I may live under Western European institutions and be of Western European descent, but that doesn't require it be part of my identity having never lived in Western Europe.
Thanks so much to Canadian Returnee for being a constant source of learning and inspiration.
****
I understand that the UN WEOG members that don't even share a border with Western Europe market themselves as "free societies", but I'm curious how many people have interrogated that terminology?
How is the word "freedom" defined in this context?
As someone who has lived under the systems of Canada my entire life (born on this continent), deeply embedded in Western European worldviews (Primarily British and French Empires), I have come to understand "freedom from responsibility" as being the primary form of "freedom" being protected.
Not everyone shares these definitions. For as long as I can remember I have wondered why the USA gets away with claiming its executive branch is the "leader of the Free World", when I've not been convinced the settler-colonial institutions of the USA are even part of the Free World.
I think people living on this continent (not Europe or Asia) should learn more about the 5 members of UN's WEOG that don't even share a border with Western Europe before they try to make comparisons with other governments.
Here is one journalist trying to expose some basic truths about the systems of Canada, and its treatment of peoples not only within the geography these systems claim jurisdiction to but in other regions as well.
Among the many lies that President Trump told on the campaign trail in 2016, one of them was that he was going to do exactly what you asked in the last two paragraphs of this essay. I knew he was lying at the time, but it was still nice to hear someone say this on national television. This was another great one.
Back in 2016, as a Canadian I was worried about the interventionist Clinton campaign. Performative progressivism using the USA's long history of foreign interference would cause considerable problems globally.
Of those two horrible candidates, the one that seemed to be inward looking was seen externally as the better option.
People fixated on individuals can more easily say "No" to Trump.
I know in the false binary logical fallacy that is the notion that the USA is a democracy has people believing that disliking one candidate means you like the other. Generally, the corporate party system the USA built (two sub-brands of the Colonial Capitalist Party - CCP) ensures that good options can't get close to the executive branch.
What did you want me to expand on? I agree with EVERYTHING in your reply. I think what I was trying to say is that the only thing that surprised me about Trump's initial run (so all the way up until election day in November of 2016) was how often he said things on tv/in public that NO politician, in any party, had said on those circuits in my lifetime. He spoke out against corporations, he asked Hillary Clinton why she invited him to her daughter's wedding if he was such a bad guy...he poked every 300 pound pink elephant in the room (purposely distorting that metaphor/idiom)...
one small example is spread out in this transcript, for example:
this is from his Republican National Convention acceptance speech, I believe.
And just because this is public, I DO feel that I STILL have to state that even though I don't like Trump and his politics, this does not mean I "like" the other false binary that people would assume I must like/condone/root for.
Of Trump in the 2015/2016 campaign you said, "that he was going to do exactly what you asked in the last two paragraphs of this essay."
I am trying to make the connection between paragraphs I wrote and what Trump was saying.
At the end I wrote about looking in the mirror before pointing fingers elsewhere, and about odd "loyalty tests".
While Trump is full of himself, I don't believe that is ever from looking in the mirror but from an image formed within his imagination that doesn't exist elsewhere.
I think in 2015 it was already understood over his very visible media career where Trump’s loyalties were (he, him, and himself), so wouldn't want to suggest any type of "loyalty test".
----
I don't think the "eating the cats and dogs" is about loyalty or reality, just political noise to abuse pre-existing grievance/victim cultures for political advantage. I know of no louder victim culture than Cis-hetero White Male Christians.
I believe the first I heard of DJT was in the context of the Howard Stern show and how he wanted to F his own daughter.
I know -- the CCP produces horrible no-win "choices". Someone who wants to F their own daughter, and someone who was hawkish and interventionist who wanted to F us all.
I sent the whole transcript because I wanted you to have full context and also because I didn't want to hunt for specific lines, but basically he spent a lot of time condemning our foreign policy and stating that we should take care of our own, which to me spoke to "I am tired, however, of having loyalists to Western European worldvews (of any ethnicity, as part of Canada’s Boutique Multiculturalism) fixating on foreign governments for activities that they are unwilling to even be aware of for Canada." but the final paragraph was dismissing the side of it that he didn't do at the time, but it'd be hard to find "counter-factual knowledge" and also that's something we both don't need. ultimately, what you wrote in this reply is also "more fodder for what I think" so I was merely trying to point out how "clever" Trump's politicking is/was with populism tactics to raise eye-brows from people like me, who felt and still feel *exactly* how you do/did about him...i only knew him from art of the deal and lifestyles of the rich and famous. I tuned him out after that, so I didn't know about Howard Stern, his TV show (apprentice) etc.
But now I know WAY more about him, and none of it has ever moved my meter, but man...he might be the second most infamous person of the 20th century...
Interesting -- Even at the time (which is before I started my anti-racism or anti-colonialism learning) I believed he was saying something extremely different from what I'm now saying.
The kindest possible summary for what Trump was saying:
"Let us put our own mask on before helping anyone else"
Me: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.".
I reference the King James version, given that is the version that most closely matches what the identity/value/culture/etc of Canada are built from.
The following is an earlier comment I wrote to the origional article. The article stuck in my mind over the next day, and led to this article.
https://theamericanrefugee.substack.com/p/when-identity-clouds-truth/comment/271580492
Thanks so much to Canadian Returnee for being a constant source of learning and inspiration.
