If you live in a different country, why are you so interested in American culture and politics? Why do you care or voice your opinions about it?

[ShadezMcgee]

[RavVid]

As an Australian I am not very interested in American culture being happy with our own but I am in American history and politics. Your history because there are parallels with our own. Recently I got interested in the English Republic (Cromwell) again and the rise of democratic structures in England and the US as well as Australia which I would argue is the world's oldest functional modern democracy. From the Commonwealth of England it was hard not to continue on to the US to get a more mature understanding than I got in my under grad. How can I not be interested in that?

I do think the Anglosphere has been an enormous force for the good in the world. I don't know if Americans are happy with the term Anglosphere or not but in reality there is only a slither of difference between the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Sure we perceive a lot of difference between us at times but that is to a large degree because we are so similar.

As a what if let's suppose the US simply ceased to exist at say turn of the century in 1901. What would the world be like now? Well Australia had already won WW1 and broken the back of the German army before the US got involved but it would have gone on for longer.

Undoubtedly the Axis powers would have won WW2 without the US. So the Nazis would probably hold western Europe perhaps including the UK. Imperial Japan would hold most of Asia. Russia would probably have survived and fought on but hard to say where a Russia/German border would have formed and when fighting might have stopped. Probably China would have been too much for Japan and still have risen to some degree. Japan would have taken India.

Fundamentally most of the world would have been under autocratic regimes. How much fun would that be? IT WAS ONLY US BLOOD AND TREASURE that stopped that with the rest of the Anglosphere.

Today we see Russia pursuing imperialist dreams and Xi Peng is pursuing an international Han dynasty.

How can I not be interested in all this?

For my part I do not see it as legitimate to comment on US politicians and domestic policies. I do think it is legitimate to comment on geo politics and in general morals and political ethics as they are universal. Clearly there is an overlap between the later and your domestic politics so I take pains to declare I am not a US citizen. Hope that satisfies.

I am well aware the US gets a lot of sh*t it shouldn't and gratuitous censorious commentary that would be offensive to any country. Europeans like to say they understand diplomacy for example whereas I would say they have more nuanced ways of capitulating.

[bean2k21]

Very interesting too hear your refreshingly thoughtful perspective. No one in the U. S. would disagree that you are entitled to your analysis of wars which we found ourselves dragged into, since that is a federal affair. And you're right what we find infuriating is commentary on domestic affairs. Critics seem to forget that when we refer to ourselves as the "United States" we mean that as States, we have an agreement to collaborate on matters, such as war, that affect the nation. But, on most other matters, everything is dependent on State law. The Bill of Rights is basically a list of what the federal government cannot do, leaving legislation to the state. This is why gambling and prostitution is legal in Nevada, but not North Carolina. So, when people poke fun at the president or a Supreme Court ruling, were' just like "What the hell. The president is just one person. The Supreme Court is just one branch of the government." It gets really annoying.

[RavVid]

@bean2k21 Ignorance is always annoying and even though the US is not my country I have found the ignorant righteous statements here annoying so I could well imagine they make you burn.

Australia pinched a fair bit of the US constitution so broadly similar here though with only six states and a couple of territories our states tend to 'homogenize'. ie adopt compatible legislation. Our High Court caught judicial activism off SCOTUS and I think that was always ill advised and above the High Court pay grade for the same reason - it is legislatures job to legislate not the judicial branch of gov't.

A collection of states has strengths. More competitive and plurality of views.

A question if you don't mind. Why are counties so important in the US? Are they important in your system maybe I should ask? The Australian experience is that our equivalent - local gov't areas - can't be trusted to empty trash bins let alone anything else. So that level of decentralization doesn't make sense to me. I guess our population is so much smaller it is a question of scale. You've got, we don't. Would appreciate it if you would clarify the US view for me.

Thanks for the kind words too.

[bean2k21]

The county government enforces laws, collects taxes, records documents, conducts elections, provides parks, libraries, sewers, water, trash pickup, recycling, public assistance, hospitals, highways, police protection, building inspection, planning and zoning, and public schools. I've only seen one or two cities where the services were suffering as the result of a decrease in property values but it's pretty much destined to be a ghost town at that point.

