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I was reading through Government Scientist Tops Up Whistle-Blower Complaint And Quits NIH just now, thinking this is probably the biggest way in which the U.S. has lost respect (authoritarian head of government trying to overwrite science for political reasons), and I thought I'd might as well ask.
After a rocky, short-lived tenure at the National Institutes of Health, a former top federal scientist, who clashed with the Trump administration in the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, has stepped down from his post over what he said were continued efforts to thwart his work on the nation's pandemic response.
According to his attorneys, Dr. Rick Bright submitted his resignation on Tuesday to NIH leadership, claiming he was "sidelined from doing any further work to combat this deadly virus."
Alongside his resignation, Bright has leveled new allegations against top federal health officials who he said blocked his efforts to roll out a plan aimed at better identifying and testing people with the coronavirus.
"In this Administration, the work of scientists is ignored or denigrated to meet political goals and to advance President Trump's re-election aspirations," wrote Bright's lawyers in an addendum to a whistleblower complaint he originally filed back in May.
They go on to say that "there is too much at stake now for Dr. Bright to continue to stay silent," adding that his testing recommendations were not supported "because of political considerations, plain and simple."
What's the consensus (or just vox populi) where you live about the U.S.?
Is it significantly different from 4 years ago (I assume yes, but again, that's why I ask)?
Any general insults you'd like to sling (at U.S.) while we're doing this?
I was reading through Government Scientist Tops Up Whistle-Blower Complaint And Quits NIH just now, thinking this is probably the biggest way in which the U.S. has lost respect (authoritarian head of government trying to overwrite science for political reasons), and I thought I'd might as well ask.
After a rocky, short-lived tenure at the National Institutes of Health, a former top federal scientist, who clashed with the Trump administration in the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, has stepped down from his post over what he said were continued efforts to thwart his work on the nation's pandemic response.
According to his attorneys, Dr. Rick Bright submitted his resignation on Tuesday to NIH leadership, claiming he was "sidelined from doing any further work to combat this deadly virus."
Alongside his resignation, Bright has leveled new allegations against top federal health officials who he said blocked his efforts to roll out a plan aimed at better identifying and testing people with the coronavirus.
"In this Administration, the work of scientists is ignored or denigrated to meet political goals and to advance President Trump's re-election aspirations," wrote Bright's lawyers in an addendum to a whistleblower complaint he originally filed back in May.
They go on to say that "there is too much at stake now for Dr. Bright to continue to stay silent," adding that his testing recommendations were not supported "because of political considerations, plain and simple."
In the case that people are even actively thinking about US: for the most part people think that US is collapsed superpower or at least collapsing superpower. I mean when people think about the future they mostly think about EU and if US will be there that is great, while if it isn't that is also kinda ok. In other words here concrete US influence got pretty reduced over the years and now it is basically reduced to security cooperation, some fast food chains and the internet (and perhaps some entertainment). While the Euro almost completely removed the Dollar from everyday life, especially since the high politics is much more focused on EU than US. What altogether is kinda why most people don't really think about US that much, even it is on the news every day. Although 90% of that are scandals and wars/trade wars. Therefore really positive media coverage of US doesn't really exist here for quite some time. Plus as I said: here COVID hit US on the news looks exactly as US news about Venezuela. The hunger, the riots, the maniac in the office, the loyal security forces, moral bankruptcy ... etc.
Is it significantly different from 4 years ago (I assume yes, but again, that's why I ask)?
To your sorrow I would have to say that it isn't all that different from 4 years ago. Here I would dare to say that your reputation never really recovered from the Bush Jr. and the things he has done. While to us Obama never caused so much hype as in the US. Since he is the guy that pushed the immigrant wave on us few years back, plus we also lost some business partners and oil fields abroad due to his hawkish policy (what played it's part in causing years of economic stagnation). He also got caught spying on the top political figures on the continent at the time (and never really apologized). Plus his economic policies are mostly to the right of our far right. Therefore this entire story that he is some kind of a left wing superstar never really landed for the most. So with Trump there was never a real down, since in a way Trump is seen as the "the country finally admitted to itself what it is".
