who play ball, regardless of Party. Both parties suck up to the monied interests to our detriment and their gain. American Exceptionalism is bull shit! You stay exceptional by remaining diligent to the needs of the average citizen, not by how loudly you proclaim you are, or how loudly you denounce anyone who says we are not!

The corporate media has us hyper-partisan to the point where we support someone like Obama because he is so hated by the Republicans. We over-look his glaring give aways to Wall Street, the MIC, oil companies, and the spy/law enforcement agencies because he is on our team. Our military budget is out of control and they tell us they cannot even audit the Pentagon. They clamor for cuts to the poor, disabled and our social safety net and working people's retirements! Democrats sell us out on this as well, they are legally bribed to do it! Sure Obama is better than Romney. Romney was the Bogyman they scare us with to be grateful for Obama and they allow Obama to throw us some bones to keep us believing.

Amazing how they quietly agree when it comes to not prosecuting Wall Street or protecting the right to vote or even the votes themselves. There has been no correction for the electronic voting fraud except for the corporate media to tell us they cannot afford to do exit polling.

Our country has serious systemic problems that cannot all be blamed on the brainwashed, corrupt Republicans. We have all been brainwashed to some extent to even tolerate where we are now as a country. Whether you like Bernie or not, he is the only one who seriously has a shot to get us back to Representative Democracy. It will take millions of us to help push for this, it will not happen just by getting him elected.

[cwydro]

2. K and R.

This country is most definitely in decline

[yeoman6987]

37. Oh you might be right but I am right about immigrant coming happily to America

[kristopher]

40. Yes, immigrants do come to the US.

Do you suppose that fact alone argues against the content of the OP?

If so, how?

Shouldn't we look at actual numbers and demographics over time? Don't you think that would tell us more accurately what message immigrants can give us about the condition of this nation?

For example, what is the rate of immigration from the Group of 8 nations? What about the OECD nations? Or from BRICs?
Do you think the topics raised in the OP are irrelevant because people who have a lower standard of living might want to find a better home?

Do you think those persons have a true understanding of what is happening politically and economically in the US?

Do you believe that once here and established, they will view as unimportant the problems of
extreme income disparity,
extreme economic uncertainty among the middle and lower economic class,
the virtual war on the public by the police and courts, and
the lack of educational opportunities for the intelligent non-wealthy?

In other words, what do you think is important about your observation?

[brush]

51. And what the hell do immigrants know about the humongous obstacles that confront even citizens . . .

Last edited Tue Oct 27, 2015, 09:34 AM - Edit history (1)

here, much less what hardships they will encounter?

They've bought the "American Exceptionalism" trope just as you apparently have.

The OP lays out big time the glaring problems confronting 99% of our population.

If you're not in the 1% what are you going on about? And if you are, if you're not doing something to address these issues, shame on you.

[Enthusiast]

3. Apparently the Righties® simply don't believe in higher education.

[SoapBox]

4. Brain washing is what they believe in.

[rwsanders]

35. Row 3 panel on the right explains it...

They don't want and never will want social equality. Ever seen the documentary "The One Percent" done by an heir to the Johnson and Johnson fortune? I don't think most of the members of his family could cook their own meal or go to the bathroom without assistance. They're a worthless bunch. I'd be very surprised if the Walton clan wasn't the same. Social equality would make them have to compete.

[Fast Walker 52]

5. Time for change! Time for Bernie!

[olddots]

6. you know what the repukians say ?

Education is for dumbies .

[Duval]

7. K&R eom

[Babel_17]

8. Jobs not jail cells

Seriously, let's employ our youth.

[Live and Learn]

54. I love that. nt

[Sunlei]

9. Only 40% of working-aged Americans have at least a 2 year degree. Not good.

Nearly 40 percent of working-aged Americans now hold a college degree, according to a new report from the Lumina Foundation. In 2012, 39.4 percent of Americans between 25 and 64 had at least a two-year college degree.

