Well, here’s the thing - there’s no part of British society that cares about Queen Victoria’s opinions. Nobody tries to analyse what she would think about digital privacy or social media or climate change. Anyone suggesting that we should try to honour the thoughts of someone dead for 120 years 1/2
Yes, that is what educators call a “context clue”. So in this example, I either believe that you personally were around in the 1930s and played an active part in the political discourse of the time or I was referring to the subject of the conversation, America.
If you’re discussing a country, that fallacy does not apply. 300 million people cannot all agree on anything. If it softens your knee jerk instincts, take this example from my country. I’m British and we voted for Brexit. I campaigned against Brexit but Britain voted for Brexit. I remain British.
That’s my point - what is happening right now is what has *always* happened in America. Your knee jerk “USA! USA! USA!” response also explains why so few in America are bothered - America is doing it, America is the greatest, ergo it must be okay.
Nixon had student protesters shot and turned up to demand an apology from them. You’ve had a senile President before and you made him a hero. Last time there was the rise of global fascism, you ducked out of it until you were directly attacked. This is all very standard. Horrendous but standard.
Perhaps it would help if you could mention what you think is different about Trump’s America. The racism? Baked into the Constitution. The hatred of minorities? Ditto. The alliances with dubious nations? That’s normal. Electoral corruption? Hatred of the poor? Mass propaganda? Always been there.
The original. The sequel. The sequel that isn’t a sequel. The sequel that is a sequel. The sequel to that. The sequel to that. The 20th anniversary sequel. The sequel to that. The reboot. The sequel to that. The deboot. The sequel to that. The sequel to that. The first 18 Simpsons HoHs. Done.
Genuinely, what seems more likely to you - that there’s a law that says restaurants can only let you have one glass of full sugar Coke or that that restaurant worked out it’s cheaper to push sugar free versions on customers and blame the law?
Worse than that, they’re the people who tell their kids that it’s the idiots on minimum wage who should return the cart (and call you “Sir” as they do so), that the planet can take having a few beer cans thrown on it, that driving is a competition and to give no quarter. Scum raising scum.
Yeah, it would be terrible if young men and women were made to play sports and a whole industry built up around it but the people actually playing the sports weren’t allowed to get any money at all. That would be soooo unAmerican.
I genuinely was thrown there because my brain went “Wait, the members of McFly don’t know how to read?” “Hey, why is she publicly calling them out on this?” “Hang on, neither of those things make sense.” “Oh. Ah. Right. Okay.” “Maybe I need reading services.”
