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I remember after the Roe ruling many people were saying things like ‘fuck America’ and some were burning American flags. And I also remember speaking to someone who was maybe 23 (before the roe ruling) and she said something to the effect of ‘I know in my generation (gen z) it’s not really socially acceptable to say you like the US’ (and for context she was an American). And this jives with my observation that the impact of identity politics has been people focusing more on what makes us different than what makes us similar. But something that has kind of thrown me off is if you meet someone from a developing country where terrible shit is happening they will say ‘fuck the government’ but they still love their country and will say so. But in the US, the connection of those on the far left to their country is so tenuous that if a single policy is passed that they do not like, they completely disavow the US in a way that I’ve only seen Iranians do. And what makes it even crazier is that progressives tend to come from wealthier families, so, unlike those I mentioned in developing countries, they have actually had a pretty privileged life that has presumably treated them pretty well - but the second some law is passed that they don’t like they will disavow it. It strikes me as a unique form of privilege that is so great and imbedded in the person that they fail to actually assess the nature of their own privilege; they are so oblivious that they would oppose with every fiber of their being the very system that has given them so many advantages.
Yes, I have noticed all of this and it drives me absolutely insane. I think it points to a massive lack of respect from blue tribe people toward the history and culture and people who they see as beneath them (red tribe people.) Blue tribe people in America, being or mainly associating with recent immigrants and rootless cosmopolitan types, see themselves as outsiders of older generations of Americans who live in "flyover" country. They are hostile toward the culture they live next to because they don't want to be seen as associating with them and also don't have a sense of class or respect for those people. Parts of my family have lived in the US for centuries, I have no ancestors who immigrated more recently than the late 19th century, and I generally despise people whose parents or grandparents were born abroad showing up to the US and disrespecting middle Americans. I love traveling all over the world and would never ever show up to a country and disrespect the people who live there to the degree that it's normalized in American society and I hate to see that accepted and normalized. I wish people like me would stick up for our dignity more, but it's so outside the realm of the overton window that pushing back against it either confuses blue tribe people or makes you look like a racist or some other outgroup weirdo they feel comfortable denigrating.
Also blue tribe people are rewarded and seen as being brave when they denigrate the US, because they are operating within the framework that believes the US is a problematic oppressor state and so to bash the country that is letting them be a nightmare is good, actually because it helps BIPOC people or whomever.
Sorry if this post is too boo outgroup, I could come up with a more charitable narrative of blue tribe views if I had to, but I have the feeling that the blue tribe views are already well known enough that they don't need to be explained whereas the indignity of the red tribe view deserves more elucidation.
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