The AP US History controversy

You bring up/allude to some of the worst atrocities the US has ever done, and saying that that makes the US bad unless compared to other atrocities committed by other nations? I'm sorry but you can't pick and choose. The US has a committed serious atrocities (Trail of Tears, Internment, anything to do with Iraq, etc.) Let's look at other nation's atrocities, shall we? German Holocaust, British Imperialism, Japanese Rape of Nanking (and anything to do with Japan/China), Russian gulags, Spanish Inquisition, European Crusades... I really want to keep going on and I honestly could but I think you see my point. The entire world does evil things, because the entire world is made up of human beings. The US is not an exception to this rule, nor is it the pinnacle. It's just an example of how humanity does evil.

Again I'm not defending the US's actions by saying "but look what they did!" But attacking the US seems to be a favorite pasttime for most redditors, and it honestly gets a little tiring.

Like how is saying the US is a nation of human beings "pathetic and insulting to human beings world wide"? Human beings worldwide do amazing and horrible things, no? Humanity isn't some pure concept that governments and social structures taint. Humanity is corruptible.

I don't think you realize that there are Americans that believe their nation has gone astray and needs to be held more accountable. But the US doesn't JUST have a track record of being terrible. We also have a track record of being amazing. As almost every other nation.

You also point to the US's incarceration rate; I agree with you. It's something that needs to be remedied. I agree that the US is currently a warmonger, a nation that knows it has the strongest military in the world and isn't afraid to show it. The US is practicing immoral, not to mention illegal, implementations of torture and drones in the name of national security. The US is culpable for large loss of life. And I think the US should be recognized as a modern day issue.

The US, historically, has done amazing things. Conservatives want to emphasize these and censor out/tone down the terrible. This is not ok. Modern day US is a legitimate issue to global politics and has plenty of national issues to focus on, such as hiding behind national security and incarceration rates. I believe the US is not a monster, just misguided and in need of a firm kick in the ass to go in the right direction.

I kinda lost where I was going with this. So I'm just gonna toss in a TL;DR and call it a day.

TL;DR: I agree, the US is doing horrible shit. Nationally and globally. But the horrible shit it's doing is not incomparable to other nations' horrible shit. The US isn't just some big bully and the rest of the world its helpless victims. Omission is as much a sin as commission.

/r/PoliticalDiscussion Thread