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This is very underrated. Quite often, I see people from developed countries look at poorer countries with pity, despair and wishing the best. We, in developed c

This is very underrated. Quite often, I see people from developed countries look at poorer countries with pity, despair and wishing the best. We, in developed countries, take our development and good way of life for granted. The tables are completely turned. America has become the country to show pity towards. Unless America changes its way of governance this Fall, 4 more years and what exactly is the difference between America and Brazil?

claudeganon 6y ago
Speaking as an American, Brazil is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Uneven distribution is kind of the point?
vidarh 6y ago
Well, in quite a lot of developed countries, the attitude to the US government has been deeply negative in parts of the population for a very long time. I recall, probably in the 80's, an incident where the US government objected to a foreign aid organisation distributing food aid in the US on equal basis to the kind of food aid programs operated in third world countries. Several European countries also refers to "American conditions" as a threat of chaos during political debates. E.g. I grew up in Norway, where the threat of "American conditions" was a common scare-tactic by the left to get people to oppose right wing policies. This was decades ago - the first threats of "American conditions dates back more than half a century.
- nine_zeros 6y ago
  Well, the difference is that today, even developing, poor countries are talking about "American conditions". Sometimes to justify their own incompetence. Other times to refuse American bullying. More often than not, just out of pity. This is because poorer countries have seen this story before. They didn't need a war to make them poor. Their incompetent leadership over years was enough.
akhilcacharya 6y ago
My parents are immigrants from a dysfunctional democracy and they can't agree more. Not nearly as bad as there, but the tenor is strikingly similar for a sole superpower. [0] My greatest fear is Trumpism is a harbinger for a half century or more of American instability and decline, the same way Peronism was. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/opinion/can-bal-keshav-thackeray-bombay-strongman-explain-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/opinion/can-bal-keshav-th...

claudeganon 6y ago

Speaking as an American, Brazil is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.

jessaustin 6y ago
Uneven distribution is kind of the point?

vidarh 6y ago

Well, in quite a lot of developed countries, the attitude to the US government has been deeply negative in parts of the population for a very long time. I recall, probably in the 80's, an incident where the US government objected to a foreign aid organisation distributing food aid in the US on equal basis to the kind of food aid programs operated in third world countries. Several European countries also refers to "American conditions" as a threat of chaos during political debates. E.g. I grew up in Norway, where the threat of "American conditions" was a common scare-tactic by the left to get people to oppose right wing policies. This was decades ago - the first threats of "American conditions dates back more than half a century.

nine_zeros 6y ago
Well, the difference is that today, even developing, poor countries are talking about "American conditions". Sometimes to justify their own incompetence. Other times to refuse American bullying. More often than not, just out of pity. This is because poorer countries have seen this story before. They didn't need a war to make them poor. Their incompetent leadership over years was enough.

akhilcacharya 6y ago

My parents are immigrants from a dysfunctional democracy and they can't agree more. Not nearly as bad as there, but the tenor is strikingly similar for a sole superpower. [0] My greatest fear is Trumpism is a harbinger for a half century or more of American instability and decline, the same way Peronism was. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/opinion/can-bal-keshav-thackeray-bombay-strongman-explain-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/opinion/can-bal-keshav-th...