Yesterday was the “The Dumbest Mob Movie Scene Ever Playing Out in the Oval Office” heard around the world. A pair of insecure bullies trying to bait Ukrainian President Zelensky into fighting back, so as to be able to use said “fighting back” as justification for siding with Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky did not take the bait, and the outpouring of support for Zelensky from leaders around the globe was both swift and crystal clear. The world stands with Ukraine, and given that our new-found alignment with Russia was laid bare, the world at large no longer stands with us.
While this response from democracies around the globe was informative, I was curious what the response would be by average, non-US, non-governmental folks who had no reason to use professional or diplomatic language in their responses. I combed through all manner of social media, and what I found was harsh, but not surprising, and here are my three big takeaways:
FRUSTRATION: for US citizens not seeming to care in meaningful ways? Why aren’t they shutting down everything in protest (schools, business, government offices at every level, etc.), marching in the streets? Why is the beacon of democracy not fighting for its own democracy more?
CONFUSION: if one political party is aligned with this shift towards Russia, then why is the opposition party behaving as though bipartisanship is alive and well? Why isn’t the opposition party behaving in oppositional ways?
ANGER: at Americans. All Americans. Especially, the non-MAGA Americans. No joke. The general sentiment is that we non-MAGA seem to be wrapped in the cloaks of, “This isn’t who we are,” “Not all of us wanted or currently want this,” and, “I didn’t vote for him so don’t look at me.” From the outside looking in there seems to be a general understanding that the MAGA-cult-faithful cannot and will not affect stopping or even slowing down the fascism train. Part of what’s contributing to this train barreling towards a complete takeover of fascism is that the rest of us are responding in ways that are tantamount to #NotAllMen or #AllLivesMatter. It momentarily soothes over the sting of feeling ashamed, but it can also provide an easy offramp, abdicating our responsibility for what’s happened, happening, and might happen.
HATRED: for the USA. With the heat of a thousand suns. There are global calls for US boycotts, sanctions, tariffs, etc. since they know that a hard economic blow will both satisfy their urge to punish us, and hit us where it hurts most—our wallets.
I, for one, am heartened by this response. I mean, I don’t relish being disliked any more than you do, dear reader, but let’s keep in mind that the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. Based on the global response to yesterday, our (current? former?) allies are anything but indifferent. OK, so today, their love looks, feels, and sounds like the heat of a thousand suns. Not dissimilar in the way your love and my love for our country probably looks, feels, and sounds like the heat of a thousand suns. Tomorrow their love and our love may look, feel, and sound different, but for today let’s be grateful that you, me, and people all over the world are burning bright.
