Aussie obsession with the US

Aussies need to get over their obsession with the US, since the US doesn't affect their way of life at all. The truth is they are just envious at the fact that the US is so much more influential than they are, the same with UK residents and all other world residents obsessed with the US. It's like the whiny teenage boys who like heavy metal and spend all their time whining that pop artists like Justin Bieber or rap artists do better on the charts than their underground musicans do - they need to just get a life and deal with it.

 

It's so true as far as parts of the southern UK is concerned. Don't know about Australia though. A lot of it is desert. I don't expect them to think they should be that influential with the resources available overall. And also because of the low population. Anyway, to me they look like peaceful nice people.

 

I suppose you could get help for your "tiny apendage syndrome."
Can`t advise you how to go about it tho, mine`s HUGE.

 

It's hard being the greatest... lots of haters out there. Just ask Lebron James! Countries hate the fact that the US is so powerful and robust. Envy is a horrible drug!!

 

It's not just the Aussies who pay attention to the U.S. A lot of European countries do so as well. Actually I got to see a Spanish newscast about the Iowa Cacaus.

 

I personally think Aussies are intrigued by US politics for a couple of reasons.

The political talking points that are shared between the two countries are very similar and it facilitates a mutual terrain for debate.

But, most of all, US culture is basically like Australian culture on way too much steriods and a serious late-stage, back-end crack addiction.

Australian parliament is a lot more entertaining than US congress, but the sheer insanity that is involved in the media (the O'Reillys, Glenn Becks, Limbaughs, etc), the ridiculous "gun-control-debate," Christian FREAKS that are seen nowhere else in the world but America and the general, paranoid, uncultured ignorance of the general US populace is what draws Aussies into US affairs.

 

We're also very interested in China. However I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese so I'm at a loss when it comes to forums dealing with China. Having English as my first, and sadly, only, language means though that I can check out what's happening in the United States, a country and society I have always found fascinating. Problem with Australia is that we're pretty well anodyne across the nation. There are some small differences and of course there are major topographical differences but culturally we have nothing like the variation that occurs in the US or Canada for that matter, that's another country that fascinates me.

I can appreciate the irritation Americans must feel when they read or hear uneducated and simply prejudicial points of view about US society. It's a bit like us when someone from "outside" starts banging on about our treatment of our indigenous peoples without having a grasp of reality. It's bloody annoying and as I said, I can empathise with Americans who get cranky at uninformed views.

Having said that, how best to educate us ferriners? Inform us of the reality, not just the objective facts but the subjective, lived experience. Take the current threads on gun control and the Second Amendment. I'm interested in the topic but I think I understand that discussing the topic without reference to certain lived experiences such as the need for self-defence in many parts of the US is a bit of an anaemic debate. I've found though that most on the left (Americans that is) will patiently inform us but sadly some, only some but they are loud and vitriolic, on the right will simply blaze away at us with ridicule. Not the way to influence people in a positive fashion.

Anyway, at the risk of sounding patronising (apologies if it sounds that way, it's not meant) please tell us where and why we're wrong and we'll all be better off.

 

There are Chinese forums where English is the primary language. Here you go:

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/forum.php

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

 

Like what? How is O'Reilly or Hannity any more 'insane' than Bill Maher or Ed Shultz?

Why's it a ridiculous debate? World statistic show that more guns =>= more shootings. Switzerland has a higher percentage of gun owners than the US, but no mass shootings. And most of the recent mass shootings, like the Sandy Hook incident occured in blue states with stricter gun control laws. Why is that?

They do exist elsewhere in the world, they just don't have nearly as much publicity as in the US - in fact I believe some of the most notable Young Earth Creationists - Ken Ham and Ray Comfort are from Australia and New Zealand.

 

That's not relevant. It's just that Hannity, O'Reilly and Shultz present their rubbish as golden "fair and balanced" dialogue when it is obviously not.

Then you have the Colberts, Stewarts, etc who present US (or worldwide for that matter) politics the way it deserves to be: comically.

The US media is hindered by the fact that it is only what makes money that will be heard; on those merits, I think satire provides the best avenue for political discourse.

I think we run into trouble when people start taking things as gospel.

I mean that literally and metaphorically.

 

Of all the time I've spent here, only 2 Australians have really seemed "obsessed" with America. Thankfully, neither of them post here anymore.

The other Australians here seem nice enough though. I particularly like Diuretic's posts. I don't agree with him on everything, but he usually makes some pretty strong arguments.

 

No, you first.

 

Aussies generally aren't obsessed with America, but more likely bemused and bewildered. Ask any Australian if they'd ditch their Australian citizenship for American citizenship any you'd get a resounding NO(Rupert Murdoch the exception).

 

I have to admit, I thought this was a joke thread. Yep! I was right the first time, it`s a joke thread.

