Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

your friend a dog posted:

If where we're born isn't key to our worth or identity why should I care where we blow up a wedding?

checkmate, liberals

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 03:38

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 11:15

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

duckmaster posted:

A left-wing party didn't win successive national elections in the UK until 2001, France was governed by right wing administrations until 1981 (and their brief flirtation with socialism ended in 1986), the centre-right Christian Democrat Party won most seats in all but one of every West German election since the end of the Second World War, the centre-right Christian democrats were never out of government in the Netherlands between 1914 and 1994 and Spain was governed by an actual literal real life fascist until 1979 (when the people elected a, you guessed it, centre-right Christian Democrat party). I'll let you take a wild guess which party governed Italy from 1946 until 1996, although here's a clue: it starts with "centre right" and ends with "Christian Democrat".

The myth that the developed world had left-wing governments at the height of the motherfucking Cold War is preposterously inplausible.

He's overgeneralising but this isn't responsive to his point at all

what makes the US seem like wacko rightist land to the rest of the first world isn't the frequency with which the party of the left holds power vs. the party of the right, it's that certain stuff that other rich countries take for granted (workplace protections, a non-horrendous healthcare system) are out on the left fringe of american politics

like, britain has a lot of conservative governments, and they've done their part to undermine the NHS, but almost no tory would dare to come out against it. and it's the same story with the right wing in pretty much all rich countries w/r/t their country's flavour of UHC

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 01:27

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

fantastic in plastic posted:

I'm an American, so maybe I've been brainwashed by my culture, but this has always seemed like a very strange criticism. Doesn't everyone believe this about their country (or nation, if that's different than their country)?

Nationalism is everywhere, but no, not in the same way. American triumphalist nationalism really is something else.

E: So, pretty much every country has some (possibly quite silly) ideas about what makes their country special. America just tends to be way more grandiose and absurd about it than everywhere else. (America is the greatest nation to ever exist! [thing that would be completely unremarkable in any wealthy democracy] is uniquely American!)

Jeb Bush 2012 fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Mar 5, 2017

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 20:17

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

imo it's pretty weird to bring up 19th century european imperialism as a defence of modern US foreign policy

if nothing else, have you checked out what the US was up to in the 19th century

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 18:13

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

whiter than a Wilco show posted:

On the other hand Australia does literally have concentration camps where it's specifically illegal for the staff to report child rape and the rest of the world's too upset about a reality TV star putting a bit more effort into enforcing existing US immigration laws.

thank you for this useful corrective to the idea that only americans are capable of delivering the worst loving takes

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 22:30

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

whiter than a Wilco show posted:

Actual concentration camps are a bit worse than building a wall.

if you think that "building a wall" or "putting a bit more effort into enforcing existing US immigration laws" is what's going on you are spectacularly ignorant and/or callous

that is regardless of how bad australia's immigration policy is (it's real bad)

# ¿ Mar 7, 2017 01:04

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

vintagepurple posted:

That's laughable because while 19th century USA was awful, it was a damned benevolent paradise compared to say the UK, France, or Prussia/Germany.

this is uh, not remotely true, but it is also not really the point. "look at all the bad stuff european countries did in the age of imperialism" is just a really nutty response to people criticising 21st century US foreign policy

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 00:43

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

Captain Monkey posted:

I dont think the point is that it was kinder of gentler.

That was, in fact, the actual statement that was actually made

Captain Monkey posted:

I dont think the point is that it was kinder of gentler. I think the point is that most if not all western countries are lovely, and focusing on the US to the exclusion of others to whine about is very well trod, especially when nobody is seriously in here chanting USA! USA! USA!

Like, yeah super patriotic USA weirdos are annoying, but in a hypothetical thread dedicated to 'what are the stereotypes of British people in yoir country' you probably wouldn't see a bunch of people talking about how Britain treated Africa or India or whatever, or analyzing Thatcher's impact on the third world. But ask the same question about the US and thats all the thread becomes.

hmm I wonder why people focus on the most powerful and internationally active country in the world more than any other, better get all weirdly defensive about it because any criticism of my country's foreign policy is an attack on me personally!

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 18:05

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

Captain Monkey posted:

I'm not actually being defensive, I'm on board to make fun of America and attack their foreign policy - in fact, I said pretty much all western countries have done horrible things, the US included, and I specifically wasn't diminishing criticisms of the US. It's just not really pertinent in a thread about how people view individual Americans abroad. Like, actually go re-read my post - if this thread was about Britain, we probably wouldn't have to wade through a bunch of shut-ins telling us how awful Britain is, despite Britain also having done horrible things. If anything, people lashing out wildly against the US as a whole is them being really defensive. There are a number of threads where the US' many flaws are pointed out. If people were pointing out flaws of Americans as individual people (loud, don't learn languages, etc.) then they'd be interesting. But talking about how Reagan was a criminal (he definitely was, the US has done some hosed up things) isn't really useful here.

American foreign policy is a huge influence on what foreigners think of the USA, which is what this thread is about

Captain Monkey posted:

Ok, fair, I was talking about internationally, but I see what you're saying. The US' hosed up history concerning its native populations is well documented and discussed on these forums.

that's a very strange distinction to draw, like if you wipe out the native population and then annex the territory it's domestic policy so it doesn't count but if you exploit them and they become independent later then it counts?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 18:33

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

Earwicker posted:

if you are coming from the EU, our paranoid officials will probably be nicer to you than they are to us.

unless you have brown skin or do anything that could be plausibly mistaken for being muslim, sure

# ¿ Mar 16, 2017 15:47

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

I'm in america and there are like three different electric kettles in my lab's kitchen area for some reason

# ¿ Apr 5, 2017 00:21

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

me when I'm reminded of the existence and prevalence of keurigs:

Avshalom posted:

america sucks rear end, it's a poo poo place to live, it's loving up the rest of the world and most americans are either for-real stupid or as smart as normal people but so messed up by lack of education and media brainwashing that they might as well be stupid

Jeb Bush 2012 fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Apr 5, 2017

# ¿ Apr 5, 2017 06:07

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 11:15

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

Captain Monkey posted:

Or you can spend $5 on reusable cups that you self fill with coffee or loose leaf tea or whatever and just reuse.

the idea of getting a keurig to make tea is so out there to me, an electric kettle costs a fraction of the amount and is vastly better suited for the task

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 15:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Non US Goons: Tell me what you and your friends/family think about the USA