Any general insults you'd like to sling (at U.S.) while we're doing this?
I am sorry but I have to give you the answer that goes against this narrative.
In the case that people are even actively thinking about US: for the most part people think that US is collapsed superpower or at least collapsing superpower. I mean when people think about the future they mostly think about EU and if US will be there that is great, while if it isn't that is also kinda ok. In other words here concrete US influence got pretty reduced over the years and now it is basically reduced to security cooperation, some fast food chains and the internet (and perhaps some entertainment). While the Euro almost completely removed the Dollar from everyday life, especially since the high politics is much more focused on EU than US. What altogether is kinda why most people don't really think about US that much, even it is on the news every day. Although 90% of that are scandals and wars/trade wars. Therefore really positive media coverage of US doesn't really exist here for quite some time. Plus as I said: here COVID hit US on the news looks exactly as US news about Venezuela. The hunger, the riots, the maniac in the office, the loyal security forces, moral bankruptcy ... etc.
To your sorrow I would have to say that it isn't all that different from 4 years ago. Here I would dare to say that your reputation never really recovered from the Bush Jr. and the things he has done. While to us Obama never caused so much hype as in the US. Since he is the guy that pushed the immigrant wave on us few years back, plus we also lost some business partners and oil fields abroad due to his hawkish policy (what played it's part in causing years of economic stagnation). He also got caught spying on the top political figures on the continent at the time (and never really apologized). Plus his economic policies are mostly to the right of our far right. Therefore this entire story that he is some kind of a left wing superstar never really landed for the most. So with Trump there was never a real down, since in a way Trump is seen as the "the country finally admitted to itself what it is".
Kinda.
If you really believe in human dignity and genuine order you wouldn't really be too big fan of American mainstream politics as it is in recent decades. So the idea that Trump is clearly the worst thing that has happened to the country on international stage is kinda shortsighted. Since the reputation was already quite damaged for many many years. Your healthcare looks barbaric, your products generally have to be openly banned since they don't fit even the most basic healthcare standards (like food and chemicals), you constantly engage in wars that are basically illegal by international law, you are the biggest sponsor of ideas that climate change isn't real, your police often engages in activities that are consider evidently illegal in more structured countries, most of your infrastructure objectively needs emergency repairs, there is no genuine multi party democracy, in your country you can win elections and lose popular vote at the same time (plus all other electoral shenanigans), the debts are large in basically every segment of society, you don't have "free" college, your violent crime rate is well above other developed countries, you are no strangers to religious fanaticism ..... and all of that even before the day Trump announced his candidacy.
Therefore outside of US Trump is often seen simply as "Let's call spade a spade" or the factor that crumbled "the benefit of the doubt". Which was already in crisis around many parts of the world. In a way Trump's only real sin was that he put this whole show out in the open, so that even those that don't pay attention can see it.
While to us Obama never caused so much hype as in the US. Since he is the guy that pushed the immigrant wave on us few years back, plus we also lost some business partners and oil fields abroad due to his hawkish policy (what played it's part in causing years of economic stagnation). He also got caught spying on the top political figures on the continent at the time (and never really apologized). Plus his economic policies are mostly to the right of our far right. Therefore this entire story that he is some kind of a left wing superstar never really landed for the most.
I really can't say how widespread this is, but down here at "man on the street" level (at least among people I know), he's mostly perceived as centrist. By all accounts I've read, he has a really impressive ability to listen to a plethora of opinions and diplomatically piece together a map of how they fit together. And whenever he currently makes any kind of public statement, it makes me miss having someone behind the wheel who can form full, coherent sentences and who isn't openly an over-the-top spoiled child like the "You did a bad thing" kid from the Twilight Zone. And when he does surface, it feels like ice water in the middle of the desert on a hot day, simply because of the contrast (lukewarm water would feel like ice water in that context). But I'm not sure I personally know anyone who sees him in a super positive light. Bernie, yes - Obama, eh.