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. Good Question Silhouette Man!

"When is enough going to be enough for you Americans?"

Soon! Very soon! The Oligarchs have awoken a sleeping giant - the 99%. The 1%'s PURE, UNADULTERATED GREED will be their downfall!

Our long National nightmare is almost over.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[liberal_at_heart]

11. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kristopher.

[DirkGently]

13. Score. A direct hit. n/t

[sabrina 1]

14. Occupy has the coolest posters! What's wrong with Americans in their government

has been bought by Corporations.

[Fred Sanders]

15. Occupy's posters are all great....check out the site!

[gregcrawford]

16. And that's an OPTIMISTIC viewpoint!

We're all doomed. Unless, of course, we come together and gut Wall Street banksters from groin to gizzard (figuratively speaking, of course. Heh, heh, heh.) and make our economy more equitable, like, NOW! And, yes, it can be done; hopefully without bloodshed, but I wouldn't count on it.

[brooklynite]

17. Tell me...will you be including the Religion Tax that Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway charge?

Think of all the struggling churches.

[zeemike]

24. What if we say no?

Is that a deal breaker...no tax on religion no change?
There seems to always be a reason to keep the status quo.
Religion is not a big thing in those countries so I doubt it accounts for much of the funding.

[passiveporcupine]

27. I personally would love to see churches taxed.

eom

[fasttense]

38. Why should we be supporting churches anyway??

No church has ever helped me. My government on the other hand has helped a lot. When my spouse had end stage renal failure the damn religious hospital sent me tens of thousands of dollars in bills. Then the government gave us Medicare.

I've gotten student loans from my government, I've gotten a free highschool education from my government. No church has ever helped me in any way.

[artislife]

46. I would tax churches.

Hell yes.

[Indydem]

66. What a bunch of fools.

So ignorant.

They think the tax is on churches.

They have no idea what they are talking about.

"But Bernie said Scandanavia is awesome!"

[TBF]

69. "Think of all the struggling churches"

In Texas the churches are larger than the malls. They require 10% of your income to join. These folks aren't hurting.

Joel Osteen in his private plane:

[sadoldgirl]

18. Sihlouette Mandoes not understand

the purpose behind our education system:
Keep the people ignorant, indoctrinate them
with a dream of winning the lottery and other
idiotic ideas, don't allow them to think for themselves,
and don't permit for rational information.

Then the 1% will never have to fear them!
And it has worked now for almost 30 years.

[ErikJ]

19. "...and fool many of your citizens fighting to keep it that way."

Divide and conquer with God, guns and gays.

[mountain grammy]

20. I've had enough..

I'm supporting Bernie Sanders for President!

[Live and Learn]

55. +1 Enough is Enough! nt

[WillyT]

21. + 1,000,000,000 - Thank You !!!

[PatrickforO]

22. Outstanding post! Exactly why

I'm for Bernie.

[Photographer]

23. Add another rec.

[different equation]

25. And Another.

[Raster]

26. KICK!

[Hotler]

28. We don't protest in America...

we sit behind our keyboards and bitch and moan. A lot easier and takes less effort. Now back to watching Dancing with the Stars.

[DJ13]

29. Keepin it kicked!

[notadmblnd]

30. Well you see- many CEOs of Multinational corporations are suffering right now

Hurricane season will be coming to an end and they still don't have enough money to enable them to compete for the biggest yachts

[svpadgham]

32. I've been told by right wingers the reason it works

For the Nordic countries. They say it works because they are small homogeneous nations. To me the key word is "homogeneous." We could have those things here, but right wingers don't want anything to benefit brown people. I've pointed out what they say and they still don't see it as racist.

[3catwoman3]

49. Last week, I was at a gathering of people from around the country.

About 20 couples. All the husbands had been Air Force pilots or navigators. We were warned by someone who had attended these reunions in the past that we would likely be outnumbered by republicans.

