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Hi non-US friends!
This is a friendly reminder that when you make fun of US people for being too ignorant to be aware of the fact that we can’t leave our country, you make yourself look like a real asshole.
This is a friendly reminder that when you make fun of US people for being too ignorant to be aware of the fact that we can’t leave our country, you make yourself look like a real asshole.
Some fun facts:
Fewer than 50% of US people even have passports. Because passports are fucking expensive. And international travel is also fucking expensive.
And most US people couldn’t afford it BEFORE we were hit with a global pandemic and subsequent economic crisis.
Fewer than 50% of US people even have passports. Because passports are fucking expensive. And international travel is also fucking expensive.
And most US people couldn’t afford it BEFORE we were hit with a global pandemic and subsequent economic crisis.
The “stupid Americans” you’re dunking on are mostly either people for whom international travel was never an option in the first place, or people like me who carry a fuckton of inter-generational trauma around being unable to escape their country of origin, or both!
Many US people who HAVE passports also can’t afford to use them regularly.
Most of the people I know, outside of the tech industry, are people who, IF they have a passport, bought it for one special trip, and it just hasn’t expired yet.
Most of the people I know, outside of the tech industry, are people who, IF they have a passport, bought it for one special trip, and it just hasn’t expired yet.
I recognize that it’s easy to look at how badly the US is fucking up, especially now, and to dismiss us as lazy and selfish and too ignorant to save ourselves, but it’s a lot more complicated than that, and people here deserve more compassion than they are getting.
No one — absolutely no one — is being provided with what they need to respond reasonably to this pandemic.
Government messaging — when it happens at all — is inconsistent, unreliable, and often flat-out self-contradictory and/or wrong.
Government messaging — when it happens at all — is inconsistent, unreliable, and often flat-out self-contradictory and/or wrong.
People here literally do not have a choice other than “go to work in a pandemic,” or “lose my home and be unable to feed my family.”
US people don’t have the resources to take vacations, how the fuck are they supposed to stay home for weeks or months on end without support?
US people don’t have the resources to take vacations, how the fuck are they supposed to stay home for weeks or months on end without support?
And the masks.
Yes, they’ve absolutely been politicized, but we were also flat-out lied to by CDC and WHO about their utility.
And as someone who watched that all play out, and knew better even then, I’m infuriated.
Yes, they’ve absolutely been politicized, but we were also flat-out lied to by CDC and WHO about their utility.
And as someone who watched that all play out, and knew better even then, I’m infuriated.
Anyway, tl;dr:
When you dunk on US people for being too stupid and dangerous to allow out of our country, what you’re actually doing is mocking hundreds of millions of people who have been let down so badly at every turn, many don’t even have the education to recognize it yet.
When you dunk on US people for being too stupid and dangerous to allow out of our country, what you’re actually doing is mocking hundreds of millions of people who have been let down so badly at every turn, many don’t even have the education to recognize it yet.
You’re mocking abuse victims who are being perennially gaslit and sabotaged at every opportunity, and at this point, you’re also mocking our inability to escape.
I guess the last thing I should add is this:
When you make fun of US people, who have been let down at every possible turn, for being stupid/ignorant/whatever, you’re playing into the hands of those who thrive on American Exceptionalism.
When you make fun of US people, who have been let down at every possible turn, for being stupid/ignorant/whatever, you’re playing into the hands of those who thrive on American Exceptionalism.
The US has a massive fucking fascism problem, and regardless of how much you think US people deserve what is happening to us (we don’t), pitting yourselves against US *people* only serves to reinforce the us vs. them narrative fascists rely on to thrive.
There is a whole lot to criticize here, and I would strongly recommend adding your voices to the voices of US people who are loudly criticizing (and trying to tear down) the systems and powerful individuals who have gotten us to where we are, instead of mocking their victims.
