US Culture is F*ed (Peter Ralston Insights)

[Spiral Wizard]

I'm European, I've been to various US cities. When I flew there last time to attend a Peter Ralston workshop a bunch of insights flooded in as I was walking through the airport. The main one is: US Culture is Totally F*ed. I've always observed the news but it wasn't until I saw the culture in person that it became clear why there is so much conflict. From the perspective of Europe it's hard to understand because our culture is so different that it just looks insane but once I really saw the culture for what it is (insights) it became obvious that the culture is extremely removed from reality, majorly inflammed, deeply hurt, and polorized. I could see it in their faces, the way they walked, dressed, related and all they have built. 

The key issue is that US culture/society has so much unconscious/unprocessed pain that it fragements, doubles down on clinging to it's various ideologies (MAGA, LGBTQ, Leftists, Gun culture, etc.). and projects it's pain onto the evil 'other' that is threatening their way of life. On top of that, the greed has run so rampid that corperate culture has completely sucker punched society by poisining it on all levels of mind & body through food, 24/7 outrage news, wealth gabs, healthcare, etc. US culture has the least soul I have seen from all the countries I've traveled. 

Result: people live closer to chronic survival stress

Chronic stress -> threat perception -> tribal thinking -> polarization.

To resolve this without voilence all sides would need to become conscious, emotionally honest, and educated enough to see their own biases, dissolve them on an emotional level (somatic processing of their hurt), understand and admit their limits (education & honesty)... which is not going to happen so...

My prediction was: this is so bad, the US either will need to go through a deep purge/civil war (which is not going to be pretty) or collapse (which is going to be ugly). It has gotten so far that it cannot resolve cleanly. The pain is too deep and the clinging to enforce their own opposing idealogies too big. 

With recent events transpiring it is continuing to confirm this trend / prediction. 

For context, in my experaince (having traveled to those countries) healthy examples of culture that are sober, grounded, more in touch with reality, and sane are Scandinavia and Canada. To some extend also other EU countries like Germany but even there is a lot of unconscious unprocessed pain causing some real tensions in individuals and in collective fragementation. 

Caveat: Part of the dysfunction may be the set up. The US is a bunch of states (with different cultures) forced into one political container. So fragmentation may be structural, not just psychological. 
 

 

Edited February 1 by Spiral Wizard

[Ghost]

On 01/02/2026 at 1:39 AM, Spiral Wizard said:

I'm European, I've been to various US cities. When I flew there last time to attend a Peter Ralston workshop a bunch of insights flooded in as I was walking through the airport. The main one is: US Culture is Totally F*ed. I've always observed the news but it wasn't until I saw the culture in person that it became clear why there is so much conflict. From the perspective of Europe it's hard to understand because our culture is so different that it just looks insane but once I really saw the culture for what it is (insights) it became obvious that the culture is extremely removed from reality, majorly inflammed, deeply hurt, and polorized. I could see it in their faces, the way they walked, dressed, related and all they have built. 

The key issue is that US culture/society has so much unconscious/unprocessed pain that it fragements, doubles down on clinging to it's various ideologies (MAGA, LGBTQ, Leftists, Gun culture, etc.). and projects it's pain onto the evil 'other' that is threatening their way of life. On top of that, the greed has run so rampid that corperate culture has completely sucker punched society by poisining it on all levels of mind & body through food, 24/7 outrage news, wealth gabs, healthcare, etc. US culture has the least soul I have seen from all the countries I've traveled. 

Result: people live closer to chronic survival stress

Chronic stress -> threat perception -> tribal thinking -> polarization.

To resolve this without voilence all sides would need to become conscious, emotionally honest, and educated enough to see their own biases, dissolve them on an emotional level (somatic processing of their hurt), understand and admit their limits (education & honesty)... which is not going to happen so...

My prediction was: this is so bad, the US either will need to go through a deep purge/civil war (which is not going to be pretty) or collapse (which is going to be ugly). It has gotten so far that it cannot resolve cleanly. The pain is too deep and the clinging to enforce their own opposing idealogies too big. 

With recent events transpiring it is continuing to confirm this trend / prediction. 

For context, in my experaince (having traveled to those countries) healthy examples of culture that are sober, grounded, more in touch with reality, and sane are Scandinavia and Canada. To some extend also other EU countries like Germany but even there is a lot of unconscious unprocessed pain causing some real tensions in individuals and in collective fragementation. 

Caveat: Part of the dysfunction may be the set up. The US is a bunch of states (with different cultures) forced into one political container. So fragmentation may be structural, not just psychological. 
 

 

I agree with what you said, let me share my more casual, unfiltered opinion / experience:

As a European who was in the US for months last year, I was also amazed at how shallow, fabricated the whole country is without any substance. I mostly feel sorry for people who live there, they will never experience life fully. Not saying it in a hippie way, but the average European day-to-day life is miles better than in the US.

The US is a 2nd world country with a lot of highways and random luxurious aspects that don't matter much. The whole country feels fake tbh, it's like a lab experiment with rats.

Great minds live there though, very business oriented and the nature is beautiful. 

[Butters]

From my experience at hostels in Europe, I find Americans to be the most kind and warm people. Much more so than the Europeans I meet. 

Also I highly doubt there is such a thing as European culture. As a Dutch I feel much more culturally aligned with Americans than with southern Europeans for example. 

Edited Monday at 08:45 PM by Butters