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>To me the biggest issue that was raised by the Trump bans is that we shouldn't be relying on these channels for communication with our governments and elected

>To me the biggest issue that was raised by the Trump bans is that we shouldn't be relying on these channels for communication with our governments and elected representatives What I find most alarming about this, as a European is that; because these USA based companies so totally dominate the social media landscape, not only are they defining what opinions it's acceptable for US citizens to express [which is invidious enough] but they are effectively imposing these standards on the rest of the world too. When you couple this with the fact that the USA pretty much decides political policy for most of the western world too, I really fear that [more than ever before] we're living in a world where US 'correct think' and US 'correct act' are the only acceptable forms of behaviour, outside of Chinese totalitarianism and Russian nepotism. Not only that, but we seem to be so in thrall of the US that we even have to adopt your social problems as our own. A classic example of this is the recent George Floyd protests in the US: All of a sudden, all over Europe, virtue signalling folks were going on BLM marches vandalising statues etc. Now, we may have had our problems in the past but, here in most of Europe, the kind of nasty emdemic racism that seems all too prevalent in the US barely exists any more. It's largely been consigned to that handy receptacle 'the dustbin of history'. But, here we were, all of a sudden stirring up division and conflict in our own societies because "If the USA is nasty and racist then we must be nasty and racist too!" And, of course, the media were falling over themselves to unearth black celebrities to recount the traumatic tale of how, sometime between earning their fifth and tenth million, someone once looked at them in a funny way in a supermarket. I just can't understand why the almost total domination by the US of European cultural and political life is a complete non-issue here. Why are Silicon Valley hipsters deciding on the acceptable parameters of discourse in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome... etc?

Mauricebranagh 6y ago
Sorry that's totally wrong mainland Europe in particular is a bit tone deaf in this area even compared to the UK. Its very telling that refugees risk death trying to cross the channel to the UK rather than settle in mainland Europe.
VBprogrammer 6y ago
> "If the USA is nasty and racist then we must be nasty and racist too!" I suppose we also get a free pass on sexual assaults and discrimination since #metoo is obviously just an American social problem? While I agree that our problems are subtlety different, it's mostly people of Asian ethnicities who get a shit deal in the UK, to pretend they don't exist is just sticking your head in the sand. Overt racists are alive and kicking in the UK at least. I have the misfortune of being related to some of them.
pwdisswordfish0 6y ago
> the kind of nasty emdemic racism that seems all too prevalent in the US barely exists any more Let's be clear, the US has problems, but make no mistake, the US in comparison to Europe and Asia has far less of these problems, despite whatever impressions you get of prevalence. There are acts of overt racism and xenophobia that, even if viewed with disdain and acknowledged with an apologetic tone from the enlightened parts of European society, are nonetheless permissible in public outside the US. Things that, in the US by contrast, would be considered unthinkable that they even even happen, until the evidence is put in front of you, and then the reaction is pretty much universal shock to American eyes and ears no matter where they are on the PC/anti-PC spectrum. (Shocking even to ardent racists, who would instead be thinking, "How are they able to get away with this?") When you hear of commotion across the ocean, think if the US as being an intensely self-critical bodybuilder, or a programmer trying to ruthlessly root out all of the vestiges and latent effects of old bugs.

Mauricebranagh 6y ago

Sorry that's totally wrong mainland Europe in particular is a bit tone deaf in this area even compared to the UK. Its very telling that refugees risk death trying to cross the channel to the UK rather than settle in mainland Europe.

VBprogrammer 6y ago

> "If the USA is nasty and racist then we must be nasty and racist too!" I suppose we also get a free pass on sexual assaults and discrimination since #metoo is obviously just an American social problem? While I agree that our problems are subtlety different, it's mostly people of Asian ethnicities who get a shit deal in the UK, to pretend they don't exist is just sticking your head in the sand. Overt racists are alive and kicking in the UK at least. I have the misfortune of being related to some of them.

pwdisswordfish0 6y ago

> the kind of nasty emdemic racism that seems all too prevalent in the US barely exists any more Let's be clear, the US has problems, but make no mistake, the US in comparison to Europe and Asia has far less of these problems, despite whatever impressions you get of prevalence. There are acts of overt racism and xenophobia that, even if viewed with disdain and acknowledged with an apologetic tone from the enlightened parts of European society, are nonetheless permissible in public outside the US. Things that, in the US by contrast, would be considered unthinkable that they even even happen, until the evidence is put in front of you, and then the reaction is pretty much universal shock to American eyes and ears no matter where they are on the PC/anti-PC spectrum. (Shocking even to ardent racists, who would instead be thinking, "How are they able to get away with this?") When you hear of commotion across the ocean, think if the US as being an intensely self-critical bodybuilder, or a programmer trying to ruthlessly root out all of the vestiges and latent effects of old bugs.