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‘I don’t want to be part of a dictatorship’: the Americans queueing up to renounce their citizenship (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/worldnews@aussie.zone
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There's a lot I didn't know about the process. It'd be interesting to get the view of US members of this community.

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[–] 9 points 5 months ago (6 children)

First and foremost, I dont care how you feel.

Secondly, I really hope you do feel miserable and humiliated just generally, even if not the result of my comment. The USA is precipitating unspeakable harm that will resonate around the globe for decades.

Finally, the term seppo isn't intended as an insult. Its a jab or a jeer. Like calling an American a yanks, or calling your friend hairy legs, or a queenslander a banana bender, or a western Australian a sand groper.

I wouldnt call my girlfriends father a seppo, but an American im on friendly terms with, absolutely.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Thank you for your sensitive words fizzle 😆

    Some if not most of the Americans that are in this community would have had to look up seppo just the way I did. They might not see it as friendly banter. We need to be supporting each other to create a better society. Call me snow flake but I am not a fake. Understanding other people creates connection and solidarity. We need that now.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    We need to be supporting each other to create a better society.

    would this be before or after the "You're either with or us against us?"

    the US has spent just shy of a century throwing its weight around and making sure everyone did exactly what it wanted. Now it's losing soft and hard power, and its citizens are finding out exactly what everyone thinks of the country and society they have helped build vote and shape over their lives.

    Sucks, but take it as a teachable moment.

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  • [–] [S] -1 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Taleya, most educated US citizens would very much know that they are not universally loved and have been so aware for many generations, not just recently. Remember 'Yankee Go Home"? This phrase has been used since the 1950s by diverse countries and groups in response to US meddling in their affairs and stoking wars.

    What if you don't feel 'at home' in the country you were born? What if you feel unsafe? What if you can see through the propaganda that many of your countrymen and women don't? What if you can't see yourself making a difference but do see yourself as a target for some uniformed or ununiformed thug or madman with a semi-automatic, or as someone whose career will be scuttled if they object? This and a lot more is happening in the US right now. It is oversimplified to lump all Americans (or Australians, or anyone else) in one basket.

    No one begrudged German Jews leaving Nazi Germany when they saw the writing on the wall and they still had the freedom to leave (which was later taken from them). If we uphold democratic rights like freedom of movement for ourselves then we should uphold it for everyone who supposedly lives in a democracy.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    yeah your last two paragraphs have wildly deviated from this conversational thread, which was about the fact you didn't like someone used the term "seppo". Ironically a nickname that came into use during the second world war.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Taleya I was responding to your comment which was about how US citizens are finding out now what the rest of the world think of them. You didn't mention the 'seppos question' 😂 at all. And yes, ironically I had never heard the word before so there you are.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    I think she very rightfully pointed out that you don't get to sit there and demand everyone pull together to create a better society (rather than mock americans) after decades of the US doing everything possible to steer, derail and otherwise mandate that society (and mocking everyone else)

    You've got no ground to stand on to make that demand. You have no social capital after your behaviour as a nation. And now the US no longer even generates fear, it has nothing

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