I actually don’t know why people take such issue with him describing countries as shitholes. It’s not untrue.
These mental gymnastics people are performing to scream “RACIST!” might earn them some SJW internet points but they’re missing the real point.
All things being equal, a systems analyst from Norway and a mud farmer from Elbonia aren’t going to bring the same benefits or skills to their new country, and I don’t see a problem with the new country saying “We’d rather have the person who can slot into our society and function productively pretty much straight off the bat, thanks”
I think the problem is assuming that anyone from a shithole is a mudfarmer. Particularly when one of the shitholes in question is an entire fucking continent.
Just when have we been praising any such countries? We’re merely giving a view of their inhabitants that is likely the same held by Trump. We’ve also suggested that lifestyles and opportunities in the U.S., such as they could never experience in socialist land, may well be why their inhabitants may want to immigrate here.
No, it’s pretty much spot on actually. Liberals can never see the good in anything and can always be counted on to focus in on the small amount of what’s wrong with anything and want to tear it all down, even if the overall result would be exponentially worse, and it usually is. To hear liberals tell it there is nothing good in or about this country, and any and everything gets called sexist or racist even if it has absolutely nothing to do with either because the left regards them as a foolproof way to claim the moral high ground and achieve their ends.
To the degree that any of this is true, it’s been made possible by the fact these countries (England largely excluded) haven’t had to pay for or finance their own freedom from outside threat, having enjoyed most of their 20th and 21st century freedom under the umbrella of the U.S.'s military might. Still, their citizens live lives of relative sparseness compared with American lifestyles. They live in small houses and apartments with small furniture and small amenities and drive small cars (if they even have one), and know little of the sense of pride and fulfillment that comes with accomplishment, success, and having forged one’s own way in life. And as our own Netherlands Doper, Maastricht, once admitted, when their citizens reach a certain age with serious health problems, rather than spend the money necessary to treat and or save them, they are given palliative pain meds and essentially told to go have a nice death.
Destroy? Hardly! We’re trying to fend it off.
Ah, yes, the typical American liberal response to anyone of a differing frame of mind. One simply can’t think or believe differently from the liberal point of view and possibly be anything but racist or insane. Thanks for the arrogance and conceit but go peddle it elsewhere. Here at the Dope we’re all stocked up.
And good on ya, anomalous1! Glad to hear you’re sticking around.
That… is nothing at all like the Australia I live in, where people have large houses, big cars (not American size, admittedly, but there’s a LOT of V8s and 4WDs about), lots of furniture, iPhones, and so on. And as for Canada, it seemed pretty much exactly like the US in the “Nice stuff” department the last time I was there.
I have no idea what you’re basing this idea on, frankly.
Frightfully, I think this utterance from the Oompa Loompa in Chief (OLiC) and the lack of outrage-- even from those who support a tax bill or other economic issues-- shows even more about prejudice and racism in the US than the electoral college outcome back in November '16.
Yeah, I know all of that and I should have excluded Australia too. I was focused on the liberal Scandinavian countries that wolfpup was salivating over and inadvertently overlooked Australia when I was exempting England. My apologies.
ETA: I don’t believe either Canada or Australia have socialist systems on par with those in Scandinavia. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but the impression I have is that they’re maybe 10% of the way there.
You seem to be having difficulty grasping the meaning of the word “racism”. The operative factor here is making blanket judgments about blameless individual human beings based on the stereotype of a race or nation. How do you think Trump would feel about a white mud farmer from Norway versus a black systems analyst from a “shithole” country? It’s not the word itself but the prejudicial implication of the context in which it was used that is so telling of racism. I’m sure I’ve used the word myself, but it was in contexts like “the only countries in the world with more preventable deaths than the US due to gun violence or lack of proper health care are backwater shitholes”, which is entirely correct.
All things being equal, the Norwegian (regardless of skin colour) is going to have an easier time adjusting to life in the US and contributing to society than the Elbonian (regardless of skin colour).
That doesn’t mean the Elbonian can’t adjust or contribute, of course.
I had a colleague, really born in Kenya, with a degree from MIT. I know a professor, very well respected, from Somalia. I bet they just love Trump.
More interesting is that the Chinese Communists are working very hard to gain influence in Africa. Trump just handed them the continent. I’d hate to be the American diplomat trying to work a deal this week. Trump is the best friend the Commies ever had. The Chinese are smarter than the Russians - they didn’t even have to spend any money destroying American influence in the world.
I think the term for people like you is useful idiot.
I submit that it’s you who is having difficulty grasping the meaning of ‘racism’, as do most of your ideological brethren, since you’re constantly using it where it doesn’t apply. Countries become shitholes for a variety of reasons that the bulk of their populace has little to do with. Dictators or corrupt leaders, bad weather and crop cycles, economic mismanagement, drugs, inadequate natural resources, etc., all play significant roles in the events that lead to countries becoming what Trump referred to as shitholes. But life in such countries nevertheless takes its toll on their inhabitants, who over time become plagued with criminality and defeatist attitudes and highly unlikely to thrive in a country like the U.S. where they would be expected to make their own way. In short, they bring nothing positive that would enhance the U.S. or make it a better place to live, and in all likelihood would become a burden on our prison and economic systems and a negative element societally.
Is the Elbonian going to have an easier time than my great grandfather who came over from Russia only speaking Yiddish? That was a shithole also, especially for Jews.
He went to a Jewish area in NY of course, but there is a big Afghani community within walking distance of me. Someone coming from Afghanistan (which I think would qualify under Trump quality rules) could get started in the US and learn English while being among people from home. That is the way it works for many communities.
And Nigerians and Kenyans speak English, and so might have an easier time than Norwegians. So long as they avoid racists like the moron in chief, that is.
Well, in the first place, Trump didn’t announce that comment publicly. He was outed for it by opponents eager for any opportunity to do him in. So he never intended for the countries in question to hear his having said that. And I’m sure virtually every president, even the one sometimes referred to as Obamassiah, have used such phraseology in private. But everyone on both sides is out to get Trump and so any and everything he does or says is leaked to the press and alleged to be of earthshakingly negative importance and distorted or blown out of proportion.
And as far as Commies go, China and Russia are becoming more capitalistic by the day, China especially. You can tell by how well they’re doing now as opposed to their staunchly communist days. And I doubt very much that anyone or anything has handed Africa to the Chinese. It’s not that easy for a thousand different reasons.
I’m sure you do. You guys always find ways to call people who disagree with you stupid or evil. And you’ve so overplayed these accusations toward anyone who opposes you so badly that all these terms really mean anymore is not-liberal. Hardly an insult in my book.
The ‘white’ mud farmer is NOT going to to be picked over the ‘non-white’ who has more skills. Stop reaching for a racism crutch. Lets get back to reality now.
Starving Artist
Good to have like minds here (it’s rare). I used to be a big liberal until age 22, when I started noticing how my college was brainwashing liberalism into people…then I grew up and took the world for what it really is. I didn’t like living in fantasy-land anymore with overflowing emotion and irrational thought processes, finding fault in things that there was none/searching for a purpose. Having to prove something that is readily apparent became redundant. Life is excellent now, and very simple when you see things for what they really are and how people really are. I just feel bad for many libs. They weren’t lucky like some of us to see through the smoke and think for themselves.
Nobody cares if they are liberal or not, we are simply talking about the skills of the person leaving whatever country and whether the country is shitty or not. It does not matter what social system or economic system. It does not matter about race. Stop changing the subject.