Post A1TPisRGJsvQQizBoW by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) More posts by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) Post #A1T4kg3bE9l1ZRw2BE by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-22T20:54:33Z
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#uspol I'm pleased Biden was elected... but he's just a tourniquet on gaping reputational leg wound. Biden's just as corrupt as Trump, but beholden to different masters. He's just a bit more dignified & predictable about it. The US need to get over its blind spot (i.e. idiocy) about democratic socialism & progressive policy. And it needs to get over the myth of "American Exceptionalism". Stuff like equity & climate disaster mitigation are too urgent - there's no time to convince everyone.
(DIR) Post #A1TGePEk3Cz37FvHDE by klaatu@mastodon.xyz
2020-11-22T23:08:02Z
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@lightweight American Exceptionalism is *deeply* ingrained. As a US expat, it took me years to unlearn ideas baked into my head by US schooling, and that's _with_ me being a radical leftist skeptic. To make matters worse, there's a lot of confirmation bias. The US still dominates big tech, imports lots of brainpower, drive the entertainment market, etc etc. Part of the burden is now on us [the rest of the world] to gently demonstrate that we can resist American influence and leadership.
(DIR) Post #A1TGoDHFN4Fav5lrWq by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-22T23:09:41Z
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@klaatu yup. As a fellow US expat, I've been disabused of my indoctrination over the past 26 years since I left the US for NZ...
(DIR) Post #A1TGsU5MotCqCzFcIq by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-22T23:10:28Z
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@klaatu been trying to help USians (some of whom haven't seen the US from outside) overcome their confirmation bias. Not easy.
(DIR) Post #A1TJf4VYu9ucylncfI by carl_klitscher@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-22T23:41:36Z
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@klaatu @lightweight I hear you but when you get politicians and the general NZ public embracing 'disruptive' technologies from scumbags like Uber it is a real problem. Lets just roll back all the public safety and employment provisions and go back to what it was like on the wharves in 1900 'because it's cheap'. If your business model requires you to exploit someone or something in order to be profitable then it isn't a viable business. Let it die like it should under the capitalist model.
(DIR) Post #A1TKE2HLBYiyCTosUa by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-22T23:47:59Z
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@carl_klitscher @klaatu yup. The unfortunate thing is that people with unsustainable/exploitative biz models, or those who owe those who do, currently run most western neo-liberal gov'ts. That ensures those corporate apologists get bailed out by the taxpayer, and inequity climbs. All especially the US. Until those dependencies are exposed and destroyed, the cycle continues.
(DIR) Post #A1TPis5HdbLPKYhdYW by bamfic@hub.spaz.org
2020-11-23T00:47:58.125197Z
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@lightweight American Exceptionalism is the one non-negotiable item in all American politics, especially at the national level. Biden has it, Trump has it, Obama has it unapolagetically in a huge way (and Putin called him out publicly about it), Bush had it, both Clinton have it in a big way, it defined Reagan and Nixon, and even Democratic heroes like FDR and JFK had it in spades and with plenty extra to go around.It's weird, and-- as Putin made special effort to point out-- toxic. I am not sure what a USA without "WE'RE #1! WE'RE #1!" would even look like.
(DIR) Post #A1TPisRGJsvQQizBoW by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-23T00:49:04Z
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@bamfic Yes, I agree. But I wonder what the rest of the world would think if the US found a wee bit of humility.
(DIR) Post #A1TQGIQAjrCQZMPZmS by BlacKernel@nixnet.social
2020-11-23T00:32:04.791781Z
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@klaatu @lightweight This is exactly why I’m glad my family moved to the US during the Great Depression. The attitude we’ve had towards the country, at best, is like what Churchill said about democracy, but most of us think about it much worse, “[It] is the worst [country], except for all the other ones.”I’ve never lived anywhere else (yet) but I definitely would want to try out some place with a higher freedom index than this “land of the “ “free” “”
(DIR) Post #A1TQGIcZzj7lBqDU7U by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-23T00:55:34Z
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@BlacKernel @klaatu as someone born and raised in the US (with a 1st gen immigrant mother) it was very eye opening when I spent time in a different country and observed the US from afar. It quickly became apparent that a lot of what we're told growing up there is nothing more than myth and propaganda.
(DIR) Post #A1TQKZZutHS6wK0bGC by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2020-11-23T00:56:08Z
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@BlacKernel @klaatu I'd definitely encourage you to travel (if/when that's possible again).