Kinda.
If you really believe in human dignity and genuine order you wouldn't really be too big fan of American mainstream politics as it is in recent decades. So the idea that Trump is clearly the worst thing that has happened to the country on international stage is kinda shortsighted. Since the reputation was already quite damaged for many many years. Your healthcare looks barbaric, your products generally have to be openly banned since they don't fit even the most basic healthcare standards (like food and chemicals), you constantly engage in wars that are basically illegal by international law, you are the biggest sponsor of ideas that climate change isn't real, your police often engages in activities that are consider evidently illegal in more structured countries, most of your infrastructure objectively needs emergency repairs, there is no genuine multi party democracy, in your country you can win elections and lose popular vote at the same time (plus all other electoral shenanigans), the debts are large in basically every segment of society, you don't have "free" college, your violent crime rate is well above other developed countries, you are no strangers to religious fanaticism ..... and all of that even before the day Trump announced his candidacy.
Therefore outside of US Trump is often seen simply as "Let's call spade a spade" or the factor that crumbled "the benefit of the doubt". Which was already in crisis around many parts of the world. In a way Trump's only real sin was that he put this whole show out in the open, so that even those that don't pay attention can see it.
I really can't say how widespread this is, but down here at "man on the street" level (at least among people I know), he's mostly perceived as centrist. By all accounts I've read, he has a really impressive ability to listen to a plethora of opinions and diplomatically piece together a map of how they fit together. And whenever he currently makes any kind of public statement, it makes me miss having someone behind the wheel who can form full, coherent sentences and who isn't openly an over-the-top spoiled child like the "You did a bad thing" kid from the Twilight Zone. And when he does surface, it feels like ice water in the middle of the desert on a hot day, simply because of the contrast (lukewarm water would feel like ice water in that context). But I'm not sure I personally know anyone who sees him in a super positive light. Bernie, yes - Obama, eh.
That was SUCH a weird twilight zone episode too... XD
most "dems" I know in my state were Obama fans.
In hindsight, this makes me think more in the perception of...what exactly do I want politically? I suppose Obama's democrat wasn't quite it. Trump isn't it. I don't agree with a lot of the "true" leftists by this standard.
Maybe I need to figure out where I really stand. I think my biggest annoyance with Obama was it felt like he gave the same speech all the time. I constantly wished he hired a new speechwriter. He didn't do a whole lot about the issues that have hit a peak with Trump at the moment. No one really has.
For the people I know they tend to see the current state of US affairs as one of both a joke and a concern. Its kind of like that uncle who keeps doing crazy stuff he becomes a joke and people joke about him but there's that scary underlying concern he will go and do something that hurts both himself and others. That's the Trump admin in a nutshell basically. Me personally mostly concern and disappointment deep down even though I do like to joke about Trump his policies have real serious consequences for people under them such as attempts to dismantle healthcare, separate migrant families at the border, giving licence to xenophobia, racism, sexism and anti-LGBT actions and policy e.t.c.
I see Trump as a trend of the US becoming more like a 2nd world nation socially and politically and in many ways it already resembles a 2nd world country with the rioting, widespread poverty, police brutality, corruption, nepotism, healthcare being expensive e.t.c.
I was reading through Government Scientist Tops Up Whistle-Blower Complaint And Quits NIH just now, thinking this is probably the biggest way in which the U.S. has lost respect (authoritarian head of government trying to overwrite science for political reasons), and I thought I'd might as well ask.
After a rocky, short-lived tenure at the National Institutes of Health, a former top federal scientist, who clashed with the Trump administration in the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, has stepped down from his post over what he said were continued efforts to thwart his work on the nation's pandemic response.
According to his attorneys, Dr. Rick Bright submitted his resignation on Tuesday to NIH leadership, claiming he was "sidelined from doing any further work to combat this deadly virus."
