Why are so many Australians so invested in the MInutia of US politics?

[Rhea]

I don’t mean the big things, the foreign policy, etc. I think world citizens are right and justified to pay attention to those things, both proactively and reactively.
And I don’t mean the fascination with it, because that also makes sense - when someone does something unusual to you, you are interested in it.

But I find it unexpected the tribalism about the little stuff. The taking of sides. The efforts to bring up fighting topics and put on a jersey.
The most recent one is the Pelosi haircut thing. Another is the partisan goading on the presidential polls thread. Another is the BLM protests and the COVID rules.

So what makes so many people get so invested in the haircuts and ice cream of third tier politicians in other countries? Or the mask policies in a state that you’ll never be in?

Strange stuff. But I’m actually curious.

Again, not the investment in what will shape policy that affects your native country, but the degree of taking sides in the stuff that won’t affect you?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Two or three people isn’t a lot.

 

[Angry Floof]

I don't know, but I have a bunch of Aussies in my facebook friends list, and they are all not only interested in US politics but they are generally more informed than right wing Americans. They also have Aussie friends that I see posting from time to time who are of the right wing extremist variety putting forth all the same bullshit as right wing Americans.

One reason they might be so interested is because Australia's right wing party has mirrored the US in many ways over the last decade or so. They have the same infestation of end times zealots and bigots in their government. Their trump-like figure at the moment is I guess Scott Morrison, an end times zealot with a huge amount of support from the religious even in the US. I think the only right wingers in the US who even know who Scott Morrison is are the end times zealots who only know of him through the ideological mouthpieces they listen to.

 

[Rhea]

Two or three people isn’t a lot.

That’s true if it’s only 2 or 3, I’m thinking of the % of total posting, I guess. Most of the question comes from the partisanship of it. Even one seems weird for that. Maybe Floof’s post below explains that part...

One reason they might be so interested is because Australia's right wing party has mirrored the US in many ways over the last decade or so. They have the same infestation of end times zealots and bigots in their government.

This may be what drives it. I dunno. And for the partisans, maybe they like to participate in US partisan discussions to make their own partisan tribe feel bigger, maybe?

 

[scombrid]

Go back and look at their intense interest in American agribusiness; specifically RoundUp and GMO crops. Seems odd there are more of them posting here than there are Floridians even though the population sizes are similar.

 

[Politesse]

I don’t mean the big things, the foreign policy, etc. I think world citizens are right and justified to pay attention to those things, both proactively and reactively.
And I don’t mean the fascination with it, because that also makes sense - when someone does something unusual to you, you are interested in it.

But I find it unexpected the tribalism about the little stuff. The taking of sides. The efforts to bring up fighting topics and put on a jersey.
The most recent one is the Pelosi haircut thing. Another is the partisan goading on the presidential polls thread. Another is the BLM protests and the COVID rules.

So what makes so many people get so invested in the haircuts and ice cream of third tier politicians in other countries? Or the mask policies in a state that you’ll never be in?

Strange stuff. But I’m actually curious.

Again, not the investment in what will shape policy that affects your native country, but the degree of taking sides in the stuff that won’t affect you?

No idea, but I have noticed it too! Almost all of my Australian family members are hardline Trumpers. Like, not just casually taking sides but full on endorsing the guy and his politics, getting angry about those who aren't getting in line, etc. The older members of that family line were Americans before they immigrated in the 1950s, so that is a little bit more understandable but the younger folks who grew up in Oz seem just as obsessed. I have wondered at times whether our politics are being used as a proxy for their own challenges and arguments about race and immigration. When I have traveled in that nation, too, people seem much more generally aware of American states and politicians and so forth than is true the other way around.

That is anecdotal, though, and so are forum postings. Worth keeping in mind that this forum has a strong American majority in terms of posters, which results in American political threads being much more active. You'd get something of an education in US politics just by hanging out here than you might otherwise.

 

[Bronzeage]

The same reason there are so many "Fail" videos on You Tube.

 

[southernhybrid]

It would be nice if an actual Aussie would tell us why they feel the need to involve themselves in some of the stupidest threads about American politics. Anyone?

 

[Elixir]

Two or three people isn’t a lot.

That’s true if it’s only 2 or 3, I’m thinking of the % of total posting, I guess. Most of the question comes from the partisanship of it. Even one seems weird for that. Maybe Floof’s post below explains that part...

One reason they might be so interested is because Australia's right wing party has mirrored the US in many ways over the last decade or so. They have the same infestation of end times zealots and bigots in their government.

This may be what drives it. I dunno. And for the partisans, maybe they like to participate in US partisan discussions to make their own partisan tribe feel bigger, maybe?

