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Anyone getting suspicious of the divisiveness and anti-American circle jerk on Lemmy? (reddthat.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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Lemmy has a strong tendency to criticize the US, and a lot of the critiques of certain issue with the US are valid. However, I started getting really tired of opening comment sections in innocuous and non-political posts only to see that someone somehow found a way to criticize the US in it. At first, I started thinking that maybe some Lemmy users are really unhappy and find criticizing a something stronger helped them feel better as if standing up to injustice was a passion of theirs. But, we don't see them do that with other targets, just the US. The more I notice and think about it, I'm starting be suspicious that some of those users and comments aren't authentic, but made to create divisiveness in the West and reject the US entirely. In other words, they may be Russian, Chinese, et al. agents working to feed a stream of propaganda in order to further cause chaos and lack of unity in the West as we have seen them do before.

Anyone else think about this?

This is what I'm thinking the game plan is:

Criticize something obviously unjust that the US has done. Ignore that all other major powers have also committed atrocities.
Link and liken it to other US matters & behaviors
Paint the US entirely as evil so that nothing the US can do is just
Attack anyone that supports anything out of the US (we are between here and #3 above)
Create a black-and-white model of geopolitics: US vs everyone else. EU and Russia on the same team lol
West fragments as US and EU relationship dwindle from pseudo-populist movements (e.g. MAGA)
Pick specific countries in the EU to start alienating and repeat the cycle
???
Profit in special economic zones

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I've been there with the disillusionment. It felt like everything I had heard about the US was complete bs. I was really upset with the education I had received and started learning a lot about other countries that had been villainized in American culture because I had felt lied to and wondered what the truth was. I think it is valid to do so when we realize that. I also think that criticizing our government is one of most important duties of every American. It's one of the founding principles. In fact, whenever I am in Washington DC, I make sure to go flick off the the Capitol. I even take pictures.

However, I think it's disingenuous and unhelpful to only criticize the US, both government and people. The US has done helpful things, regardless of supposed intention. The impact of policies and behaviors are the same. Additionally, something that is only criticized ultimately has no option but to not care about its impact on other and be solely selfish. Otherwise, I can only cease existing because there's no option to improve and be welcomed. Personally, I think a more helpful approach to concerns with the US would be to also celebrate what it does right. This allows for it to correct itself and aim to be a more just and enjoyable country. It also allows for unity and growth with Western countries at a time when it looks the world is headed for a war between major powers. Hate the US all you want, while Russia has its positive as most countries do, it is my opinion that it is magnitudes worse of a county to live in many areas of life, from government oppression to economic hardships. On the positive side, it does seem to have an interesting history, unique problem-solving approaches, strong patriotism, valuable contributions to science, and outstanding artistic capacity.