Americans Are Privileged — but Everything Is Not What It Seems

The land of the “free” and the home of the “brave”?

It’s evident that America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. There are golden water fountains on every corner of the street. Candy Christmas tree ornaments we use every year. And on top of that… pots of gold on every roof just waiting for King Midas to piss into as he flys around the states.

Okay, that’s all a lie. America is sweet, but by no means is it this magical fairy tale land that people make it out to be.

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Americans Definitely Have Privilege.

I don’t want you to leave this article thinking I’m some self-absorbed American who thinks they don’t have it better than other countries.

I’m well aware of my privilege in America. I’m well aware that being in this country has amassed me benefits beyond those of other countries. I’m well aware that I have clean water, a decent place to live, and food that children from other parts of the world wouldn’t see in their lifetimes. I’m well aware that there are war-torn countries with people who fear for their lives every day. So in no way am I denouncing the fact that living in America grants me privilege.

I’m attaining a degree in economics and even your average homeless person in America has a higher standard of living than someone in, let’s say Denmark. For example, if you see a homeless person in America with an iPhone, that’s normal.

So yes, we’re a rich country.

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However, American propaganda has propped us up to be a stronghold that doesn’t have any problems. We do.

I have a love/hate relationship with America.

I love how easy it is to get internet here (a lot of other countries don’t have fast internet), it’s a little more open-minded than most countries about social justice (and I mean that with a grain of salt), and I could get food delivered to my house in 20 minutes with Uber Eats.

Nevertheless, we aren’t the land of the free or the home of the brave. We aren’t a country where people can just come in willy-nilly and make a fantastic life for themselves. It’s very much possible to do that. But still extremely hard. For hundreds of years, America has used propaganda to brag to other countries about how stunning it is. So much so that I believe this narrative has put a false fantasy in the minds of immigrants.

Here are just a few problems that America has had over the past, I’ll be nice, one year:

A total of 1,800 dollars distributed to Americans as financial aid for a pandemic that’s lasted almost a year
A president who says he grabs women by the you know what, wants to build walls to keep Mexicans out, and a whole slew of other horrible acts that I’m ashamed to mention
Atrocious police brutality that has killed thousands of Black Americans

You might think that America is this astonishing land, when in reality, America does a hella good job covering up the atrocities committed on this soil.

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The only way for America to live up to its own propaganda is to acknowledge its problems.

The entire foundation of this country is rotten.

It’s a giant piece of coal wrapped in the lies of whiteness. America remained this way for so long that it’s plagued the minds of immigrants and even some Americans with false pipe dreams. We have problems like every other country.

On the other hand, since there is a privilege being in America to some degree, if we fully acknowledge our issues, then maybe we can live up to the hype. Some countries are fucked even if they do take a step back to acknowledge how problematic they are. America has an advantage because we’re already rich af and somewhat peaceful.

If America acknowledges how fucked up it is, it might actually be a great country.

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Final Thoughts

Are we the home of the brave? No.

Are we the land of the free? Not by a long-shot.

But it’s possible to change and I believe that America has more than enough strength to do so. We need to get down to the root of the problem. Before we do that, we have to acknowledge our problems full stop.

Then maybe, this country can be great.

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This post was previously published on Medium.

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