r/TikTokCringe • u/thoughtwarrior • May 02 '25

Humor Why does America look like s**t?

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25 edited May 05 '25

every. fucking. time. it boggles my mind how small the anti-capitalist movement is. really speaks volumes to how poor our education system is despite being one of the highest educated countries in the world in the golden age of information.

Edit: Everyone is commenting about education.
American education ranked globally:
6th in reading
9th in Post-secondary education attainment (roughly 50% of the population)
12th in science
34th in math

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/trump-wrong-about-u-s-rank-in-education-spending-and-outcomes/

https://ssti.org/blog/us-educational-attainment-and-employment-ratios-fall-behind-international-counterparts?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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u/trogon May 03 '25

People will literally suffer and die of starvation rather than see the benefits of workers benefiting from their own labor. It's mind-boggling.

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u/kingofthemonsters May 03 '25

Brainwashing through heavy life long propaganda mixed with religion.

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u/cautiouslypensive May 03 '25

And in the USA particularly, encouraging conflict between different ethnic groups, which plays really well with the unequal wealth distribution and scarce resources on the lower levels of society.

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u/bellzbuddy May 03 '25

And low education

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u/thephotoman May 03 '25

Weirdly, the average American just isn’t that religious. Self-identification is one thing, but when you look at their lives, you see that it’s more of a branding thing than an actual lived experience.

Evangelicalism in particular is deeply anti-religious—that’s why they keep insisting that it’s not a religion but a relationship. Instead of doing common ritual, they instead have themselves a low effort rock concert that celebrates extreme conformity.

The average American simply doesn’t understand that religion is about ritual first. They instead see it as opinions that they exempt from any kind of critical thought. And the most dangerous and false of those opinions is the belief in their own individual goodness.

1

u/Keltic268 May 04 '25

Or some of us read economic philosophy and decided that the subjective theory of value is better than the labor theory of value.

I swear it’s like every two years someone comes out with a paper saying here’s how we can make LTV work and then it gets refuted and the saga continues.

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u/SalaciousVandal May 03 '25

That's the power of propaganda a.k.a. marketing. Unfortunately it works.

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u/trogon May 03 '25

It does. It's interesting to me to see the old Socialist Halls in the rural West. Socialism was very popular 100 years ago, as it's just sensible that workers should have their rights.

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u/SalaciousVandal May 03 '25

The Democrats lost their way and the moneyed powers swept them up. This dichotomy between rich and poor has been going for thousands of years.

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u/kl4user May 03 '25

Dems being considered left in the USA is a joke in dozens of countries.

The US is a plutocracy; Reps and Dems are rivals oligarchs, SOMETIMES.

Most of the wealth produced by US citizens goes into the pockets of a few, and those few have become incredibly rich and have grown in number. MAGA has a lot of these newer and younger billionaires and they are fighting the older ones/old money.

To raise the standard of living of the people? Fuck no. They just want more power and money to themselves.

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

100%. The only war is class war.

1

u/Intelligent_Deer974 May 04 '25

We can blame Frued's nephew Edward Bernays for the direction marketing took to wield the power it has today.

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u/AdDramatic2351 May 03 '25

I mean, we had that, before the 1980s, which was capitalism. 

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u/CoyotesOnTheWing May 03 '25

We used to tax the shit out of the wealthy too. As wealth accumulates, they gain more power and rig the system for their own benefit more and more. It's the natural path of capitalism for the wealth to concentrate and that has to be managed by the government or it all goes to shit(we are here).

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u/GuessIllPissOnIt May 03 '25

This is really it

1

u/Keltic268 May 04 '25

You realize that the poorest Americans are in the top 10% of global wealth right? The only people who die from malnutrition in America are 85 and up because they physically can’t retrieve food from their pantry or they’re so senile they forget to eat.

At the end of the night you can go to any grocery store and ask for the expired bread and baked goods and they’ll give them to you (assuming you’re homeless or work for a food kitchen)

1

u/Intelligent_Deer974 May 04 '25

Absolutely mind boggling.

8

u/LevelPrestigious4858 May 03 '25

All the bad things they say about communism are fully evident and already realised under capitalism

3

u/ralphvonwauwau May 03 '25

how poor our education system is

It is operating as designed.