[RavVid]

@bean2k21 Thanks for that info. Most of that is done here by our state gov't. My local gov't is dominated by greens and they are all about trashing our value. So far I have spent 5 years trying to get some good governance out of them.

[andreasderjuengere]

Not interested, but rather wary.

As the U. S. -same as China- have spread their tentacles all over the globe, one cannot escape the antics of both nations.

My communicated anti-American criticism addresses the idea - not the people.

Why do I meddle? Well - the U. S. do the same with me. Quid pro Quo.

[DizzyDesii]

I always wondered that but i zip my lips. Cause one dude on here pisses me off talkin like he lives here but maybe he wants to. So ima just keep em zipped

[ShadezMcgee]

Similar way here. I don't give a fuck about other countries politics unless it comes to operational purposes military wise. There are two users on this site in particular that annoy me and one is a condescending ding douche.

[fonduegirl]

I don't care much about it. But some laws are so stupid like banning abortion or homophobic stuff that it urged me to raise an opinion.

[Rangers]

Why don't you mind your own business instead?

[fonduegirl]

@Rangers can't. Allergic to stupidity.

[OlderAndWiser]

America bashing is a popular sport in some parts of the world. . . until they need our help!

[ArtemisSilver]

Well I'm Canadian, so it's like having a frat house party turned fist fight going on across the street from your chill little cottage 24/7

Sometimes I just want to shove a ghost pepper up a mooses as and send it rampaging across the border.

[ManOnFire]

As an American I always feel pretty weirded out by foreigners who are so interested in our politics and what we do, yeah.

[Sun_Kim-Ai]

I don't care. I don't answer to invites to answer political questions on the US.

I visit the US next week, but it's only for business.

[Soteris]

American culture and politics is just extreme to the point of parody. It is simply funny to see what nonsense they will do next and I engage with them purely for my own entertainment.

[ShadezMcgee]

So, in short, you are a troll when it comes to it?

[Soteris]

Its one way to see it although considering I make sure to always be correct and also respectful until someone show disrespect towards me or what I say I dont think that is really a good assessment. The fact that I specifically go out to meet some of the worst humans on his planet and telling them why they are both wrong and evil is not something I will feel particularly bad about.

[ShadezMcgee]

I can still think of a conversation you and I had and you flew off at me despite it being my first response to you on a thread that was started with another user, "Fucking horrible points" was the first couple letters of your response to me, now maybe that was because people already had you charged up, but you snapped pretty quick. No name calling towards you or anything, but yeah, I will take what you say here a grain of salt.

What do you do for a profession that requires you to meet some of the worst people and tell them they are wrong?

[Soteris]

Possible, although in that case you probably jumped into the middle of another conversation and I did not keep track of who was already there when the shit started flying and who is new. The conversations I have on this site is not worth remembering once I hit reply.

As for what I do for a living? I work for the government in a social department but I guess why I come here is because gaming is not as fun as it used to be.

[ShadezMcgee]

You literally @ me in the conversation after my first comment, so no, you did address me specifically when I made my case. Regardless, that conversation is done as far as I am concerned.

Social department?

[Soteris]

The fact that I replied to you just meant I pressed the "reply" button like I do with every message. I also only really read the message I am replying to so I miss the entire context it is said in if I dont remember it since previously and honestly the conversations I have here is not very memorable. If I actually did lash out without provocation I do apologize for that since its something I specifically try to avoid.

As for the department I work for its not really anything concrete. Its a small local government organization that mainly just support the overall government and interact with the public in limited ways. As such what we are doing is mainly driven by the current needs rather than a fixed job. I have done everything from furnishing offices to demolishing computers and providing products to sell in stores.

Its also not really anything intensive since I got enough money to just work for the sake of having a reason to get up in the mornings rather than working for a living wage.

[TacosRAwesome]

I'm honestly not. But it seems that Americans have invaded the internet.

[Iamcoming]

I live in Turkey and ı have not wonder about American culture. Only ı research about somethings as another cultures about as for learn New knowledges

[Fuentes]

I been said that their country Is so boring they love watching our shit lol cause it proves we're the BEST!.

[LimitedBenefits101]

They are obsessed with us I find it hilarious tbh how obsessed they are with us

[RealDaveThomas]

What Americans do, affects the world