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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   30028 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 21, 2024

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epically fuck up what's left of America's standing in the world.

I don’t get this. I’ve heard people repeat it a lot. People respect and like countries that have a high quality of life. They want to move to countries that have high earnings potential and safety. They also like cultural products. America’s cultural products aren’t going away, so what we are left with is QoL, earnings, and safety. Is the candidate who supports DEI and more immigration going to increase QoL and safety?

But also, why the hell would you even care about what someone in Kurdistan, or China, or Bangladesh thinks about you? During the Cold War, much of the world hated America for propaganda reasons, and who cares? Lots of the Middle East hated us because of our wars, and yet… it doesn’t matter. I don’t think people should care about how “popular” their country is on the world stage. We should care about how popular it is among our citizens, which would involve not incessantly telling about racism, slavery, and oppressive institutions.

Agree. What does this even mean. America has always been blamed on a lot of ill in the world . This didn't change under Trump. The fact so many people want to come to America, not just for benefits, but for jobs and to attend universities , shows it cannot be that bad. The leadership of Germany, UK, France, Japan, etc. may not have liked Trump or would preferred someone else, but they were more than willing to work with him and respected the office.

I think it literally just means that lib aligned PMC will be embarrassed at cocktail parties.

If that sounds uncharitable, I’m quite serious. “Global Standing” is what a tiny percentage of the international elite feel about the USA, not the unwashed public at large.

Why though? You could say the same about any level of geography. "I don't think people should care how "popular" their town is on the national stage" etc.

“your town is unpopular” may mean that the quality of life of your family is negatively affected, as there is fewer investment in your town. It may also mean you’re individually doing something wrong, because you could be part of the problem of your town. But this doesn’t apply cross-nationally. Countries that are regionally unpopular (Israel) may still have high QoL. It’s only an issue if their safety is affected, which is distinct from whether the proles of Honduras have a distaste for your country.

I don't know what to say, I think Israel suffers terribly from being so unpopular on the global stage.

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