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My flippant response would be "well, duh!", but I couldn't actually do that here. In the US, when many people discuss politics, they're often talking to friends or people with similar cultural backgrounds and it's easy to be dismissive of other people's points of view. Since I've moved to Europe, I have found myself, in the past few years, trying to paint a more balanced view, albeit one which is naturally colored by my personal perceptions.
This isn't always an easy thing to do and it forces a reevaluation of many things. Most importantly, it's done a great job of reinforcing my view that the Democrats are just as bad for the US as the Republicans. When you have a country run by a "tax and spend" party versus a "tax cut and spend" party, things are pretty seriously messed up.
I didn't need to explain basic economics to my neighbor, but I did have to explain how the US corporate-driven media, manages to have a significant filtering effect on what information people are likely to be exposed to and few people (not just Americans!) are interested in digging down beyond their own personal beliefs into the data. If they do, they often don't get beyond confirmation bias. As a result, it's hard to call people "stupid" when they are spoonfed a particular point of view for years on end.
The book Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media
, is published before the days of the dominance of Fox News, but the clear, understandable way the authors (both journalists) explain how media is distorted go a long way to explaining many of the current political woes in the US. I strongly recommend that you buy this book, check it out of your local library or borrow it from a friend. You'll never look at media the same way again.Update: and don't even get me started on our gun laws. I support the second amendment, generally, which shocks the hell out of a lot of Europeans. Trying to explain the culture behind it and the controversy behind the "well-regulated militia" part is a nightmare.
This is relevant, and beyond 'merika:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
"When you have a country run by a "tax and spend" party versus a "tax cut and spend" party"...
ReplyDeleteIsn't that true of most democracies?
My entire blog, it seems, is trying to describe American politics from someone deeply concerned about the breakdowns in democracy at such a large size. Capitalism, religion, history, militarism, tribalism, simple vs. complex arguments: all of these are what I see as the major variables in American politics.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the Right (simple) tends to steer the debate. And it is a lot easier to argue simply than with the natural time, effort, and care that most of these matters require. Especially when you have a 2 minute time limit...
The thing that I find the most entertaining in all this is the number of people looking to discuss US politics no matter where I go. I have taken to following up such inquiries with things like..so what do you think about the national government? How they doing for you on the heels of that labour party? sometimes this helps..often times I get mutters and a subject change. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother trying to explain American policies to most Europeans. There are as naive as Americans; have the notion that anything done in the USA is stupid (yet are eager to copy/embrace almost anything), and feel that they are superior - even though they will never admit it. On top of that, they generally have no fucking clue about the history of the USA, or that a country the size of half a continent cannot be compared to the postage stamp sized territories we have over here.
ReplyDeleteAbigal if I could I would downvote you. You and your closed mind are not even worth writing an articulate response to.
ReplyDelete