Reply to International travel plans with all these politics going on

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "International travel plans with all these politics going on"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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]

I’m not agreeing with PP you are responding to but you seem to think you know more than you do. The majority of Americans cannot differentiate Australian and English accents. That you think differently reflects your ignorance.

You also speak definitively and yet not very knowledgeably. Is Keir Starmer the most unpopular PM in history? Who knows as they only started doing those polls in about 1980. What has the change to trial by jury got to do with anything? You are remarkably naive if you don’t think Britons aren’t paying a lot of attention to Trump and are only focused on their own problems. [/quote]

Uh? Are you an apologist bot from Labour? Who is trailing behind both Tories and Reform. You don’t think canceling trial by jury isn't important? It's being widely talked about in papers and media in the UK, FYI.

I don't know who you are other that you're self defensive. It can always be difficult to have a pragmatic discussion on here and while I'll be the first to agree that there is no love lost for Trump in the UK, people also do not live, breathe, or die by Trump when they have their own political problems that matter far more to them. The previous comment about American arrogance in assuming the whole world must know every minutiae of American politics while ignoring everything political outside the US is right on, and this is a particular American left blind spot because the American right just doesn't think about the rest of the world. Most Americans also don't live, breathe or die by politics either and how often do you start a conversation with strangers in the US with how much you hate Trump? Very few do.

[/quote]

Since when are you the self appointed ex expert on what the British think or do?  The fact you think that Americans can tell the difference between an Australian and British accent shows you think you know more than you do.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics