I am 41 years old and no longer want to live. I’m in America and have watched my country change and move in a direction I no longer feel is safe for artists, thinkers, creative people or intellectuals. In fact it reminds me of Germany. Nazi Germany.
Here are the things you might think are normal if you are under age 40.
News on TV around the clock 24 hours a day every day
News reporters telling you on television a celebrity should accept Jesus Christ as their savior
“Free Speech Zones”
Being herded and made to wait for security to check you and your belongings before you can board a plane
Having to remove your shoes before boarding a plane and put your belongings in a plastic container for armed individuals to examine
Cyberstalking and cyberbullies
The internet
All songs on the radio sounding the same
All shows on television looking the same
Sex everywhere, all the time, 24/7
Children being told what sexuality is and that they should choose – NOW
All female pop singers dressing and dancing like nightclub strippers
All black men dressing, looking, speaking and acting like thugs
Men of all races shaving their heads and getting tattoos to look like they have been in prison, even when they have not been
Women being tough, wearing boyish clothing and roaming in gangs of groups looking for lone girls to target and harass
Gunshots and murders every day, sometimes every hour
Everyone is Christian and everyone is part of a church somewhere, or pressured to become part of one
Politicians talking about God all the time
Church insinuating itself into everything political
Corporations insinuating themselves into anything the church has not gotten into first
Americans going hungry and losing their homes at record rates
Everybody fat, depressed and tired
All songs on the radio use Auto Tune and all female singers use melisma (as many notes as possible and showing off note prowess instead of just singing the song as a simple melody – that is called melisma – Google it)
No one to meet, nowhere to go, nothing to do
Politicians telling outrageous gigantic lies and the news only reports the Democratic ones and tells audience the Republican ones did not happen
Children shooting children in public schools
Children behaving promiscuously and dressing/talking in a highly sexual manner
The only jobs are in retail or waitressing – all the other jobs have been sent overseas so non Americans can have them
Strangers reading your comments on the internet because real people are too stressed with their own lives to hear the pain of another human being close to them
This is not the way America used to be. The entire world hates us now and there is nowhere safe for those of us who remember how it once was, to flee to. Nobody likes Americans. No one wants us. In the old times, if you were in Africa, Europe, Asia, and wanted a better life, you could emigrate to America. WHERE DO AMERICANS EMIGRATE TO? No one likes us and we are welcome nowhere.
I am an American from the First America, the true America, that died during the late 1980’s. I remember these things: do you?
News was limited to once a day at 6:00 and was 30 minutes long – that was it, and we were fully informed by that 30 minutes of everything we needed to know going on in the world that day.
Brit Hume telling Tiger Woods to become a Christian would have resulted in Hume being fired by 6 o’clock that evening by his one boss who owned the network – and you would later find out that boss was a Christian but knew where the line was between journalism and Not Journalism
Freedom of Assembly as it is written in the Constitution of the United States of America – the idea of a “Free Speech Zone” was 100% ABSOLUTELY UNTHINKABLE because there it is in the Constitution – we Americans have the right to peaceably assemble ANYWHERE ANYTIME WE F-ING WANT TO
Your friends and family could walk with you to your jet boarding gate, hug and kiss you goodbye right in front of the jet, watch you get on it, then you could see them waving goodbye at you through the terminal’s glass windows because THERE WAS NO CRAZY SECURITY – GETTING ON A JET WAS EASY AND FAST WITH NO HASSLE
You could carry anything on a plane and we were friends with the Arabs – getting on a plane was fun and took maybe 10 minutes
There was no internet so cyberstalkers and cyberbullies were the lurking freaks hiding in libraries and on the edges of society, because to do their business out in the open might get them hurt very badly by their target or friends of their target – and by police
THERE WAS NO INTERNET SO YOU HAD TO GO OUTSIDE TO FIND SOMETHING INTERESTING TO LOOK AT
Radio stations were full of variety and interesting DJs added spice between the songs
TV was different and interesting and had variety and people on it had talent
Sex was hinted at, not shown – EVER – except in X rated theaters in the bad side of town
Children were not considered sexual beings and everyone – no matter what their orientation – agreed that children were “hands off” and not to be included in any sexual discussion or education
Female singers were fully dressed, and anyone who went around looking skank soon got a reputation and didn’t sell as many records anymore
Black guys came in all sorts and types – nice fellows, not so nice fellows, street fellas, suburban fellas, quiet types, hellraisers, in-between – just like every other color of fellow. There was no One Type [ghetto thug] all black men had to conform to, to fit in – and black music was better then, too. I’m black, so I am ok to say this.
Young men who shaved their heads and got tattoos to look like prisoners would be whacked the H out of at home by their old man and put in the military to see what shaved heads are like – this soon corrected the problem
Girls who dressed like gang members and tried to act like boys harassing other girls were ostracized and chased from whatever school they tried it in. Watch West Side Story and notice the character of “Anybodys”. NOTE HOW THE OTHER CHARACTERS ALL TREAT THAT CHARACTER. That’s how it was before 1980, and other girls were safe from that kind of female because society understood what to do in response – and did it
Gunshots were rare and murders were seldom. That is why the Tate/Manson murders were so sensationalized – nothing like that had ever been seen in America before – now they happen every week.
Religion was considered personal and private – to urge someone to join or be part of this or that one WAS A MAJOR BREACH OF SOCIAL ETIQUETTE IN AMERICA
The name of God was taken seriously and in a political speech was kind of like dropping a nuclear bomb – something done only when circumstances were dire. So: Politicians seldom mentioned His name then. Now you hear it every day, and the masses cheer and are not disturbed by this. Compare how many times JFK mentioned God to how often Bush and Obama – and Palin – do it.
Churches did not have television studios and evangelists begging for money – churches were simply that: churches – where you went to get baptized, get married, get buried, and pray on Sunday. Now it appears chuch is Big Business, and government and news like it that way – ladies and gentlemen, Google “Fascism” and see if any of what you read there fits what I just described
Corporations were called “companies” and were not always taking over each other and merging – Pan Am was Pan Am, Coke was Coke, IBM was IBM, and they minded their own business and stayed out of each other’s and yours – can you imagine that? Well that’s how it was before 1990
Americans always had food and seldom lost homes – the government provided emergency foods in a pinch, and it was easy to bounce back from a bad time
There were always fat people in the world, but fewer then – most people were slim and healthy, and we had abundant energy to go out and do things – and smoking was legal then, so what changed?
Songs on the radio were actual songs with melodies: James Taylor, Jim Croce, Carol King, Karen Carpenter, Minnie Ripperton, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Al Green, you name it – music was music then. Then along came MTV and musicians were required to look like models, not musicians. Music died soon after
There was always somewhere to go, something to do, and someone to do it with. Roller rinks, bowling lanes, radio contests, great movies at the movie house, amusement parks, the local bar which was well-lit and friendly like in “Cheers”, the park to fly a kite – America was sunlit and full of possibilities then, and Americans wanted to enjoy them together
The news media was objective and independent and tattled on both Republicans and Democrats because of something that was once called “journalistic integrity”. Yes, that existed in America once
Children did not get access to guns. Period. We had no interest in guns and were kind of scared of them. You might be fascinated by the look, but you DID NOT TOUCH. Today children load guns and shoot their siblings fully aware the whole time of what they are doing, and doing it “to see how killing feels because Dexter on TV makes it look fun”.
Children were children. A child who dressed or talked sexually got his or her mouth slapped then washed out with soap and water, and then the parent would be pointed out in public and shunned for being that lax. Today it’s celebrated, and single moms whine they are too “overwhelmed” to stop it. Well, not quite “overwhelmed” enough to close our legs, now, are we? And I am a woman saying this.
America was an industrial nation – we created, built and exported things. There were SO MANY JOBS. So many. You only did retail or waitressing when you were a teen or in college and needed immediate experience. Jobs stayed in America – the thought of shipping jobs overseas would have made people LAUGH
Family members were close by and supported each other with love, and your coworkers and friends were close second. Life felt like belonging. Today it feels like surviving.
So times are different now.
All you people under age 25 wanting to kill yourselves, I feel for you, because the previous generation has left you little to live for. But be thankful you are not as bad off as those of us 35-45, because we remember how things were before The Change. America is just as dark and despairing as the Soviet Union was before the wall fell – our lives have become something Josef Stalin would have been very happy to see. To think Capitalism became the same servitude, suffering and drudgery as we Americans were told Communism was. We were all fed a lie and had no suspicion. The clock was ticking on our freedom and happiness and we didn’t see or hear it.
