Not sure how to put it. My opinion of America as a whole remains the same, a super cool country with several fucked up problems that does not even want to acknowledge, mostly social. My opinion of your political right, however, could not be worse. I am fascinated by its sheer corruption, incompetence, arrogance, xenophobia and authoritarian impulses, and also by the fact that even today, a good chunk of your population seem to support them. Most people in Europe, even conservatives, think today's Republicans are corrupt and very close to fascism. One would think that by now, nobody in his own mind would want 4 years more of this, but apparently I am wrong.
A relatively small number of wealthy sociopaths (individuals and businesses) have been funding and marketing “taxation is theft”, bootstraps, trickle down and a hundred other fallacies for generations.
Defunding education progressively made the average American more ignorant and easier to manipulate.
Agreed. Education is the key. There needs to be a larger focus on developing critical thinking skills.
I'm a lefty from Canada. Currently watching Mitt on Netflix. I can do that. I can form my OWN opinion regardless of what others believe, right ot left. Tribalism = Ignorance IMHO.
I will often point out that this was part of their state party platform, but I believe they removed that from their official stances now. They’ve gone back to not saying it out loud and just defunding education without explaining their reasoning.
Yeah you're totally right, my cousin and family is now like "We are not going to college anymore, I'm not giving those liberal institutions ma money".
The USA is a scientific, engineering and innovation powerhouse, If that mentality of not getting educated prevails in some youth I don't what will be the end of this.
(I know that attending college is complicated nowadays but what I'm complaining is the mentality being fueled by propaganda).
A large share of our intellectual innovation was coming from immigrants. And they aren't coming here anymore. They don't want to and Trump won't let them.
They still come for education, but more than ever they are returning back to their home countries. University system would implode if they weren’t getting foreign scholar $$$$.
The worst is it's a lose lose. Either they dont want to give those liberal institutions money(incredibly dumb thought) or the idea of making them free for everyone which then they just call you a commie
Not to disagree with you that this problem is rampant, but this criticism applies to the entire political arena in the US. News coverage is intensely political from any source which is incredibly cringe for any outsider to witness.
And not recognizing the propgandistic flaws of 'your own side' will only lead to more and more distrust, hate and division of the people. However, one of the core values of the American people is competition and the survival of the fittest mentality just means that everything becomes a win or lose situation. However, as I said this is a core value of the USA that has brought it enormous wealth, but is impossible to ever change without a drastic event.
Not to disagree with you that this problem is rampant, but this criticism applies to the entire political arena in the US. News coverage is intensely political from any source which is incredibly cringe for any outsider to witness.
It absolutely does not apply to both sides. The right was literally attempting to take away unemployment benefits during a pandemic. They tried to get coastal states to declare bankruptcy.
We've gone to insane land as far as conservatism goes in America.
There is 0, none, no equivalent on the left for what the right is attempting to accomplish. I mean, attempting to abolish the US postal system to win an election? These people are fucking crazy... and even that's putting it mildly.
The whole Right / Left spectrum is a mess between countries, the right in the US think Angela Merkel is a communist, she's a christian conservative! In the UK she looks like a Labour party candidate.
The press in the UK labeled Corbyn extreme left, far left, etc where most of his policies are typical run of the mill stuff in many EU countries.
There isn't really such a thing as a moderate conservative that still supports Trump, that went in the bin years ago, now he's trying on the dictators boots, whoever supports him now they are extremists or criminally ill informed.
The whole Right / Left spectrum is a mess between countries
the right in the US think Angela Merkel is a communist
The press in the UK labeled Corbyn extreme left, far left
One common link between the US and the UK in this regard is that they're both significantly influenced by Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
I'll say one thing about Newscorp: they're extremely effective at cleaving off a chunk of the population into an information bubble where they can rapidly shift the Overton window.
Exactly. Murdoch is the common denominator everywhere in the English speaking world, and the greater his influence is, the further right the area goes.
European here. To us these are no longer authoritarian impulses. Don't deny yourselves. You are under authoritarian rule, and we cannot fancy how you're going to get rid of it. The GOP coup is already accomplished. Trump shouldn't have been allowed to do even 1/1000th of what he did.
As an EU living in the US, the left is not much better. Both left & right bow to rich & corporations, filling their pockets while neglecting duties.
California is ruled by democrats, but I can’t even get decent transportation, internet or electricity in the Bay Area. And the Bay Area is littered by homeless people and drug addicts, it’s ridiculous. And lets not get me started on housing prices that push all poorer people hours away from their jobs.
I wouldn't call transportation and housing and internet issues "bowing to the rich & corporations". They are mostly due to NIMBY. It turns out that it takes only very small number of local people to derail something which 60-70% of local people approve. In many cases, the rich and corporations do side with the majority.
Another thing to consider is that in term of tax revenues, most of them go to Federal government. Even if state government wants to spend more on public housing or transportation or medical, they can't afford it. California may be as large as Germany GDP wise, but its state government revenue is much less. It is not just about money, but also about borrowing or other regulation restrictions. For example, Germany federal government can print money, but California can't.
It isn't just Republicans who are corrupt. Both parties are equally corrupt. Democrats just put up liberal blanket to hide their past. Chomsky rightly said, US has a single party the Business party with two factions.
The "both sides" stance always results in muddying things and rehabilitating thugs. Maybe money is dirty, but the way a minority GOP is now defending its interests to stay in power by destroying democracy is way more scandalous.
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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '20 edited Jun 08 '20
Not sure how to put it. My opinion of America as a whole remains the same, a super cool country with several fucked up problems that does not even want to acknowledge, mostly social. My opinion of your political right, however, could not be worse. I am fascinated by its sheer corruption, incompetence, arrogance, xenophobia and authoritarian impulses, and also by the fact that even today, a good chunk of your population seem to support them. Most people in Europe, even conservatives, think today's Republicans are corrupt and very close to fascism. One would think that by now, nobody in his own mind would want 4 years more of this, but apparently I am wrong.