The USA is not necessarily a reflection of the world

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

4 minutes ago, Sparkle Bunny said:

32 minutes ago, Kiera Clutterbuck said:

* Or are the ones on the other thread not seeming to understand US issues simply more vocal about it, and tending toward conservatism(c).

From the way those specific posters have behaved on other threads, I really don't think the problem is lack of understanding what's going on in the US. They understand just fine, and they're cool with it. The rest of us have gone quiet because there's no point trying to reason with them and the option of punching them is not available.

I wonder if those who are more competitive in nature are jealous of the US because it has been more of the focus and appeared to be "winning" in terms of wealth and influence.  Do they actually look forward to its destruction?     I certainly don't feel welcomed by these people and their constant put downs of the US, and lack of sympathy regarding the horrors accelerating here.

 

[Arielle Popstar]

1 minute ago, Kiera Clutterbuck said:

I wonder if those who are more competitive in nature are jealous of the US because it has been more of the focus and appeared to be "winning" in terms of wealth and influence.  Do they actually look forward to its destruction?     I certainly don't feel welcomed by these people and their constant put downs of the US, and lack of sympathy regarding the horrors accelerating here.

 

Maybe because what you consider to be the accelerating horrors, are everyday occurrences leading some to wonder what US residents are complaining about, especially as a majority of the horrors are just projected in worst case scenarios.

[Rowan Amore]

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

5 minutes ago, Kiera Clutterbuck said:

I wonder if those who are more competitive in nature are jealous of the US because it has been more of the focus and appeared to be "winning" in terms of wealth and influence.  Do they actually look forward to its destruction?     I certainly don't feel welcomed by these people and their constant put downs of the US, and lack of sympathy regarding the horrors accelerating here.

 

Expand  

Maybe because what you consider to be the accelerating horrors, are everyday occurrences leading some to wonder what US residents are complaining about, especially as a majority of the horrors are just projected in worst case scenarios.

I suggest reading more History, and writings by scholars who study such matters. Watching Fox "News" or only paying attention to your personal experience in Canada won't bring the beneficial awareness needed to evaluate matters clearly.

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

Even Republicans, the ones who didn't join the cult, are terrified by what's unfolding.

[Sparkle Bunny]

8 minutes ago, Kiera Clutterbuck said:

 I certainly don't feel welcomed by these people and their constant put downs of the US, and lack of sympathy regarding the horrors accelerating here.

You don't have the monopoly on crazy, unfortunately. Granted, ours tend to focus more on being racist and homophobic than actually shooting people or forcing them to have unwanted children, but they still exist.

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

17 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Maybe because what you consider to be the accelerating horrors, are everyday occurrences leading some to wonder what US residents are complaining about, especially as a majority of the horrors are just projected in worst case scenarios.

I need to delve into this a little more. There are measurable patterns demonstrating when a country is more democratic vs more autocratic.

An organization named V-Dem studies this extensively and makes all kinds of charts. Alarm bells ring when we see a country sliding toward autocracy, and measures on these scales indicate the US is on the decline and heading toward autocracy.

We can also study History to learn the signs of disaster approaching too; events that happened during transitions to autocracy are well known and written about by scholars. When we see these signs occurring we need to pay attention. There are many, many signs visible now. If you don't see them it's because you don't know the signs are part of this pattern.

[Lindal Kidd]

Thanks for bringing this up, Kiera! I've read those articles too, but the question they raise in my mind is...

...once you see these signs of a slide toward autocracy, is there anything that can be done to arrest that slide and turn things around? Or is it all inevitably going to go smash?

(shades of Isaac Asimov, Hari Seldon, and The Foundation!)

Edited July 9, 2022 by Lindal Kidd

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

2 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Thanks for bringing this up, Kiera! I've read those articles too, but the question they raise in my mind is...

...once you see these signs of a slide toward autocracy, is there anything that can be done to arrest that slide and turn things around? Or is it all inevitably going to go smash?

(shades of Isaac Asimov, Hari Seldon, and The Foundation!)

Yes, I've read what always happens during collapse, and its not good.

But shhhhh, I need the hope contained in my delusion.

Maybe I'm just hoping that some of those I love, younger than myself, can live in a world with more love.  So let's put it off as long as we can.

[Love Zhaoying]

So you see, there's an idea that Society in general is kind of like a "pendulum".

It swings this way, it swings that way.

But in general, you hope the pendulum of Society swings in such a way, that even though it swings "back and forth", some type of "Societal Evolution" is at work.

Perhaps to stretch the analogy a bit further, the pendulum continues to swing, but the "supporting structure" moves in some direction, such that the entire pendulum is now "over there". 

Sure, it (the pendulum of Society) swings some direction you may or may not like.  But hopefully, the overall movement of the pendulum itself is in a direction that is better for everyone.

It is because of this belief that I'm not really participating in this thread. The US may have some awful stuff right now, but go back a hundred years for so. Some important things were a lot worse then!  

Edited July 9, 2022 by Love Zhaoying

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

(shades of Isaac Asimov, Hari Seldon, and The Foundation!)