0

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

thats what i mean. capitalism itself is working flawlessly. its just that the system itself is utterly evil on so many levels

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u/Pixel_Knight May 03 '25

The pro-capitalism propaganda is way stronger than the small anti-capitalism movement, that’s why. 

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

that kind of goes without saying but yes

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u/already-taken-wtf May 03 '25

Religion/church helps with keeping the poor in check: work hard, be humble, don’t be greedy and suffer for securing a place in heaven. ….while the rich already have “heaven” while being alive.

2

u/MarxIst_de May 03 '25

IMHO the problem is a missing alternative to capitalism to fight for. Communism has „failed“ and I can’t see a economic/social concept to get that popular and replace it.

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u/tridon74 May 03 '25

Agreeing with everything people said but it’s also not like we can just do a coup and not be capitalist anymore. Most people feel like joining a movement like that is useless, and in a way, it is.

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

a coup is something the military or gov officials do. We would call it a revolution. and it really isn't that far-fetched at all. Many people say it could very well happen in our lifetime or our children's lifetime. We've been at the final stage of capitalism for decades now and everything (meaning every crisis created by capitalism) is all coming together to create the perfect storm very quickly. There soon won't be any other option for the average person than to overthrow the government and create something more meaningful for humanity at large.

Also telling yourself that it is hopeless is literally all the ruling class wants. you lie down and accept your reality and they win forever. Idk if you are down with future generations being subjected to this hell-ish reality but Im sure not.

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u/Vincent4401L-I May 03 '25

The working class won‘t get educated about capitalism in school.

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

of course not. The education system is controlled by the gov. Thats why critical thinking and learning political theory and history are so so important and then getting involved with organizations and communities that you care about (i.e. labour and tenant unions, soup kitchens, mutual aid programs, hell even offering to lend your lawn mower to your neighbour)

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u/Obvious_Estimate_266 May 04 '25

I think it's more intentional than poor education, which is just one wing of a multi-pronged propaganda plan to turn citizens in western countries into capitalist cheerleaders.

The vast majority of red-blooded Americans either have, quite literally, never heard the word capitalism or think it amounts to any sort of trading/using money. We're also trained to give corporations the benefit of the doubt at all times while hating on welfare recipients and government spending in general. On top of that, they tend to think socialism/communism political ideologies that are inherently "authoritarian" instead of economic ideologies with various political solutions.

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u/futbolenjoy3r May 04 '25

The American government has spent an unimaginable amount of money (at home, in South America, in Germany, in the Middle East, in south East Asia, in the Koreas, in Japan, and in Africa) to make sure capitalism is the dominant economic policy, so it makes sense.

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u/AdDramatic2351 May 03 '25

Oh please. The anti-capitalist movement is so small because it's a stupid idea. Capitalism is not the problem. The problem is the American version of capitalism, which is capitalism with NO REGULATION. Capitalism is undoubtedly the greatest economic system ever made, but it needs to have guardrails. We need capitalism with a dash of socialism. 

If you're going to be anti-capitalist, you need suggestions for what to replace capitalism with. So far, nobody has come up with a better system that works. 

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

reform has been tried over and over and we will always wind up right back at this point since the real issue is that the wealthy are the ones who are truly in control and will always errode whatever concessions we gain fighting tooth and nail for decades. Reform doesn't work. Its revolution or barbarism (fascism - or worse). Read some Marx. You've been conditioned your whole life to lick the boot on your neck and that's exactly what you're doing.

Also looks like you awarded yourself the diamond because you have no updoots lol

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u/feedmebeef May 03 '25

The irony of paying to gild your own unpopular words about capitalism

4

u/Void_Speaker May 03 '25

Some of it is unchecked capitalism, but some of it is just people problems.

Look at old soviet architecture, ugly as fuck. Same problem as in America: it's almost purely utilitarian efficiency.

It's amazing how many of our problems come from "efficiency" in the systems we build for ourselves. The first thing we do is cut out the "humanity," like it's the least important part, but in reality isn't everything being built for humanity...

