Politics

[Crazed_Insanity]

I dont think a socialist dictator is good comparison.

I just don't believe politics has anything to do with automatic line forming. Is Sidney really as dense as SF or NY? If we only have Aussies living in the US, will they really be lining up at NY subways? I kinda doubt that. Plus, these dense cities are usually not the type that love 'freedom' nor Trump.

Another example would be people automatically turning a broken traffic light into a 4 way stop sign at intersections... I don't believe drivers in either Taiwan or China will be able to do that. However, I'm pretty confident drivers in Australia and US should have no problems doing that.

So I do believe population density is probably the main driver, but I can agree cultural inheritance/influence could have something to do with that too. China was war torn and occupied for a long time... and add cultural revolution, one child policy and dense population in the mix... it's understandable that the population end up becoming more selfish and distrustful of others. No amount of socialism will be able to transform people to all of a sudden to want to sacrifice self for the gain of the whole. It will take some time for China to get there.

I guess another reason why I hate the CCP is because they've done great damage to Chinese culture.

[Dicknose]

I just don't believe politics has anything to do with automatic line forming.

I think its actually a great indicator of political style!!

It sums up some of the big cultural differences between the USA and Australia, which show up in politics.

And its the line forming that influences the politics, not the other way around.

Is Sidney really as dense as SF or NY? If we only have Aussies living in the US, will they really be lining up at NY subways? I kinda doubt that. Plus, these dense cities are usually not the type that love 'freedom' nor Trump.

Sydney's population is about 5 million. So nothing like NY, but still up there with most big US cities. Melbourne is similar.
We lack the "small towns" that make up such a large part of the US. Its not that we dont have them, just that there are very few and only a tiny percentage of people live in them.
Quick google (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_Australia) and it shows that we are highly urbanised. Most living in major cities - damn near half living in just 2 cities. We are more urbanised than the US.

So I do believe population density is probably the main driver, but I can agree cultural inheritance/influence could have something to do with that too.

And I think Australia blows that theory away. Our population density (urbanisation) is high and has been for a long while. Higher than the USA.
Yet our styles are quite different. Politically our right is in some ways left of your left. Bernie Sanders would be considered centralist.
We have socialised medicine, universal unemployment benefits, compulsory employed paid retirement funds (currently 10% of income). We also have restrictions on "freedoms" such as compulsory bicycle helmets, seat belt laws since the 70s, random alcohol testing of drivers, strict weapon laws (I can't own a slingshot!). During this pandemic we have strict rules, masks, curfews, lockdowns and now vaccine mandates. I can't travel to Sydney. You can't enter most shops unless you are fully vaccinated.
This can seem quite totalitarian but it is not a dictatorship enacting these rules, its actually a democratic govt and does seem to reflect the style and will of the people.

The US is much more focused on the individual and is more "dog eat dog". The US prides itself that people can "make it" and often hold the reverse, if you dont make it, its because you didn't try hard enough. Unemployed - that's your own fault and we shouldn't help you. Someone got ahead of you getting their bagel - bad luck, be more assertive.
Some other countries have a bigger focus on family (which sometimes can make them less socialist, in that its just assumed that your family will be your support).

These cultural difference do show up as political differences.
And I do think the "several aussies will just form a line" is the perfect example of this.

[Rare White Ape]

There’s a line each morning at the bus stop near where I stay in Brisbane. It’s for the #60 CityGlider which runs every 5 mins at peak hour. It’s not unusual to have 30 people queueing up for each bus over that period of the morning, all of us spaced 1.5 meters apart and wearing masks.

(It should be noted that our last lockdown was two months ago and we have ZERO cases of Delta COVID free in the community)

And get this Billi, this will blow your mind: the queue is off to one side of the footpath so that pedestrians can walk by, AND, there’s a gap to accommodate the entrance of an apartment building!!!!!!!! And nobody pushes in!!!!!!!!!

What’s more, when you get off the bus people always wait for passengers to hop off before getting on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Socialism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Anyway, just to be clear that I'm not against socialism, but I'm just not buying that's the reason for automatic line forming. When I was younger, I think automatic line forming was happening more, but it just feel like as population grew, americans began to ignore this unspoken social contract...

For asian nations, I think Japanese are probably most likely to form lines automatically and allow cars to merge in front of them in a traffic jam..., yet, I'm not sure if they're really that socialistic? However Japanese were conditioned to work together for the glory of the empire like Klingons... So cultural reason is probably why they do it? Japan has a very dense population too? So my theory is that when it becomes crowded enough, that will most likely destroy the cultural influence? Japan cities may be dense, but they probably don't have a lot of immigrants or new born babies, right? If numbers were to really grow exponentially, I'm willing to bet their cultural norm will be impacted.

Anyway, the fact that Australia has more dense cities is probably the main reason why you guys got way more liberal than US. Our dense cities are pretty liberal too, but we also have vast farm areas where more conservatives live. Conservatives do not out number the big city liberals, but unfortunately our constitution was designed to give them a bit more advantage...

[neanderthal]

Billi (like Ted Cruz and other right-wing wankers) making sweeping and inaccurate generalisations about a place, or about something, as though they are gospel? Say it ain't so!!!

And he's always. fucking. wrong. Or remarkably lacking in context. Or not considering R E A L I T Y. Or some other realy dumb shit. It's a pattern of being wrong, coupled with a remarkable lack of introspection which makes for the fuck stick levels of buffonery he constantly posts while thinking he's being clever.

[neanderthal]

Y'all see the headline that a woman was raped on a train in Philly, and no one did any thing, although some people did get their phones out to record. Then it turns out it was a lie by the police...

[Tom Servo]

Y'all see the headline that a woman was raped on a train in Philly, and no one did any thing, although some people did get their phones out to record. Then it turns out it was a lie by the police...

I just went to Philly over the weekend, and my wife mentioned that while we were on our way out there. I'd heard nothing about it, nor that it was potentially false, got any links I can read?

[Crazed_Insanity]

I don’t think cop really knew there weren’t that many passengers on that train and told half truths?

What motivation do police have to lie about this?

Security camera showed us the truth. Not very many folks saw and know what was going on except 1 or 2 folks and 1 of them did call 911? Police was probably assuming a lot of things when they talked to the media.

Personally I’d still trust police reports but of course we need to verify and not take it as gospel.

Surely not all blue lives are corrupt liars just as not all black lives are thugs.

[neanderthal]

I just went to Philly over the weekend, and my wife mentioned that while we were on our way out there. I'd heard nothing about it, nor that it was potentially false, got any links I can read?

Quick google for "woman raped on train Philly."

Amended search to include "police lied" at the end.

[George]

While I'm not glad the police lied, if they did (I haven't read the details), that's better than people not assisting the victim in this situation.

And by "assisting", of course I mean causing immediate and grievous bodily harm to the attacker once his intentions were clear.