Alongside his resignation, Bright has leveled new allegations against top federal health officials who he said blocked his efforts to roll out a plan aimed at better identifying and testing people with the coronavirus.
"In this Administration, the work of scientists is ignored or denigrated to meet political goals and to advance President Trump's re-election aspirations," wrote Bright's lawyers in an addendum to a whistleblower complaint he originally filed back in May.
They go on to say that "there is too much at stake now for Dr. Bright to continue to stay silent," adding that his testing recommendations were not supported "because of political considerations, plain and simple."
What's the consensus (or just vox populi) where you live about the U.S.?
Is it significantly different from 4 years ago (I assume yes, but again, that's why I ask)?
Any general insults you'd like to sling (at U.S.) while we're doing this?
I know more people than me and [MENTION=4347]Virtual ghost[/MENTION] who arent from US, but I wont really mark them because that would kind of "force" them to come here? Well, anyway...
Opinions about US here in Brazil are actually very split. So the consensus about US on Brazil basically doesnt exist. But now that I had stop to think about, as Virtual Ghost pointed out, the brazilian opinion on the US havent changed much in Brazil over the years.
In one side, US is an exemplary and decent country to be followed, a first world full of luxury cars, glamorous people, excellent roads and streets, a powerful country and etc... Rich people does even buy houses and sometimes live there and medium class high visit for tourism one or two times per two years.
In the other side, US is an imperialist country that is very interested into stealing/exploiting latin america, especially with low wages, sending companys to use the brazilian resources, and, in a way more discreet wway, installing military bases for absolute no reason.
Personally, I think a mix of both...
I think US has good people, but the good people on the US dont generally leave the US or care much about who or what is outside of the US - actually, US people are generally so terrible at world geography that some of them might even think that Iran is on Africa. So, generally the people who came out of US in a non-tourism context or even take a real interest in latin america, even to the point of learning spanish or portuguese and not lazily waiting others to speak english (I would love have that luxury tbh and I always wished that there was a base simpler international language, with esperanto being the closest thing to), are generally people who are interested in highly profiting and exploiting - or having a low living cost at best. So, basically, latin americans dont usually see the good people from US, just the bad ones.
Paging [MENTION=10251]Red Herring[/MENTION] and [MENTION=10757]Nicodemus[/MENTION] (in hopes he gets email notifications, I guess), because they're the only other members I can think of from outside the country who might be willing to answer.
My relatives in Pakistan think the US is a madhouse...and Pakistan's a madhouse. The main insult they sling at Trump translates to "orange pimp bastard".
As do my relatives in Germany, Canada, and the UK. But, I'm sure that's no surprise.
I can give a subjective perspective though that is part my own and part typical for Germany (an most of Western Europe).
When I was a teenager in the 1990s the USA was the coolest place on earth. They were the political and cultural winner of the cold war. As I came back from my year as an exchange student in the US, I was telling everybody about the many good things we should copy from the Americans. Yes, they had their problems and a few things were weird, but they had so much positive energy, a belief in progress and were mostly open and kind people. Germany was copying American tehnolgy, culture and fashion. I remember one comedy show having a segment presenting "the latest trend from U-S-A", spoofing peoples enthusiasm for anything yankee.
Then came the election of George W. Bush, which was, well, weird but okay. He was an idiot, but okay. He seemed relateable to many Americans and after 8 years of Clinton it was time for a conservative. germans thought he was a harmles clown. Then came 9/11 and its aftermath. People began to see Americans as belligerent, militaristic and paranoid. Germany is a conservative country by European standards, but our right is far to the left of the American right on both social and economic issues. The image and reputation of the UA dropped very low during the W. Bush years. Idiots, religious fanatics with an almost erotic relationship to their military and a paranoid fear of terrorism and general xenophobia. They also seemed to worship ignorance and simple-mindedness and be suspicious of education and knowledge because in America the intellectual and economic elite are closer related than elsewhere.
