People seem to think that American's knee-jerk reaction to people, particularly foreigners, criticising the state of our country is due to them taking it too personally or wanting to believe that America is a utopia. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me it is different.

We live in a day and age in which everything is absolute. There is no longer any nuance. Particularly when it comes to ideas and the people that hold them. Some of the founding fathers owned slaves and so how can we appeal to their ideas? How could someone who owned slaves

have good ideas? I also recently saw a tweet that said something to the tune of "If you don't care for MLK jr.'s other ideas about socialism or anti-imperialism then shut up about his ideas about peaceful protest". This is wrong.

It is perfectly reasonable to admire, respect, and agree with some of an individuals ideas while rejecting others. The Greeks are credited with the invention of democracy, but they also owned slaves. How could someone who owned slaves

have great ideas? Surely this whole democracy think must be nonsense.

So what does this all have to do with how I opened this thread? Well, when people criticize America with broad generalizations it does frustrate me.

But the frustration comes from two places. One, it isn't true for large parts of America. The current race issues going on at the moment for example. There are many places in America still struggling with race relations, particularly with the police. But where

I live there are many people of many races who as far as I have been made aware live in harmony. Despite the large mix of races I have never experienced riots, police brutality, or any kind of apparent racism. People also are not segregated and are well integrated.

None of this sweeps under the rug what is happening in other parts of the country, but if you are going to criticise that then be more specific; the issues in Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, California, Alabama, and Maine are all different. Don't lump them together.

Two, I worry that in this age of lacking nuance the ideals of the American founding and our government will be lost. America is bad and thus it's ideas are bad. We need something new. Like a bunch of government programs to take care of us, or socialism. Those things are new.

I can already see things like this happening and it concerns me greatly. Even more than my first issue. Regardless, I will continue fighting for the idea of a government and a world in which virtuous people are free.