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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’ve posted here a few weeks earlier.  I’m back in Latin America.  I ran into a tienda last night.   An English speaking couple was there, in front of me in line.

“Go ahead of us,” she said.

“No no that’s not necessary I’m in no hurry.”

“Really it’s fine we can’t decide just step up.”

“Ok thank you!  Where are you guys from?  Can I guess Australia?”

“Nope, English but people confuse the accents.”

“Well I shouldn’t ha ha I know better I’m just an idiot.”

“Where are you from?”

“United States.  Live in Washington.”

“Well . . .”  Followed by an awkward smile.

“Now wait a minute!  I hate Trump and so does everybody I know!”

“Ok great thank God, it’s good to know there are still Americans who aren’t idiots!  So how long are you here?”

That’s the new reality of how one opens a conversation these days as an American traveling abroad.  Those of you who haven’t experienced it are either clueless and can’t read other people or you don’t talk to anybody beyond your taxi driver.   Or maybe you’re Trump supporters?[/quote]

I am skeptical of this story. Because people often don’t confuse Australian with British accents. And that you did echoes your own ignorance. But more because people do not live and breathe and die by American politics. Take your hypothetical British couple. Presumably you know who Keir Starmer is? He is also the most unpopular PM in British history, achieving the lowest approval ratings for a PM. His government is abysmally unpopular. Hugely unpopular. Extremely unpopular. Three adjectives and it is probably still an understatement. His government has done things like cancel local elections and mayoral elections because everyone knew Labour would lose. They are planning to eliminate most trial by juries. Then you have deep cultural divisions, economic concers and the mass migration situation. And the Chagos debacle.

The whole point is that people really do not live by American politics. Trump pops up every now and then, causes a fuss, then it's back to their national political issues. That hypothetical British couple would find your outburst both weird and so very American, because Americans are exceedingly insular and seem to think the whole world must have existential anxiety over the latest American political incident, while, of course, utterly ignorant of politics in other countries. It is American arrogance to do what you claimed to do. [/quote]

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