We've had some events recently in which I definitely thought "The Mule" was at work.

[diamond Marchant]

49 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

But I am worried for my country

Moi aussi. And we on fire, both metaphorically and, due to climate change, actually. I live in northern Kallyfornia and last summer was horrible... and now it's starting again.

[Sukubia Scarmon]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Regarding the title of the Original Post: 

I thought the USA was a "Melting Pot" of people from all over the world, and in that respect, shouldn't the USA exactly "reflect the world"?

 

Not really. By melting together they form a new culture - some aspects may be preserved, but in the original culture, they may not preserve those aspects, they may move on or change them and that can actually even widen the gap. 

[Love Zhaoying]

40 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Maybe because what you consider to be the accelerating horrors, are everyday occurrences leading some to wonder what US residents are complaining about, especially as a majority of the horrors are just projected in worst case scenarios.

The worst horrors are mirror-related. 

We see ourselves and don't like what we see: Horrors!

We are afraid to see ourselves for what we have become: Horrors!

The mirror reflects the past, because you can see behind yourself in it.  The present, because it is "as you are now".  The future because, nope it doesn't.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, diamond Marchant said:

53 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

But I am worried for my country

Moi aussi. And we on fire, both metaphorically and, due to climate change, actually. I live in northern Kallyfornia and last summer was horrible... and now it's starting again.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

Oh great, I got sucked in a new thread. 

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Regarding the title of the Original Post: 

I thought the USA was a "Melting Pot" of people from all over the world, and in that respect, shouldn't the USA exactly "reflect the world"?

 

Not really. By melting together they form a new culture - some aspects may be preserved, but in the original culture, they may not preserve those aspects, they may move on or change them and that can actually even widen the gap. 

Yes! Exactly the response I was hoping for from someone. Thank you!!

[Brightstar7777]

24 minutes ago, Sukubia Scarmon said:

Not really. By melting together they form a new culture - some aspects may be preserved, but in the original culture, they may not preserve those aspects, they may move on or change them and that can actually even widen the gap. 

I don't like the analogy because to me, cultures are curated carefully, lovingly, diligently even. When they aren't, you risk losing the finer points of identity, the stuff that really animates the spirit. I feel inclined to agree with those who suggest it's more of a salad bowl or kaleidoscope, a mixture for which some components remain distinct.

[Bree Giffen]

A lot of people around the world and even in the U.S. don’t understand just how independent our states really are. If you look at the hot button topics that just came up in the U.S. you can see how each state can have almost opposite laws concerning abortion and gun control. The thinking of the founding lawmakers was that people could just move if they didn’t like the laws in their state.  Unfortunately, for most people outside the U.S. our large media corporations (and Linden Lab) only show one point of view within the U.S. 

 

[Coffee Pancake]

31 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

Unfortunately, for most people outside the U.S. our large media corporations (and Linden Lab) only show one point of view within the U.S. 

Oh US media and corporations show both sides.

Some people just take these visions to be inspirational.

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

53 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

If you look at the hot button topics that just came up in the U.S. you can see how each state can have almost opposite laws concerning abortion and gun control.

Except the Supreme Court just decided that hand guns are legal in all states, and the GOP is now trying to make abortion illegal in all states. So it's not quite so simple as you portray. Adding to the problem is that the laws were formed in order to give undue influence to slave states via our electoral college, and they need to change to provide more fairness to the balance.

[Akane Nacht]

10 hours ago, Jules Catlyn said:

I am aware that Linden Lab is an American company and that a rather large part of the user base is American. However, users of Second Life come from all over the world and the world is a very diverse place. This is what i often do not see reflected in discussions about real life topics on this forum. 

I've occasionally participated in some discussions and gave my perspective as a non-American. Most forum commenters were polite, some curious, only one or two were dismissive/rude, but that's just personalities not nationalities. So, if you want to raise a topic from another country point of view, and it's within the forum rules, why not? I'm always curious to read about other cultures' ways of doing things. 😊 

[Finite]

32 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Oh US media and corporations show both sides.

Some people just take these visions to be inspirational.

I thought that was a really good series tbh.

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

 Imagine if a videogame company made a series of deeply satirical games about the US which deliberately poked fun at it

This has actually happened.

Grand Theft Auto is a British videogame franchise that originated in the UK and has become the largest and most profitable videogame franchise in history. It has earned more money from its GTA games than Hollywood and the music industry did in the same space of time.

For me, the thing I find funniest about GTA is not the game itself, but the American gamers who play them, they think the games are of American origin, because they're "so realistic" and "about them", while blindly not realising that they and their culture are actually being savagely mocked by a foreign videogame franchise for profit.

The same videogame company also produces the very popular Red Dead Redemption franchise, which is basically the same kind of game as GTA, but is set in the 19th century "Old West" era, which has the same kind of satire as GTA.

😜

Edited July 9, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Love Zhaoying]

So, can we make this about Second Life somehow? Anyone selling a valid SL-related pretext for the thread yet?