Those who know me outside the realm of the intertubes know that I’m a fairly quiet person who tends to stick to himself. I’m more than happy to just sit in a cafe with my laptop, a frothy cup of coffee and Google Reader and let the outside world disappear, if only for a short while.
Today was different from most. Barely a minute had passed after setting myself up at my favourite table by the window when a mob of people sat at the large table a few metres away. Some definitely were Australians, but I could also hear a few English accents as well. After placing their orders, they turned to each other and started discussing in loud voices why the United States is messed up, is messing up the rest of the world, and how nobody likes them or their country anymore.
Google Map of the aformentioned coffee shop. Google is an American company!
I’m not an American and I’ve never been to the United States, but when I heard them talk like this, I felt something I didn’t expect: insult!
The sentiment of these caffeine fueled people is certainly not new. Most if not all people I know in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia hate the current Bush administration, their handling of world affairs over the last eight years, their obsession with unfettered and unregulated capitalism that has plunged the western world into such a hole in the last few months, their arrogant sense of entitlement and superiority. It’s quite a stretch though I think to then label the entire country with the misdeeds and ineptitude of their government. Silly, nonsensical reports like this from the Australian ABC that claim that America is an empire certainly don’t improve the situation.
During one of Barack Obama’s campaign rallies they summarised on the evening news here a few weeks ago, he expressed his concern over how the world views the United States and claimed that the world doesn’t hate America, they’re just bitterly disappointed. While it also troubles me how much religion affects America’s political discourse and policy, his comment pretty well summed up my opinion as well.
As a 22 year old my bright view of the world I held from my teenage years has certainly faded, but I’m still young and naive enough to think that most people still have the capacity for good, and the United States is certainly no exception. For every disaster like Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam I also see countries like South Korea, the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan that were occupied after wars and subsequently helped out to the prosperous countries they are today. I’m not a political analyst so I can’t tell you what changed from then to the modern mess America has got itself into around the world now, but I would love to see it go back to what it was before, with the motives they had before.
I guess I felt insulted by the mob’s remarks because I have so many American friends; I listen to and enjoy a lot of American music, film and television; I use an Apple computer and fly in American built aeroplanes. While they may have the knack for electing idiots, America also has a disproportionate number of resourceful, creative, intelligent and warm people who’s presence on this planet makes us all better off.
This isn’t to say there aren’t some things that irritate me about Americans. For one thing they can’t seem to spell words properly (they love inserting the letter Z into everything and leaving the letter U out), they still use the archaic imperial system despite using decimal currency, the call petrol "gas", they call chips "french fries", they call lollies and sweets "candy", and for some reason that’s completely beyond me they think they can do better barbecues than Australians. Ha!
What’s "gas"? What’s a "gallon?". Photo by Nelo Esteves on Flickr.
I guess we’re not all perfect :-).
Unfortunately as much as I like Americans in general and feel as though the United States has the capability to be a positive force in the world (another Barack Obama-ism), I can’t dare say it in public in a place like Australia or even many places in Singapore for fear of being boo-ed at. My father loves Canada and like me also has many Canadian friends, and we can say THAT in public!
If you’re an American, help me to help you, please don’t vote for the Republicans in your up and coming elections! Vote for Cynthia McKinney [EDIT: Actually, don't vote for her. I assumed because the Aussie greens party are such a positive force that the American one would be too, turns out she supports Robert Mugabe of all people - I admit I was wrong], vote for Barack Obama, vote for an independent, I don’t care!
I just want to be able to say I like your people and your country again… without ducking for cover!
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12 Comments
Once again, you’ve done an excellent job of observing and writing about it. From my perspective here behind the Iron Wall, there are many many many (likely a majority) of us trapped here in the United States wondering what happened to the promise of America. This election means much more to the future of America than any election I can remember in my lifetime.
If McCain/Palin win, the American Dream dies. If Obama/Biden win, it has a chance to live on a little longer and maybe, perhaps, just maybe start to grow again.
