"Laugh and the world laughs with you...." unless you do something incredibly stupid. Then it laughs AT you. Are you the laugher or laughee?

i would hope people arent laughing at me

Oh, people definitely laugh at me.  I have a terrific sense of humor and love to make others laugh (I'm punny that way).

I also communicate with people all over the world and, according to them, America is a laughing stock.  Not just because of Bozo the clown .. I  mean our  "president", but also because of how we (as people) behave.  Once Americans were thought of a good, benevolent people.  But now they have an image of being wealthy, fat, selfish slobs who demand that the rest of the world cater to them.  I, for one, am not like that and I'll bet many other Americans aren't either.  But it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the entire basket.  The world sees our news, our leaders as well as our tourists and workers that visit their countries.  That's all they have to go by to judge us (and we them).  Our news paints a picture of a selfish, divided country (MY rights, MY way).  Our leaders are corrupt (money, money, money). Some of our tourists act like spoiled brats (not all, but it's the bad that people remember most).  Some overseas workers aren't ethical; they want extra money just because they're "Americans" (again, not all). {When anyone visits/works in a foreign country, they're actually ambassadors for their home country.}

America isn't just the butt of the joke, they've become a joke.  We can't point our fingers at others and say that they're to blame.  The blame lies on the shoulders of each and every American.  When someone points their finger at someone else, their other 4 fingers are pointing right back at themselves.

In a way we are lazy.  We've allowed our country to be taken over by corrupt politicians, greedy corporations and people who think that their personal "rights" are more imperative that anyone else's.   While we pursue "things" - cars, houses, electronics and post cat pictures and emojis on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.  We complain that illegal aliens are taking over our country, yet they do the work we refuse to do (it's beneath us).  Yes, the world is laughing all right - it's laughing at US! This post was edited by Shuhak at November 30, 2017 3:28 AM MST