One of the wives parroted that exact line of reasoning quoted above when I said we needed single payer health care. I said it worked fine in the military, and that people were general fairly happy with Medicare. Her husband used to be a big player in the New Mexico Tea Party, and he got kicked out for being too conservative!

[svpadgham]

64. What is "too conservative" for Tea Partiers?

I'm straining my brain to imagine that. Were they demanding strict interpretation of the Bible including the parts about helping people? I know modern conservatives hate helping people unless they can do it with a "look at me" photo-op so they can show everyone how swell they are.

[sailfla]

33. Bingo!

[IronLionZion]

36. Why does nobody ever google their tax rates?

It's not much higher than ours, but it is much simpler and more transparent. Remember they spend a lot less on war than we do. And people here often forget how much we pay out of pocket for health care and student loans. America's taxes are high for what we get for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Sweden

Some enterprising individual here could put up a comparison of real numbers for what the same person with the same salary would pay in both countries including for health and education and what that person gets back for it. I'm a lazy American so I won't.

[kristopher]

44. Great post.

Thanks for the suggestion. There are a lot of ways to twist that data because often good things a masked by cultural differences. For example, the Germans and Danes pay a lot for electricity by unit, which sounds like they are getting screwed until you also know that their homes are extremely energy efficient, which means their actual out of pocket would put them equal with the monthly's of those right in the middle of our 50 states.

But Yes, I agree. A basic comparison would be great.

Right now might be a really bad time to be lazy.

[Indydem]

67. Yes. Why don't they Google.

Tax wedge in Sweden is almost 15% more per family than in the US.

http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/taxing-wages-sweden.pdf

[kristopher]

76. What do they GET for those taxes?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251729423 (that's the occupy*poster up top)

And that's for everyone. Considering how much of our income goes to provide an individually purchased half-assed version of those benefits, I think we are getting screwed in a major way.

[smirkymonkey]

39. Hear, hear!

[niyad]

42. k and r

[GoneFishin]

43. Kick.

[rhett o rick]

48. Those that support HRC believe that Corporate profits are more important than

solving poverty. They are not Democrats, they are Conservatives. They favor environment destruction via Pipelines and fracking. They favor the privatizing of SS.

[burrowowl]

50. K&R!!!!!!

Yes to Education for FREE! Like in civilized countries!

[Unknown Beatle]

56. "...when is enough going to be enough for you Americans?

We're trying, believe me we are, but the repugs keep stealing elections through gerrymandering, voter ID laws, purging voter rolls, disenfranchisement and controlling electronic voting machines. Ultimately, that's a lot to overcome, but regardless of the circumstances, we're trying hard, very hard.

[MisterP]

57. so many are just pants-crappingly afraid someone Black might get something

that's why we don't have transit, why there's so many guns to shoot up schools with, why we don't have a strong safety net ...

[BeanMusical]

61. Kick and R

[LWolf]

63. +1

[Flying Shoe]

71. Nicely done.

This is something to show everybody who calls you un-patriotic when you say we should take care of our people like the rest of the world. And nice to find a fellow Pastafarian

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

73. Funny that HRC supporters are strangely silent in this thread.

[Shoonra]

75. About those statistics ....

The comparison of money spent on prisoners vs. money spent on students is apples vs. pineapples.

The money spent on students is confined to tuition and maybe dormitory space. The money spent on prisoners includes paying guards to keep them secured, feeding them, providing clothes and laundry, providing doctors and nurses and medication, and in short providing just about every necessity.

As for the Nordic countries offering free college education: Those countries do not encourage (and some don't even allow) immigration, and they are relatively small, each with its own language. So when they subsidize college education they know for a fact that they are subsidizing only their own kith and kin, who could not get an education in their familiar language anywhere else. As for the quality of the education, how often do we see great scientific or medical breakthroughs from Scandinavians who did not get a graduate education in the US or Western Europe?

[kristopher]

78. That perspective sounds right

Wing, that is.

