I hope this is relevant for this community, because I don’t know where else to post this. I’m honestly scared to post it anywhere else.
I live in Eastern Europe. I’m a university student, and recently, we got an American exchange student. They’re a very outspoken liberal.
A few days ago, we took them out with a few mates out for beers (they’re under 21, so they didn’t drink, even though you can here if you’re at least 18) to break the ice and make them feel comfortable. We got talking and because I’ve never been to the US, I asked them what I thought was an innocuous question. For some context, I’ve been a communist for a very long time, and joined the communist party the day I turned 18.
I basically asked them: Why would I vote for Harris? How would that improve the situation in the US and abroad? I’m not too familiar with her, but her politics don’t seem too appealing, especially her support for Israel and her incarceration background.
That made them launch into a screaming rant about how I’m a conservative for doubting her abilities and deserve to be jailed for wanting to infringe on the rights of women. There were a few more insults targeted at me for asking that question, I didn’t really understand them. The entire time, I was not even saying anything, I was honestly too shocked to react, but they just kept screaming until they got up and stormed out in a rage after calling me a Trump supporter, misogynist, and a fascist. My mates were equally confused. We tried to figure it out, but everyone is equally stumped.
I’ve been thinking about that entire situation for a couple days, and I’m so confused about their reaction. They even refuse to speak to me now.
What have I done wrong? Can someone please explain? ☹️ I really don’t understand what happened. We have liberals here of course, but even the worst ones never behave like this.
American Liberals are above all else defined by a smugness that is backed by a total and complete naiveness of the word without the inability to understand that Socialists/Communists still exist in the world outside of the US and China. American Liberals believe there is only one opposition to their views, the uneducated unwashed masses who is backward in character and without any virtue.
American Liberalism is largely a belief of credentialism that simultaneously somehow proves their moral virtue.
Their treats feature Adults In The Room that Make The Hard Decisions and Get Shit Done, so they believe that by nodding along with the smirking realpolitik war crimes enjoyers in their P R E S T I G E T V treats that they're also very smart and sophisticated and know the cold hard truths about the world.
Yeah it's another form of American Exceptionalism and White Man's Burden. Even if libs don't actively think about it, it's heavily ingrained into their ideology.
Malcolm X had a speech about this where white liberals will insist on taking up leadership and administrative positions within black organizations, instead of asking what the existing leadership wants them to do. It was largely why he spent most of his career not wanting to do any organizing with white liberals, even when they claimed to be allies. I think this is why he regretted the way he brushed aside one white woman and woud talk about the interaction years later. She did the correct thing in asking what she could do as a white person to help.