Then came Obama and Germans loooved him. He was worshipped. Finally they could love America again in good conscience (because in their heart of heart they always felt a sense of inferiority and admired the USA). He wasnt perfect, but worlds better. His NSA spied on Merkel and tapped her phone which was as much of a scandal as the continuation of Guantanamo and all the human rights violations started by Bussh, but still... Once more all things American were cool. The German hipster copied the American hipster. Woke-ism was also copied to some extend with all its pros and cons.
Then came Trump and Germany was in shock. What the actual fuck?!?!?! I think one of his lowest approval ratings in the world is in Germany. About 90% of Germans have a low opinion of Trump. That does not mean that they automatically also have a low opinion of America, because as I said, at their core the still look up to the country. But what does it say about America if they vote for a guy like that - or if their political system is so broken it enables a guy like that to become president without a majority of the popular vote? There ere many articles written about Trump supporters and what motivates them and there was a lot of coverage of justified grievances. Things that have gone wrong for a long time, often for generations or at least a few decades. Right now most people are just holding their breath and waiting for the election. If Biden wins there will be a lot of repair work to be done to reestablis diplomatic relationships with allies all over the world, but it is feasable. If Trump gets reelected I forsee further serious conflict between America and its closest allies. Right now you are seen as basically in an epileptic fit. A total mess, a trainwreck you cant look away from because,well, it is not only morbidly fascinating, it affects the rest of the planet. If America has a climate change denying government that affects the fate of the entire planet ... enormously. The same goes for economic policy or defense and security policy. It affects the rest of humanity in some way or other.
I disagree with [MENTION=4347]Virtual ghost[/MENTION] on America's relevancy. It is still very much relevant, but it is shaking and in a hot mess. Some of its severe problems are both old and urgent. You still have allies and people pinning their hopes on you, but right now they are standing by in shocked disbelief and hope for a recovery. There are other superpowers rubbing their hands and more than willing to fill the vacuum the Trump administration is deliberately leaving in the world.
I disagree with [MENTION=4347]Virtual ghost[/MENTION] on America's relevancy. It is still very much relevant, but it is shaking and in a hot mess. Some of its severe problems are both old and urgent. You still have allies and people pinning their hopes on you, but right now they are standing by in shocked disbelief and hope for a recovery. There are other superpowers rubbing their hands and more than willing to fill the vacuum the Trump administration is deliberately leaving in the world.
Where did I say that America doesn't have relevancy ? The question was how is US reputation doing where you live, to which I said that here all of this is generally regrettable situation but no one is really having sleepless nights over it. What is generally something that we tend to do differently than Germans. Although all of that says very little about actual relevance of US.
More serious: as far as I am concerned, people in my country laugh at America at least 99% of the time. The 0,01% that's left are probably people who are more radical/conservative. Even before Trump got elected I remember people not being all too positive about America. With Trump, it of course did not get any better.
...Even better. People protested against Trump, in Belgium. I mean, I agree but it's weird. On the other hand it's understandable because the US still has a lot of power (in different ways). And it's important to send a message that we don't agree with what's happening, even if it's on the other side of the world.
The US is falling apart like so many other countries are. However, the US has taken some things to another level (not in a positive manner). Things will most likely only get worse. I am sometimes worried about what's going to happen, but most of the time I am glad that I don't live in the US.
The US is a joke to me. But so is humanity. There are other insults I'd like to use but my English vocabulary needs an update for that.
The UK will become a sort of fiefdom of the US when the tax dodgers and defrauders divorce from the EU is complete.
Unfortunately the far right in the UK has some pretty weird ideas about the US as some kind of premier of the english speaking world. Its solidly founded on eighties valorization of Thatcher-Reagan and that they think the KKK was or is. The whole WASP ideology. If you Google "hang Nelson Mandela" you'll see all the fringe students who're not front and centre of the english establishment and conservative party.
Its ugly stuff, between that and the amount of drugs they've been treating themselves to at the taxpayers expensive it explains how the UK wound up so far down the drain. I'm not sure if that's quite how things are in the US, maybe decadence looks differently there. Dont know.
