As IF Times

The largest sporting event in the world is happening right now and likely hundreds of millions of soccer fans (or football to Euros) have travelled to North America to witness the World Cup matches firsthand.  The venues are scattered amongst a number of host cities in Canada and Mexico but most notably, in the US.  The biggest by-product of the World Cup is really its main feature, that is, to draw tourism into host nations.

For many fans, this was the first ever visit to the US and the reactions to their experiences have been the most viral thing on social media.  There has been an explosion on Instagram and Tik-Tok by tourists expressing their amazement.  One fan in particular, a Freddy from Germany, has documented his trip from the airport on the east coast through his journey across the US south to Houston on social media.  He is shocked, literally shocked at the disconnect from what he’s been led to believe about the US versus his actual experience. Freddy is showcasing his real dose of American culture.

The sheer physical size of everything in the US is what seems to awe the tourists.  The immense distances between places is unimaginable to Europeans accustomed to walking from place to place.  As someone noted, you can drive for 17 hours and still not leave the state of Texas.  Speaking of size, everything is bigger.  Walmarts and Costcos are gigantic.  The iconic Buc-ee’s , notionally a gas station in the south will have 120, yes 120 gas pumps and their in-store product selection of goods boggles the European mind.  They realize that when someone says, “I’ve visited the US”, that it’s meaningless.  The US is quite literally 50 different mini countries. It would be as if you claimed to have visited Europe if you’ve spent a week in Paris.

There are of course, some stereotypes which are true about America. There is always amazement at the iconic serving sizes of food at restaurants in the US.  Regular portions would make main dishes in Europe look like finger snacks. Free drink refills.  Ice. Air conditioning. Pleasant service people. A deep love of country. These are all common things to Americans, but an amazement to Europeans.

But the one common observation amongst all the social media posts is just how hospitable and genuine they found Americans.  They are noted as being generous, welcoming and salt of the earth people.  It’s certain that this is surprising to many because of the images perpetuated by decades of media representing them as redneck hayseeds who will shoot you at the most minor provocation. Of course, this is actually true in Northeastern states; fortunately, those were not the venue cities.  In the south, tourists were welcomed with affectations of familiarity and hospitality, quite different from the experience they were expecting.

Our German tourist Freddy even discovered country music and the biggest country star at the moment, Ella Langley, even invited him to one of her concerts. Ella is by far the biggest star in the US.  Only in America.

So, why is this so? The answer possibly lies with the fact that media, both domestic and international, have always portrayed the US as a cultural backwater and professing that their own nations were superior. Even the usually haughty British tourists were surprised at the experience they were not prepared for, with some expressing an interest in moving here. It brings to mind the old saw;  from the perspective of a frog who lives in a well, the sky is only the circle of light that they can see above their heads.

It’s a bit surprising that only now, people are finally seeing for themselves a part of the world that had always been a caricature portrayed by media… and politicians.  Whether in the US, or Canada, or Mexico, visitors have found out what the world is really like outside of their own well.  They observe that people are the same everywhere and to harbor any misgivings about an entire nation based on hearsay is simply ill-informed propaganda.

So the takeaway is, go see for yourself; don’t pay attention to the propaganda spewed by media and politicians. Maybe this is the greatest epiphany to result from the World Cup activity.  If nothing else, people can return home from their experiences here and think more expansively and critically about their own living conditions and how it compares to those of others in the big world.  More importantly they should return with a renewed sense of skepticism over what they’re being fed at home. People should experience, not just believe. After seeing what’s out there, some are expressing on social media the now famous Ella Langley lyrics about their own nation, “ I can’t love you anymore”.  It also brings to mind the observation made famous by the Tin Pan Alley song after the American soldiers served in Europe after WW1, but now in reverse. ” How ya gonna  keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?”

A few months ago, an ‘organic’, but somehow well orchestrated national protest consumed all the media headlines with the catchy slogan of  ‘No Kings’.  This of course was not a protest against kings per se, but was targeting the policies of one individual they considered to be acting as a king, that is, Donald Trump.