Perhaps the US example will serve as an effective, if tragically dire, warning if the Trump Crime Family manages to seize permanent control of the US government.
The horrors that will ensue might delight some of Australia's most perverse right wing zealots, but could also awaken the sleepwalkers who are a necessary component of that kind of takeover, as exemplified in Nazi Germany and could very well be replicated over the next six months in the US.
That's about the only "good" thing I can see arising from the Aussie preoccupation with US politics...

 

[ZiprHead]

It would be nice if an actual Aussie would tell us why they feel the need to involve themselves in some of the stupidest threads about American politics. Anyone?

US politics is so stupid it's probably a lot of fun to poke at it from the outside.

 

[Trausti]

What happens in the US permeates the whole Anglo world. E.g., BLM riots in London. Makes sense for Aussies and other English speakers to watch the US to see what other American cultural dreck is coming their way.

 

[Rhea]

What happens in the US permeates the whole Anglo world. E.g., BLM riots in London. Makes sense for Aussies and other English speakers to watch the US to see what other American cultural dreck is coming their way.

I totally get that, and I agree. My question is about the cases of marked tribalism over really small backwater issues.

I get the interest in the issues, I don’t get the ownership and the investment as a partisan in the smallest of them..

 

[Angry Floof]

What happens in the US permeates the whole Anglo world. E.g., BLM riots in London. Makes sense for Aussies and other English speakers to watch the US to see what other American cultural dreck is coming their way.

I totally get that, and I agree. My question is about the cases of marked tribalism over really small backwater issues.

I get the interest in the issues, I don’t get the ownership and the investment as a partisan in the smallest of them..

I'm guessing the underlying principles are personal. Just depends on if the principles are about humane values, democracy, equality, etc., or the "principle" of anyone who isn't my ideological tribe is my enemy and must be subdued or eradicated. Either way, Australians are as strong in principle as anyone, and as I mentioned, their political landscape mirrors ours in many ways.

 

[Tigers!]

It would be nice if an actual Aussie would tell us why they feel the need to involve themselves in some of the stupidest threads about American politics. Anyone?

US politics is so stupid it's probably a lot of fun to poke at it from the outside.

Since no Aussie has open the batting I will.

Yes the stupidity factor is like a potential well it sucks you in and you can only get out with great effort.

The clowns you elect have far too much influence, for good or bad, on us so it behooves us to at least know why/how you elect said clowns.

For the record I would not vote for Trump in a fit. But that doesn't automatically mean I swoon over the putative opposition.

edit/ to correct a possible misconception in the OP. We are not invested in the minutiae of US politics we are aghast, appalled and affected by it.

 

[Toni]

It would be nice if an actual Aussie would tell us why they feel the need to involve themselves in some of the stupidest threads about American politics. Anyone?

US politics is so stupid it's probably a lot of fun to poke at it from the outside.

Since no Aussie has open the batting I will.

Yes the stupidity factor is like a potential well it sucks you in and you can only get out with great effort.

The clowns you elect have far too much influence, for good or bad, on us so it behooves us to at least know why/how you elect said clowns.

For the record I would not vote for Trump in a fit. But that doesn't automatically mean I swoon over the putative opposition.

edit/ to correct a possible misconception in the OP. We are not invested in the minutiae of US politics we are aghast, appalled and affected by it.

How are you affected by the minutiae of US politics?

 

[Rhea]

Since no Aussie has open the batting I will.

Thanks.

edit/ to correct a possible misconception in the OP. We are not invested in the minutiae of US politics we are aghast, appalled and affected by it.

I get that. It makes perfect sense and you are right that it behooves a person to understand.

I just get surprised when folks like Metaphor and Angelo really pull on the Jersey and go in the ring for Moscow Mitch and Rush Limbaugh and Lindsay Graham. Not US policies, but the side-taking over things like whether Pelosi is a hypocrite about ice cream or AOC is a dumb bartender or something. That’s the part that seems so unexpected.

I completely get how the shit-show of the presidency is both a spectator sport and a fully armored, nuclear weapon equipped Roomba on the planet that a person has to try to predict and disarm while not touching the floor.

It’s the minutia that puzzles me.

 

[Metaphor]

I just get surprised when folks like Metaphor and Angelo really pull on the Jersey and go in the ring for Moscow Mitch and Rush Limbaugh and Lindsay Graham. Not US policies, but the side-taking over things like whether Pelosi is a hypocrite about ice cream or AOC is a dumb bartender or something. That’s the part that seems so unexpected.

I completely get how the shit-show of the presidency is both a spectator sport and a fully armored, nuclear weapon equipped Roomba on the planet that a person has to try to predict and disarm while not touching the floor.

It’s the minutia that puzzles me.

Well, I guess I've been specifically 'called out' here.

I don't know who Moscow Mitch or Lindsay Graham are.

But, since I started the Pelosi salon-gate thread, I can speak to my motivations on that particular thread.