The happiness is gone now and I miss it. And there is nothing I as one person can do to change it, to turn the clock back. All I see is more of the same ahead: the nightmare of 24/7 news, sex everywhere, no jobs, no safety, no freedom, no happiness, violence around every corner, starvation and homelessness as my once beautiful country sinks under the bloodshed.
This is why I am suicidal today.
Tell me one good reason anyone over age 34 should want to live.
5 comments
Well, you did say one. My personal take is: You gotta alot of true facts. However, I am 56, lost job Dec 1, no family sept ill wife and a working daughter in a just cut hours job and I don’t have my meds to help me anymore……………..Any way, F em (Not you) and the horses they rode in on.
I ain’t got shit and you need to use the 24 years you have on me.
Help those kids on here and out there. Talk yes, preach no.
Live to fight another day.
Very much empathy to you.
Robby in Seattle
I find it slightly odd that other themes have been posted on this suicide website; religion, conspiracy-theory and now a rather political one. But who am i to say?
You’re right about a lot, but it’s not just confined to USA. The whole world is changing…
This bullshit outsourcing affects a lot of other countries. Not to mention how it was good to get a degree before, nowadays, masters is the norm?? As if school fees aren’t high enough and we can’t start earning $ fast enough, and if your grades aren’t good enough, then to waitressing and retail cos your degree ain’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
From someone outside USA, you’re right that americans aren’t much liked. I stand neutral on USA but I feel there’s a certain minority who abuses the “Freedom of Speech” as “Freedom to Talk Crap”. Nobody likes to listen how mighty your country is and how you can nuke us all to hell. Nobody likes to see people shouting into our faces that your country is no.1 while ours “suxxors”! Nobody likes people acting stuck up just because of their nationality, and nobody likes being told that they can say whatever the hell they want because in USA, there’s “Freedom of Speech”. E.g.: USA drunken sailors, though there are more.
I’m sure not all behave like this; I’ve met some nice Americans before. But the actions of a few idiots, albeit very loud idiots, will tend to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths…
Robby thank you for your comment. Agreed on all points and I wish for this to be a better year for you.
Qaz, don’t watch the news and think what you see on it is America. Our media is controlled right now and what you see about America is what that certain minority wants you to see. The rest of us – the majority of us – are being held hostage. Please get the word out – Americans do NOT hate other countries and other people around the world, we do NOT hate the Muslims, we are NOT all fat and lazy, we are NOT all selfish and greedy, not all of us are right-wingers, Christians, and militaristic. Millions of us cried when Israel attacked Gaza and we were the same ones who screamed NO when Bush said we were invading the Middle East as “revange” for 911. Most of us millions of Americans know 911 was an inside job – but if you say that out loud here, you lose your job, the news media will investigate you and publish lies about you, and strangers online will spread more lies about you until you are fully destroyed. I’m not lying or making up fiction. The “certain minority” hates America and also hates YOU and YOUR country, and they are using our nation as a sockpuppet to attack and loot from other nations – and when you guys rise up against us and nuke US, as retaliation, these rich thugs will be on an island somewhere making 20 percent – and we, innocent people, will be dead. They’ve raped our culture, our arts, our education, our health system, our morality – nothing is left – they are like locusts. We badly need outside help from other countries because there is no support for real Americans inside America anymore. And most of you guys outside America watch misinformation and lies about us on the news and think we are your enemy. IT IS NOT US DROPPING THE BOMBS ON YOU. IT IS THE MINORITY IN CHARGE WITH THE MOST GUNS, WHO HAVE THEIR GUNS AIMED AT US TO KEEP US QUIET, DROPPING THEM FOR THEIR OWN INTERESTS AND SAYING IT IS US, NOT THEM. Until all other nations wake up and see who the real enemy is, America is doomed – and you guys are next. 🙁
Wow. Ok I have a few things to say..
First. Pre-1980’s sure does sound like fun times. No wander I have a profound dislike of technology and all this ‘social networking’ that people are so obsessed about. What the fuck happened to the times when you needed to get out of your house and do something to meet people? I hate those people who can’t pass a day without checking their facebook status. Where did the real life go?..
Second – Unemployment is not only in America, although you do seem to have it harshly. I’ve graduated with an excellent and prestigious University degree in May – it’s been over half a year and still no job in my field. Construction and bartending is all I got as means of survival.. Tough, fucked up times in Europe as well.
