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> americans have this weird thing where they worship politicians instead of treating them as disposable public servants who exist at the mercy of your vote As
by Nursie 2y ago
> americans have this weird thing where they worship politicians instead of treating them as disposable public servants who exist at the mercy of your vote
As a British person I also find this weird. There was a tiny amount of it with Boris Johnson and that was mirrored in the very small cult of personality that rose up around Jeremy Corbyn. But for the most part politicians of all stripes are considered with mild disdain and actual membership of a political party is seen as probably a bit weird.
In America... rallies! Thousands of people actually pay to go and listen to this self-aggrandising nonsense. It's very odd.
In the UK I usually voted for the liberal democrats or the greens because each appealed to my views in different ways. Occasionally held my nose and voted Labour when "get the conservatives out" seemed the most important thing. Here in Aus, when I get citizenship, I will feel even more free to vote for smaller parties because we have preference voting. I can (and do) discuss politics with friends who have different views, though as my friends mostly skew liberal (ironically) this means none of them will be voting for the Liberal Party...
- justin66 2y ago> Thousands of people actually pay to go and listen to this self-aggrandising nonsense. It's very odd. I’m pretty sure they’re free. They are nevertheless odd.
- mike_hearn 2y agoCorbyn was famous for organizing large rallies, if anything this was a criticism of him - he was much more interested in rallies and protests than leadership. Pictures of Corbyn in front of huge crowds at rallies: https://labourlist.org/2019/08/corbyn-encourages-labour-mps-to-join-rallies-against-shutdown/ https://labourlist.org/2019/08/corbyn-encourages-labour-mps-... https://www.counterfire.org/article/letter-left-corbyn-labour-gloves-off-time-to-fight/ https://www.counterfire.org/article/letter-left-corbyn-labou... https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/thousands-rally-for-jeremy-corbyn-as-labour-mps-try-and-force-him-out/ https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/thousands-rally-for-jerem...
- Nursie 2y agoThat first one seems to be a bit more protest than rally - but yes, he did seem to, and that’s quite unusual in the UK political landscape.