Is America the laughingstock of the world?

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Sappy et al keep insisting it is, but I'm not seeing any signs of it. My first thought was that the rest of the world thought we were hilarious because we cater to our LCD and any time some random mental case bitches about some insignificant thing, we rush to "fix it". Then I remembered France. And Great Britain. And Australia. And the rest of them who make us look positively draconian. Those are the countries that I always laughed at, and the US going down that path might make me think we're a laughingstock, but that's the part the rest of the world likes.

The Chinese probably think we're a laughingstock because they don't play that #### there. Go ahead, kiddo, protest and jump up and down about your "rights" - they'll run you over with a tank.

I can see the Muslim extremists laughing their asses off at us. "OMG, we blow up their buildings, kill their citizens...and they STILL jump through hoops to meet our petty demands. :lmao: What's it gonna take to make you pansies fight??"

The Mexicans almost certainly laugh at us. Until recently, the lowliest most uneducated Mexican thug could still outsmart our President. That always made me laugh, when it wasn't infuriating me.

If I were a person in a foreign country and my only impression of the US came from Hollywood and our pop culture, I'd be laughing at us because our celebrity worship in this country is just ridiculous. We're like a nation of teenage fangirls drooling over someone because they're pretty. We know more about the characters in Game of Thrones than we do our own family members.

But I know that the Lefties admire those traits, so that's not why they think we're a laughingstock. We lead in pretty much every category that matters, so I'm not sure why our inferiors would be laughing about that.
 

Pete

Repete
I do not know the answer to that but I suspect we are, not because it is warranted but more so because of our long history of pandering. I go to the UK often and they are infatuated with Trump and our reactions to him. Both prior to and since the election if you get into a conversation with a UK citizen within minutes they will ask your opinion of Trump. This last trip I was outside a pub and a group of college kids heard my accent and they gathered around to ask about Trump. We actually had a great conversation. It started with them having the typical liberal ideals and talking points but as the conversation progressed they got the points I made. We needed to control out borders, out fight against poverty was being thwarted by the social constructs created here for decades that promote poverty, our views on education and globalization. I do not think I changed any minds but they did seem to get it and think about it. In other words they were open minded and were willing to at least consider other points of view.
 

Kyle

ULTRA-F###ING-MAGA!
PREMO Member
Curious.

Did the subject of the UKs borders and the flood of ME immigrants come up?
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
I go to the UK often and they are infatuated with Trump and our reactions to him. Both prior to and since the election if you get into a conversation with a UK citizen within minutes they will ask your opinion of Trump.

Same happened to me recently when I was in Norway and Denmark. The most recent pub encounter was in Denmark a couple weeks ago and almost ended badly because I refused to "engage" in the topic with a local patron who who clearly had some aggressively negative views of Trump and, by association, anyone who wouldn't denigrate him.

An extended discussion with a couple Norwegians went much better; they were more just genuinely curious and trying to understand how we could have elected "someone like Trump".

Bottom line: The majority of people from Western Europe and Scandinavia wholeheartedly endorsed Barry's "One World/All Equal/Diminished and Timid USA" approach. So they definitely do not like Trump.
 

Pete

Repete
Curious.

Did the subject of the UKs borders and the flood of ME immigrants come up?
Not really, they know their own issues they seem infatuated with ours. Actually, not even our issues, it seems they are infatuated with Trump and seem surprised at his support and election. I suppose it is somewhat interesting. Here we are the USA and we have repeatedly elected politicians who tight rope walk everything as to not offend anyone even those who should be offended, then BOOM we bring in Trump who calls a spade a spade......and a club a spade for that matter.
 

Pete

Repete
Same happened to me recently when I was in Norway and Denmark. The most recent pub encounter was in Denmark a couple weeks ago and almost ended badly because I refused to "engage" in the topic with a local patron who who clearly had some aggressively negative views of Trump and, by association, anyone who wouldn't denigrate him.

An extended discussion with a couple Norwegians went much better; they were more just genuinely curious and trying to understand how we could have elected "someone like Trump".

Bottom line: The majority of people from Western Europe and Scandinavia wholeheartedly endorsed Barry's "One World/All Equal/Diminished and Timid USA" approach. So they definitely do not like Trump.
I would suppose Europeans and Scandinavians in particular would have trouble understanding Americanism. Their circumstances are completely different form ours. They live in much smaller societies, they have had big government for hundreds of years, confined spaces where people have to get along, not a world power and have no desire to project power and so on.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Actually, not even our issues, it seems they are infatuated with Trump and seem surprised at his support and election.

That ^. To what seems to me a remarkable degree. It occupies a significant proportion of their public and private discourse...their media are all over any topic or story involving Trump...
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I go to the UK often and they are infatuated with Trump and our reactions to him. Both prior to and since the election if you get into a conversation with a UK citizen within minutes they will ask your opinion of Trump.

Trump is a rock star in Montreal. Everyone we talked to thinks he's great and aren't quite as complimentary toward young Trudeau. If I were smarter, I'd have brought a bunch of MAGA hats and sold them on the street.
 

