When recently visiting, what shocked me most about the CBP–which I presume is of a softer ilk than ICE–was the sense of entitlement and strength they projected, a kind of "prove to me your worth at the gates of our great nation" vibe. America's jingoistic self-obsession is diminishing its soft power. It's now naked and vulnerable, weaker now for having obsessed over its strength for so long. Once-allies now see this. In not too long perhaps America will get everything it desires and more: it will be isolated, undesirable and unreliable as a place of work and avenue to freedom or liberation from ostensibly less developed nations.
back
2 comments
I’m watching people rapidly go several standard deviations of anti Americanism here in Europe regularly the last two months.
Like people are actively looking for ways to make sure the US feels the pain and consequences of their actions in little day to day ways.
I’d prefer it had a lot more nuance to be honest, I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to look at this through the lens of the entire country but yeah, I’m genuinely amazed at what I’m watching, people are NOT going to forget or forgive this shit anytime soon.
To be fair, that's standard treatment that has been unilaterally pushed by the US to other nations; their geopolitics can be a bit like Mean Girls:
- "That country is NOT allowing our companies to exploit their citizens? Nobody give them any food until they kill-off their leader."
Yeah, I think that’s a very similar vibe developing here in that sense where the US itself would have to put huge and currently unthinkable changes in place for anyone to ever trust them again.
Things like a lot of people going to jail, abolishing the electoral college and moving towards an actually democratic system, binding themselves to the same international agreements that they expect of others (Americans should be able to be brought before The Hague for example).
Until that level of stuff can happen nobody is even remotely interested in having any kind of positive relationship with the country here.
america wants to conquer one of its closest allies again in canada, so the petty responses are well deserved.
also greenland, the next door over, and EU member
I'm going to be extremely petty and point out that Greenland is not part of the EU. It's part of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark itself which is an EU member.
Nah it's fair tbh. Greenland is a danish colony that dreams itself independent.
It is a stronger rage than you allude to. The world is smoldering in a rage at American hubris exemplified by Trump and his sycophants. One cannot literally insult and attack the entire world on the declining phase of having been the most dominant visible global power for several generations and then leverage this hatred away as a negotiating tactic. The world outside any nation is a vast non-homogenous place one can hardly generalize about, yet there is a palpable frustration the world over with cantankerous American obstructionism and hubris, as exemplified by Trump. We never once said thank you to the nations we dragged over into Afghanistan, or sorry for imperialisticly and illegally invading Iraq, and now we have a president who not only takes this all for granted, but expects the entire world to kiss his feet like imperial subjects.
Absolutely no human, let alone nations full of them, will thank you for humiliation and attempting to grind them into the dust. This is not a negotiation tactic you can walk back.
The world is most certainly not taking advantage of a naive USA. Most of the world alleges the opposite FWIW
Well, the same frailties and socio-biological forces exist on all sides of the ocean. We are all lulled into entrenchments in defensive comfort, as are Americans. Right now, America is projecting an erratic personality and a chaotic power hunger. This makes people feel fear and disgust. While it is indeed a nation of many states, and of many people of many creeds, from the outside world it operates as a singular power, all in the hands of an unpredictable egotist.
very specifically, it encourages a "what are we gonna do next that will be banned as a war crime" questions from canadians.
i think its gonna be dirty bombs. dirty bombs everywhere we can get them; just spread the Saskatchewan as far into the states as it can go. nukes are much less dangerous over the 10k year timeline vs a bunch of sask dirt. we dont need em, and maybe america will remember longer if new york is abandonned for a thousand years
its not disgust, its vindictiveness
I grew up in country whose neighbour country speeks the same language, but has roughly 10 times the population.
What people in big countries do not realize is just how much their internal affairs radiate outwards. And this creates an atmosphere of:
small: "I know everything about you"
big: "I don't even know who you are"
I have learned over the years that the US is a huge, diverse and multi-layered phenomenom, so it deserves some nuance. But as an European I feel Trump and his minions giving us shit for e.g. US car manufacturers doing nothing to try to appeal to the European market (except for rebranding asian cars and whatever the fuck the PT cruiser was meant to be) is really a bit rich.
Most Europeans always felt their political leadership relied too much on the US, not because we extracted value from that, but because it was comfy to not have to think for yourself. They even tried to paper over the abuse of trust that came to light in the Snowden revalations (How would the US have reacted if the Germans had hacked the phone of the POTUS?).
