Great quote about America

[GMoney]

Saw this quote from a German citizen who was in the states to watch the World Cup:

"If you want to hate America, read the news. If you want to love America, drive through it."

Amen. 

[David Fairchild]

"USA! USA!"

Interesting he said, "read". Bet most Americans would replace "read" with "watch"... 

[GMoney]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2026 at 10:45 AM David Fairchild <dfairc...@gmail.com> wrote:

"USA! USA!"

Interesting he said, "read". Bet most Americans would replace "read" with "watch"

Crap, the original quote might have been "watch". I was going from memory.  

[Brian Kegerreis]

It was watch.

Several Europeans have been on the verse saying how great America is and how they have been lied to. 

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[David Fairchild]

Ah, so the Germans suck as bad as we do, I guess.

[GMoney]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2026 at 11:42 AM David Fairchild <dfairc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ah, so the Germans suck as bad as we do, I guess.

I think it's a pretty common refrain for a lot of countries in the world....."We hate their government/leadership, love the people".

We need a sociologist here to explain this phenomenon to us. Why do individual people tend to be kind, giving, understanding, helpful and forgiving. Yet when they form a collection, and that collection forms a set of ideals, and then they elect leadership to promote those ideals.....all that kindness, giving, understanding, helpfulness and forgiveness give way to exclusion, taking, rigidity, selfishness and retribution.

Why?

[Brian Kegerreis]

Simple answer is that power corrupts.

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[David Fairchild]

Because we all have an evil tulpa, and that tulpa is unafraid to to appear only when it has an affinity group to hide behind. Haven't you seen Twin Peaks?

[kan...@aol.com]

Okay, Dave, we all to look up "tulpa". 

But I think the answer is that groups behave way differently than individuals. Mob mentality is perhaps the most extreme form. Think Jan 6, Minneapolis riots after George Floyd and myriad other examples. 

I just took care of a new patient who's from India. We chatted about how my brother and his wife LOVE India. Not sure what we think of the place from our comfy homes; but they find the people welcoming, hospitable, etc. 

When I lived in San Francisco I met tourists while riding public transportation. I was always eager to become an informal guide. I was proud of the city's beauty. I'm sure people thought Americans were wonderful. I suspect that a LOT of people, here and elsewhere, want to show visitors the best side of our city/state/country. 

We could defer to Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black when he's explaining to Will Smith why they don't tell citizens about the aliens. A person can accept such truths; people in the aggregate are stupid, hostile dangerous, etc. (all paraphrased from the original). 

Visitors from Europe are impressed by how BIG the US is. We are 2.3 times larger than the EU, with a population about 1/3 smaller. 

So, our politics stink; the country is beautiful. Trump sucks; Americans are generally pretty cool.