The thing you have to understand about America is that anyone who grew up there, grew up being fed propaganda that most of us took at face value. That sounds like an extreme position, but it's the literal truth.

The US mythologizes its own impact on the world, focusing only on the positives and glossing over the negatives.

The US mythologizes its own *place* in the world, declaring itself a leader in all sorts of things - public health; infrastructure; democracy - where it is nothing of the sort, and has not been for a long, long time.

It is difficult to get out of that trap because everyone is raised to believe the mythology.

The contents of textbooks in the US are highly politicized, and Texas is among the states with the most influence on that.

Sure, not every school uses the books marketed at schools. In particular, the rich-kid private schools often do not. That's better than the alternative, but it still sucks.

Sure, libraries exist. The internet exists. Talking to people from other countries is possible. These are all positives, they help.

The reality though is that, even with these mitigating factors, the filter bubble effect is still *really strong*.

One thing about oppressive regimes... you know it's bad when the people in charge start believing their own propaganda.

In the US, that's been the case for generations.

That's all. Just wanted to say that.