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.
Dear seppos,
Australia proposes a cultural exchange whereby we will happily invite your progressive well adjusted not-stupid people in exchange for your accepting our fuckwits on a 1 for 1 basis.
Sadly there are way more of you than us, so if we send you our most fucked 10%, that’s only 3m of you.
However, Gina Rinehart, Rupert Murdoch, and Clive Palmer are each worth 1m in exchange if you can seduce them to renounce their Australian citizenship.
Mate, murdoch already is ‘american’, thats how he owns Fox.
yeah someone else already said that. well done.
Deal if it’s retroactive because Murdoch already had to give up citizenship for control of foreign media type reasons.
Now that we have a credit for 1m refugees…
Sign me up. MAGA. Make Australia Great Again. Oh, wait…guess I’d better make a different acronym, lol.
send them pauline she’d do numbers over there.
I had to look up what seppo means and that’s fucking hilarious
You don’t know the meaning of Seppo
Yeah, I live in the US and, like most of us, can’t afford to see other countries, so I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing it said to my face.
Mine was a hugely stupid totally Finland-based joke that nobody outside needs to understand. The guy in the picture is named Seppo, from a Finnish day-time soap opera.
Sorry.
Ok that’s hilarious
Yeah no need to apologize xD I thought it was just a random reaction image but that’s really funny
look up what seppo means
Brits say ‘Tank’ for the same reason, with more rhyming.
and so the table has turned
I’d never heard the term ‘seppo’ before. Looked it up. Have to admit a bit saddened that you used it.
Im a bit fucking saddened by the global financial catastrophe that we didnt need to have.
I agree fizzle, but to call all Americans seppos is insulting and unfair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
in Australia a blue nickname is a term of endearment
I kid you not
Its super strange, I’d run across it pretty frequently from weird super hostile nationalistic youtube comments in the past few years (flag of st George/american flag punisher kind of profile pics, nationality doesn’t seem relevant), but rarely anywhere else until recently on Lemmy. I always imagined it had been common in Australia for a while but recently it seems to have broken containment.
Kind of a self own if used seriously, though. I can’t imagine anyone but a little kid using rhyming slang to try to be hurtful.
There’s a type of American who deserve the term, but like all generalisations, it’s mostly unfair. It’s a big country with a lot of different people and subcultures. If everyone judged us by the prime ministers we’ve elected, I’d be very upset.
If we elected a sex trafficking child rapist who initiated the apocalypse to fuel his ego then we would deserve to be judged.
Someone getting
electednominated prime minister by their party in the runup to elections in Australia tells a lot more about the general populace there than it does in the US, because we’ve got first-past-the-post elections and you lot have ranked choice.Edit: And there’s a fine for not voting in Australia; this is not true the US.
Edit edit: there, now it’s completely accurate as opposed to just accurate in spirit. Thanks for keeping me accountable, internet!
We don’t vote for a PM.
Riiiight, technically the party picks the leader. Of course they pick the leader in the runup to the elections, don’t they? And people vote based on that, don’t they, which is why it’s such a problem when leaders get ousted mid-term, like with Rudd and Gillard, right? And why Murdoch plastered Abbott’s face on the cover of his rag as Australia’s saviour, isn’t it, to get people to vote for his party who were running him as their pick for PM?
Or are you still kidding yourself that Australians don’t vote for the PM? The same way you’re kidding yourself that American citizens votes actually count for anything while the electoral college exists?
Nothing technical about it. We do not vote for the PM. Right wing captured media makes the removal of the PM a big deal, it’s not a problem within our electoral system to do it. You can keep attempting to put words in my mouth or twist things about, but what I said is undeniably the truth.
No clue why you’re going off about the USA. I’ve never spoken about the electoral college.
Yes those who vote for and against fascism are identical
I didn’t b say they were.
we would deserve to be judged.
Then how is a person deserving to be judged by others’ actions? Doesn’t really add up.
Guilty by association?
Everyone is held accountable for the actions of their compatriots.
There’s a type of American who deserve the term, but like all generalisations, it’s mostly unfair.
The deserving ones will generally self-indicate, so it’s fine.
Don’t be. The etymology of the word is simply that it rhymes with ‘tank’, and not specifically the word it rhymes with.