Now with an openly hostile and erratic US president (EU offered a 0-tarrif deal to Trump before he introduced "retaliatory" ones) people feel less inclined to talk good about an already asymmetrical relationship.
Trump doesn't want partners, he wants vassal states. And if you really want those you either have to (A) use miltary force or (B) give them some psychological fig leaf they can use to convince themselves they are not indeed vassals.
Trump took the open secret of the fig leaf away and mocked Europe for accepting it in the first place. And the European population feels their trust is breached.
I don't say I like it to be that way or that the feelings are 100% justified, but that is the cause of the sentiment.
It's not just Trump, a lot of people voted for him despite all that was known about him and his plans. A lot of politicians still support him and help him drive his insane agenda. So yes, I think blaming the US as a whole is not unfair. And it's not like people outside can target Trump specifically anyway.
The damage is large inside the US, but all this crazy stuff hurts everyone around the globe economically. And even that pales compared to the threats that e.g. Canada received with the 51st state bullshit.
During the election I (Canadian) had multiple Americans completely go off on me for expressing an opinion/preference on the outcome in favour of Harris.
"none of your business" while expressing strong opinions about Canadian politics in the same sentence/paragraph.
Turns out it is entirely my business because look at the situation now.
Eh. That sort of sentiment is not exclusive to the USA. Try applying for a visa if you're not from a rich country.
I'm originally not from a rich country.
Before I became a Swedish citizen I never had a bad experience traveling back into Schengen, border agents were always cordial even on the instances where they were stern and serious. Even had nice interactions sometimes, at Schiphol with Dutch agents once they were quite funny, and light-hearted.
Every single time I traveled into the USA I experienced CBP agents being rude and suspicious, treating people like cattle on immigration lines, being talked down when being questioned, etc. The experience applying for my B1/B2 was also really annoying, not a great one being interviewed and grilled by a consul.
It's definitely different to go through USA's borders than most other places I traveled to.
I've been profiled for my racial heritage when trading currency in Sweden. I'd go into the currency exchange as a non-white person and have a bunch of $20s get rejected. I sent my white friend in with the $20s they rejected and from him, they somehow were fine.
Currency exchange is not a border issue, not sure what's the connection.
I did it in different European countries.
In all cases it was a good experience. The process was more or less straightforward, and I was treated with respect (and in some cases kindness) by the public servants I dealt with.
Not once I was treated like I was an unwelcome guest.
I suspect this only applies if you have low melanin levels in your skin.
Incidentally, I have brown skin.
Not exactly black, but far from white.
You may be right but it did not align with my experience as an Indian applying for a German, French and Swiss visa.
It's an anglophone thing. US, UK and Australia all do it.
I don't think it's even possible to generalize this to a nation. You could theoretically determine it as an average by the nation, but getting this information is borderline impossible, as its entirely the perspective of the applicant.
And without this kind of data you're basically left with a few anecdotes, which entirely depended on the mood of the worker that handled the case of the person providing the anecdote...
When I go through border security at an international airport, I usually can see what is happening at almost all the control gates... So even as a white man I have ample time to see the behavior of border security guards with others.
And yeah, the cliche of AMericans being haughty gung-ho cowboys is true. They bark at people and clearly play the bully.
I thought the process we were talking about was the visa application?
And Canada. UK and Canada gave me the hardest times at any border.
I feel like a criminal going into the UK even though I'm British.
When I traveled a lot 15 years ago, I found the US border to be the worst experience, even as a citizen.
Yeah Japan is famously friendly and welcoming to different cultures and ethnicities. Unless?
None of my Indian friends who have applied for and received Japanese visas had anything negative to say about the process, so I don't know what you're alluding to.
Are you including Ireland in the anglosphere?
Was show shocked/disappointed when I went to China. It was such a more welcoming experience every time I have come back to the USA. I expected China to be the one that felt more authoritarian. Coming back from the border with Canada after camping it was known that if you simply annoyed border patrol they would make you unpack all of your camping gear and waste 3-4 hours (I'm talking about known among young families with kids that just want to go camping).
From my experience as an American I have never had the kind of hostility, the power trip, the 'why are you worthy to be here' that I receive coming home be experienced in any other nation.