 International Relations Explained: Sibling Rivalry
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Jul. 1st, 2009 @ 01:05 pm 
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Conversation, edited lightly for clarity:
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) borg: [The Anglican/Episcopalian Church] becoming liberal = in the US it feels to me like we're acting like 15 year old going against their parent, and we want to make our own choice NOW whether or not this is good. But we're young and as a culture we're like that
sami: This is just like the political independence of the US and Australia.
USA: REBELLION OMG
Australia: Yeah, we're just going to do our own thing over here, 'kay?
(Britain: But, we want you to do this! Australia: We will if we feel like it, if we don't, we won't.)
borg: Pretty much. And y'all got what you wanted
sami: Yes. In a much less high-strung way. And we remain less high-strung.
borg: we could have had that but there was tea and wank!
sami: On some level, I think, Australia's attitude to the US is a bit like a younger sibling to an older, rebellious sibling. A mixture of admiration and some envy, with some resentment and an element of "you realise if you just CALMED THE FUCK DOWN you could totally still have that, but without all the fighting, right?"
I think it's highly significant that one Australian colloquialism for "that problem is fixable" is "No dramas."
borg: But see, you got all the benefit of us being the hell child.
sami: Pfft, as if. We suddenly got extra convicts getting dumped on us apace.
And we got dragged into extra wars.
borg: True.
sami: We just didn't feel the NEED for a revolution, we just Federated.
borg: But they left you the fuck alone! All those convict kept them from spanking you!
sami: No they didn't! The only reason they weren't grabbing so many non-human resources from us was that we didn't HAVE any.
borg: Point.
So we did have the better bedroom.
sami: You totally got the best bedroom. Ours is mostly desert.
borg: Well, there is SOME desert. And glaciers.
sami: Yeah, yours is prettier too.
You were getting convicts too. You didn't HAVE to get spanked. Hell, if you didn't want to be taxed on TEA you could have just NOT DRUNK TEA.
Why couldn't you just say, "Yeah, okay, Dad, whatever you want" and then gone and ignored Britain?
That's what we did.
borg: Because that would be UNFAIR
sami: Dude. You say what they want to hear, you ignore them when they're unreasonable, and it's just more trouble than it's worth for them to argue.
borg: but but but UNFAIR!!!
sami: When we decided we were sick of convicts, we just said we weren't taking them any more and Britain said "oh dammit FINE"
borg: ;_;
sami: And THEN, when we were deciding whether we wanted to keep the monarchy or not, we talked about it, and threw a vote. And Britain was all DAMMIT DON'T LEAVE OH YOU DIDN'T YAY
borg: DAD LOVED YOU MORE
sami: Oh, bitch, don't even GO THERE
You STILL get all the attention
borg: ;_;
sami: We never left, we've fought in EVERY DAMN ONE of Dad's stupid wars, and WHO is Britain STILL always pandering to? YOU.
borg: We can't help being bigger and taller and having more nukes!
sami: The only country who pays ANY real attention to us is NEW ZEALAND. Who we pretend isn't THERE most of the time because New Zealand is the CREEPY COUSIN WHO SMELLS KIND OF ODD.
And, these days, is all HEY CHECK IT OUT LOOK AT ALL MY COOL NEW LORD OF THE RINGS TOYS.
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Poor NZ.
It's a sad little country over there, and no one ever pays any attention to it AT ALL.
That might be a good thing sometimes.
(Every year, the Malaysians/Singaporeans make this comparision of Malaysia=Australia, Singapore=NZ. It's oddly similar yo.)
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| From: | sami |
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July 1st, 2009 05:42 am (UTC) |
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... so why do I know three bazillion Singaporeans and maybe two Malaysians?
I CALL HAX ON SINGAPORE.
WAAAAAAH
(In NZ I only met one other Singaporean. Everyone else was like, from Malaysia)
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| From: | sqbr |
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July 1st, 2009 06:19 am (UTC) |
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So you're writing Hetalia fic now? :)
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| From: | sami |
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July 1st, 2009 06:21 am (UTC) |
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... only in the sense of personifying countries a bit? I only vaguely know what Hetalia IS.
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| From: | sqbr |
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July 1st, 2009 06:42 am (UTC) |
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Yeah I was just teasing :) I don't know much about it either, but do know that for a start England and the USA are brothers.
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| From: | borg |
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July 2nd, 2009 04:34 am (UTC) |
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We were playing England as Dad and Australia and USA as brothers, but yeah. Heh.
The Australian seeming tendency to be more laid-back and casual about things is what makes me wish I could live there.
The funky big-ass spiders and other assorted nasties is what keeps me from actually making any sort of attempt to make it happen.
And I thought the colloquialism was "No worries" - is that correct? If so, it's interesting that it's not morphed into "No dramas."
Also - part of the United States did act much like Austrialia as far as getting convicts and undesirables dumped on it; the Louisiana territory was essentially France's penal colony.
I tend to say 'no worries' rather than 'no dramas'; it might be different depending on region/background.
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