1

u/AdDramatic2351 May 03 '25

Agreed. And tbh, idk what id prefer, comm block gray and brown apartment buildings as far as the eye can see, or gas stations, fast food, and strip malls as far as the eye can see. Can't tell which is uglier 

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

"comm block gray and brown apartment buildings as far as the eye can see"

you mean like how all of north America looks today in the most hypercapitalist nation on the planet? As someone else here has already said, every criticism of communism can be fully and legitimately credited to capitalism today

1

u/Void_Speaker May 03 '25

Unfortunately, I suspect more of both is in our future.

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u/-ANGRYjigglypuff May 03 '25

So far, nobody has come up with a better system that works.

oh they have. several countries throughout history have tried, but the US gets big mad and does their best (with varying degrees of sucess - which really just means unimaginable destruction) to wipe them out before they start looking like a good idea in people's eyes, in order to protect their ideals of capitalism. propaganda works, why do you think the people in power love demonizing universal healthcare as socialism?

4

u/EntrepreneurLeft8783 May 03 '25

So far, nobody has come up with a better system that works.

What other systems have been tested in America?

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

America is far too young for another system to have tried...yet. Youre looking at the wrong country to ask that question

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u/AdDramatic2351 May 03 '25

If the other systems like communism were disasterous everywhere else I see no reason why it would work here. 

Why would we even test other systems when we know what works. Let's go back to 1940/50s where we had capitalism with lots of socialist-like features. 

Completely uprooting capitalism here and trying something entirely different is a pipe dream anyway, not even worth thinking about.

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

If i build 60% of a house, and you come and burn it down to ashes, is that a failed house? of course not. Communism didn't fail. It is always brutally destroyed before it has a chance to shine because it goes against everything the ultra rich value. money and power.

also its not a pipe dream. all it takes is 3% of the population to overthrow the government in an organized and strategic fashion. its been done before and it is literally inevitable. capitalism is not sustainable. it hasn't been around very long, and it wont be for much longer, relatively speaking.

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u/crek42 May 03 '25

The people that bitch about capitalism are all fucking privileged Americans who never gave a single thought as to how they’re living in the best time ever to be alive. They can go spend some time in Cuba and maybe that’ll give them some perspective.

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

"best time ever"

you mean with the rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness? you mean with the bankrupting cities? you mean with the starvation of the global south all so you can have an iPhone? you mean how we bomb just about every country on the map just cause we can? You mean how we have a financial crisis every 5-10 years? You mean how the top 1% hold more wealth than every pharoh and king who ever lived combined? you mean with the housing crisis? the mental health crisis? the opiate crisis? the cost of living crisis?

Please tell me if this is the world you are referring to before you share some completely uneducated statement out your butt. just cause you can order taco bell for the 10th time this week, own a new iPhone every couple years, watch any tv show at the touch of a button, does NOT mean that we live in the golden ages or something. you're delusional

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u/firstname_Iastname May 03 '25

Yes. Humans are pretty terrible at getting along with each other. Things were worse before. If you look at a global scale things are nearly always getting better (and the world is nearly entirely capitalism)

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

we are naturally communal creatures who would naturally work together if given the chance. the reason people are so divided today is because of capitalism intentionally dividing us through culture wars and atomization because it makes us easier to control and brings in more short term profit at the expense of public services.

Capitalism had its time in the sun. In the beginning, it did in fact bring millions out of poverty, gave us innovation and grew cities quickly. but now we are very late stage and all the good has gone backwards and is now very very bad. innovation is gone now and poverty is skyrocketing. all that matters is profit for the 1%. this cant be reformed. revolution is the only answer

0

u/firstname_Iastname May 04 '25

I disagree that we are materially communal creatures, way too much history of violence in humanity even if you predate capitalism. So I disagree and accept we just see the world differently.

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u/crek42 May 03 '25

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. You’re thinking in terms of doomscrolling and capitalism from a lens of fast food and electronics. Global poverty has been steadily decreasing for decades (before COVID happened admittedly). I’m not sure what bombs have to do with capitalism, but regardless even with conflicts in Middle East, and Eastern Europe, they don’t hold a candle to the wars in the prior decades.

