• Flying Squid
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -510 months ago

    Yes, but do you have to justify yourself with half the Europeans you meet that you’re not one of the Trump supporters?

    • @jj4211@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1710 months ago

      During his presidency, yes. On a related note, when I would speak to someone in the UK during Boris Johnson, he would be careful to inject a bit of “Boris Johnson sucks, Brexit was dumb” to make his stance clear.

      Related, they sometimes assume I not only own a gun, but I’m armed at all times like some old west cowboy, depending on how little they deal with Americans day to day.

      • Flying Squid
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -710 months ago

        Oh, so not for your entire life. Seems like it’s a little different then.

        • @jj4211@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          310 months ago

          Well, of course I didn’t have to clarify I wasn’t a supporter of President Trump while he wasn’t President…

          I pretty much have to be prepared for assumptions about any dubious American move in the global stage, and America makes a lot of dubious moves.

          • @jarfil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            110 months ago

            If you want something to justify yourself about for life, I have one:

            “America is a continent with plenty of different countries, why do you people from the USA call yourselves ‘American’ like you owned the whole continent?”

          • Flying Squid
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -310 months ago

            Right, but my point is that there never has been a time in my life where someone hasn’t equated Jew and Israeli. I’ve had to defend myself against that since I was a teenager and that was the 1990s. And if people blame all Americans for the crimes of what is actually a minority of those Americans, then they shouldn’t do that either.

    • @AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1110 months ago

      Yes. Europeans tend to think Americans get the government we vote for and that we must like Trump since he was the president and isn’t going away. It’s ignorant, but I understand that they have this notion and I will, out of compassion and tolerance, explain that I am not a deranged bootlicking reactionary and do not support forever war, Christian nationalism or corporate hegemony.