Big Willie wrote:
Mirth wrote:
Foreign aid has always been given in return for strategic benefits rather than charity, the US is not alone in this.
However, threatening half the world on a matter as sensitive as this one is well outside the norm even. It's taking a principle has already been well established at this point and dragging it to the extreme end - much like most of Trump's other policies. Flobaba is right to say that this side of America has always existed, however Trump is an effective and dangerous multipler
Don't think it's fair to limit that to just the US. We have the same thing over on our shores.
Maybe a little more hidden in cluturally diverse places like we have in London and the like but its right there under the surface.
We already have seen some signs of it bubbling over following the Brexit vote and with the right (wrong) person in power, you will find many people coming out of the woodwork when they feel comfortable enough to express their true selves.
Well, yeah, it's part of the human condition. I wasn't targeting the US alone - over the past 2 years, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Poland (to name a few) have all been caught up in the same tide.
This isn't about being able to generate a feeling of superiority since it could happen anywhere.
However, what is unique to the US is the feature of American exceptionalism which is starting to crack and, secondly, the intermingling of the above factors that link in with the more individualistic tendancies that give rise to arguments around civil rights, freedom of speech, health care and gun crime that, frankly, cost human lives. Once again, it takes a well established position to more extreme and brutal corner of the spectrum
