I kind of agree a lot with the above quote.
All of these "American headlines discussions" that we have on here seem to have a big problem due to a lot of people outside of the country commenting on solutions to what is happening inside the country based on the news that reaches them now, as opposed to actually being in and -living- here, and understanding why things are the way they are. For example:
- Commenting on the current civil/racial unrest and movements and not knowing anything about the redlining, zoning, and destruction of progress from outside sources in the mid-late 20th century that created multiple current troubled inner city ghettos that most of those things focus around at their core.
- Commenting on current instances of violence without being privy to the constant news cycle that surrounds it, or having any knowledge of the decline of mental health support in the country that started with Reagan.
- Speaking about gun culture without being immersed in it due to living around it, and seeing how the media basically uses that issue to constantly manipulate people divided along party lines.
That makes all of these discussions circular - or you get to a point where you attempt to explain how things actually are, or why they are that way (which leads to fixing underlying problems as opposed to providing easy answers), and people on the "outside" basically say, "I don't believe you, I'm right" and it goes nowhere.