Dear US. How is this even close? Love Australia

[Violet_Crumble]

Please explain.

[uponit7771]

1. US M$M normalizing Trump for money using horrible polling science

[betsuni]

2. Australians know enough about U.S. culture to know why, among them voting isn't mandatory.

[LauraInLA]

3. Perhaps for some of the same reasons that the Voice referendum was voted down by all six Australian states.

[canetoad]

4. Do you think the two things are comparable?

I certainly don't.

[malaise]

17. You are correct

[canetoad]

36. Hey you!

I knew that the proposals in referenda hardly ever are carried here in Oz, but wasn't sure of the exact numbers so I checked. Since Federation (1901) there have been 44 Yes/No questions. Eight have been carried. The last in 1977.

Most were procedural constitutional changes - election timing, voting etc. The Voice, inexplicably, was rejected by some well know Aboriginal groups and identities, but it was no surprise that it failed to pass.

And a good morning to you

[malaise]

37. Hi there my friend 😀

Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2024, 09:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Good info. We have a big debate going on here re Constitutional. changes.
I see that last match was rained out in Man Hester. I was rooting for a 2-1 OZ😀

[betsuni]

5. Good point.

[mahina]

6. Every day I ask this.

I have no answer.

[Escurumbele]

12. I hate it when I say this but, "It is voter ignorance", and I hate it because its true, we are a very ignorant

country who have been made idiots by the media and the propaganda. When people become uneducated, when they stop reading, that is when independent thought dies, that is the situation in the USA.

I asked a pro-trump guy I know, "Would you hire a person to run your business when you find out that person has been convicted for sexual abuse, rape, fraud, and other criminal acts?" The answer was "of course not, that would be a liability for the business", so..."why do you think voting for trump makes sense if THAT is his resume?", answer: "well, I....bah, bah, bah...its different!", new question: "How different?"...Answer: "Oh, never mind, I don't want to discuss politics with you."

That, in a nutshell is what is happening, "Self-Inflicted Ignorance", and yes, the media has a lot of fault in it, it is done by design, an ignorant population can be manipulated very easily.

Betsy Devos as secretary of education was not a fluke, she was there to destroy education, specifically public education.

[mahina]

34. All day

[hlthe2b]

7. The same question I fear we asked the German people after the rise of Hitler--except at least the MAJORITY

of Americans are sane--if not sufficiently aware or activated against the very REAL risks. And it is that activation and education across the strata of Americans that we struggle with--against the massive propaganda coming from RW media and foreign actors.

Even though I know what I have written is true, it still looks incredibly hyperbolic to ME when I read it--so, I get it. sigh... Yes, it could happen here and probably in Australia as well if conditions were "ripe."

[DemonGoddess]

8. At the root

are two things. Misogyny and racism. Misogyny even moreso than the racism part, tbh.

[RidinWithHarris]

9. Because you gave us Rupert Murdoch n/t

[Think. Again.]

15. 🏆

[malaise]

18. No because America welcomed him

That is all

[erronis]

24. It didn't hurt that Murdoch was filthy rich and could buy his way in the US media.

That is just a bit more.

[malaise]

29. Same with the apartheid loving

Musk and the fascist German Thiel .

https://www.newsweek.com/peter-thiel-pre-nazi-germany-us-comparison-resurfaces-1934760

A clip has resurfaced of Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a major Republican donor, suggesting that a prominent unrepentant Nazi's critique of liberalism applies to modern-day America, where he said, "...democracy, whatever that means, is exhausted."
———
Look at the immigrants ReTHUGs welcome

[joshdawg]

10. Been asking myself the same question

ever since done donnie threw his red hat into the ring.
Some of the voting populace are not the sharpest. Shame.

[tavernier]

11. Fox News

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Limbaugh and Faux News and hundreds using their "model."

[richdj25]

14. Not hard to decipher...

it's racism/bigotry/greed.

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. It's humiliating. The notion of "American exceptionalism" is total bullshit. Our country is ignorant *

* IGG ... NORR ... UUNT!

Trump has made it "safe" and "okay" and "acceptable" for haters to hate, and for bigots and racists to openly show their true colors.

[denvine]

19. I get it! It doesn't make and sense.

Probably the simplest answer is disinformation spread widely by Rupert Murdoch's FOX news and the other right wing purveyors of lies and the gullible low information voters.

[William Seger]

20. Fascist demagogues have always exploited prejudice, fear, and resentment

... using derogatory stereotypes and lies, because they can convert the resultant hate into political support. Also, Trump's blatant mendacity treats people like they are stupid, and there's really only one conclusion you can draw from his impressive success with that approach: Trump's supporters are generally a bunch of stupid and/or reactionary bigots, and there are far more of them than most people realized. Hillary said half of Trump's supporters are deplorable, but I have zero respect for 100% of Trump's cult of turd worshipers.

[NNadir]

21. Maybe it really isn't.

[William Seger]

22. Hopefully so, but even if Harris wins, the size of Trump's support is a huge national embarrassment

[mwb970]

23. Many, many Americans are as dumb as rocks.

I had no idea HOW many until trump got all the morons in America to worship him like a damn god.

[erodriguez]

25. Since it's inception, US society has been organized by racism.

It still is and most white people want to keep it that way.

[Blues Heron]

26. Murdoch

[Easterncedar]

27. Who made Murdoch?

Thanks, Australia.

[Think. Again.]

28. I have the same question...

...why are we tolerating obvious nazism in America?

[Shermann]

30. I'm astounded by people I talk to who don't follow current events whatsoever.

I can't really fathom that. I scan the news every morning at work and read a story or two and let the caffeine kick in before doing real work. The real work will still be there when I'm done.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

31. Because this country is built on a particular strain of white supremacy that thrives across class, gender and other

identities, fueled a civil war that we haven't fully reckoned with to this day, and drives the engine of individualism and the concept of American exceptionalism itself.

Basically if you have any question about why something is off in the U.S., the answer comes down to racism.

[Sympthsical]

32. People wouldn't like the actual answers

Because that would require self-examination, which is something we don't do in this age.

So the easy answer - the erosion of common culture via a tribalism abetted by mass media.

If you never have to bother about understanding someone else because you don't spend any meaningful time around other people, you never have to change. And if you never change, you never course correct.

And once everyone gets locked in to their own shit, well, this is what a culture gets.

[sinkingfeeling]

33. Same emails I've gotten from 2 Australian friends.

[BannonsLiver]

35. Right after you explain the nuttery of 60 Minutes Australia

[meadowlander]

38. US politics is tribal, not rational.

42% of the country would vote for a hyena if it was running as a Republican.