At last, something we’re actually #1 in: original arseholes.
12 Likes
If anyone had told me I’d look back with longing at the international shaming I got when George W was in office, I would’ve called them a liar. Now this administration has broken the scale, and trained a large group of people to do the same. My new form of measurement is “full 45,” a blend of malicious, malevolent, and mindless.
Once the virus is under control I might leave the country, but will definitely keep my citizenship and continue to vote. There’s too much work - education, reform, regulation, and monitoring - needed to make sure what’s happening now is never repeated.
20 Likes
If anyone had told me I’d look back with longing at the international shaming I got when George W was in office, I would’ve called them a liar.
I almost never meet an actual asshole when I’m in the U.S. It’s always lots of helpful, friendly, often very kind people. One time I randomly asked a group of young Americans for a lift and spent the day with them kayaking and they were really nice… and that’s normally my experience of Americans. In fact, I think the last asshole I had to deal with in the U.S. was a U.K. ex-pat (probably been banished from 
for that reason, although that theory might not hold water if you look at the current occupant of 10 Downing St.). Even the TSA people I’ve dealt with have been really nice and they were working without pay last time I was through. In fact, the last actual possible qualifying 
asshole I met, at random on the streets of NY near the bus terminal in Hell’s Kitchen, actually apologized for his brief moment of being an asshole.
I mean this entirely without sarcasm…
Although, to be fair, they guy in NY was an asshole to my wife and her friend and muttered an apology after realizing the 6’8" skinhead in the black jacket was with them… but I do think it was just a moment of “NY’er in a rush”… 
9 Likes
Ok, I’m gonna go out on a limb, and say there’s something nice about you that repels them. I’ve had a few college buddies who were absolute magnets. Couldn’t go anywhere off campus with them, because I didn’t want to get caught up in an “messed up by association” situation. 
During one vacation, I remember getting comments from folks in England and France about what a piece of work George W was, and how he was ruining America’s reputation. Halfway through the trip, I started telling people I was Canadian just to avoid hearing complaints about him for the tenth time. Under 45, nationality, politics, and science have become such divisive subjects. I doubt we’ll be able to regain the default acceptance we used to have until there are clear signs of reversing and repairing what’s been broken.
If the 2021 target for vaccines is met, more people will want to travel. With all the stories I’ve been reading here about the virus and border control (or the lack of it), my concern is the mobility that used to be taken for granted has become an increasing problem. The stigma attached to people with certain nationalities in the US after the AIDS crisis persisted for decades. It makes me wonder what Americans will get, and how long it will last.
14 Likes
I live in a transitional area. I’m in a suburban township - very much mixed use since we have several industrial research facilities, with a fair-sized city on one side and … well, I don’t live in the wilderness but you can see it from here. I’ve done my share of interacting with ‘angry mountain men.’
They’re absolutely virulent, politically - they wave their Trump banners and Confederate battle flags, and demonize the ‘other.’ But when they meet an actual human being who’s a member of the ‘other’ they’re helpful, friendly, kind, affable - exactly as you describe. And they resolve the dissonance by saying to the member of the condemned group, “yes, you’re one of them, but you’re different.” They never seem to be self-aware enough to recognize that the only difference is the personal contact. Anyone that they actually meet who is of color, not straight, not Xtian, etc., simply gets promoted to “honorary non-hated” status, and they continue to preach hate and vote for haters.
And they’re still easier to reach than the curtain-twitchers who clutch their pearls and call the cops at the very sight of someone who doesn’t look like them, while denying that they have a higoted bone in their bodies. I can deal a lot more easily with people who spew hate with their words and practice compassion with their deeds than the other way around.
The characterization of New Yorkers as rude is something of a misunderstanding. New Yorkers are chronically in a hurry, because the city is so very fast-paced. If they’re being rude, you’re likely in the way.
I’m still glad that I moved away from NYC. I can still do some outdoor recreation. My daughter and I have done a few off-trail trips in the Catskills in the last few weeks and could do those without worrying very much about COVID-19 except for basic precautions like washing or at least sanitizing hands before and after handling climbers’ log books. Once we were away from the parking, we had the mountains just about to ourselves. Off-trail hiking in a wilderness area isn’t exactly crowded, you might run into another hiker at a summit log or something. Moreover, everyone we met was a hard-core hiker, and those are pretty much all helpful - you have got to look out for one another Out There. (Good about masking, too, no matter what their political leanings - for much the same reason.) Which, I suppose, brings this long digression back close to the topic.
14 Likes
This is the best description of the folks around here as I have run across. Very accurate.
12 Likes
I grew up in the south, where people (at least white, rural people) were polite, friendly and monstrous.
Over time, more and more of them became suburban Rednecks™, and the manners and hospitality faded.
Exactly. C.f. Graham on what Black people need to do in order to be allowed opportunity.
12 Likes
It makes me wonder what Americans will get, and how long it will last.
Come up to 
with license plates since the COVID pandemic started and you’ll get your answer… that brings out the asshole in us… 
8 Likes
Fked, really fked, or nice and safe and Tory: the three-tier lockdown explained
11 Likes
Bless your heart!
16 Likes
Eli Lilly pauses trial of antibody drug Trump touted as COVID-19 ‘cure’ over safety concern
(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co <LLY.N> said on Tuesday that the government-sponsored clinical trial of its COVID-19 antibody treatment similar to one taken by U.S. President Donald Trump has been paused because of a safety concern.
Out of “an abundance of caution”, no less.
18 Likes
When my eyes swept over the still image for that video, I thought for an instant that the standing guy was shooting pool.
2 Likes
16 Likes
9 Likes
There’s abundance of assholes in every country, yours are just empowered by the current leadership.
14 Likes
We’re working on fixing that problem…
15 Likes
17 Likes
Eight months of this shit we’ve endured for nothing…
11 Likes
14 Likes
