I do it mostly because I’m a petty bastard, and tend to treat people how I feel they treat me. My experience with most people (in an online form) from the US is that they have such a horrendous habit of US defaulting and a ridiculous superiority complex. Also a bit of tall poppy syndrome happening there
They’re also basically the very manifestation of capitalism, greed, selfishness, and monopolistic practices, and COVID/gun control issues very much proved that an uncomfortably large portion of their population has zero care or concern for anything resembling the common good, or public benefit. And whilst I realise we have these issues here, too, they’re a lot more pronounced in the US (although I will grant that’s probably because they also have an exponentially higher population than we do).
And countries are more or less just the sum of their people, particularly in a democracy, no matter how flawed
(FWIW, I hang pretty much an equal amount of shit on Australia, too, when our pollies make decisions I strongly disagree with, or that don’t align with my moral compass. I think a part of my dislike probably comes from a fear that if left unchecked, we’ll basically end up being mini America, which I think we’re already on the path to becoming)
E: and to address the last part of your question, I don’t really hang shit on Russia/china because I’m not entirely convinced that they are quite as bad as American media tends to make them out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware that china is pretty dystopian, makes very liberal use of slave labour, and that Russia uses propaganda bots online, but the US does/has in the past done that as well. And I simply don’t know enough about Russia or China to feel like my opinion is really worth having. Likewise for most non western countries. I don’t feel comfortable criticising things happening in large swaths of Asia primarily because I don’t know enough about local customs, norms, beliefs, etc to feel comfortable holding an opinion. It kind of feels like I’ll end up just being another white person telling African countries what they’re doing wrong from the comfort of my couch on the other side of the world, or lambasting Cambodia for their poverty problems when I don’t know why it’s like that and can’t propose a solution.
The US is a different story, because they’re a western country, similar enough to Australia that I feel I can make assumptions and decisions about, and their politics/happenings are fucking everywhere. Can’t use the internet without stupid decisions in America being shoved down my throat…so I’ve read/seen/heard enough assessments about what’s happening, and why, to inform my opinions
I do it mostly because I’m a petty bastard, and tend to treat people how I feel they treat me. My experience with most people (in an online form) from the US is that they have such a horrendous habit of US defaulting and a ridiculous superiority complex. Also a bit of tall poppy syndrome happening there
They’re also basically the very manifestation of capitalism, greed, selfishness, and monopolistic practices, and COVID/gun control issues very much proved that an uncomfortably large portion of their population has zero care or concern for anything resembling the common good, or public benefit. And whilst I realise we have these issues here, too, they’re a lot more pronounced in the US (although I will grant that’s probably because they also have an exponentially higher population than we do).
And countries are more or less just the sum of their people, particularly in a democracy, no matter how flawed
(FWIW, I hang pretty much an equal amount of shit on Australia, too, when our pollies make decisions I strongly disagree with, or that don’t align with my moral compass. I think a part of my dislike probably comes from a fear that if left unchecked, we’ll basically end up being mini America, which I think we’re already on the path to becoming)
E: and to address the last part of your question, I don’t really hang shit on Russia/china because I’m not entirely convinced that they are quite as bad as American media tends to make them out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware that china is pretty dystopian, makes very liberal use of slave labour, and that Russia uses propaganda bots online, but the US does/has in the past done that as well. And I simply don’t know enough about Russia or China to feel like my opinion is really worth having. Likewise for most non western countries. I don’t feel comfortable criticising things happening in large swaths of Asia primarily because I don’t know enough about local customs, norms, beliefs, etc to feel comfortable holding an opinion. It kind of feels like I’ll end up just being another white person telling African countries what they’re doing wrong from the comfort of my couch on the other side of the world, or lambasting Cambodia for their poverty problems when I don’t know why it’s like that and can’t propose a solution.
The US is a different story, because they’re a western country, similar enough to Australia that I feel I can make assumptions and decisions about, and their politics/happenings are fucking everywhere. Can’t use the internet without stupid decisions in America being shoved down my throat…so I’ve read/seen/heard enough assessments about what’s happening, and why, to inform my opinions