Firstly, I am so, sorry about your loved ones who have experienced such brutality. It's very rare here, and it's often Australian men murdering their wives, or yes, it's a cultural honour killing. I would love to know why America suffers this more, over here. Do we look after our migrants better? Certainly if you feel a sense of belonging and gratitude to a place, you're more likely to be part of it and be less disenfranchised. I know a lot of migrants to Australia feel incredibly lucky to live here and they want to contribute. But we also don't have open borders - it's a visa system that's very strict. I think the porous borders of US and the UK are far more of a problem, which is what I tell people that don't understand it. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of Aussie history and culture that celebrates white Australia and thinks anyone else should 'go back to where they came from' - we are absolutely a racist nation whilst at the same time experiencing a kind of double think where we love migrant food, sports people, musicians, comedians. Acceptance is absolutely conditional. The irony is that even the most Australian of us can only go back to 250 years - either convicts or settlers who did very well thieving land and murdering Aboriginals. But you have a similar story.
I'm grateful to the effort you went to re abortion rights. It clarifies for me that whilst you can vote in Trump as the better of two evils, you can still be against overturning Roe vs Wade. I think you have a very unique issue there where conservative also equals religious. We are far more secular than you, that's for sure, andwhilst of course there are pro lifers here, it's not as endemic. Whilst pro lifers have raised it and want to roll laws back like the US, most of Australia disagrees about 80:20. It's definitely not on the agenda of the two major parties. I wonder what it is there.
Thanks for this conversation. It helps me think about how I will broach the conversations that tar all Americans with one brush. To be honest I've been not paying much attention as it hurts my soul - there's only so much you can take or even do - yet I find post Trumps win, I feel like I have to reassure people I know that it's not so simple, and definitely not all as it seems.