And when America drops trou and rolls about giggling in its own filth, Alberta elects Danielle Smith as premier.
Anyway, I care because I think fascism is bad.
What with Maple MAGAs, Le Pen supporters and Faragistas running wild, maybe “concern” in those countries needs to focus first on the home front?
False rexclusive.
I do what I can to oppose Danielle Smith here in Alberta, but commenting or even discussing American issues with US citizens does not interfere with that.
I don’t know about the others, but here in Canada we can only drown out the sound of the Maple MAGAts, they still have a right to spew their nonsense. I don’t need to listen.
They’re free to spew nonsense here as well. I choose not to listen.
Many others did, though. When the shark jumps and there’s more hollering for than against there’s not much you can do, as an individual.
And it seems, not as corporations or media outlets either.
Give, where you can. Help one another. Be a good neighbor. And prepare to lock down if it becomes necessary.
At the risk of sounding like Czarcasm (shudders) … cite?
Because if there is one, I bet it was a troll or otherwise an asshole that is contrary to everyone.
For whatever reason(s) you care, thank you, all of our non-American brothers and sisters. Thanks for remembering it’s not actually all of “The U.S.”. Yes, fascist a-holes won the election, but please know that at least half of the country are as disgusted as you and are working to right the ship as best we can.
I appreciate your interest and concern, and will always be interested in hearing your take on it.
I get really frustrated by the amount of willful blindness to the fact that this is a global thing. The US is big, influential, etc. and surely makes the biggest impact, but the far right just attracted 150,000 and hardly any counter-protesters in London.
Orban, Wilders, AfD, Le Pen, Swedish Democrats, Modi, Putin, Xi, Vox, and many other people and parties on the far right are all ascendant.
I don’t know how this ends, but it ain’t just here, folks. Sometimes I feel like the leper that all the other lepers in the colony are pointing at and calling unclean.
[I haven’t read the replies]
A stranger is simply a friend that I haven’t met yet.
As somebody whose passion was always travel, I feel very connected to people in every part of the globe. I was born where I was born, and I live where I live, but I am anything but a jingoist or a nationalist.
In fact, I love the quote from Deepak Chopra,
“I think in many ways religion and nationalism are the two scourges of humanity.”
I thank you for your concern about the state and fate of the US. I apologize for the collateral damage it is inflicting, and will inflict, on so many countries, so many people, and – inevitably – the environment.
And I thank you for something I benefited from immensely, wherever I traveled: drawing a sharp distinction between a nation’s government and its people.
The idea that people should stay in their lane and not pay attention or care about anything that doesn’t directly affect them is stupid and offensive.
I’m American. I try to pay attention to the rest of the world. Is it wrong for me to care about the war in Sudan, or the recent conviction of Bolsonaro in Brazil, or human rights violations in North Korea? If not, then why is it wrong for a non-American to care about what happens in my country?
And, of course, that the U.S. has the world’s largest economy and the world’s largest military means what happens here does affect the rest of the world.
You say you’ve seen non-Americans accused on SDMB of being concerned about U.S. politics. Can you cite some examples? The Straight Dope is supposed to be about fighting ignorance, which should preclude a mind-your-own-business attitude toward political opinions.
Okay…so in the interest of challenging hypocrisy (including my own), I do have to note that Sam_Stone was criticized more than once from folks that could be considered generally on the left for being overly concerned with US politics as a Canadian. It was enough of a minor board meme to be joked about here.
You know what? That’s actually somewhat fair.
Of course, he does seem to be sympathetic to the class of Albertan who claim 2nd Amendment rights, despite the US constitution holding no sway over Canadian law, so fuck ‘em. It’s almost the reverse of the OP, who has no desire to live under US law. But I suppose even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again.
Any foreigners get similar treatment when they don’t think US style laws would be good for their own countries?
That last paragraph doesn’t make sense to me, @Great_Antibob. Can you say it a simpler way?
You should also follow @frodo’s thread on the goings on in Argentina. Their Trump-wannabe may be falling out of favor! It’s one of the few pieces of news I follow because it proves it can be done. Not certain, not without pain, but a possibility.
Things that can be done in other countries cannot necessarily be done in the sociopolitical climate of the US. The classic oft-cited examples are universal health care and gun control, but closer to the point, in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is going to prison for something like 26 years for inciting an insurrection. In the US, for exactly the same offense, America’s own aspiring dictator got elected to a second term and is now abusing presidential power to an unprecedented extent in an effort to dismantle democracy.
Regarding the OP’s question, I care because as a Canadian, I did not have the chance to vote for or against Trump, yet his policies are affecting my country. Since they are, I am qualified to comment on American affairs.
It’s as simple as that.
Same here in the UK.
It seems to me like Sam_Stone is more often criticized for this:
It’s not that he’s concerned - it’s that he tries to speak with authority and is often incorrect.
I’m on MAGA forums a lot – I take the fight against ignorance very seriously – and if I mention that I’m British, 100% of the time someone will say it’s none of my business what happens in the US. Ironically they’ll also throw in some criticism of the UK as they do this.
Of course, there is no reason why a particular country or its politics should be verboten. America, as a dominant economic and military superpower, affects life for the rest of us a great deal.
But even if it didn’t, I might still have interest in what happens there, as I am with many countries’ politics.
(Oh and FTR I am quite happy to discuss and point out the flaws of my home country. A lot of things are fooked right now, but when it comes to discussions with MAGA I normally have to firefight various myths. Supposedly the place that I grew up, with its significant Muslim population is somewhere “the police won’t go”…I guess my dad who is a policeman just teleported home each day?)
And of course they’re blind to the obvious hypocrisy.