 

This ties in a lot with my political correctness thread. It's mostly people of European descent that are doing all the trash talk. And I think it's cultural. They won't admit that they're simply player hating because then they just look petty. But really, that's all it is. Because the force of most of their attacks is entirely dependent on their faith that most Americans won't know enough about their respective countries to call them out on their own problems or worse yet their hypocrisy. And to be fair, most Americans are not educated enough to defend themselves. Although this is somewhat to be expected since America is more relevant than these attacking countries, so they are more likely to know more about us than we are to know about them. A quick analogy - how much does Paris Hilton know about you compared to how much you know about her? Even if you try to ignore her, you probably at least know cursory things because she's so high profile. Same thing here with America.

Want to shut these people up? Just learn a few little factoids about their own countries. Just like American liberals, they'll eat crow pretty quickly because they're not used to being on the defensive and they'll be caught off guard. People who are always on the attack are usually loaded with their own flaws and ill-equipped to defend themselves. And there's not a single one of these trash talking countries with a pristine record. Not one. They're just hoping you don't know about their skeletons. Yank them out of the closet and parade them down main street.

 

As always, thank you Albert, I'll bookmark that one.

 

From the same place that brought us this.....

Forgive me if I find your standards of "freak, " "ignorance," and "ridiculous" to be a bit skewed.

 

It's a fair point that most countries with an imperialistic past (or present) whether it be original (UK) or by proxy (Australia) is going to have a lot of jangling skeletons in the closet. "Let he without sin..." so to speak. If any of us are from countries which were or are imperialistic then we have either or both a bloody past and/or a bloody present. And frankly when it comes to past events I'm not into either apportioning or accepting blame, but denial or obfuscation is a no-no for sure. And comparisons are, as the old saying goes, odious.

But again, to use a saying, opinions are okay, facts are sacred.

Trouble is opinions can be extremely ill-informed and that type are usually fuelled by prejudice. I find them boring quite frankly. But exchanges of factoids are great - sometimes Professor Google or Doctor Wikipedia don't have all the info.

Anyway, as the magnificent American Eleanor Roosevelt said, "no-one can make you feel inferior without your consent." And that goes for all of us

 

I don't recall ever advocating after-birth abortion. Do you?

I don't think the Australian parliament has ever even entertained such a thing.

That's a really lame looking straw man you stuffed together there.

This is not some childish debate along the lines of "my country is better than yours," I was merely pointing out reasons as to why Australians find US politics entertaining.

Australian's discuss politics on a "right-left" political spectrum too. But, in Australia, there are never any rich, blowhard political pundits drawing parallels between current prime ministers
and Nazism/Stalinism and given the stage and publicity afforded to them by the US.

In Australia, there is no "debate" about whether proper science should be taught to children in science classes.

I could go on, but I don't see the point.

The United States of America is the laughing stock of the world. There are a lot more (*)(*)(*)(*)ed up nations out there; but the US is like this silly comic relief for Australia.

It's like conceding that our own culture is pretty goofy, but look at how outrageously bad the collective consciousness is in a country where "creationism" is actually given any semblence of credibility. That characteristic is embarassing on its own merits.

 

Hopefully someone will after-birth abort him with an AR-15.

 

What do the Austrialians get? Unabated US harassment and exploitation?

Sounds like a losing offer to me. Perhaps you should sweeten the pot... The Australans will pass a law banning obsession with the US, and the US... Oh... I don't know... Will stop being such a ****.

Australia will recieve docking rights on its war monsters, and the US can go (*)(*)(*)(*) itself. Sounds like a fair offer to me.

 

Talking of whiny teenage boys....

 

This from a people once described as the British empires answer to the drunken hillbilly.

 

I follow the politics of many countries. Is it wrong for me to have an opinion? I'm not saying that I should have a say in what actually happens - I'm not a US or UK or NZ or etc citizen.

Politics is an interest of mine. There is no obsession. The fact that you think we obsess over the US kinda shows how self-centered some people are.

 

Your first sentence is completely false, there is not a country in the world that is not affected by US policies.

I see nothing wrong with the intrest shown by the people of any of the other countries that take time to post here. Most know far more about the rest of the world than the majority of Americans. The posters from Australia would be some of my favorites CassandraBandra(have not seen in awhile) and Bowerbird even though we disagree on firearms, I have talked with more than any other posters. Diuretic I have spoke with a few times, yet always enjoy reading his posts even when I disagree. Steady Pie is the closest of the bunch to my political beliefs yet have only spoke to once. I used to think Australia was full of people like Steve Irwin or Crocodile Dundee(kind of disappointed always thought I would fit in lol) I appreciate their opinions and proud they take time to contribute.


Did you really use Bieber as a analogy of the US? The rap reference was acceptable but Bieber.