First, I am amazed at the very low standards that Americans appear to have for the politicians they support. Pelosi's behaviour smacked to me of hypocrisy, and her nonpology confirmed to me that Pelosi obviously thinks she is higher than the peasant classes. And, the fact that this board - heavily Democrat supporting and left-leaning - thought Pelosi had done nothing to apologise for cemented my opinion on the blindness of people to the misdeeds of the people on 'their side'. So, it seems like minutiae to you only because you've already decided Pelosi didn't do anything wrong. In fact, the fact that you are calling it minutiae is part of the reason it's interesting to discuss.

Now, I copped criticism on the Pelosi thread (apparently I'm a right wing zealot and scum-sucking algae) for "making something out of nothing". And yet from my perspective, the absolute hysteria on the presidential discussion subforum is completely unhinged and seems a fantasy spun from whole cloth, rather than excessive worrying over a 'nothingburger' like Pelosi's hypocrisy. I refer specifically to the idea that Trump will not accept a loss and resort to violence to overthrow the November results and that that he will exploit the willing and nonwilling entire political and military apparatus of the United States to support him. I'm gobsmacked that American leftists have so little faith in their State institutions, and are so deranged with Trump hatred, that they think the State machinery would support Trump, rather than do what I am certain is the exact opposite - ensure he cannot possibly stay in power when he is thrown out by electors.

 

[Rhea]

First, I am amazed at the very low standards that Americans appear to have for the politicians they support. Pelosi's behaviour smacked to me of hypocrisy, and her nonpology confirmed to me that Pelosi obviously thinks she is higher than the peasant classes. And, the fact that this board - heavily Democrat supporting and left-leaning - thought Pelosi had done nothing to apologise for cemented my opinion on the blindness of people to the misdeeds of the people on 'their side'. So, it seems like minutiae to you only because you've already decided Pelosi didn't do anything wrong. In fact, the fact that you are calling it minutiae is part of the reason it's interesting to discuss.

That helps fill in the puzzle for me, thanks.

Now, I copped criticism on the Pelosi thread (apparently I'm a right wing zealot and scum-sucking algae) for "making something out of nothing". And yet from my perspective, the absolute hysteria on the presidential discussion subforum is completely unhinged and seems a fantasy spun from whole cloth, rather than excessive worrying over a 'nothingburger' like Pelosi's hypocrisy. I refer specifically to the idea that Trump will not accept a loss and resort to violence to overthrow the November results and that that he will exploit the willing and nonwilling entire political and military apparatus of the United States to support him. I'm gobsmacked that American leftists have so little faith in their State institutions, and are so deranged with Trump hatred, that they think the State machinery would support Trump, rather than do what I am certain is the exact opposite - ensure he cannot possibly stay in power when he is thrown out by electors.

So the zealousness on the Pelosi thread has roots in reaction to other threads? Well, okay, that helps answer as well.

Thank you.


(Metaphor is not the only one whose posts made me wonder about this, so don’t y’all think there’s no room for more discussion, by the way.)

 

[Metaphor]

So the zealousness on the Pelosi thread has roots in reaction to other threads? Well, okay, that helps answer as well.

Thank you.


(Metaphor is not the only one whose posts made me wonder about this, so don’t y’all think there’s no room for more discussion, by the way.)

I don't know that I acted 'zealous' in the Pelosi thread. I just said she was a hypocrite and her nonpology was consistent with her being ensconced at the highest level of the American political and economic elite. I started the thread because it was clear, a few days after the incident, that nobody else would.

I am still unconvinced Pelosi had no culpability and nothing to apologise for, but I did walk back my characterisation of her as 'elitist'. One of the most powerful political and economic elite in the country who is completely out of touch with the peasant classes, certainly. Elitist, probably not.

 

[Patooka]

It would be nice if an actual Aussie would tell us why they feel the need to involve themselves in some of the stupidest threads about American politics. Anyone?

1) Entertainment. Much like how the clip of Fraser Anning getting egged went viral. Australian politics can be fun too.

2) There is a *HUGE* amount of "monkey see monkey do" in Australian politics. If an idea is floated and talked about in US political circles, it will most likely be echoed by an Australian MP or Senator within a couple of weeks, especially with regards to national security. This is further exacerbated by how much of Australian media is owned by News Ltd, so there is one hell of an echo chamber with very little effort required. If Matt Gaetz ways something offensive about muslims belonging in camps, there is a fucking good chance Peter Dutton will repeat something similar and then add, "This is a problem that even America has to deal with". Tucker Carlson spews some white supremacist bullshit and I guarantee Alan Jones, Piers Akerman and Andrew Bolt will be reading from the same hymn book days after. There are people in Australia who honestly believe George Soros is manipulating the fucking elections here.

So basically watching what a bunch of right wing cunts say in the US will give me a head start on what right wing cunts will say here in a few days time.