****
I understand that the UN WEOG members that don't even share a border with Western Europe market themselves as "free societies", but I'm curious how many people have interrogated that terminology?
How is the word "freedom" defined in this context?
As someone who has lived under the systems of Canada my entire life (born on this continent), deeply embedded in Western European worldviews (Primarily British and French Empires), I have come to understand "freedom from responsibility" as being the primary form of "freedom" being protected.
Not everyone shares these definitions. For as long as I can remember I have wondered why the USA gets away with claiming its executive branch is the "leader of the Free World", when I've not been convinced the settler-colonial institutions of the USA are even part of the Free World.
I think people living on this continent (not Europe or Asia) should learn more about the 5 members of UN's WEOG that don't even share a border with Western Europe before they try to make comparisons with other governments.
Here is one journalist trying to expose some basic truths about the systems of Canada, and its treatment of peoples not only within the geography these systems claim jurisdiction to but in other regions as well.
https://indigenousinsider.substack.com/
Among the many lies that President Trump told on the campaign trail in 2016, one of them was that he was going to do exactly what you asked in the last two paragraphs of this essay. I knew he was lying at the time, but it was still nice to hear someone say this on national television. This was another great one.
Would you be willing to expand?
Back in 2016, as a Canadian I was worried about the interventionist Clinton campaign. Performative progressivism using the USA's long history of foreign interference would cause considerable problems globally.
Of those two horrible candidates, the one that seemed to be inward looking was seen externally as the better option.
People fixated on individuals can more easily say "No" to Trump.
I know in the false binary logical fallacy that is the notion that the USA is a democracy has people believing that disliking one candidate means you like the other. Generally, the corporate party system the USA built (two sub-brands of the Colonial Capitalist Party - CCP) ensures that good options can't get close to the executive branch.
What did you want me to expand on? I agree with EVERYTHING in your reply. I think what I was trying to say is that the only thing that surprised me about Trump's initial run (so all the way up until election day in November of 2016) was how often he said things on tv/in public that NO politician, in any party, had said on those circuits in my lifetime. He spoke out against corporations, he asked Hillary Clinton why she invited him to her daughter's wedding if he was such a bad guy...he poked every 300 pound pink elephant in the room (purposely distorting that metaphor/idiom)...
one small example is spread out in this transcript, for example:
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/full-transcript-donald-trump-nomination-acceptance-speech-at-rnc-225974
this is from his Republican National Convention acceptance speech, I believe.
And just because this is public, I DO feel that I STILL have to state that even though I don't like Trump and his politics, this does not mean I "like" the other false binary that people would assume I must like/condone/root for.
happy to elaborate more if you give me something specific :)
Of Trump in the 2015/2016 campaign you said, "that he was going to do exactly what you asked in the last two paragraphs of this essay."
I am trying to make the connection between paragraphs I wrote and what Trump was saying.
At the end I wrote about looking in the mirror before pointing fingers elsewhere, and about odd "loyalty tests".
While Trump is full of himself, I don't believe that is ever from looking in the mirror but from an image formed within his imagination that doesn't exist elsewhere.
I think in 2015 it was already understood over his very visible media career where Trump’s loyalties were (he, him, and himself), so wouldn't want to suggest any type of "loyalty test".
----
I don't think the "eating the cats and dogs" is about loyalty or reality, just political noise to abuse pre-existing grievance/victim cultures for political advantage. I know of no louder victim culture than Cis-hetero White Male Christians.
I believe the first I heard of DJT was in the context of the Howard Stern show and how he wanted to F his own daughter.
I know -- the CCP produces horrible no-win "choices". Someone who wants to F their own daughter, and someone who was hawkish and interventionist who wanted to F us all.
I sent the whole transcript because I wanted you to have full context and also because I didn't want to hunt for specific lines, but basically he spent a lot of time condemning our foreign policy and stating that we should take care of our own, which to me spoke to "I am tired, however, of having loyalists to Western European worldvews (of any ethnicity, as part of Canada’s Boutique Multiculturalism) fixating on foreign governments for activities that they are unwilling to even be aware of for Canada." but the final paragraph was dismissing the side of it that he didn't do at the time, but it'd be hard to find "counter-factual knowledge" and also that's something we both don't need. ultimately, what you wrote in this reply is also "more fodder for what I think" so I was merely trying to point out how "clever" Trump's politicking is/was with populism tactics to raise eye-brows from people like me, who felt and still feel *exactly* how you do/did about him...i only knew him from art of the deal and lifestyles of the rich and famous. I tuned him out after that, so I didn't know about Howard Stern, his TV show (apprentice) etc.
But now I know WAY more about him, and none of it has ever moved my meter, but man...he might be the second most infamous person of the 20th century...
Interesting -- Even at the time (which is before I started my anti-racism or anti-colonialism learning) I believed he was saying something extremely different from what I'm now saying.
The kindest possible summary for what Trump was saying:
"Let us put our own mask on before helping anyone else"
Me: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.".
I reference the King James version, given that is the version that most closely matches what the identity/value/culture/etc of Canada are built from.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%3A7&version=KJV