It’s the same as ‘pom’ for English people. And used in similar context. Yes, it’s a little derogatory - but more in a teasing way rather than a nasty way.
People who eat pork pies are not thought of as habitual liars, but it’s where ‘porkies’ comes from. Actually, that may not be a thing for you guys, huh? Porkies a chain there, right?
Not just ‘tank’, septic tank, therefore seppo. Not just tank and yank.
well thats how rhyming slang tends to work, e.g. you would hear someone say “there was a barney” meaning there was a fight (that’s Barney Rubble = trouble); or to “have a butcher’s” meaning to have a look at something (Butcher’s hook = look). Using the first part of the word or phrase is part of what makes it an in-group marker; those who know will understand, hence calling someone a seppo is just combining the cockney rhyming slang the ANZACs came across during the war with an Australian stylism. i would normally take that as friendly banter rather than derogatory.
Ned, I know about rhyming slang in general (I’ve been on this earth long enough :D) but the use of seppo IS derogatory and unfair. If (god forbid) ON won our next election and the Americans called Australians ‘losers’ for it would that be justified? I don’t think so. Right-wing narrative control in the US is very heavy and we are going in the same direction but the rest of our political landscape is not as lightweight as theirs is. Their voting system is different as you know and the economic situation a lot worse than here.
You’ll just have to take our word for it that it’s not a nasty term. Nobody who wants to insult you is going to use the word ‘seppo’. We have far more colourful words for that.
Nath, I know. I’ve been in Australia for over 6 decades but not everyone understands our larrikin humour or has seen the word ‘seppo’ before.
Hundreds of them!
When the opportunity to move to Oz with a pathway to citizenship came up, I had to jump at it. I don’t want to raise a sprog in that environment. Ngl, I was in a privileged place to facilitate moving in the first place, but it wasn’t enough to stay in hopes of a better future there. Fully planning to renounce after gaining citizenship.
Wishing you all works out well. It still must hurt a bit.
Cheers, mate. I appreciate it. It’s definitely a bit bittersweet. Being no contact with less than great family helped, but leaving behind a life built and cultivated over the course of 4 decades cut pretty close to the bone.
Not sure I understand the point here. Banks in Europe ask about the citizenship and you’re free to say No and there will be no issue opening an account. Assuming you have another passport, which everyone renouncing their citizenship must have anyway to not end up stateless.
The tax obligation can be ignored as well, I know plenty Americans abroad who haven’t filed in years but continue to vote from abroad. If needed you can make up with the IRS, but once the citizenship is gone, it’s gone.
The only reasonable explanation I see is the guy working a government job where the US passport could be considered a security concern. But this small minority should not lead to queues.
Most banks will report your account to the US regardless.
If the banks don’t know their customer is US citizen I doubt they report anything. If you have evidence of e.g. German banks sending their customer data to the US you’d have a big story on your hands.
i think there’s a lot of days sharing.
then I suggest they fight for freedom rather than bailing like cowards
No effort is so futile than to fight a battle that’s already been lost. If you need to believe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel then fight on pal. And commit your children and children’s children to fighting the battle too.
I got out. Now I live and enjoy rather than fight.
History teaches us that at risk minorities probably should have an exit strategy when a country is on the path to totalitarianism.
Under the current circumstances nobody from the USA really qualifies for refugee status.
There are millions of people in more desperate circumstances with a far greater need who can’t go home and vote in the “worlds greatest democracy” and achieve non-violent change. Just vote you stupid arseholes. You have power. Use it or lose it.
If we ever get to the point where whining on social media is more valued than voting then just fucking shoot us.
What amazing principles these Americans have. Running away from a fight for their values because they don’t want to be judged. Well your being judged. We think you suck because you let this happen when you could have held your ground.
If Nazis take power in my country and I have to opportunity to leave, I’m taking my wife and (currently unborn) child and getting the fuck out. Is it selfish? Perhaps, but my responsibility is first and foremost to my family. I don’t want to raise a child under fascism. Likewise if there is a war. I’m not dying to defend my country (assuming it wasn’t my country that started the war in the first place).
Unfortunately the list of places to go that aren’t equally shit is getting shorter and shorter…
That list is getting shorter and shorter because we’re letting a global media superpower fall to fascism.