Thanks for this Ruben. Very well written.
I really enjoy your intelligent and warm commentary, Ruben. We get so insulated with our news (that seems to pretty much ignore what’s going on elsewhere), an actual opinion from an actual foreign friend gives some needed perspective. Anyway, thanks.
Thanks for the insight Ruben. I believe you’re right on. I believe the current administration has really messed things up, but I also feel that we can’t walk away from Iraq and Afghanistan until we give them a hand to get them back on their feet. I hope we can make it through our mistakes and become the world citizens that you envision, not those that the mob of people spoke of. Thanks for sharing your views, and I’m really looking forward to my first Aussie Barbecue.
Many people seem to think that a US President has the same authority as an Australian/British/Canadian Prime Minister.
In fact, a US President has less authority, because the US Constitution requires divided government.
For example, a President is not permitted to introduce legislation. To give another, all Federal spending is determined by the US Congress, with the House of Representatives being the only body that can introduce a spending bill. All cabinet appointments and nearly all top government positions are nominated by the President, but require approval from the US Senate. At present, the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, not the Republicans. A US President has a great deal less authority than the Prime Minister in a Parliamentary system. Sadly, “comparative government” is not widely taught in Australia, Canada, UK, or many other places — and the news media do a poor job of explaining any of this to people.
What really matters in this election is not who is elected president, but instead the resulting make-up of the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. At present, both are controlled by the Democratic Party, not by the Republicans. This seems likely to continue.
I think folks outside the US will become disillusioned with whomever gets elected US President. I’ve watched this for decades and it seems to happen every time. Sigh.
“their obsession with unfettered and unregulated capitalism”
The Bush administration has doubled the US public debt, has started two expensive wars (military Keynesianism) and from 2001 to 2005 had a huge reduction in interest rates (appealing to Bush because Keyenes “inducement to invest” argument) and is therefore wholly Keynesian in his heart, his goals have never been to lessen the governments role in the economy or free markets, except for fooling the Republican voters with his free market rhetoric.
And according to Economic Freedom of the World report, Singapore and Australia are quite strong bastions of unfettered and unregulated capitalism themselves, if not even more so than the US.
(Sorry about my english, I’m from Estonia)
Ruben, if you ever want to tour the new third world country just south of Canada, you are welcome to use my home as a resting place on your journey Bro! It’s slow paced around here…but it’s sure!
atu
Cynthia McKinney! What a nightmare. It is amazing that she is still around with her radioactive attitude, behavior and actions.
McKinney has expert skills in Gerrymandering and Election Fraud. She has a Ph.D. in Conspiracy Theories and has a family background in Antisemitism . As a hobby, Cynthia plays a terrific game of Race Card. Give Cynthia a ring and she can arrange for you to have a tea time chat with Robert Mugabe; she love’s Mugabe’s model of a stable democracy in Zimbabwe.
Thanks for your recommendation to vote for McKinney.
McKinney’s support of Robert Mugabe shows that she has no interest in sustainable economics, social justice and peace.
It is an embarrassment that the Green Party has an association with Cynthia McKinney.
Hey I just read this post and enjoyed it!
I have close American friends online, most of whom are my Messianic/Christian or Jewish friends. Through getting to know these American friends of mine over the years I have grown to find the USA okay and like it too. (I’ve not been there) Some of my friends had even fought in the Vietnam war, some don’t always agree with their government, some are not die-hard patriots but they are still an American. My Texas friend considers Texas more like his country though lol.
Oh and I think American history is also interesting. I enjoy watching movies which are about their past civil wars and such. Americans are about one of the most patriotic people I have come across. Put aside the trashy hollywood culture, their southern culture for example is pretty cool.
Check out about this group called ACORN. If the link don’t work, go to FoxNews and search for ACORN.
http://search2.foxnews.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&client=my_frontend&proxystylesheet=my_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&site=story&getfields=*&filter=0&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&entsp=0&q=acorn
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