For today’s Provocative Question, Fandango asks:
What do you think about what happened in the United States yesterday? Are you shocked or surprised at the outcome, if it’s even known as you read this? Or are the results of the election what you expected? And finally, are you happy or unhappy?
The last time I looked, when I first got up, the result still wasn’t in. But the result doesn’t really matter to me – what matters is that so many American people share Trump’s vision of the world. That will be the same, regardless of the result.
It’s not uncommon, on here at any rate, to hear quite a unified voice from US bloggers – there might not be absolute alignment but people are certainly pointed in the same general direction. The election shows that, however vocal people from America might be on something, half of their countrymen most probably disagree. So it serves as a reminder that their voices only represent a certain fraction of US opinion. I mean, that is true anyway, but the election serves as a reminder. The UK saw the same with Brexit – people could make a terrific amount of noise about their particular cause, but when push came to shove, they were in the minority.
The saving grace for me, it doesn’t really matter – in fact I think Americans are prone to over-estimate just how much the rest of the world cares. It’s disappointing – I think that the only credible result would have been one in which Trump’s ethos was decisively rejected and he has clearly done better than that – but it isn’t going to change life, not here at any rate.
One cannot feel the pulse of people in the US from media reports. Even traveling extensively and actively communicating with many red and blue (for which I take some heat) I am amazed how quickly concenus changes from one small region here to the next. Sadly the world sees (and even US citizens see) what MSM wants to promote, to sell readership. Here on WP you can find both red and blue, and even I am surprised occasionally finding real convictions of many once getting past the flip, the obtuse, the creativity sparks. Just as you suggest, we here follow events in the rest of the world with amazement and often confusion.
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Yes we saw that a lot during Brexit. We only see what the editor wants us to see. The answer appears to be to follow a cross-section and decide for ourselves, but which of us wants to spend all day watching different flavours of the news?
Incidentally, all mainsteam US politics is considered right wing here, although I know smaller parties exist there on the left.
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Here in the UK, we are not really in a position to criticise. Politicians are much the same the world over…
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I think so, the one principle that they all have is to win at any cost.
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Absolutely!
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Incidentally, I don’t know if you might like this. I did have a hunt for some French-language blogs on here and came across this guy. He’s a retired chap and is in High Normandy in Giverny – I’ve been there a few times. He’s a bit of a petrol-head, has posted about his woes with his old bike….https://mauxetcris.com/2020/11/05/le-silence-et-la-fureur/ but he’s a decent chap.
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Thanks. I’ll have a look
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By “decisive”, I meant maybe 60:40. Ideally, more.
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All this farce has pointed out to me (as an American) is that, regardless of the opinion, the people don’t have a voice any more. Not here. Some rich $#!%@ working behind the scenes are the ones deciding our country’s future. I don’t know why I’m surprised, it’s been that way for years and years (IMO). And yeah, perhaps Americans do have an over-developed sense of their own importance, but I’d bet you can find that in any country the world over. Our generation has been raised to think we’re ‘special’. Perhaps this election this year reminds some of us that we’re not.
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I reckon there are lotsof people there who think they are special. Trump has played to that with his “America first” policies.
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In my experience I find the same result. People talk big but when it comes down to actually standing up to be counted, they don’t. I am a big mouth. I lay it out and hope it makes sense. I am physically anx mentally tired of this year. I have not looked at results and will not till it’s official.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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I tend to think that a lot of people just sit quietly until election time, and so the choice is often “surprising” (except it isn’t really). Certainly with Brexit. Most news programmes represented an elite, who usually had a common view, and they tended to broadcast so much of one side that if you only watched that one programme, you’d have quite a false impression. Reporting wasn’t biased, per se, but then certainly chose what stories to air or not.
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Here we call that Fox News
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🤣
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