It’s so frustrating to want to put my feelings into words and failing. I feel so ignorant all the time, like I don’t know enough to speak on any issue. When I do speak, I feel like I always miss something, some detail of the bigger picture, and it’s always pointed out to me.
That’s a good thing, I suppose. To be able to speak your mind and be corrected and helped.
I’m a patriot, I think, but I’m not a nationalist. I love my country because it’s given me so much: a good education, good health services, good public transport… I love our language and our culture, our music both old and new, I love our rivers and the ocean that graces our shores, our forests, our food and our water… I saw a TikTok a few days ago, actually where a Portuguese person talked about how, whenever they travel abroad, they’re flabbergasted by how terrible foreign water is. I’ve traveled all over Europe and can vouch for that. Foreign water sucks, it’s crazy. Portuguese tap water is better than Dutch bottled water. I love our people too, all of them.
However, whenever I express this, I feel like I’m crazy. It’s like there’s only two kinds of people in this country: those that hate everything about it, and nationalist xenophobes. The people that see the good points of our country are not the ones that hate everything about it, by the way… And I really don’t want to be associated with the xenophobes.
Partially, I’m scared that I’ll become like them. I don’t want to be hateful. It really does seem like the fascistic side of the deal really does have a monopoly on patriotism, though. Not patriotism, I suppose, it really is nationalism, but I find that that’s a difference that only matters to the people that already know it, and that’s not the everyman.
I saw this other TikTok about how the right has a narrative, and even if the narrative doesn’t make sense, it’s more than what the left has, so people flock to it in times of need. The right wins because the left fails to convince… And I find that this might be a big issue. I see people talk about how there’s a big focus on the bad sides of our history—of which there are many—instead of the good sides. I don’t know… I feel like that’s a talking point, but if it resonates, then it matters, I feel like. I mean, I know of our country’s history, and I still love it. I want to make our country better, to improve it, but it seems that the narrative that appeals to this mysterious time from before when we swam in gold coins like uncle scrooge is what people care about. And of course, it’s all the browns in our midst. It’s very frustrating…
I don’t know. I feel like what I’m saying doesn’t make that much sense, but I’m kinda hoping that getting it out might help me wring out some meaning out of this digital rag drenched by my stream-of-consciousness.
I find it really frustrating that Lemmy doesn’t let you link posts or comments natively. You can like a comm with ! like in !gondaily@lemm.ee, you can link a user with @ like @gon@lemm.ee, but you can’t link a post or a comment. I’ve looked into it a little, and I get why it’s not possible, but it sucks!
Turn on the tap in Flint, Michigan or rural West Virginia and you’ll get a very different perspective on that clean water issue.
How much of our country have you seen, geographically and socioeconomically? Because I think that solves about 99% of your confusion.
If you’d like a genuine dialogue I’m here for it, not trying to be belligerent. Have a good one regardless man.
Not sure, to be honest. I’ve been to every district. I’ve been to both tiny villages and the biggest cities. I’ve seen city poverty, and I’ve seen rural poverty. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and have lived in cities for the last few years. I haven’t been to every town, obviously, but I find it really hard to quantify how much I’ve seen…
In retrospect, this post was a little fatalistic. There’s plenty of people that feel like me, I think I’m just in too much of an ecochamber online. I need to talk to people more…
I’ve never been to the US, but I’ve heard about Flint, Michigan… Lead, right? Poison in the public water. That’s a horror film. Not sure how this is a different perspective on the clean water issue for me, though… I don’t exactly expect US public services to be good, you know? The US has a reputation for being not-so-great at those, internationally… Well, I guess it’s definitely an end of the spectrum I haven’t experienced.
Yeah, I love to discuss this stuff! I’m grateful anyone wants to talk about it, to be honest. Do you think the far-right has a monopoly on patriot sentiment? Do you think the left can take some of that feeling back and develop a compelling narrative to sway voters?
Have a good one, as well! :D
Ah this is my US centric view kicking in and just assuming everyone is from here, my bad. So many of these issues are universal it feels like. Yeah talking outside our bubbles is very refreshing, that’s a good take we could all use more of.