Throughout the years, Americans have been one of the proudest nations in the world. The U.S. has dominated popular culture since the 20th century, remained the economic and military superpower, and has generally been referred to as the land of dreams. In recent years, that has changed. According to Gallup, Americans’ pride in being American dipped to a historic low in 2025.
Some might even say that there is a cultural decline in the U.S. happening right in front of our eyes. Bored Panda has searched the Internet for the most relevant and poignant posts about what it’s like to live in the United States of America at the moment. Is the U.S. still the land of the free? Scroll and see for yourselves!
#1 The People Are Tired
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#2 Even German Patriotism Is Superior
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#3 I Guess She’s Never Heard Of The Us Southwest
Image source: reddit.com, mirxclealigner
If you think the people who posted these entries are just critical doomsayers, you’d be wrong. Other people online with some expertise are pointing out that the 2020s might be the worst decade for American popular culture, for example. Music critic and historian Ted Gioia has declared on his Substack, The Honest Broker, that America no longer has any “creative energy.”
In an interview with The Atlantic, Gioia said that nowadays, everything seems like a regurgitation of something from the past. Countless reboots and revivals of movies and TV shows, the unwillingness of entertainment companies to take risks, and social media algorithms that show us “slight variations of our favorite things” are all part of a plan by mysterious forces to impose stagnation on us, according to Gioia.
#4 Meanwhile, The Us Is Rolling Back Child Labor Laws!!!
Image source: CantAcceptAmRedditor
#5 Girl Thinks America Hasn’t Won A War Since Ww2
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#6 And Somehow Americans Can’t Connect The Dots For Why It Isn’t Working
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Take a moment to think about your tastes, Pandas. When you think about the movies, books, and music that you enjoy and watch/read/listen to and come back to repeatedly, what decade are they from? Are you a fan of contemporary entertainment, or do you find yourself thinking, “It was better in the old days”?
Evidence would suggest that the latter is truer. In 2024, for example, people listened to more music that was released in the years before than to newly released music. There is also a trend that every year, “catalog music” (18 months or older) takes up a greater percentage of the albums people stream online.
#7 Truth About How The Economy Works
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#8 Want Kids? Cool.. Can You Afford Them?
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#9 Found A Rare America Good Post
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In 2024, 72.6% of total album-equivalent music consumption in the United States was catalog music. In 2025, that share was even higher. Only 24.2% of new (“current”) music accounted for streams in the U.S., while 75.8% were of “old,” catalog music. While not particularly alarming, it still signals a trend that people might not be interested in music that comes out nowadays.
#10 The American Mind Can’t Comprehend
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#11 I See This A Good Amount On Reddit
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#12 Wait Till They Figure Out Americans Use The Word Autumn Too
Image source: Alarmed-Macaroon5483, x.com
It’s not just music: people think that movies, fashion, TV, and sports have all gotten worse in the 2020s. In fact, in YouGov’s 2024 poll about the best and worst decades, Americans named the 2020s as the worst of the last century. There is, however, a certain amount of bias when it comes to these types of polls. People have a tendency to remember the decades when they were children as the best and perceive the current times as the worst.
#13 We Can’t Even Use Our Own Flag😭
Image source: Revolutionary_Body65
#14 Israelis Get Free College And Healthcare Though 👍
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#15 The American Government Blaming Their Own Population For Their Suffering Rather Than Helping Them
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For example, many Americans think this is the worst decade for the economy. But when we look at the Great Depression (when unemployment exceeded even the biggest numbers we saw during the lockdown in 2020), it can give us perspective. Still, almost anything related to politics can be explained by which party is in the government. “People whose party is in the White House always have more favorable sentiment than people who don’t,” director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers Joanne Hsu told WaPo. “And this has widened over time.”
#16 We Live In A World Where You Can Pay For Insurance And Still Not Afford Care
Image source: Alarmed_Abalone_849
#17 Agreed
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#18 Monetizing Survival And Calling It Freedom
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What the YouGov researchers have also found in their 2024 survey is that despite thinking that the many things that made the U.S. great are gone, this decade is still the one they would rather live in. Experts say that this is a natural part of “declinism,” the belief that the world is getting worse. Even when we’re on vacation, we often don’t enjoy the trip to the fullest during it and focus on our lost luggage and the annoying mosquito bites. When we get home and a few days pass, though, the trip doesn’t seem that bad, and we would actually gladly do it all over again.
#19 The United States Is A Failed State
Image source: Alarmed_Abalone_849
#20 What Do You Think About This?
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#21 Rent Doubled. Pay Didn’t. Now What
Image source: Alarmed_Abalone_849, x.com
What do you think about the current state of the U.S., Pandas? Do you buy into the declinist view that everything in America is going down the toilet? Or do you think it’s just doomsayers blowing it out of proportion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! And be sure to check out some things that are normal to Americans but that the non-American mind cannot comprehend.
#22 How It Works
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#23 Time To Pack Your Bags!
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#24 Experience Requirements Are Getting Ridiculous
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#25 America’s Retirement Plan
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#26 Governments Can Help Their People; It’s A Matter Of Priorities
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#27 United States Of Convenience
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#28 Us Healthcare Strikes Again
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#29 Very Normal Country
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#30 Hmm
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#31 ..and I’m Supposed To Save For Retirement?
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#32 Rejected Their “Generous” Unpaid One Week Trial
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#33 We’re Paying More, Getting Less, And Quality Is Worse
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#34 Guy Thinks Jambalaya And Cornbread Aren’t American 💀💀
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#35 Americans Can’t Handle Nudity
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#36 Lmfao
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#37 Nobody Likes Americans!
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#38 Americans Are Homeless; Uyghurs Have Nice Homes
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#39 The Famously “Very Weak” U.S. Air Force
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#40 Til Europeans Can’t Gain Weight
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#41 Semantics
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#42 Seen In Seattle, Washington
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#43 Those Evil Socialists Are Hiding Their Homeless In Homes
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#44 It’s Time To Face Reality
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#45 Best Synopsis I’ve Seen Yet
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#46 I Prefer Historically Accurate Games
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#47 Corporate Greed In Numbers
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#48 When Did America Stop Prioritizing America?
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#49 This Argument Requires Ignoring Who It Affects
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#50 Not Much To Say About This One
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#51 Paul Ryan Touts $1.50/Wk Pay Rise But Gets Murdered By Words
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#52 We’re Calling This ‘The Market’ Instead Of Looting, And That’s The Problem
Image source: Repulsive_Case_2116
#53 Student Loans Are The Expense People Can’t Get Rid Of
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#54 This Is Evil
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#55 “Criminally”
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#56 Don’t Mess With Texas…
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#57 Palestine Twitter 🙄
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#58 Found This 😂
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#59 Japan Has Anti Homeless Benches
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#60 How Americans Are Greeted In Norway
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#61 Many Americans Still Haven’t Caught On
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#62 College In The U.S. Is Priced Like A Luxury, Sold Like A Necessity
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#63 Europeans Trying Not To Cherry Pick:
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