America is moving toward becoming a better version of itself

Of course this is true. If anyone is naive enough to believe America is a hellish wasteland of terrible politics, and that that transfers to overall Quality of Life metrics for society as a whole, they might be surprised by this. Any honest look at data on employment, QoL, services available for free or very cheaply in the lives of the average citizen, there are many reasons for optimism.<p>Personally, I try to cut from my media diet any purely speculative or fear-driven content. Instead of telling us what <i>might</i> happen in the future if this <i>policy</i> comes down the pipe, maybe tell us about what&#x27;s already happened recently, what the data shows us about the most important issues. To me, these are issues like the opioid epidemic, not what a politician wrote on Twitter recently. Another example would be focusing extensively on negative coverage, like opioids, and ignoring positive trends made in science, technology, and culture - who wants to read about the daily incremental improvements in life?

&gt;What explains the gulf between most Americans’ hopeful outlook on areas and institutions they know directly and their despair about the country they know only through the news?<p>The fundamental attribution error[1]<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu&#x2F;glossary&#x2F;fundamental-attribution-error" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu&#x2F;glossary&#x2F;fundamental-attri...</a>

&gt; What explains the gulf between most Americans’ hopeful outlook on areas and institutions they know directly and their despair about the country they know only through the news?<p>In their anthropological foray, they notice that people generally get along with local people in local contexts. That&#x27;s certainly true.<p>A lot of the acrimony, tribalism, and fear comes from the growing divisiveness of American culture at large.<p>The fact that The Atlantic needs to don some pith helmets and mix with the locals is itself indicative of the problem. Kudos to the authors for actually doing so, but these aren&#x27;t migrants trying to learn how to be American. These are people born and raised in America who are somehow on the outside of what The Atlantic considers to be America.<p>&gt; There is of course evidence that this has happened, in the form of the bigotry that has been unleashed since 2017.<p>And, ironically, The Atlantic ignores the bigotry [1] it contributes to the situation. The Kevin Williamson incident [2] is <i>very</i> recent and is literally a failed attempt to actually include different kinds of perspectives in The Atlantic. And it seems the institutes of journalism aren&#x27;t exactly interested, in general, in doing the journalism to accurately represent Williamson&#x27;s views on the matter [3]. By the way, Kevin Williamson is <i>from</i> these places and writes with a unique take on how these places are and how they could be better.<p>So when you live in these places and you see hatred for people like you, how are you supposed to be optimistic and excited about the prospects for your children and grandchildren?<p>[1] &quot;stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one&#x27;s own&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dictionary.com&#x2F;browse&#x2F;bigotry" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dictionary.com&#x2F;browse&#x2F;bigotry</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wsj.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;when-the-twitter-mob-came-for-me-1524234850" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wsj.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;when-the-twitter-mob-came-for-m...</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.weeklystandard.com&#x2F;kevin-williamson&#x2F;what-new-york-magazine-told-kevin-williamson-about-abortion" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.weeklystandard.com&#x2F;kevin-williamson&#x2F;what-new-yor...</a>

In a nutshell:<p>Except for all the problems, this place is great!<p>That&#x27;s the way it&#x27;s been since the start and likely will be as far as we can tell.<p>Now let me tell you about how I traveled all over the place and talked to people who are the salt of the earth.

I agree with this sentiment, with some caveats.<p>I think Americans are totally done with identity politics based on race, gender, religion, sexuality, etc. We’ve had those arguments and the battle lines were drawn, but at the end of the day we all just live our lives. There seems to have developed somewhat of a “gentleman’s agreement” in most public spaces (explicitly political forums like protests notwithstanding) along be lines of “don’t provoke me for my religious beliefs and I won’t provoke you for your homosexuality”.<p>I do still think we have a long way towards navigating those differences as they play out on an interpersonal level. A classic example is sexual harassment in the workplace: women are justifiably upset by it, but men are also upset at the blowback. Fact is, it’s pretty easy for a man to be threatening to a woman without realizing he is — most men don’t understand how much the sheer size&#x2F;strength difference intimidates most women when emotions get heated. Navigating this environment takes empathy <i>from both sides</i> and is something that has to be established on a person-to-person basis.<p>IMO this is just the new normal. There was a time when people could hide their differences, but with social media and such I’m not sure that’s reasonable. So we actually have to learn to navigate the differences rather than pretending they don’t exist.<p>That, in my mind, is progress.

I found it hard to read this article as having grounds to draw the positive conclusion from it&#x27;s own premises: the inherently racist views of communities with low real immigration despite obvious dependencies on the immigration present bodes very badly, as does the underlying false optimism of a new wave of political consciousness.<p>I suspect the new America is an isolationist America

Its refreshing to read a hopeful and positive piece about the future of America. So much has been written of the state of the great divide between races, conservatives and liberals, heartland America and the coastal liberal cities, republican vs democrats. At least out of all this turmoil there is a sense of activism and involvement in politics I have not seen in years.<p>&gt;“If you want to create a great community, you move someplace that needs your help,”