It sounds good; a protest against someone who autocratically imposes his will upon his subjects and who restricts the rights and privileges of his people.  But as in all protest movements by the left, there is usually more thought put in to creating the jingoistic war cry than the actual substance of the underlying cause.  Take for example, Black Lives Matter, a movement intended to galvanize a particular constituency politically but which was entirely non-sensical.  In reality, the movement was all about Black Lives Better and this movement was used as a sledgehammer to cow the larger population against pushing back against obvious racial crimes.  Objective crime statistics over decades showed that Blacks were disproportionately represented in crime statistics as a percentage of population.  This fact is blithely ignored by the deluded movement.

On to the No Kings protest.  Recently, the present Regent of the UK, King Charles, paid a state visit to the United States, a former vassal colony but one that turfed the Brits in an independence war exactly 250 years ago.  In fact, this can be considered the preeminent No Kings protest because the colonies decided that they really did not care for the way the Kings and Queens were running things, especially by imposing non representative taxation and thus they fought a war to have…no kings.

America was the first nation ever in history to endow its own citizens with the ability to rise to the level of their own efforts, without the advantage of birthright as has been (and still is) the case in most nations until then.  Mere citizens could be elected to high office solely on their appeal to their constituents, not because they happened to be the scions of rich dudes from past conquests.

The very notion of someone being entitled to rights, privileges, wealth and power just because their ancestors won some battles centuries ago is absurd in this modern age….or should be.  Most monarchs today live their privileged lives solely through the support of taxes by their loyal subjects and are largely ceremonial in their positions, much like vases in a curios cabinet…and just as useful. They really are human museum pieces representing an archaic history which, while amusing, is of no real consequence to anyone today.  Of course, people still sit in rapt attention when these regents make a well-crafted speech, but the fact is, it’s like consulting a magic 8 ball as far as any real wisdom is concerned.

Let’s pick on King Charles as an example. On his recent visit to the United States, he made a speech about the historical connection between the UK and the United States and their shared history and traditions.  This is somewhat reminiscent of a spouse talking about their romantic history before the acrimonious divorce.  Many residual royalists swooned in reverence at his articulate delivery as compared to the oaf sitting in the President’s office.

The reality was that the visit was not a social call.  It was a personal plea to have the United States continue to deliver military funding to the European cause since the Europeans are in dire straits.  Under Charles’ watch, the UK’s influence had collapsed in the realms of industry, of trade and of the military.  Their role as a finance capital is in serious jeopardy. The nation itself is on the verge of civil war not helped by the King’s embrace of Muslims.  This civil war will be inflamed by the speech made by Charles in the weeks after his visit announcing that the UK will implement nationwide digital ID’s.  Apparently, this was so that ‘everyone would be equal’.  This might have been taken more seriously had he not been wearing a jewel encrusted crown, wearing an ermine cape, sitting on the regal throne.

The pearl clutchers and hand wringers in the United States are in perma critique mode as to their own nation without understanding that the US is still the freest nation on earth.  This is in no part due to the help of globalists who are tirelessly trying to bring their own brands of kings and queens with their associated levels of inequality back to the US.

We can see this brand of ‘Royal’ behavior in the nation to the north, Canada, still a vassal state to Britain. We can observe that elections are manipulated, certain people are given more rights than others and speech is increasingly being stifled with the help of compliant state media.  They even have the King’s representative whose position is like the vase in the cabinet mentioned earlier but nonetheless commands a royal salary, allowance, housing and oh, a pension for life, informing the public that they need to tighten their belts. Where are the No Kings protestors?

The public have hopefully become fatigued by the protest flavor of the day, telling them how and what to think. The collapse of credibility of mass media has made the bleats of the day as just so much noise.  Ironically, they are correct in this particular bleat, they just targeted wrongly.  We don’t need Kings.