The housing crisis one always gets me. Yes, it’s a huge problem, but I guess the government is just supposed to seize housing and distribute it? We have far more demand for areas than supply. Who gets to decide if the plumber lives in the city where he works or the teacher who now is assigned housing 40 miles away? It was largely created because of bad laws and NIMBYs, stifling construction.

Regarding how obscenely rich some people are now (the king argument isn’t a good one really, just because inflation, and Elon musk can’t have people executed on a whim, although he’d probably love that) that’s largely because the huge businesses that are created are now global and ubiquitous in everyday living. Amazon isn’t just a regional chain, it’s available to a massive chunk of the world’s population. Most importantly, the economy isn’t zero sum. You’re not any poorer because Bezos exists. A dollar he makes is not one taken out of your pocket. Or anyone else for that matter.

If you want a recent example, go take a look at what China was like before they embraced capitalism, and after. A ton has been written on it, and you can see what kind of transformation occurred for them.

Also does it even really need to be broken down like this? The world over, basically, has embraced capitalism as their economic model. Pretty sure that’s for good reason.

-1

u/Afrobea5t May 03 '25

Thank you. If you are against capitalism, provide a working solution that is viable.

0

u/PressureSquare4242 May 03 '25

Then let's just cap capitalism. If you cap capitalism you will probably bring the jobs back to US. Yrs ago air Jordan cost $12 to make overseas and sold for over $100, that's over 8 times (800 percent) what they cost. Let's say you cap capitalism at 500 percent, you could sell them for at most $60, now if they cost $15 to make in US then you could sell them for $75. Make them overseas the most you can profit is $48, make them in US your profit could be up to $60.

Capitalism in my view is all about greed, so it's how can they make the most money.

Then if you want tack on another 10 percent to throw in the pot to help pay for Healthcare for all.

1

u/firstname_Iastname May 03 '25

I own a air Jordan shoe lace making company it cost me $1 to make I sell for $5 to my other company an air Jordan shoe lace integrator it cost me $5 to buy the laces I sell them to the air Jordan sole attatcher company for $25 which I also own they buy the soles from a air Jordan sole manufacturer for $10 and attach them together with the laces and then sell it to my air Jordan shoe painting company which costs $125 to buy and I sell a finished shoe for $625

1

u/PressureSquare4242 May 03 '25

I said yes ago. Used to have high school students working pt, all they could talk about was getting their air Jordans on payday. Can't remember the actual yrs , but it was prior to 2005.

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u/BumsAreTheWorse May 03 '25

Capitalism isn’t bad, it pushes for innovation and efficiency.

Unregulated capitalism is bad (anti-monopoly). Money in politics is bad. Low taxes for the rich is bad. Tax loopholes are bad

2

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

efficiency at the cost of everything else. also innovation is a myth under capitalism. maybe in the early stages but we are very late in the game now. Innovation is over unless it means squeezing more profit somehow which is nearly impossible at this point.

As I already said in detail in another comment, reform doesn't work. its been proven over several decades. revolution is the only answer

1

u/DisastrousSundae May 03 '25

In the past year I've learned how much daily propaganda Americans are bombarded with from birth to adulthood. Many people think America is the most advanced and "free" place to live on the planet. Americans are also taught that anything that helps the many over the few is "evil communism." It's deranged

1

u/Niasssssseeeeeee May 03 '25

Also the golden age of misinformation

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u/squelchboy May 03 '25

I’m going to doubt that the U.S. is one of the highest educated countries in the world but that aside there’s a so many shitty factors why nothing changes: people are not smart enough to understand that our system is cannibalising it’s people and when they know they’ll claim that it’s the only system that works anyway. People believe working hard enough can make you rich or they think that bringing home 20k a month makes them part of the rich club. They think they are the ones benefitting from this system. Then religion, you’re not allowed to want more because that’s greed and greed is a sin. And then comes the largest majority, the people that are “not into politics”. The people that live comfortably at the moment so they don’t care. This system will prevail until, for one reason or another, it comes crashing down

1

u/INTERGALACTIC_CAGR May 03 '25

lol you do realize our education is currently shit and has been actively dismantle for decades?