[polichick]

77. Many Americans are so brainwashed they can't be reasoned with at all...

Their thinking ability has atrophied beyond usefulness.

[certainot]

79. 90 universities help keep their tuitions high by endorsing rw radio

270 limbaugh stations that have worked hard to defund and privatize schools and raise tuition on students and depend heavily on the sports broadcasting they do for these 90 universities - the stations pay a small amount to ride the community cred and advertising draw of the school mascots and logos.

OWS's major mistake was to ignore rw radio, like all the left's orgs, while it kicks their ass, and has been unchallenged, for 25 years.

[kristopher]

80. Could you share a way to address RW radio?

I don't disagree it is a major problem; although I do see a much diminished influence since the consequences of shrub have manifested themselves.

[certainot]

86. samson's hair are those universities- get one or 2 to divest from

rw radio and others will be shamed into following

the rw radio monopoly will fall apart as advertisers will flee the bad pr

2) protesting the stations might help, for eg when the local blowwhards attack and lie about the dem candidate or advocate closing local planned parenthood clinics or voting against new school funding, etc.

3) dem party should be recording and transcribing and monitoring and responding to local blowhards

4) limbaug and the main blowhards should be associated in every way with the dysfunctional GOP

[uhnope]

82. +1000. Why is the influence of RW radio ignored. IMO it's worse than FOX in many ways. nt

[certainot]

85. it's not readable or searchable - it's invisible to thinking people

liberals would rather listen to a scratched barry manilow cd, or if they really want to observe rw media they check out fox or maybe a rw blog

so it and it's effects have been completely left out of the evaluations of political and electoral wins and losses, and the blame usually goes to fox- rw radio's stupid little brother.

before rove lost the white house rove smartly kept it hidden- now limbaugh is finaly getting some blame from guys like david brooks and romney recently - dems should have ben monitoring it from the start and referencing rw radio and limbaugh and spawn for years. instead they ignored it and now we're 2 decades behind.

[uhnope]

87. fascinating. you're right, it's not searchable but

a lot of it is on podcast and so can be documented. I tried for a year to get RWW, SPLC and others to start monitoring shows (podcasts) in a more widespread and systematic fashion but they also don't seem to think it's worth it. SPLC has a hate map--why not a hate radio map, including hate jocks to show how they move around from station to station, and where they broadcast?

As you say, we're paying the price for that active ignoring and now we're way behind. In fact I kind of think it's too late--when I talk to my family members who have been on a twenty-year diet of FOX, Limbaugh, Mark Levine, and Glenn Beck, I see that their thinking is irretrievably gone. Some of them even adopt new right wing positions on subjects that before they didn't even care about. A real brainwashing.

Anyway thanks again. I wish there were more who agreed with us.

[certainot]

88. i think a lot of the rw radio effect can be fixed and some of it

even reversed if the left/dems just stopped ignoring it.

the ability of the true believers to convince apathetic and disinterested election day voters to vote republican comes from their unchallenged certitude and the fact that in most parts of the country rw radio is all there is. their 'facts' are unchallenged- much easier to believe.

protests, boycots, challenges of any kind would create doubt even in the talk radio teabag true believers.

limbaugh's strength came from the fact that he could hide behind call screeners, and republicans would never challenge him much less talk badly of him without being punished. until recently he was a god in that bubble alternate reality. lately david brooks and romney have put him a bit on the defensive, raising doubt, and he's had to defend himself- his royal certitude is being challenged, and the left should take the opportunity to pile on him and rw radio in general.

with today's radio station recording software like snowtape and the best transcription software, if i was a software person it might be easy to automate recording, transcribing and searching for keywords, names, etc to come up with national and state indexes of what is being sold, etc. that would put politicians and media on notice and make them more reluctant to repeat the crap. maybe.

[bananas]

83. typo in your link

should be http://www.republicanradio.org/

[certainot]

84. thanks!