What I'd say too is that there's also weird right wing elements in the UK who are looking forward to some kind of US collapse as they see it as a vindication of their own ideas about any independent development of former colonies failing. Its rare/bizarre thinking but there are people who imagine that if the US perished it would automatically mean the return of the British Empire. I kid you not. It. Is. Ridiculous.
I was reading through Government Scientist Tops Up Whistle-Blower Complaint And Quits NIH just now, thinking this is probably the biggest way in which the U.S. has lost respect (authoritarian head of government trying to overwrite science for political reasons), and I thought I'd might as well ask.
After a rocky, short-lived tenure at the National Institutes of Health, a former top federal scientist, who clashed with the Trump administration in the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, has stepped down from his post over what he said were continued efforts to thwart his work on the nation's pandemic response.
According to his attorneys, Dr. Rick Bright submitted his resignation on Tuesday to NIH leadership, claiming he was "sidelined from doing any further work to combat this deadly virus."
Alongside his resignation, Bright has leveled new allegations against top federal health officials who he said blocked his efforts to roll out a plan aimed at better identifying and testing people with the coronavirus.
"In this Administration, the work of scientists is ignored or denigrated to meet political goals and to advance President Trump's re-election aspirations," wrote Bright's lawyers in an addendum to a whistleblower complaint he originally filed back in May.
They go on to say that "there is too much at stake now for Dr. Bright to continue to stay silent," adding that his testing recommendations were not supported "because of political considerations, plain and simple."
What's the consensus (or just vox populi) where you live about the U.S.?
Is it significantly different from 4 years ago (I assume yes, but again, that's why I ask)?
Any general insults you'd like to sling (at U.S.) while we're doing this?
When I was in school, way back in grade 5 or 6, we got some sort of exchange student at the iniative of our English teacher. It was a boy our age - I can't remember where he came from, but it must have been some rural, Midwestern part of the US. Looking back at it, I can only describe him as an average American farm boy, but the very fact that he came from America made him super cool, and we all wanted to talk to him and hang out with him. That's how cool America was back then in the mid-nineties, and I don't think all that much has really changed since then. I've been fascinated by English language and culture for as long as I can think and spent over half my life learning and studying it, and now I'm an English teacher myself.
Speaking from personal experience -: In Germany, there are two standard varieties of English that are taught at schools - Received Pronunciation (i.e., British) and General American (i.e., Northern American English). Students are introduced to them at different stages during their school careers.
When they start their secondary education and during the first three years at high school (i.e. at grade 5-7 in most states), they start with British English, as all the characters from the textbooks are British and the topics mainly deal with aspects of life in Britain and Ireland.
From then on, the focus shifts to the US in terms of topics and language. So, at this stage at the latest, they have to decide which variety to follow and which one to emulate during classroom conversations. I try to switch between RP and GA, depending on the level I'm teaching at the moment, but at least after students have been exposed to American English, I have never seen a single one of them that consciously tried to speak like a British teenager. They all want to sound like Americans (and usually way before the US is dealt with within a classroom context). The only real exception was a girl doing her finals this year, who happened to be half British and definitely sounded like it - but that's the absolute exception.
The US was and still is a cultural superpower. Back then, we were watching imported TV shows (yeah, the infamous Knight Rider, A-Team, all the Hollywood blockbusted movies, that aired like 3 years after they had been to American cinemas, and dubbed in German) - kids and teenagers now have access to so much more via Youtube, Netflix etc., and they use it to watch American shows, often in their English original. American culture is still widely admired and emulated over here.
Trump has done little to change that - of course, the general consensus is that he's a bumbling idiot and deserves all the ridicule he gets, but I think people make a distinction between the current government and the country as a whole - that even applies to teenagers.
And now, even our 5-year-old daughter watches videos in English, wants to talk in English and constantly asks her parents "What's X in English?" (and yes, she really tries to speak the American variety, and she's already pretty good at it for her age). So I think the US still has considerable appeal
