|
whiter than a Wilco show posted:American politics is skewed so hard to the right that your left wing politicians are well to the right of any other countries right wing parties I think this point of view is pretty outdated unless you are trying to make some bizarre point and claim that Bernie Sanders or Keith Ellison are "to the right" of UKIP or Front National. I mean yes our government is conservative and the Democrats are far from being actual leftists, but the far right has grown a lot in many countries lately, and we had a presidential candidate openly calling himself a socialist that won a non-zero number of primaries for the first time since the 30's. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Feb 28, 2017 |
#
¿
Feb 28, 2017 05:39
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:51 |
|
|
That's not my label. My point was that he referred to himself as a socialist and was still allowed to participate in televised debates, let alone win primaries. That would have been political suicide for a presidential candidate in previous elections, the word only existed in the mainstream media as a smear until this decade. I agree Bernie is a left centrist. The governments of many other countries are now considerably to the right of that position and the trend seem to be increasing. You are right thare was a time when both parties in the US were completely dominated by moderate conservatives while much of the rest of the developed world was to the left, but that's no longer the case today. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Feb 28, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2017 06:19
|
|
|
skit herre posted:And what great role do you play in the world's sole superpower that you think your opinion matters? that guy is our president, Donald J Trump
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2017 01:43
|
|
|
duckmaster posted:The myth that the developed world had left-wing governments at the height of the motherfucking Cold War is preposterously inplausible.  I never said that the period I was talking about was "at the height of the Cold War" I have no idea where you got that from, I wasn't referring to that period at all. I was responding to a poster who was claiming that the leftmost American politician was still to the right of politicians from other countries. There was a time when this generalization was close to true, mainly during the George W Bush years, when both parties in the US were dominated by moderate conservatives and much of the developed world was indeed to the left, and this became exaggerated by the US response to 9/11 and especially the Iraq war. But my point is that this situation is no longer the case, the American population has since then been pulled in more extreme directions and things have changed quite a bit in other countries since that time as well. Also please note that saying other countries are to the left of the US is not at all the same thing as saying they have "left wing governments". The UK was to the left of the US in many respects well before an actual left wing party attained power in 2001. Many other countries, even when a centre right party (in their context) was at the helm, still managed to have national healthcare and significant worker protections for example which in the US have traditionally been considered too "socialist" to be politically viable. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Mar 2, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 2, 2017 10:37
|
|
|
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)? No, absolutely not, and there are plenty of us Americans who don't believe this either. I don't think there is such a thing as a "best country in the world", and frankly think it's a concept that does far more harm than good. Personally I enjoy spending time in France far more than in the US, I just haven't moved there because I haven't had the time/money to deal with emigration. I don't think it's a "better country" in any objective sense though, it's a very personal and subjective thing. duckmaster posted:We'll never win this argument as long as Americans continue to hand wave away everything about European politics by saying, "well Europeans are just more left wing than us". Once again I'm very confused as to how you got that from what I wrote. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Mar 11, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2017 00:03
|
|
|
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. Like there is a reason all of Africa has one of those three as an official language and it ain't murrikkka There are zero places in Africa where German (or Prussian) is an official language. The Germans did briefly have colonies in Africa and a few other small islands and outposts in other parts of the world, but generally the extent of their colonialism outside of Europe was tiny compared to the UK, Netherlands, France, Portugal, or Spain. At least in terms of state sponsored colonialism - there are many places in North and South America populated by German settlers but those never became German territory in any sense. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Mar 12, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2017 23:36
|
|
|
nah you are right there is still a small population of German speakers there that have some official recognition, for some reason I thought they had undone that in the 90's still though the overall German impact on Africa in general was pretty minimal compared to other colonial empires, and the idea that the US' own westward expansion and overseas colonization was somehow kinder and gentler is really not true at all.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2017 13:32
|
|
|
Captain Monkey posted:I dont think the point is that it was kinder of gentler. I'm not sure what you are reading but I was responding to a person who described 19th century America as "a damned benevolent paradise compared to say the UK, France, or Prussia/Germany. quote:I read it as him saying in the 1800's, when the US wasn't realistically an international power, they were more gentle. American westward expansion was not "more gentle" than British colonialism.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2017 18:16
|
|
|