Third – You are right, everyone does hate America. I myself know better that the government and people are two different teams – most people do not realize that. The citizens are not responsible for the actions of the government and military. They are puppets hanging from the strings of people in positions of great power. But what I wanted to say is that most dislike towards Americans comes from their attitude. No country is perfect, but when a large majority seems to convey a certain vibe, a ‘stereotype’ is developed. And sadly as they say, ‘Every joke has a little bit of truth in it’. Sad but very true. Of course not all Americans are obese and idiotic. But as common practice, their upbringing seems to rub against the grain of European’s cultural heritage. I would say Europe and the rest of the world feel slightly resentful towards America for a large number of things… which I am going to list below.
a) Europe, Asia and the ex-USSR countries in particular feel at a resentful disaccordance with Americans, because they believe that America has no real culture. A culture is defined by roots, tradition and customs. [ Destroying native Indians, BigMacs and yelling when drunk does not constitute as such.] America as we know it has only been discovered in 1492, and labelling itself as ‘The greatest Country in the World” does not make you very popular with nations that have existed for centuries before.
b) Fast-food has unfortunately originated from the States. Many people heavily blame America for producing such vile and health-destructive products that have spread around the world as an epidemic. The marketing strategies have been inarguably flawless, but that does not change the fact that McDonals makes you obese and clogs your arteries, while Coke can melt teeth and god knows what else. Yet everyone is drinking and eating it. Marketing..
c) PROPAGANDA . I’m sorry but ‘God Bless America’ does not win brownie points with other nations. You do have to admit the american citizens are brainwashed from birth to believe their country is the most glorious and blessed on the entire planet. Children have such opinions formed before they have even a chance to discover what the hell it is like to live in other countries. Hence the ignorance, lack of knowledge and stupidity that Americans are so deeply resented for. Once again, I am just relating facts as they are, I myself belong to 4 different nationalities and would never dream of being racist against any country. But facts are facts.
d) The Economic Crisis… need I say that people blame America for starting the whole damn thing. The ‘American Dream’ That you can have a house on mortgage, without paying for it initially. and borrowing, borrowing BORROWING money that the government did not fucking have. That is how the whole thing started. So that the ”most blessed country”s citizens could have everything they wanted. While the government printed money they did not have. Caused the whole world collapsed. Much resentment. Much.
Yeah I’m guessing that outlines the basic reasons why people of America are hated. And if I were you, I would move to Australia. There is a benefit to being Down Under and away from the rest of the fucked up planet. I myself unfortunately am not there, but I’ve made a deal that I will relocate there before I die. Oh and life, no matter how shitty it is, unfortunately, is worth living. No matter if you are 40 or 60.. you’ve lived this long, you can pull it through.
Erm.. very interesting comments everybody, especially that very long one about USA, cancer and something about the devil that got deleted by the mods.
I hate politics, especially the part how the internet is not secure and how my email did weird things after my last comment, so this will be my last comment on this post.
nopoint: There’s a lot of shadows and dirty backstabs in politics, not just USA, but every other country in the world. Hell, even my workplace has such crap. I’ve spent time looking through some of the 911 conspiracies, so maybe you’re more right than you know. For me, I’m still unsure but I wouldn’t be surprised either way. I am aware that USA isn’t the democracy it used to be, but personally, whatever that is said even if they are all true, after reading about dictatorships and brutal regimes in other parts of the world, I STILL APPRECIATE that USA is tops, even if just because I’m siding with the lesser of evils rather than siding good…
dreamer: 80s was fun, more personal. But now with internet, we can connect with people all over the world like what we’re doing now, even if we sit and stare at a flashing screen all day wasting away our bodies; I think it’s just a trade-off, both have pros and cons.
Due to world economy, almost everybody are struggling with $ now, which explains why so many suicidal people nowadays. In this aspect, I fault our “leaders”, not any nation or people.
I hear often that USA ppl are arrogant. It’s a stereotype which has some truth. Personally, I don’t care about all these, whether fat or stupid or skin colour or whatever. I see the person, nothing else, and apply it to everybody. So, when strangers like to brag to my face that their country is the greatest… well. Or when people like to brag about how “damned proud” they are of their skin colour… well.
So, in that aspect, I dislike patriotism, nationalism, pride of culture and history. Just see people as who they are, don’t be prejudiced and freaking show some humility! I don’t understand why that is so difficult to ask of people of the world?
Anyway, just a rant by a nobody, thanks for the attention.