Americans are so delusively convinced of their own supposed “greatness” that they’ll go along with absolutely anyone or anything that continues to tell them how great they are, even if it is actively sabotaging their own well-being in the process.

The truth is that no particular group has any legitimate claim to be inherently better than any other. Nationalism is nothing but a waste of time and energy that twists people’s heads around into thinking their particular group is the “best” when it actually isn’t, and leads to all sorts of horrible thinking and actions. America has no more of a right to claim leadership or moral authority or superiority than anybody else does, and the sooner the people here realize that, the better off they’ll be.

The only thing that gives me solace over the terrible direction we’re heading in is that it won’t last forever. Sure, we’ll probably end up losing all credibility with the rest of the world, having exposed ourselves so thoroughly for the small-minded fools we are, but in the end it doesn’t matter. All that matters in the long run is that we all succeed, that we find a way to come together and survive as a species – and it looks like we’re going to be tested hard on that in the coming century. Until we can learn to value everyone’s lives and well-being equally, and not selfishly hoard resources for own benefit at the expense of everyone else, all our claims of greatness are just so much self-indulgent nonsense.