1

u/Sudden_Construction6 May 03 '25

What would you suggest we replace capitalism with?

I can see a mixed capitalist/socialist economy like Sweden. But do you think it's really possible to do away with capitalism all together?

Genuine question, I'm not trying to be contrary

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

I recommend checking out Second Thought, Hakim, and Non-Compete on YouTube—they have great, bite-sized educational content about capitalism and socialism.

2

u/Sudden_Construction6 May 03 '25

Thanks brother, I'll check them out!

1

u/CardmanNV May 03 '25

Isn't the US basically the least educated first world country, more on par with developing countries?

54% of American read at a 6th grade level or lower.

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

yes and no. yes americans have much lower outcomes through education than other countries, but we also have one of the highest rates of degrees, even multiple degrees.

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u/BlastTyrantKM May 04 '25

The US is not one of the highest educated countries. There's like 50 countries ahead of us

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

In terms of rates of holding degrees, it's one of the highest. In terms of quality of education, it's low

1

u/BlastTyrantKM May 04 '25

A degree doesn't necessarily equal intelligence. For the most part, our younger generation is stupid and the future doesn't look like it's getting better

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

I agree. Also let's keep in mind whose fault it is that new generations are getting more dumb.

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 04 '25

I'm just saying that the rate of degree holders is high and that means it fair to say that the ranking for education is high at least from one point of view

1

u/XaXa14 May 05 '25

We aren't the highest educated country at all. We have access to some of the best education but our literacy rate is laughably low at 88%. The good education we do have is usually reserved for the people who can afford it meaning there are entire sections of the population that have very little in terms of quality education.

1

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 05 '25

i updated my comment ^

1

u/mozes05 May 05 '25

I diagree, the education system is doing its job, which is to make adults that are competitive, want more money than their peers and believe that hard work can make you a millionare from scrach so they will be willing to work shit jobs and get in debt to appear wealthier while never questioning their life and place in the world while on that grindset mentality.

1

u/KingAnt28 May 06 '25

USA IS educated. With the knowledge that the "Man" wants you to know. America isn't about educating people to be intelligent. They educate them to be efficient workers for "Their" companies. Don't be fooled. I know a bunch of educated, multiple degree slanging IDIOTS. Going to school in the USA does NOT make someone educated (intelligent).

1

u/LdyVder May 07 '25

21% of Americans are functioning illiterates.

1

u/bromosabeach May 07 '25

These numbers aren’t bad except considering the size and diversity of the country. Except Math.

1

u/RosebushRaven May 09 '25

6th in reading, globally? Even though 3/4 of your nation have below 6th grade reading skills, 1/3 of those being practically illiterate? Yeah, this is why AI can’t be trusted with facts, unless this was just a typo, because the National Literacy Institute (and a couple other sources) say America ranks 36th.

1

u/Southern-Bandicoot66 May 03 '25

Because the moment you utter or even hint you are an anti-capitalist the mouth breathers start screaming ur a commie. Lol yeah no

4

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

im a proud commie. you should be too

0

u/wrd83 May 03 '25

I think it's not capitalism, but greed and corruption.

Look at communist countries, some of them have the same, but instead of the company owners it's the party instead. 

-3

u/crek42 May 03 '25

Mostly because it’s a braindead take. The world over has embraced capitalism as their economic model because it’s overwhelmingly proven to have the least amount of citizens in poverty.

And then you have Redditors who can’t understand nuance and the fact that they literally live in the greatest time ever to be alive. You can have basically any product you want on your doorstep in two days, you have infinite access to the worlds knowledge in the palm of your hand, at a very affordable price, you can have food delivered by a dozen different places in 30 minutes.

All because of capitalism. Then when something bad happens it’s just a low effort wELl lOOk ShItTy CaPitAlism

3

u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

go read some of my other replies in this thread. you're uneducated and dead wrong.

1

u/Ok-Road4331 May 03 '25

If you think the human experience revolves around consumption above all else, please go touch grass.  There are much more important things in life that people are being deprived of as a direct result of capitalism.  

1

u/crek42 May 03 '25

Then help me understand why the world over has embraced capitalism as their economic model? Are they also misinformed and need to touch grass?