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  • There's another American in Norway on this hellsite‽ Although I'm a second-generation immigrant rather than an "expat".

    I don't think I've really "messed with" people when they ask those sorts of questions, not yet at least. I just say openly that I voted PSL, that a lot of people are disillusioned with the two-party system, and that I'm worried about my family and friends and all the other people trapped in this deteriorating situation.

    • Yeah I think there are about 18,000 Americans in Norway. A big chunk of that is Mormons. More Trump supporters than i thought too.

      For me I can't really hide my American accent and I'm not fluent in Norwegian yet. It just gets really annoying because I don't want to talk about politics every five goddamn seconds. A Norwegian trump supporter tried to Amerisplain me last night and I about lost it.

      Love the idea of pretending that I don't know who he is.

      • big chunk of that is Mormons. More Trump supporters than i thought too.

        Mormonism is the only religion I'm straight up bigoted against and everything new I learn about them just reinforces my prejudice

      • The word trump, incidentally, is defined by NAOB as

        1. {DIALEKTALT|DIALECTAL} {tung,|heavy,} {svær|enormous} {kar|fellow}
        2. {MUNTLIG|SPOKEN} {tverr,|contrarian,} {vrang|difficult} {mann|man} {eller|or} {gutt;|boy;} {vriompeis|fogey}
        3. {DIALEKTALT|DIALECTAL} {børsekolbe;|butt of a rifle;} {geværkolbe|gunstock}

        Of course, this word is not pronounced like Norwegians pronounce the name Trump ("Trømp"), but it is still a little funny.

        For me I can't really hide my American accent and I'm not fluent in Norwegian yet.

        A strat I've seen a lot of people use in that situation is to just pretend they're Canadian, but I couldn't do that, frankly. I guess I just don't like making that part of myself invisible.

        It just gets really annoying because I don't want to talk about politics every five goddamn seconds.

        Absolutely, absolutely. I think I might have a higher tolerance for talking politics than most people, but Norwegians' fondness of hounding Yankees with political question after political question is one of the things that led me to develop my own current theories about the interplay of Europe and Seppoland. Like the reason why Americans in Norway get these questions is ultimately because Norwegians can on a deep level sense that their country is entirely beholden to the whims of another country whose policies they have no say in, but without any actual theory to make sense of this situation, this sort of deep-seated insecurity about the New Master's actions basically turns into an obsession with Seppoland's politics — and in turn Americans in Norway are turned into "fetishes" of the current vassal relationship, if that makes sense.

        Seppoland, naturally, benefits from this arrangement: if anyone who tries to resign from settlerism is soon met with crowds of people who act Deeply Weirdly about the ex-settler's background, leading the ex-settler to feel frustrated and alienated, like they just can't fit in and can't carve out a life outside of the settler-colonial paradigm, then resigning from settlerism is made all the more difficult. This "McAfeeization" of settlerism becomes especially important during crises of the colonial system, where settlers' loyalty to the project cannot be so readily bought with "treats".

        This is at least my current understanding.

        A Norwegian trump supporter tried to Amerisplain me last night and I about lost it.

        Jesus Christ, tell me about it. Young men are turning increasingly rightward, so there's a lot more Norwegian Redcaps than there used to be, and they are painful. Just completely disconnected from reality and their own interests. They lick boots that even liberals wouldn't lick, and Norwegian liberals fucking love to lick boots, so that's saying something.

      • Oh good god, the whole point of wanting to emigrate is THEY’RE the people I’m trying to get away from.

    • There's another American in Norway on this hellsite‽

      Makes three of us

  • tell em youre so glad they asked as youre an advance guard charged with gathering Intel on their countries value. start asking probing questions about the worth of various buildings, govt programs, whether they'd like to sell, whatever is nearby...etc... bust out a calculator and keep a straight face for as long as you can.

    • lol, yeah, tell them you work for some giant bank in the US and you're there to negotiate the handover of managerial control of their sovereign wealth fund to make it more efficient and maximize its profitability.

      if they don't try to kill you immediately, they are part of the problem.

  • pretending trump is still on the apprentice is a start but acting like a huge reality tv head--compare seasons, similar shows and hosts-- mfs will feel like they've stepped into a different decade

71 comments