Kyle

ULTRA-F###ING-MAGA!
PREMO Member
Not really, they know their own issues they seem infatuated with ours. Actually, not even our issues, it seems they are infatuated with Trump and seem surprised at his support and election. I suppose it is somewhat interesting. Here we are the USA and we have repeatedly elected politicians who tight rope walk everything as to not offend anyone even those who should be offended, then BOOM we bring in Trump who calls a spade a spade......and a club a spade for that matter.

I would have figured he call it a "####ing shovel!" :yay:
 

Pete

Repete
Trump is a rock star in Montreal. Everyone we talked to thinks he's great and aren't quite as complimentary toward young Trudeau. If I were smarter, I'd have brought a bunch of MAGA hats and sold them on the street.
I was watching one of the BBC channels, they have a dozen of them, and the news story was about Trump's immigration policies and the story started out negative as normal but the reporter in NYC actually turned the tables on a liberal and asked tough questions and got him stammering.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
OH and America is STILL the Wild West where Conservative's OPEN Carry Six Guns Like Jessie James and Gun down Brown People
 

Starman

New Member
I think it's important to separate politics and culture in terms of this question.

Sure, all ostensible democracies occasionally elect people who are laughingstocks I suppose, but that's all just chum. In my experience, most look at us with admiration; some might call it jealousy. Many have dreams to come here; some even do it illegally. But out in the French countryside, young ambitious people don't want to migrate to Paris or London or other large European cities to be successful and put their mark on the world, they want to go to the U.S., New York City specifically.

My family took in an exchange student from France many years ago and we remain good friends to this day. I travel to France to spend time with him and his family and he and his family travel here. When I go there, his kids all want me to bring them New York City things. Yankees and New York Football Giants paraphernalia (even though they are not baseball or football fans), NYPD/FDNY t-shirts or hats. To them New York is the center of U.S. culture. When they come here, they invariably want to spend time in NYC. Not DC, Chicago, Los Angeles. NYC is it. It is the pinnacle of U.S. culture for them.

The Brits are particularly curious about our gun culture. Almost without fail, British folks I meet on my travels want to know how many guns I own. I think their impression is that we all run around with guns, pointing them in the air, drinking beer, and pew-pew-pewing our guns.

Politically, I've never felt uncomfortable discussing our politicians or President Trump specifically. Nor have I been ridiculed. The most critical comments have been from Italians in Italy, but they mostly understand there is a difference between government and people just trying to live a life. Most people understand that modern democracies swing back and forth from election to election. Even in places like France and the Netherlands, generally leftist governments are tempered by (what some might describe as extremist) rightist political movements (Marine LePen and Geert Wilders, respectively for example).

So, no, in my experience America is not a laughingstock. We are in fact the most successful nation in human history, despite our flaws. Most recognize and admire that and are drawn to it.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I think it's important to separate politics and culture in terms of this question.

Sure, all ostensible democracies occasionally elect people who are laughingstocks I suppose, but that's all just chum. In my experience, most look at us with admiration; some might call it jealousy. Many have dreams to come here; some even do it illegally. But out in the French countryside, young ambitious people don't want to migrate to Paris or London or other large European cities to be successful and put their mark on the world, they want to go to the U.S., New York City specifically.

My family took in an exchange student from France many years ago and we remain good friends to this day. I travel to France to spend time with him and his family and he and his family travel here. When I go there, his kids all want me to bring them New York City things. Yankees and New York Football Giants paraphernalia (even though they are not baseball or football fans), NYPD/FDNY t-shirts or hats. To them New York is the center of U.S. culture. When they come here, they invariably want to spend time in NYC. Not DC, Chicago, Los Angeles. NYC is it. It is the pinnacle of U.S. culture for them.

The Brits are particularly curious about our gun culture. Almost without fail, British folks I meet on my travels want to know how many guns I own. I think their impression is that we all run around with guns, pointing them in the air, drinking beer, and pew-pew-pewing our guns.

Politically, I've never felt uncomfortable discussing our politicians or President Trump specifically. Nor have I been ridiculed. The most critical comments have been from Italians in Italy, but they mostly understand there is a difference between government and people just trying to live a life. Most people understand that modern democracies swing back and forth from election to election. Even in places like France and the Netherlands, generally leftist governments are tempered by (what some might describe as extremist) rightist political movements (Marine LePen and Geert Wilders, respectively for example).

So, no, in my experience America is not a laughingstock. We are in fact the most successful nation in human history, despite our flaws. Most recognize and admire that and are drawn to it.

I love a coherent, well thought out post. :yay:
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
I have a friend that lived in Spain the past 15 yrs ... she has since gone back to Chile

she commented a few times in our conversations how terrible Trump was ....
 

Baker12

New Member
I just got back from Australia and every person stopped me and asked how bad Trump is. Their media is even worse, and that's all they talk about.

Of course, one merely needs to look at India, the entirety of Africa, most of South America, most of Central America and realize that things could be worse than being in the US
 
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