That’s the real problem with the line of saving yourself; it’s only a temporary measure. The longer you let fascism fester, the more it expands. Nowhere is safe.
The government Americans have is one Americans freely chose. But not everyone voted for it, and expecting them to hang around and fix the errors of the majority is dubious logically. Where does this duty to risk life and limb to save others (many of whom hate you already and would hate you more if you tried) from the consequences of their own actions come from?
If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you feel a responsibility to jump after them?
your being judged
Irony?
these are people who haven’t lived in the US for decades. Whole lives in other countries. What struck me was the one who held onto it at the request of her husband - who had lived through strife and wanted the ability to flee to the US in case of war. Now it’s no longer a viable escape hatch.
When you stay, they tell you to leave
When you leave, they tell you to stay
it doesn’t matter. none of this matters
Perhaps none of this matters in a cosmic sense but it does matter to those facing government-sanctioned organised violence and social insanity in their everyday lives as many Americans have to do.
Renounce their citizenship? What about fight for their country? The land of the free and home of the (not so often) brave.
Never shame anyone who is fleeing violence.
That is precisely what they intend to do and it’s not the first time I’ve seen it from them
Never shame anyone who is fleeing violence.
That is precisely what they intend to do
We don’t judge what people do vs how brave we feel they should be – walk a mile and all that. The
QueenKing has my name on-file, no fortunate son, but I’ll definitely not relish the day when his GG’s rep comes knocking to reactivate me.… You seem to not realize I’m standing against judging these people?
When we fix it, they don’t get to come back.
I know many privileged people are fleeing. but so do people in genuine danger, trans, bipoc… They aren’t here to be your personal shield. If the country is so fucked up an ally would help them, keep them safe, help them flee, and welcome them back after.
Otherwise you just see those minorities as human shields, as hate padding so the problems won’t reach you. You are the reason they have to flee.
If they were MY ally they’d stay and fight. They aren’t. They never have been.
If you leave, you have left and are not welcome back. I’ll be no ally to anyone who won’t turn and fight alongside me. Those fleeing intend to use me as a meat shield.
Those fleeing intend not to be your human shield.
If there are vulnerable people at risk of violence, and you’re privileged enough not to be in danger, then you should be that human shield. Otherwise you aren’t an ally, and then expect those most at risk to risk themselves further to protect you.
Let’s be clear here: We’re talking about fighting fascism. Nobody is privileged enough to not be in danger under fascism. Nobody. Not the conscientious objectors, not the "but I voted for you"s, not the dictators inner circle, not school girls in another hemisphere.
I don’t have time to bicker about who is farther up their “others to exterminate” list. This ain’t the oppression olympics, it’s World War 3. To everyone but LGBTQ, allyhood is mutual.
You seem to expect and even demand that affected minorities stay and protect your comfort.
This country failed them, they fear for their safety and even lives. and you’re upset they aren’t staying to fix it?
It isn’t a “oppression Olympics” it is people fleeing for their safety. And maybe when we fix things, they could return.
sounds like you’re part of the problem.
I try not to shame anyone but I do honour those who take a stand, even in the face of fear. As far as fleeing violence, I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet. It’s about fleeing ideology. More like not liking the new HOA president, so moving out of the neighbourhood.
Don’t mind state masked gangs disappearing and shooting people in the streets. The state violence that makes people flee is already here.
not liking the new HOA president, so moving out of the neighbourhood
I’ve heard some bad USA HOA stories. I fully support this.
Very important, but are you fighting that fascism? what tf are you doing?
They are fleeing, not only because the state betrayed them, but because you do so too. You are a hypocrite, expecting everyone else to fight for freedom while you demostrably arent doing it. Dont want them to flee for their safety why arent you fighting then?
You just know that once they are gone, you will be the next target, and no one will protect your ass, because your ass actually deserves it.
This is all my fault? And I’m a victim? Interesting take. You shouldn’t type in anger. Slow down and take a think or two.
So, when it isn’t affecting you, you don’t need to fight the tyrannical government?
yes, it is your fault, given your own standards. As per your standards, you should be in the streets fighting. but you admitted you’re not.
Sorry I wasn’t able to help you. I failed, I guess. Is there a close relative you could reach out to?