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. In no way am I defending the united states, I've made that repeatedly clear. I'm just actually interested in what the OP was asking about. These weird slapfights between former British colonies get really repetitive and aren't ever all that insightful. How people think of a county's current and past foreign policy and how people think of that country's citizens are not separate subjects, they affect each other tremendously - especially since people's presence in foreign countries is often a direct result of said policy. What you seem to be not getting is that a lot of what you see as "slapfights" is not just about the past but about the present. Sure if this thread was about Spain you wouldn't have nearly as much of this kind of thing, but if there were currently Spanish military bases all over the world, a huge Spanish naval presence in every ocean, and Spanish foreign policy driving a number of conflicts, then a lot of the same things would come up. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Mar 13, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2017 18:27
|
|
|
Captain Monkey posted:Lol the pledge of allegiance, they pray to a flag!!!!!!!! ' and that isn't actually insightful, and rolling your eyes at that level of 'discourse' isn't being defensive, its just a reaction to low effort hypocricy. How is that hypocritical? The US is one of the only modern countries where masses of schoolchildren pledging their allegiance to the state is a thing. I thought it was normal when i was a kid but once I started reading history and travelling to other places I realized that it's really creepy and hosed up.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 14, 2017 00:36
|
|
|
Honj Steak posted:I'm aware that this is a comparison between American and European middle-class people, but that's the only experiences I have made so far. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the US for the first time this year, but I'm also more scared of going there than any other place I've been to yet, especially because of what you hear about paranoid officials and all the special things you need to worry about you wouldn't need to do when travelling to other, even non-EU places. if you are coming from the EU, our paranoid officials will probably be nicer to you than they are to us.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2017 14:19
|
|
|
light fixtures on ceilings are very common all over the US I think the question in the OP is about impressions of the country as a whole not one specific building
|
|
#
¿
Mar 24, 2017 13:47
|
|
|
Retro Access posted:not having ceiling lights would render your apartment an unlivable space uh what? you just buy a lamp or two in any case, maybe that's a Florida thing but its definitely not an "American thing", almost every apartment I've lived in had ceiling light fixtures, some buildings dont but its not a big deal because lamps exist (or you can just install some ceiling light fixtures yourself if they are so necessary) Earwicker fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Mar 24, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 24, 2017 21:55
|
|
|
Vincent Van Goatse posted:They were invented to sidestep the custom of men opening doors for women are you sure? I thought they were invented just because they prevent a big draft of cold air from entering a building every time the door opens, the page you link also seems to suggest the same reason
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 02:09
|
|
|
Shbobdb posted:Yeah, but can you confidently go to a neighbors and find one? yes? pretty much everyone i know has one, i see them in offices and other workplaces all the time as well, and they are starting to become standard in a lot of hotel rooms. it wasnt a standard appliance maybe 10 years ago but it is now
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2017 03:34
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:they're just mad we did the postcolonial cultural wasteland and native brutalization first and best no that was the romans
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2017 06:31
|
|
|
Grevling posted:That would depend on when in Rome's history we're talking about, but they'd probably approve of the US' Republican traditions and impressive military, be shocked that Christianity is the most popular religion, be unimpressed with modern people's physique and ability to defend themselves (or impressed at our excesses?), be horrified that women can vote and hold power, and puzzled that there is no slavery. i think they would be too freaked out by the existence of things like cars and airplanes to care about any of that stuff. they'd be too busy zooming around also slavery still exists in the US and in just about every other country in today's world. obviously not in the same legal terms as the roman empire, but its there.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 11, 2017 13:47
|
|
|
Edgar Allen Ho posted:I imagine regional differences are at the core of this- in most of Canada there's 3-6 months of the year where you're probably wearing some kind of winter boot and walking into the house in them would track in gross mud/snow slurry. in the parts of the US where it snows a lot we generally just take off our boots when they are covered in gross mud and snow. in my experience I've known more Americans who habitually remove their shoes at home on the west coast (where the weather is more mild) than on the east coast. but almost all of the Americans I know who do so are Asian, so I always figured it was a cultural thing.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2017 20:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:51 |
|
|
Kopijeger posted:the thinly populated northern countries (primarily Norway, Sweden, Finland and arguably Russia) all have that as an important part of their national identities. as do many other European countries, and I don't think the average American - conservative or otherwise - thinks of Europe as being a place lacking in it, places like Italy or Scotland or Switzerland or Croatia are popular tourist destinations for many of us for that reason. but I think that poster's comment is referring more to a 19th century mentality?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2017 21:14
|
|