http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/ Sat, 06 Jun 2026 01:09:20 +0000 en Uk — Ship of Fools http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6299/a-question-about-the-trump-vance-meeting-with-zelensky Sun, 02 Mar 2025 21:09:28 +0000 Purgatory Enoch 6299@/index.php?p=/discussions
Now, my question is not 'what do you think of Messrs Trump and Vance?' I am fully aware that most transatlantic shipmates already don't like them. There is plenty of scope to express views on them on the 'Donald ******* Trump' thread.

My question is more curiosity as to what peoples' reactions to this meeting elsewhere in the world and especially, what can shipmates in the USA tell the rest of us about the state of public opinion there. That is not necessarily 'what do you think about it?' - though that is interesting - so much as how does that sort of behaviour play in your country. As a general principle, it doesn't play well here at all. Deliberately humiliating somebody else in public, taking advantage of power to cause them to lose face, is usually a huge no-no, one that is very likely to backfire on the perpetrator, as it has done on both of them here. It has left me wondering if there really is a cross-cultural disjunction here, even possibly a non-comprehension. Is that sort of thing less unacceptable because it could be defended as straight-talking, the verbal equivalent of carrying a firearm and being prepared to use it?

This is a serious query and I have deliberately put it in Purgatory so as to avoid hellish discussion. As far as I am concerned, that belongs in the other thread.

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